M.D. talks of “natural food.” He seems to be a vegetarian? Good. But is not the question of how much food we ought to eat equally urgent whether we are vegetarian or omnivorous? I think it is. I do not think that the chief cause of our illnesses to-day is taking wrong or unsuitable food. In my opinion we are ill mainly because we take suitable food too often and because we take too much of it. My answer to the question, therefore—“How Much Should We Eat?—A Warning”—turns on the previous question: What is the Function performed by Food in the Body? As I think that this function in the grown body is only to restore the waste, the warning in my mind is far rather that we should take less than that we should (as M.D. advises us) take more. I agree with him in the view that “chronic starvation is insidious.” But, as I believe that “chronic starvation” is usually a form of Dr King Chambers's “starvation from over-repletion” and of Dr Dewey's “starvation from over-feeding,” I am bound to be of the consequent opinion that it is to be met, not by increase, but by diminution of the diet. This is one of my reasons for thinking that none of us ought ever to eat oftener than twice a day, under fifty years of age, and that after that we would do well to eat once a day only. I feel sure that if we altered our habits in these ways, we should add very much both to the duration and to the efficiency of life. This is not a question of dietetics only. The issue is of the most practical character. What an addition of five or ten or fifteen or twenty or twenty-five years to the average duration of life might mean to this people and still more to the people of the whole globe is unpredictable by mortal man. But it is evident that it would be of the very greatest import to humanity. This is the great issue of the discussion of this subject. It seems to me that illness might be enormously diminished and health and efficiency and happiness immensely increased. But I think that these boons might be obtained, not by indulging the body and its appetites, but only by the exercise of a wise restraint and government over it. It is at least very much to be desired that more agreement might be manifested in the opinions and practice of qualified physiologists so that the public might have clear guidance, and not as at present, be advised in ways so conflicting that they do not know what or whom to believe.
A. Rabagliati, M.D.
To Tourists:
Every little village has a little shop where you can buy nasty little sweets.
PICKLED PEPPERCORNS.
He was a native of Liverpool, but had liver for many years in the Isle of Wight—Edmonton (Canada) Journal.
Funny he didn't go to Poole and leave his liver behind him.
REAL FLESH FOOD FOUND AT LAST.
—From an advt. in daily papers.