Andrew Combe

“ If food be given when it wishes only to be relieved from suffering, the offending cause is left in activity, and its effects are aggravated by the additional ill-timed distention of its stomach. But so far is this important truth from being sufficiently impressed on the minds of parents and nurses, that nothing is more common, when the infant refuses to swallow more but still continues to cry, than to toss it in the nurse’s arms, as if on purpose to shake down its food, and then resume the feeding. ”

“ So true is this, that I should regard that nurse as unfit for her employment, who should complain that her charge, otherwise in good health, is incessantly craving for something to eat. In this respect children are like adults. Give them something to do and to think about, and they will seek meat only when hungry. But leave them idle and listless, and eating will become their chief subject of contemplation. ”

“ The shorter it is, the greater is the necessity for making the most of it by adequate attention to the laws of health. The real “sacrifice” of time is when health is impaired and progress retarded by undue confinement and deprivation of exercise in the open air. The very shortness of the day, indeed, implies that we should employ the hours of darkness in in-door occupations, and make the most of the daylight by going out while we have it; and I have no doubt that as society advances, this truth will be felt and acted upon to the great advantage and delight of the young. ”

“ In towns we often observe the bad effects of over feeding in young female servants recently arrived from the country. From being accustomed to constant exercise in the open air, and to the comparatively innutritious diet on which the labouring classes subsist, they pass all at once, with appetite, digestion, and health in their fullest vigour, to the confinement of a house, to the impure atmosphere of a crowded city, and to a rich and stimulating diet. Appetite, still keen, is freely indulged ”

“ Cornaro, Cheyne, and others, have, most absurdly, attempted to determine a standard quantity of food for all mankind, and have fixed it at the lowest possible limit. The very attempt, however, is inconsistent with the laws of the animal economy; since the supply required must necessarily vary not only according to the age, sex, and constitution of the individual, but according to the mode of life and the circumstances by which he is surrounded: and it would be, therefore, not less injurious than unnatural for any one to adhere to the same invariable proportion. ”

“ It has been already shewn, that, in endowing us with appetite, Nature has intended both to insure by its means a timely provision for the wants of the system, and to guard against our eating more than enough to supply them. We have also seen that, within certain limits, the quantity of gastric juice secreted bears a direct relation to the quantity of food consumed; that when the food exceeds considerably the real necessities of the system, a part of it remains undigested, because the stomach is unable to secrete a sufficiency of fluid for the solution of the whole ”

“ If, adhering to the order of Nature, we work by day and sleep by night, then early breakfast, early dinner, and an early evening meal, will undoubtedly be the most conducive to sound digestion and the enjoyment of health. But if, against the laws of Nature, we rise from bed late in the forenoon, reserve our activity till late in the afternoon, and do not go to sleep till two or three hours before day-break, then assuredly the late breakfasts and dinners of the fashionable society of the present day are the best for our comfort that can be devised ”

“ In reality the wonder comes to be, not that so many children die, but that so many survive their early mismanagement.
From the age of six or seven years up to that of puberty, when the animal activity is at its height, growth in full progress, and the nutritive functions in their greatest vigour, a larger proportion of animal food, and a more generous diet, become necessary to the enjoyment of health and vigour; but they must still be accompanied by ample exercise and free exposure, otherwise they will tend only to clog and impede the functions of life. ”

“ If the earth to which its roots are attached be removed, and a richer soil be substituted than that which its nature requires, it still has no option: it must grow up in rank and unhealthy luxuriance, in obedience to an impulse which it cannot resist. At all hours and at all seasons it is at home, and in direct communication with the soil from which its nourishment is extracted. And being thus without ceasing in contact with its food, it requires no storehouse in which to lay up provision, but receives immediately from the earth, and at every moment, all that is necessary for its sustenance. ”

“ Without pretending to determine what the precise condition of the nerves of the stomach is, which, when conveyed to the brain, excites the sensation of appetite, I think it sufficient for every practical purpose if we keep in mind, that the co-operation of the nervous system is necessary for the production of appetite, and that there is a direct sympathy between the stomach and the rest of the body, by means of which the stimulus of hunger becomes unusually urgent where the bodily waste has been great, although a comparatively short time has elapsed since the preceding meal. ”

“ I believe that every stomach, not actually impaired by organic disease, will perform its functions if it receive reasonable attention; and when we consider the manner in which diet is generally conducted, both in regard to quantity and to the variety of articles of food and drink which are mixed up into one heterogeneous mass, instead of being astonished at the prevalence of indigestion, our wonder must rather be, that, in such circumstances, any stomach is capable of digesting at all. ”

“ The principle in virtue of which digestion is interrupted by bodily or mental labour occurring after a full meal, having been already sufficiently explained, it needs scarcely be added, that the second is the better plan, and moreover that by leaving the stomach too long empty we risk impairing its functions, and weakening the system.
When dinner cannot be taken earlier than seven or eight hours after breakfast, most people will find it advantageous to partake of some slight refreshment in the mean time—enough to blunt the keenness of appetite, but not entirely to destroy it. ”

“ It overloads and oppresses the stomach,—excites griping and bowel-complaints, restlessness and fever,—and not unfrequently leads to fatal disease in the brain. It does harm also by withdrawing the mother’s notice from the real source of uneasiness.
It is astonishing, indeed, with what exclusiveness of understanding, eating is regarded even by intelligent parents as the grand solatium or panacea for all the pains and troubles which afflict the young. If a child falls over a stone and bruises its leg, its cries are immediately arrested by a sugar-biscuit stuffed into its open mouth. ”

“ Experience, indeed, amply demonstrates that precocious and excessive activity of intellect and vivacity of feeling are most powerful impediments to healthy and vigorous digestion, and consequently to a sufficient nutrition. In early life, therefore, when not only health but future usefulness depend mainly on the completeness and vigour with which the system shall proceed towards its full development, the preservation of the digestive organs by suitable diet, exercise, and regimen, ought to be a primary object of attention with every sensible parent. ”

“ My conviction is so much the reverse, that it seems to me certain that our onward progress will continue through generations yet unborn, with the same steadiness as it has done through generations long since gathered to their fathers; and that every attempt made to render man better acquainted with the laws of his own constitution, and thereby provide him with fixed and better principles of action, will exert a positive and decided influence on the progress of the race, proportioned in extent to the truth, clearness, and general applicability of the views which are unfolded. ”

“ Man, the dog, and some other creatures, possess the power of digesting all sorts of aliment, whether vegetable or animal, and are hence called omnivorous or all-eating; but even in them, the relation which the properties of the gastric juice bear to the qualities of the food chiefly or exclusively used is so close, that, when a widely different kind is suddenly resorted to, indigestion is the almost inevitable consequence,—because then the gastric juice has not had time to acquire its requisite adaptation to the new materials on which it has to act. ”

“ 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. ”

“ On looking at any person eating, one is apt to think that the morsel passes along the gullet into the stomach by its own weight; but we speedily perceive the error, when we recollect that, in the horse and the cow for example, the mouth is on a level with the ground when feeding, or drinking, and that the morsel or water is consequently propelled upwards into the stomach against its own gravity. It is well known also, and often made a matter of public exhibition, that a man can swallow even liquids when standing on the crown of his head, with the natural position of the stomach reversed. ”

“ By these means the development of the organization, the keenness of appetite, the tone of digestion, and the desire of, and fitness of the system for, animal food, will increase in regular proportion, and a free supply of that species of aliment will even become necessary to carry on the growth. In short, it must ever be remembered, that strength is to be obtained not from the kind of food which contains most nourishment in itself, but from that which is best adapted to the condition of the digestive organs at the time when it is taken. ”

“ Whereas, if we fulfil the laws of our constitution, by rising from bed in the morning, obtaining a healthy appetite and lively circulation by the regular exercise of the various functions of mind and body in a free and pure atmosphere, eating moderately, and enjoying social relaxation after our meals,—digestion will be so far strengthened, that no very rigid observance of any particular kind of diet will be necessary; it being always understood, however, that we shall not exceed in quantity what the wants of the system require. ”

“ It is no new or uncertain doctrine that the quality of the mother’s milk is affected by her own health and conduct, and that, in its turn, it directly affects the health of the nursling. Even medicines given to the parent act upon the child through the medium of the milk; and a sudden fit of anger, or other violent mental emotion, has not unfrequently been observed to change the quality of the fluid, so much as to produce purging and gripes in the child. Care and anxiety, in like manner, exert a most pernicious influence, and not only diminish the quantity but vitiate the quality of the milk. ”

“ In denouncing active exertion of mind or body immediately after eating, as inimical to digestion, it is not meant that we should go to sleep, or indulge in absolute listlessness. A weak constitution may require something like complete repose, but a person in ordinary health may indulge in a leisurely saunter or pleasant conversation not only without injury but with positive benefit; and perhaps there is no situation in which digestion goes on so favourably as during the cheerful play of sentiment in the after-dinner small-talk of a well-assorted circle. ”

“ When we reflect that the object of digestion is to furnish materials for the growth of the body, and to supply the waste which the system is constantly undergoing, it must appear self-evident, that, if the digestive powers be impaired by disease, by improper quantity or quality of food, or by any other cause, the result must necessarily be the formation of an imperfect chyle, and consequently of imperfect blood. ”

“ In improving the moral and intellectual as well as physical condition of the working-classes, the influence of food, air, and exercise, will soon be discovered to possess a degree of importance of which at present scarcely a suspicion is entertained. They constitute, in fact, the very foundation of a systematic education; and mere intellectual cultivation will fail to produce its full beneficial results, till the organization by which the mind operates be itself improved by a treatment in harmony with its own constitution. ”

“ In a matter so important as the rearing of children, one would imagine that every mother and nurse would be anxious for instruction on the nature, functions, and wants of the being committed to their fostering care. And yet it is notorious how rarely either one or other of them possesses any but the crudest notions of the animal economy, or can give reasons for the practices they recommend, or modify them in any degree to suit modifications of circumstances and constitution. ”

“ The grand rule, then, during the early months of infancy, is to satisfy the clearly indicated and ascertained wants of the child, but neither to confine it to regular hours, nor to offer it food when it is crying solely from pain and not from hunger. When the system has become more developed, and the stomach accustomed to the exercise of its functions, regularity in the distribution of its meals may be gradually and beneficially introduced; because, in the animal economy, there is a natural tendency to periodicity, which greatly facilitates the formation of proper habits. ”

“ Supposing that we were to eat three meals a-day, the digestion of each requiring three or four hours,—and that its management depended entirely upon our superintendence,—our whole attention would be required to the process, to the exclusion of every other duty, for ten or twelve hours a-day; and every time that our thoughts wandered for a few minutes, digestion would stand still, and the stomach be disordered by the chemical decomposition of the food which would ensue, so that it would be impossible for us to dedicate any time either to business or to social enjoyment. ”

“ But if, along with diminished exhalation and diminished muscular action, we persevere in eating copiously of nutritious aliments, either digestion must fail, the system become too full, or some artificial stimulus be given to aid the bowels in expelling its superfluous aliment.
Such, accordingly, are the results observable in every-day life. One is saved for a time from more serious evils by his stomach becoming enfeebled, and refusing to digest the excess of nourishment which it receives. ”

“ It is true that, by the agency of gastric juice on food out of the body, a change very similar to chymification can be effected on it; but when we remember that chyme or the result of real digestion, is essentially the same in its elementary or component principles, whatever be the kind of food from which it is formed,—and that, as yet, we are acquainted with no purely chemical agent, which, applied to different substances, gives rise to the same uniform product,—we shall be more willing to believe that chymification is neither a purely mechanical nor a purely chemical operation ”

“ According to the popular notion of dietetics, the selection of the proper kind of food seems to constitute the only condition required for the enjoyment of healthy digestion. Hence medical men are constantly questioned whether this or that article of diet is good or bad for the stomach, while curiosity rarely if ever extends so far as to inquire whether Nature has annexed any other conditions which also it may be expedient to know and to observe. In reality, however, the choice of aliment is but one out of many circumstances which require to be attended to ”

“ When the food is chiefly liquid, as when soup is taken either alone or in large proportion, the more fluid part is speedily absorbed, to fit the remaining nutritious portion for being better acted on by the gastric juice and muscular power of the stomach; but in impaired digestion, the requisite absorption of the fluid part does not go on so rapidly. Fifty minutes after St Martin had dined on vegetable soup, beef, and bread, Dr Beaumont found the stomach to contain a pulpous mass, like thick gruel in consistence, and of a semi-gelatinous aspect. ”

“ The most remarkable property of the gastric juice is unquestionably the power which it possesses of dissolving and reducing to the appearance of a soft thickish fluid mass every thing in the shape of food which is submitted to its action,—while it exerts no perceptible influence on living or inorganic matter; for, so far as is yet known, nothing which is not organized, or which is still alive, can serve as nutriment for the animal frame. ”

“ Thus, it is no uncommon thing for young men who have experienced all the pleasures of a keen appetite and easy digestion when growing rapidly or leading an active life, to induce severe and protracted indigestion, by continuing, from mere habit, to eat an equal quantity of food either when growth is finished and the system no longer requires the same extensive supply, or after a complete change from active to sedentary habits has greatly diminished that waste which alone renders food necessary. ”

“ Artificially arranged, however, as society now is, whole classes of the community find it impossible to dine till much later in the day. The question then comes to be—As we cannot follow the system laid down by Nature, what is the next best to be done? Ought we to eat nothing till we can find time to dine at five, six, or seven o’clock; or ought we rather to take a light meal at the natural time, about one or two o’clock, and reserve our appetite chiefly for the substantial meal which we have leisure to digest? ”

“ We know, for example, that, at the commencement of digestion, the muscular contractions of the stomach are comparatively slow and feeble, and that as chymification advances they become rapid and energetic, as if to remove the chyme as fast as it is formed. If then new food, for which the feebler movement is best adapted, be introduced when digestion is far advanced and the energetic motion going on, may not this disproportion be itself an impediment, and co-operate with the deficiency of the gastric juice in disordering digestion? ”