Medical Inquiries and Observations, Vol. 1 / The Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged by the Author

by Benjamin Rush

5. May not the reason why plentiful meals of fish, venison, oysters, beef, or mutton, when eaten alone, lie so easily in the stomach, and digest so speedily, be occasioned by no other food being taken with them? A pound, and even more, of the above articles, frequently oppress the system much less than half the quantity of heterogeneous aliments.

6. Does not the facility with which a due mixture of vegetable and animal food digests in the stomach, indicate the certainty of their relation to each other?

7. May not the peculiar good effects of a diet wholly vegetable, or animal, be occasioned by the more frequent and intimate relation of the articles of the same kingdoms to each other? And may not this be the reason why so few inconveniences are felt from the mixture of a variety of vegetables in the stomach?

8. May not the numerous acute and chronic diseases of the rich and luxurious, arise from heterogeneous aliments being distributed in a diffused, instead of a mixed state, through every part of the body?

9. May not the many cures which are ascribed to certain articles of diet, be occasioned more by their being taken alone, than to any medicinal quality inherent in them? A diet of oysters in one instance, of strawberries in another, and of sugar of roses in many instances, has cured violent and dangerous diseases of the breast[56]. Grapes, according to Doctor Moore, when eaten in large quantities, have produced the same salutary effect. A milk diet, persisted in for several years, has cured the gout and epilepsy. I have seen many cases of dyspepsia cured by a simple diet of beef and mutton, and have heard of a well-attested case of a diet of veal alone having removed the same disease. Squashes, and turnips likewise, when taken by themselves, have cured that distressing complaint in the stomach. It has been removed even by milk, when taken by itself in a moderate quantity[57]. The further the body, and more especially the stomach, recede from health, the more this simplicity of diet becomes necessary. The appetite in these cases does not speak the language of uncorrupted nature. It frequently calls for various and improper aliment; but this is the effect of intemperance having produced an early breach between the taste and the stomach.

Perhaps the extraordinary cures of obstinate diseases which are sometimes performed by persons not regularly educated in physic, may be occasioned by a long and steady perseverance in the use of a single article of the materia medica. Those chemical medicines which decompose each other, are not the only substances which defeat the intention of the prescriber. Galenical medicines, by combination, I believe, frequently produce effects that are of a compound and contrary nature to their original and simple qualities. This remark is capable of extensive application, but I quit it as a digression from the subject of this inquiry.

10. I wish it to be observed, that I have condemned the mixture of different aliments in the stomach only in a few cases, and under certain circumstances. It remains yet to determine by experiments, what changes are produced upon aliments by heat, dilution, addition, concentration, motion, rest, and the addition of uniting substances, before we can decide upon the relation of aliments to each other, and the influence of that relation upon health. The olla podrida of Spain is said to be a pleasant and wholesome dish. It is probably rendered so, by a previous tendency of all its ingredients to putrefaction, or by means of heat producing a new arrangement, or additional new relations of all its parts. I suspect heat to be a powerful agent in disposing heterogeneous aliments to unite with each other; and hence the mixture of aliments is probably less unhealthy in France and Spain, than in England, where so much less fire is used in preparing them, than in the former countries.

As too great a mixture of glaring colours, which are related to each other, becomes painful to the eye, so too great a mixture of related aliments oppresses the stomach, and debilitates the powers of the system. The original colours of the sky, and of the surface of the globe, have ever been found the most permanently agreeable to the eye. In like manner, I am disposed to believe that there are certain simple aliments which correspond, in their sensible qualities, with the intermediate colours of blue and green, that are most permanently agreeable to the tongue and stomach, and that every deviation from them, is a departure from the simplicity of health and nature.