[71] Albrecht Von Haller, M.D., F.R.S., the father of the science of physiology, born at Berne, Oct. 18, 1708; ... practiced medicine with great applause at Berne, 1729-36; ... became physician to the King of England 1739. He was a voluminous writer on physiology, anatomy, botany, surgery, and practical medicine; author of ... almost an incredible number of reviews and scientific papers. His hypotheses were ... admirable for their scientific spirit, and for the great stimulus which they gave to physiological study throughout Europe.—Encyclopedia.
[72] See note 4 in Appendix, p. [280].
[73] These three—raisins, dates, figs,—containing as they do in their natural state, about 14, 58 and 62 per cent., respectively, of sugar, require no addition of saccharine matters to “preserve” them; and, accordingly, they constitute, as we find them in the market, a perfectly natural and wholesome food, taken in due proportion, with grain and the various nuts.
[74] A phrase used to describe the process of feeding excessively to produce an abnormal flow of milk. Under this practice the cows soon become tuberculous (“consumptive”); and it is said that they become useless after three or four years, on an average: they are “driven to death,” unless disposed of just prior to their decline. Nursing mothers often suffer from this disease, while the infant fattens and becomes sick from overfeeding.
[75] Kept in a close vessel, milk soon becomes foul; and after being thus enclosed requires considerable stirring to aerate it, when it again acquires its normal flavor. Cistern water treated to an occasional deep stirring will remain sweet; and when the water in a cistern has become devitalized for want of air simply, it can be reclaimed readily in the above manner.
In making the change from cooked to uncooked food, the unassisted novice will experience more or less inconvenience, usually; and this will arise from one of three causes; perhaps two or even all three causes will combine to create the uneasiness (and indigestion, even, sometimes) experienced:
(1) the stomach, adapted, so far as possible, to the digestion of cooked foods, requires some time (and experience or practice) to adapt itself to the new order of things,[76] hence indigestion, varied in extent according (a) to the abruptness of the change, and (b) the quantity of the new food taken; (2) accustomed to distention from the bulky character of the old diet, if only a physiological ration of the pure and more nutritious food be swallowed, the stomach misses the stimulus of distention: time will be required (in some cases) for the stomach to remodel itself as regards size—unless a large proportion of fruit[77] is used in conjunction with the cereals. Some dyspeptics, to be sure, by their “mincing” diet occasioned by nausea and lack of appetite, seem to have reduced the size of their stomachs, even below the
normal dimensions of that organ; (3) the uncooked grain being more nutritious than the bread formed from it (and especially than bread made from wheat starch—“white bread”), one may readily take an overdose if the wheat meal be used and dressed with milk; but if the whole grain be employed he will be content with a modest ration; the new exercise of chewing—putting the teeth to their normal use—soon wearies the muscles of the face, and he will be tempted to pass to the “second course”—the fruit—quite early in the engagement. The amount of grain food necessary to thoroughly nutrify the body, is comparatively small. In the form of bread, we are apt to eat altogether too much. But given pure food, and each individual may be safely left to decide the proportion of grain, fruit, and water to suit his own case; the point is to maintain strength and avoid flatulence, and all other symptoms of indigestion.
[76] It has been observed that cows are temporarily affected adversely by any change from their established diet—give less milk, at first, when grain is added to their pasture rations, as well as when they are deprived of an accustomed feed of grain. “The effect is due to the action of the stomach, to adapt its character to the digestion of an established food. The food may change suddenly, but the action of the stomach can only change slowly, and hence defective digestion follows.”—(National Live Stock Journal). With humans, as has been already remarked, a change from a very unwholesome to the purest system of diet may, at first, result in defective digestion; but if the change be made discreetly the final result will assuredly be as satisfactory as that which follows a favorable modification of the cow’s diet.
[77] Whenever, in making the change under consideration, flatulency or pressure at the kidney follows the use of fruit, the quantity habitually taken should be lessened. There is a temptation always to continue the habitual distention of the stomach by the use of too much fruit at first. The system accustomed to a small amount of fruit, can not immediately adapt itself to an unusual quantity: all changes should be somewhat gradual, not necessarily by the continued use of any unwholesome substance, but with relation to the manner of adopting the new regimen.