In thus punishing us with the pangs of indigestion as a warning to more reasonable conduct, Providence displays the purest beneficence. To place this in a clear point of view, let us suppose digestion to continue perfect, notwithstanding the daily reception of an excess of food into the stomach, the result would necessarily be the regular formation of an undue quantity of chyle; this, in its turn, would produce an excess of blood throughout the whole system; and the individual would thus exist with all his functions in a state of constant oppression, and in continual danger of the rupture of a bloodvessel, till, from mere fulness, some active disease would be excited, requiring the instant and vigorous use of the lancet for its relief, or very probably cutting short life. If, then, man cannot restrain his appetites, and effectually subject them to the control of reason, another check against continued aberration is required, and, fortunately for us, it is to be found in the refusal of the stomach to continue to digest much more than the quantity demanded by the wants of the body. In practical life we meet, in fact, with both results. There are some persons constituted with such vigorous powers of digestion that no quantity of food oppresses their stomachs. If they eat habitually more than what is required to supply waste and sustain the system, they speedily suffer from repletion, or some one or other of the diseases arising out of its existence, such as inflammation, apoplexy, rupture of bloodvessels, enlargement of the heart, or morbid growth in some organ of the body. In the greater number, however, of those who exceed in quantity, the stomach itself becomes enfeebled by the over-exertion to which it is subjected, just as the muscles do from excess of labour; and the consequence is impaired digestion, which prevents the food from being duly converted into chyle, and thus protects the system from the fulness which would otherwise be induced. Accordingly, it is a familiar truth, that those who eat most are not always the best nourished,—and that, on the contrary, the stoutest men are often those who eat comparatively little.
It is therefore of great importance to be able to read aright the instructions of Nature, and to act in conformity with their meaning. In practical benefit to ourselves it will make a great difference whether we regard indigestion as merely an accidental and capricious occurrence unconnected with conduct, or as purposely meant to warn us from continuing to act against laws instituted to secure our wellbeing and happiness. In the former case, we may go on unsuspectingly in the road to destruction till it is no longer in our power to turn back; whereas, in the latter, we cannot feel a single pang of indignation without being reminded of some aberration from the path of duty, and seeking to return by the shortest way. It is too true that, even when aware that we are going wrong, we do not always choose to retrace our steps; but it is not less true, that we shall be more likely to fulfil the laws of Nature when we are made acquainted with their existence and intention, than when left to the guidance of ignorance alone. It must be observed also, that hitherto mankind have not been taught the requisite knowledge till after their habits of action were formed; and therefore no inference can be drawn from their conduct in circumstances so unpropitious, which can, with any fairness, be held as applicable to the time when knowledge shall be communicated to the young as an indispensable part of a useful education.
If over-feeding be the prevailing error among the middle and higher classes of the community, the opposite condition is as unquestionably that of a large proportion of the labouring poor. Pressed upon all sides by the powerful competition both of constantly improving machinery and of a superabundant population, the manual labourer is impelled to undergo an amount of ever-recurring bodily exertion which far exceeds the natural powers of his constitution, even when supported by the fullest supply of nourishment; and when, as often happens along with this excess of labour, his food, from inadequate wages, the size of his family, or his own injudicious management, is defective in quantity or in quality, the consequences to his health and happiness are disastrous in the highest degree.
To those who have never reflected on the subject, it may seem like exaggeration to say, that, as a general fact, at least nine-tenths of the lower orders suffer physically, morally, and intellectually, from being over-worked and under-fed; and yet I am convinced that the more the subject shall be investigated, the more deeply shall we become impressed with the truth and importance of the statement. It is true that very few persons die from actual want of food; but it is not less certain that thousands upon thousands are annually cut off, whose lives have been greatly shortened by excess of labour and deficiency of nourishment. It is a rare thing for a hard-working artizan to arrive at a good old age. They almost all become prematurely old, and die off long before the natural term of life. It is in this way that, as remarked by Dr Southwood Smith, the mortality of a country may be considered as an accurate indication of the misery of its inhabitants. According to Villermé, the rate of mortality among the poor is sometimes double that among the rich. Thus it is found, he says, that in a poor district in France one hundred die, while in a rich department only fifty are carried off; and that, on taking into account the whole population of France, a child born to parents in easy circumstances has the chance of living forty-two and a half years, while one born of poor parents can look for no more than thirty.[47]
These are striking facts, and their truth is confirmed by every day’s experience in Britain as well as in France. Many causes concur to produce this melancholy result, but among the principal is unquestionably the disproportion so generally existing between toil and nutrition. In the army the operation of the same principle has long been recognised in the inferior strength and health of the privates compared with the officers. The officers, being better fed, better clothed, and better lodged than the common soldiers, bear up successfully against fatigue and temporary privations by which the latter are overwhelmed. During epidemics, too, the poor, from their impaired stamina, almost invariably become victims in a proportion far exceeding that of the more wealthy classes. This is, no doubt, partly owing to their greater intemperance and want of cleanliness; but even these vices often derive their origin from the same root—the want of adequate repose and comfortable sustenance.
The bad consequences of defective nourishment are not confined in their operation to the bodily constitution of the labouring poor. Their minds also are deteriorated. The pressure of poverty is unfavourable to the growth of refinement and morality, and crime and turbulence are never so much to be dreaded as during times of scarcity and manufacturing or agricultural distress. Bodily health, satisfied appetite, and peace of mind, are great promoters of individual morality and public tranquillity; and whenever these are encroached upon in any great class of the community, discontent and crime are sure to follow. In legislation this principle is seldom attended to, and laws are consequently enacted merely for the suppression of the result, while the source from which it springs is left altogether unnoticed and in the fullest activity.
Among the poorer classes, the children as well as the parents suffer much both physically and morally from insufficient food. Their diet, being chiefly of a vegetable nature, and consisting of porridge, potatoes, and soups, with very little butcher-meat, proves far from adequate to carry on vigorous growth in the one, or repair waste in the other; hence arise in the young an imperfect development of the bodily organization, a corresponding deficiency of mental power, and a diminished capability of resisting the causes of disease. In work-houses and other charitable institutions, ample evidence of these deficiencies obtrudes itself upon our notice, in the weak and stunted forms and very moderate capacities of the children. Under an impoverished diet, indeed, the moral and intellectual capacity is deteriorated as certainly as the bodily; and a full exposition of this fact, and the principles on which it is founded, would be a great public benefit.
Even among the children of the wealthier classes, a sufficiency of nourishing food is not always provided with the care which it deserves. Both in families and in boarding-schools, it is no uncommon practice to stint the healthy appetites of the young, or to feed them with soups and other eatables which contain too little nutriment in proportion to their bulk. I am acquainted with many instances of this most injudicious error, and have seen scrofula and severe digestive affections brought on by persevering in it through sheer ignorance, and even in the belief that such “temperance” was healthful. Where adequate exercise is permitted, and the food is plain and nourishing, hurtful excess in eating will rarely occur, at least in healthy children.
CHAPTER III.
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.