From these facts, the general inference is clearly warranted, that delicate persons ought to have some kind of food soon after rising, and that even those who are robust will act wisely in not exposing themselves unnecessarily to fatigue, infection, or other morbid causes, without having previously supplied the wants of the system, either partially by a cup of coffee, tea, or milk, or entirely by a regular breakfast. Where fever, for example, is in a family, the danger of infection will be much greater to a person going directly from his own bed to the bed-side of the patient, than to one who first takes the precaution of drinking were it only a cup of coffee. I have elsewhere noticed the safety which Captain Murray obtained for his crew in the West Indies, partly by attention to this rule; and have likewise referred to the experience of Sir George Ballingall even in our own climate.[37]
In boarding-schools for the young and growing, who require plenty of sustenance and are often obliged to rise early, an early breakfast is almost an indispensable condition of health. On the Continent, in similar establishments, seven o’clock is the common hour for breakfast, especially in summer.
In recommending what I conceive ought to be the general rule, let me not be understood as wishing to extend it so far as to advise those whose constitutions admit of two or three hours’ activity before breakfast, to abandon what experience proves to be beneficial to them. My only wish is to help those who are in doubt as to choosing the plan which is most likely to be of advantage, and to relieve those who are already suffering from ignorance.
The morning meal being comparatively a light one, and the stomach being then in high vigour, digestion goes on briskly, so that appetite revives within a shorter time than after the more substantial dinner. Accordingly, in all nations and classes of society not perverted from the course of nature, a longer interval than five hours rarely elapses between breakfast and dinner. Our forefathers dined at noon, as our sailors continue to do at the present day. Over no small portion of the Continent of Europe, the same primitive hour is still adhered to; and among the labouring population of Great Britain, one or two o’clock is the common dinner hour, eight or nine being that of breakfast. Even the rich manufacturers of Manchester, and other English towns, continue to this day to dine at one o’clock; and the very universality of a mid-day meal among those who rise early, is itself a strong presumption in favour of its propriety, and of its being in harmony with the laws of the animal economy.
To prevent business from interfering unduly with digestion, it was formerly the custom in Edinburgh to shut up shops and counting-houses for two hours in the middle of the day; and in Switzerland, I have seen the same practice followed. The members of the family being then assembled, relaxation and enjoyment take the place of the cares of the world; and the result is highly satisfactory. The appetite is keen enough to induce them to eat with zest all that nature requires, while it wants the resistless force which is given by a fast of eight or nine hours. There is consequently slower mastication, less cramming, and a much earlier return of the aptitude for business; while at the same time the mental and bodily faculties are refreshed by the interruption of their accustomed labour, and the affections cherished by healthful domestic intercourse taking place before too much weariness is induced to permit of its being enjoyed. In England, such weariness is a very common occurrence. The parent and husband, exhausted by the eager pursuit of wealth during the livelong day, returns home in the evening jaded and harassed, and little able to take pleasure or interest in the enjoyments of his wife and family. Hence, indeed, too often arise indifference and unhappiness between those whom Nature has formed, as if on purpose to suit each other.
In enterprising commercial communities—in London and Liverpool for example—it is a common practice to hasten away to the counting-room immediately after an early breakfast; to remain there in active employment from nine or ten o’clock in the morning till six o’clock in the evening, and then to hurry home to a late dinner at six or seven o’clock; by which time the vital functions have become so far exhausted, as to create a strong desire for indulgence in something stimulating both in food and drink. If this desire be gratified, immediate relief is obtained, and a temporary feeling of comfort pervades the frame; but nothing can be more erroneous than to regard this as a proof of the indulgence being beneficial. The organization soon gets accustomed to the stimulus; its susceptibility becomes impaired by the frequency with which the latter is administered; and in a short time indigestion is the inevitable consequence.
The evils attendant on this course of life are not unfrequently aggravated by the preposterous means resorted to for their prevention. Having some vague notion that exercise improves digestion, and not being at all aware that there is an improper as well as a proper time for taking it, many persons, after being exhausted by seven or eight hours’ confinement to the counting-house, proceed to take a walk of four or five miles before going home to dinner, and thus utterly throw away the little strength that was left to them, and are filled with disappointment on finding their appetite and digestion worse than before.[38] Dr Paris mentions the case of a clerk in a public office who brought upon himself all the horrors of dyspepsia and melancholy by following this plan. He breakfasted at nine, went to his office at ten, continued there till five, walked till seven, and then dined. He was cured in six weeks, by adopting a more rational regimen and dining at three o’clock.
Many females and delicate persons injure their powers of digestion by delaying their exercise till the system is too much exhausted to profit by it. In boarding-schools the same error is often committed from the desire which is felt to have all the lessons over before allowing any play.
As a general rule, then, not more than five hours ought to intervene betwixt breakfast and dinner. If the mode of life be such as involves great activity in the open air, or the period of life be one of rapid growth or filling up (as during youth or convalescence from illness), the interval may with propriety be shortened; whereas, if the mode of life be sedentary, and unattended with much activity of nutrition, the interval may be considerably protracted without much inconvenience. Much, also, ought to depend on the natural rapidity or slowness of digestion. In some constitutions, chylification goes on so slowly that the individual can pass with ease eight or ten hours without food; whereas, in others, it is so rapid that a fresh supply becomes necessary in half the time. Spallanzani himself was an example of the former kind; for in him digestion went on so slowly that he was unable for study till five or six hours after even a very spare dinner. The proper rule in every case is, to take dinner at such an interval after breakfast as the return of healthy appetite indicates, whether that interval be longer or shorter than the average specified.