H. F. Harris

“ The thinner corn-bread is baked the more perfectly it cooks. It should not be more than an inch thick and preferably less. A cannon-ball of raw meal, with only the thinnest of surfaces decently baked, is an insult to a man's intelligence as well as to his digestion. ”

“ A man then who is a habitual user of alcoholic drinks not only thereby diminishes his capacity to labor effectually, but at the same time renders himself more liable to disease. No more striking example of this could be brought forward than the well established fact that persons who use alcohol are exceedingly prone to consumption—so true is this, indeed, that we might almost look upon the drug as being practically the cause of this disease in most instances. ”

“ It is greatly to be deplored that some of our professional national school-masters do not address themselves to this subject rather than to appealing to the worst passions of the ignorant in attacking the great institutions of our country, and in assailing the fundamental principles of our government that come down to us as a priceless heritage from the wise and patriotic statesmen who first brought our nation into life. ”

“ It is of fundamental importance that at all times and under all circumstances the cooking of this class of foods should be as thorough as is possible, for when this is not done digestive disturbances are sure to follow, and much of the food is actually wasted. There are but few cardinal principles in the ordinary hygiene of life that are so commonly neglected as this, since it is the habit of a large proportion of the American people to consume three times a day masses of tenacious starch which has not been acted upon by heat sufficiently to render it digestible. ”

“ Thousands of men living in rural parts of the United States and Canada, out of reach of a public water-system, have equipped their homes with water-supply conveniences equal to any found in the cities. Thousands more who could well afford to do so and who could do so advantageously, have not done so for various reasons—because the idea has not occurred to them, or because they did not know how to go about it, or because they mistakenly thought the expense too great. ”

“ Very slowly the world is awakening to the fact that no agencies play such an important part in the preservation of health as the consumption of reasonable quantities of well-cooked and properly selected food, and the habitual taking of wholesome drinks. ”

“ The public should be taught to understand that it is not infrequently the case that bacteria may be present in the mouths of individuals who are quite immune to their ill effects, and who are, therefore, perfectly well, but who may, by conveying them to others, particularly children, induce in them serious disease. ”

“ IMPROPERLY VENTILATED HOUSES; excesses, PARTICULARLY THE TAKING OF ALCOHOL, conduce to the development of the disease—long-continued inebriety being beyond doubt the cause that most frequently leads to consumption. It is a common error that alcoholic stimulants tend to ward off consumption, and it is absolutely certain that these substances not only do not act in a curative way in those who have already contracted the disease, but are positively detrimental. ”

“ Advice as to Bathing.—Much difference of opinion exists as to the proper temperature of the water for bathing, some holding that it should be quite cold, while others are equally positive that it should be warm. Unfortunately it is impossible to give fixed rules concerning this somewhat important matter, for there is every reason to believe that it should be determined in each individual case according to circumstances, and that, therefore, both may be right. Some persons unquestionably do better with one, and some with the other. ”

“ It is of the utmost importance that attention be given to the treatment, as, so long as the patient remains with the parasites in his blood, so long is he a menace to his friends and neighbors.
Mode of Infection Through Mosquitoes.—The most brilliant triumph in modern medicine, and one of the most creditable achievements of human ingenuity, has been the absolute demonstration that malaria is carried [Pg 174] from man to man by means of the Anopheles mosquito, and that the disease can, in nature, be produced in absolutely no other way. ”

“ Nothing is more important for us to recognize than that our diseases are contracted from neighboring subjects just in proportion as we are closely associated with them. From our fellowmen we contract, as everyone knows, a large number of diseases, either by direct contact or by means of the air that surrounds us. From the earth we get hook-worms and other animal parasites, either by coming directly in contact with it or through eating uncooked fruits and vegetables. From water we get typhoid fever, dysentery, cholera, and many other parasitic diseases. ”

“ With but few exceptions, foods are so altered by heat that their proper mastication becomes much easier, and cooking, therefore, materially aids in reducing them to a state in which they are much more readily acted upon by the digestive juices. It should never be forgotten, also, that cooking is of the utmost importance from the standpoint of killing bacteria and animal parasites that may be present in food. If we were to adopt universally the habit of eating everything raw, the general mortality would certainly be considerably increased. ”

“ As the germs are certainly extraordinarily minute, a very small amount of any of these excretions might produce the disease in healthy individuals if it were to get into their bodies through water, milk, or any uncooked food, or if it were to find lodgment about the nose or mouth, or get upon the hands of other persons. It should also be remembered that the virus may easily get upon cooking-utensils, drinking-cups, bed-linen, and other articles with which we are constantly brought into close contact, and that the disease might be transmitted in this way. ”

“ What has just been said concerning water applies equally well to milk. When taken alone it very frequently agrees with patients much better than does solid food, but when mixed with the latter is prone to produce indigestion, just as does water. Fermented milk in the form of buttermilk is a very popular beverage in some parts of the world, but it may be well doubted as to whether it deserves the reputation for wholesomeness generally accorded it; being a liquid, and at the same time acid, it is peculiarly prone to increase acidity, and is not tolerated by persons who suffer with sour stomach. ”

“ With the exception of the rare disease known as glanders, the horse is not believed to be directly responsible for any of the maladies from which the human being suffers, but it is well established that fully 95 per cent. of house-flies hatch in the manure of these animals, and they, therefore, become indirectly responsible for some of the most serious diseases affecting the human being. It is thus seen that almost every object with which man comes in intimate contact is capable of conveying to him the poison of one or more diseases. ”

“ Ignorant as the average man is of the causes that produce sickness and the means by which this result is accomplished, he is naturally not in a position to form a correct judgment concerning such matters, and as a consequence, sees no reasons for taking the precautions that are necessary in order to ward off disease. This ignorance, it must be confessed with sorrow, is in a measure the fault of the medical profession, which has not in the vast majority of instances lived up to its ideals in this connection. ”

“ True to the superstition that the warmer we kept an infant the better, too frequently we see them confined to hot stuffy rooms when they should be out in the sunshine, or under the trees. Instead of being allowed to gain health and strength in the forests, which are the schoolhouses of nature, the miserable little wretch is later sent to a public school as soon as he or she can be trusted to go alone on the streets, and the tiny victim too frequently contracts diphtheria, scarlet fever, whooping-cough, measles, or some other disease as a reward of [Pg 65] merit. ”

“ In just what manner the germ of consumption gains entrance to the human body, we are more or less uncertain, but there are reasons for the belief that in many instances they pass in by means of the inhaled air; there is no doubt that in a small percentage of cases the bacillus gains entrance to the body through an abrasion of the skin or of some mucous membrane; finally the bacteria are [Pg 182] often taken in with the foods that we eat, or by putting objects upon which the germs are present into the mouth, or eating with hands which have been contaminated and not washed. ”

“ On all sides the observant medical man sees constant and reckless disregard of the simplest and most fundamental laws governing this subject. Nothing is more common than to hear of men in the prime of life being seized with what is called a “nervous breakdown,”—which generally means a digestive breakdown—to be followed by an era of misery for the unfortunate subject and his scarcely happier family. ”

“ As you value your happiness materially, and as you desire a healthy old age and a long life, inform yourselves as to the few simple laws that govern human existence, and attempt so far as lies in your power to follow them. ”

“ A nation must dream before becoming great. Let it not be understood from the foregoing that the writer would in the slightest degree minimize the necessity for a reasonable amount of work, for he thoroughly appreciates that without labor neither the individual nor the nation itself could remain sound—it is only urged that excessive work is quite as much to be feared as none at all. ”

“ No sign of this change is more significant than the awakening of the press of the country to the vast importance of instructing the public in health matters, and their changed attitude toward the charlatans and quacks who live by promising the impossible. Largely subsidized by the infamous vendors of patent medicine, our newspapers and magazines still lend their columns to these human vampires who prey pre-eminently on the ignorance and credulity of the hopelessly-diseased poor ”

“ Pastries and Cakes.—Peculiarly unwholesome are pastries containing any considerable proportion of fat, and also most varieties of cake. With the exception possibly of hot batter-cakes served with an abundance of butter and syrup, cooks have so far produced no compound so heinous and totally depraved as pound-cake. Fruit-cake also stands high up in the list of undesirable sweets. It certainly passes all understanding why cooks should continue to persecute the stomachs of a dependent world with such highly obnoxious concoctions ”

“ Over a large area of the United States corn-bread is an article of daily diet with a great majority of the inhabitants, and its wholesomeness as compared with other breads becomes, therefore, an important question. Unfortunately, corn-meal does not lend itself to the preparation of a dry bread having sufficient consistency to require chewing. It is true that the crusts of the bread made from this grain answer these requirements fairly well, and there is therefore no reason why this part of it should not be used to any extent, provided it be prepared from good meal. ”

“ Of protean manifestations, occurring in almost every part of the body and producing diseases of the brain, of the nerves, of the bones, of the skin, and of all of the internal organs—pre-eminent is the terrible malady we call consumption, which is tuberculosis of the lungs. It has been estimated that one-seventh of all the people born into the world die as a result of this malady in some one of its various forms, and it is probable that one person out of every three dying between the ages of fifteen and sixty years, succumb to this disease. ”

“ General Hygiene of Infant Life.—In order for children to be healthy, the greatest regularity is necessary in their habits. They should arise at a certain hour in the morning and go to bed at a fixed time at night. Their clothing should be loose, and not too tight fitting, and should at all times correspond to the state of the weather. Nothing is more common, and nothing produces irritability, loss of sleep, and even serious general disturbances in infants, more frequently than too much clothing. ”

“ Experiments on a somewhat extended scale have shown within recent years that young and vigorous individuals at least may live and thrive on a diet composed largely of vegetables; [Pg 131] no one has yet shown that a strict vegetable diet is that best adapted to the average individual, and no competent authority on this subject at the present time advocates a diet purely of this kind. It is true that the vegetables ordinarily eaten contain all of the elements that are essential to the animal system, such as starch, sugar, fat and albumins. ”

“ Inasmuch as there is a deep-rooted superstition among most people that alcohol is the panacea for snake bite—and such notions die hard—it may be well to say that all of the authenticated cases of this character that have occurred in this country have recently been collected, with the result that it was shown that only about one man in ten dies who is bitten by a venomous serpent, and it is, therefore, quite easy to understand why alcohol has maintained its reputation as being an antidote in such cases—the chances being nine to one in the victim's favor without any treatment whatever. ”

“ Another point is well worth remembering, especially by young married women: a man whose home is pleasant and comfortable is likely to spend as much of his time there as he can—if it is otherwise, he will seek some place that has these desirable qualities, such as his club, or an arm-chair in some corner saloon. Furthermore, a man who is not only abundantly, but nicely fed, has far less desire for the stimulants which lead to drunkenness, than the man who is denied at home the properly cooked and seasonably varied food which his system craves. ”