Florence Daniel

“ The nervous system tends to become much more sensitive upon a vegetarian, especially fruitarian, diet, and people often attribute their increased nervousness and irritability to the diet when it is simply that they now react more quickly to poisons. This is not a bad thing, on the contrary, it shows that the system has become more alert. Under the old régime we tend to store up poisons and impurities in the body, but the effect of a vegetable diet, especially when united with the use of distilled water, is to cause all our diseases and impurities to be expelled outwards and downwards. ”

“ It is very much to be regretted that the nerve-soothing vegetable perfumes of our grandmothers have been superseded, for the most part, by the cheap mineral products of the laboratory. Scents really prepared from the flowers that give them their names are expensive to make, and consequently high-priced. The cheap scents are all mineral concoctions, and their use is more or less injurious. A penny-worth of dried lavender flowers in a muslin bag is even cheaper to buy, inoffensive to smell—which is more than can be said of cheap manufactured scents—and possesses medicinal properties. ”

“ The juice should be given, and the throat scraped as far down as the nurse can reach, as often as the patient can bear it. The time will come, sooner or later, when the juice is swallowed. No other food should be given. The nurse may have to work away for some hours before any juice is swallowed, but my friend assures me that if the scraping be done gently and skilfully, even children will bear it patiently. Only a silver or bone spoon should be used, and, needless to say, it must be well scalded in boiling water in the intervals of using. ”

“ Too sudden changes of habit are apt to be attended with disturbances that discourage the patient, and cause him to lose patience and abandon the treatment without giving it a fair trial. In countries where the "grape cure" is practised the patient starts by taking one pound of grapes each day, which quantity is gradually increased until he can consume six pounds. As the quantity of grapes is increased that of the ordinary food is decreased, until at last the patient lives on nothing but grapes. ”

“ Society, a large and ever-increasing body of enthusiasts having its head-quarters in London, to whose annals I must refer those readers who desire up-to-date instances of the efficacy of the use of fruit in disease. ”

“ The writer goes on to show that headache, indigestion, [Pg 4] constipation, and all other complaints that result from the sluggish action of bowels and liver can never be cured by the use of artificial fruit salts and drugs.
Salts and acids as found in organised forms are quite different in their effects to the products of the laboratory, notwithstanding that the chemical composition may be shown to be the same. The chemist may be able to manufacture a "fruit juice," but he cannot, as yet, manufacture the actual fruit. The mysterious life force always evades him. ”

“ The apple contains a larger percentage of phosphorus than any other fruit or vegetable. For this reason it is an invaluable nerve and brain food. Sufferers from nerve and brain exhaustion should eat at least two apples at the beginning of each meal. At the same time they should avoid tea and coffee, and supply their place with barley water or bran tea flavoured with lemon juice, or even apple tea. ”

“ Of course, the majority of people lose weight when fasting, but this is very quickly recovered. Now I do not think fasting should be undertaken recklessly, but only under competent direction. But an excellent and safe substitute for a fast is an exclusive fruit diet. ”

“ The simplest and quickest method of recovering from attacks of acute illness, fevers, inflammatory diseases, etc., is to rest quietly in bed in a warm but well-ventilated room, and to take three meals a day of fresh ripe fruit, grapes by preference. If the grapes are grown out of doors and ripened in the sun so much the better. I have found from two to three pounds of grapes per day sufficient. If there is thirst, barley water flavoured with lemon juice should be taken between the meals. ”

“ I have not visited a "grape cure" centre in person, but I have read that it is not only persons suffering from the effects of over-feeding who find salvation in the "grape cure," but that consumptive patients thrive and even put on weight under it. ”

“ The radish is commonly cited as indigestible, but for all that it is commended by old writers as a potent remedy for stone. If not too old, well masticated, and eaten at the beginning of a meal, I do not think it is more indigestible than the majority of vegetables.
A syrup made with the juice expressed from pounded radishes and cane sugar is recommended for rheumatism, bronchial troubles, whooping-cough, and pustular eruptions.
Dr. Fernie notes that the black radish is especially useful against whooping-cough, probably by reason of its volatile, sulphureted oil. ”

“ At a pinch human life might [Pg 7] be supported on any one of them. I say "at a pinch" because if the nuts cereals and pulses were ruled out of the dietary it would, for most people, be deficient in fat and proteid (the flesh and muscle-forming element) . Nevertheless, fruit alone will sustain life if taken in large quantities with small output of energy on the part of the person living upon it, as witness the "grape cure." [2] The percentage of proteid in grapes is particularly high for fruit. ”

“ As a matter of fact it is such a highly-concentrated food that, unless taken in very small quantities, it is liable to upset weak digestions. I suspect the secret to lie in the chewing. Almost any kind of nut will cure the habitual indigestion induced by "bolting" the food, if only it be chewed until it is liquid. Hard biscuits will do instead of nuts, although an uncooked food like the nut is the better. ”

“ Fernie deprecates the use of grapes for the ordinary gouty or rheumatic patient, but with all due deference to that learned authority, I do not believe the fruit exists that is not beneficial to the gouty person. One of the most gouty and rheumatic people I know, a vegetarian who certainly never over-feeds himself, derives great benefit from a few days' almost exclusive diet of grapes. ”

“ You may shop, lunch, dine, and take tea with us. Our Health Food Stores will supply everything you need for a perfect health diet. Our Fruit Stores will supply you with the choicest fruit on the most moderate terms, and in large quantities at wholesale prices. Our Fruit Luncheon Rooms are the talk of London, and you can get a delightful fruit meal amid flowers and palms from 6d.
If you cannot call, send six penny stamps, and in return we will send you, together with the booklet, a sample of our Frunut, reg. (a preparation of selected nuts and fruit that is as delightful as it is sustaining) ”

“ The cook who set this fashion was evidently acquainted with the action of the fruit upon the liver. All sufferers from sluggish livers should eat apples.
Apples will afford much relief to sufferers from gout. The malic acid contained in them neutralises the chalky matter which causes the gouty patient's sufferings.
Apples, when eaten ripe and without the addition of sugar, diminish acidity in the stomach. Certain vegetable salts are converted into alkaline carbonates, and thus correct the acidity.
An old remedy for weak or inflamed eyes is an apple poultice. ”

“ The disfavour with which "stone fruits," especially plums, are generally regarded owes its being to the fact that they are too often eaten when unripe. When ripe, they are as wholesome as any other fruit. ”

“ Black currant tea is one of the oldest of old-fashioned remedies for sore throats and colds. It is made by pouring half a pint of boiling water on to a large tablespoonful of the jelly or jam. To make the jelly use the same recipe as for blackberry jelly.
The fresh juice pressed from the fruit is, of course, better than tea made from the jelly, but as winter is the season of coughs and colds the fruit is least obtainable when most needed.
Brazil Nut.
Brazil nuts are excellent for constipation. They are also a good substitute for suet in puddings. Use 5 oz. nuts to 1 lb. flour. ”

“ Prune tea is an excellent drink for irritable persons. It is made as follows: To every pint of washed prunes allow 1 quart of distilled water. Soak the prunes all night, and afterwards simmer to rags in the [Pg 66] same water. Strain, and flavour with lemon juice if desired.
Potato.
The potato is a cheap and homely remedy against gout, scurvy, and rickets. Dr. Lambe tells how he cured a case of scurvy solely with raw potatoes. One of the favourite dishes of that good old doctor was a salad composed of sliced raw potatoes and olive oil. ”

“ Tea is a slow poison, and so is coffee except under exceptional conditions when it is used as a medicine, and then it should always be pale-roasted.
Fruit should always be eaten at the beginning of a meal. ”

“ We hear a great deal about the "Simple Life" and "Returning to Nature" nowadays, but most of us are so situated that the proposed simplicity simply spells increased complexity. The "vegetarian chop" costs the housewife more than double the time and labour involved in preparing its fleshly namesake. And when it comes to illness some of the systems of bathing and exercising prescribed by the "naturopath" are infinitely more troublesome to the patient and his friends than the simple expedient of sending for the doctor and taking the prescribed doses. ”

“ The daily allowance of nuts may be thoroughly macerated and eaten with fruit in the place of cream. Ordinary people may use a nut-mill, which flakes, not macerates, the nuts. But people with bad teeth and a weak digestion will do better to invest in a nut butter machine. I may add that the nuts will not macerate properly unless they are crisp, and to this end they must be put in a warm oven for a short time, just before grinding. ”

“ The oat is generally cited as the most nourishing of all the cereals, and a good nerve food. The fine oatmeal gruel of our grandmothers has gone almost entirely out of fashion, but its use might be revived with advantage. Like wheat, it is a complete food. ”

“ Lemon juice is also an old remedy for the removal of freckles and blackheads from the face. It should be rubbed in at bedtime, after washing with warm water.
Lettuce.
Lettuce is noted for its sedative properties, although these are not great in the large, highly-manured, commercial specimens. It is very easily digested, and may, therefore, [Pg 47] be eaten by those with whom salads disagree in the ordinary way.
Nettle.
The tender tops of young nettles picked in the spring make a delicious vegetable, somewhat resembling spinach. They are excellent for sufferers from gout and skin eruptions. ”

“ Within its clean and airy precincts are manufactured the famous Barley Malt Biscuits (and some thirty other varieties) , rich and wholesome Cakes, air-raised Bread, pure Preserves, a specially prepared Barley Malt Meal, Pale Roasted Coffee, and Stamina Food—this last being the best-balanced food for Infants and Invalids yet produced. In the making of these foods only the very choicest ingredients are employed; the only flour used is a very fine wholemeal ”

“ After all it is the food most favoured by monkeys, and our teeth and digestive apparatus more nearly resemble those of the monkey than the carnivorous and herbivorous animals so many of us seemingly prefer to imitate. ”

“ Spinach is very easily digested, and so juicy that no added water is needed in which to cook it.
Tomato.
The tomato, according to an American physician, is one of the most powerful deobstruents (remover of disease particles, and opener of the natural channels of the body) of the materia medica. ”

“ When so many manufactured foods are more or less adulterated—even such everyday articles as Bread and Biscuits being no exceptions—it is good news to know that Delicious Biscuits, Bread, Cakes, &c., can be obtained which are guaranteed, and proved by frequent analysis to be, absolutely free from any impurity whatever. ”

“ Especially do not cook fruit and vegetables in hard water. They are nearly always rendered indigestible by such a process, and "vegetarianism," not the hard water, is often blamed for the sufferings of the consumers. ”

“ Strong celery broth flavoured with parsley is excellent.
Cresses.
All the cresses are anti-scorbutic, that is, useful against the scurvy. The ancient Greeks also believed them to be good for the brain.
The ordinary "mustard and cress" of our salads is good for rheumatic patients, while the water-cress is valuable in cases of tubercular disease. Anæmic patients may also eat freely of it on account of the iron it contains. Care should be taken, however, from whence it [Pg 32] is procured, as a disease peculiar to sheep but communicable to man may be carried by it. ”

“ Fernie, "is about as wise a thing as one can take by way of dessert after a substantial meal." This is because fresh pine-apple juice has been found to act upon animal food in very much the same way that the gastric juice acts within the stomach. But vegetarians should eat fresh fruit [Pg 64] at the beginning of meals rather than at the end. ”

“ Tea-drinking is considered to be very injurious, but the habit is difficult, apparently impossible, for some people to overcome, and therefore the Universal Digestive Tea supplies a real need. A tea minus tannin is a boon to everyone, but especially to the sufferers from dyspepsia and nervous complaints. ”

“ Fernie half a pound of dates and half a pint of new milk will make a satisfying repast for a person engaged in sedentary work.
Elderberry.
The elderberry has fallen into neglect of late years, owing to the [Pg 35] lazy and disastrous modern habit of substituting the mineral drugs of the chemist for the home-made vegetable remedies of our grandmothers. Nevertheless, the elderberry is one of the most ancient and tried of medicines, held in such great esteem in Germany that, according to the German folk-lore, men should take off their hats in the presence of an elder-tree. ”

“ There is an all but endless array of breakfast foods—bread, cakes, biscuits, etc., etc., that are not only beneficial because of what they contain, but are free from the injurious chemical adulterants so largely used nowadays. ”

“ It should be used in all affections of the liver, etc., where calomel is indicated.
The superstition that tomatoes are a cause of cancer is absolutely without foundation. Vegetarian cancer patients who have recovered after being given up as "hopeless" by the orthodox faculty eat tomatoes freely. Another belief, strongly supported by some otherwise "advanced" scientific men, is that tomatoes are bad for those who suffer from a tendency to gout, or uric acid disease. ”