The physiology of digestion, considered with relation to the principles of dietetics / by Andrew Combe.
- Andrew Combe
- Date:
- 1860
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The physiology of digestion, considered with relation to the principles of dietetics / by Andrew Combe. Source: Wellcome Collection.
156/224 page 132
![their normal coudition. As an addi- tional illustration of the necessity of inorp-anic material, we may mention the case, quoted by Mulder, of a fa- mily in which the children suffered re- peatedly from fractures of the bones. The cause was traced to an insufficient supply of the phosphate of lime af- forded by a low potato-diet. A change to a regimen of meat and rye-bread, by restoring perfect nutrition, removed the disease. In lilie manner, if the milk supplied to infants do not contain the due pro- portion of the salts of lime, it is natural to suppose that they will be attacked with rhachitis.orsofteningof the bones. This view derives supportfrom the fact, that the diarrhoeawith which such chil- dren are affected, is often checked by the exhibition of chalk. Dr R. D. Thomson,inhisexperimentson the food of animals, found that cows which were fed partially on malt, yielded a smaller quantity of milk than when barley con- stituted part of their diet; his explana- tion of which is, that the soluble salts are much diminished in the malt, and hence a larger quantity of the grain would be required than of barley to produce the salts of a given amount of milk.'* Boussingault endeavours to shew, that the increase of the skeleton in young pigs fed on potatoes is impossi- ble without the aid of the lime con- tained in the water which they drink ;t and it is well known that the chlorotic state of young females is owing to a de- ficiency of iron in the blood, which must be remedied before health can be restored. The reader will now easily see how the continuance of an unvaried rou- tine of diet may prove injurious to the system, from the food happening to be deficient in some element necessary for the repair of the tissues. There occur in medical practice many cases which withstand tlie efforts of the best directed treatment, but immediately begin to yield when change of place and scene is resorted to. It is not im- possible that the benefit thus derived ; M^: ClfrmlLfdi rhy,k«c. Tome .vl.. 18«, p. 4a0, il UQ is frequently owing as much to the supply of some alimentary principle in which the body was formerly defi- cient, as to the bracing effects of a new air; indeed there are cases in which a change of air may be of less conse- quence than a change merely of the water which is drunk or used in cook- ing. Upon the same principle may be explained the appearance of scurvy in ])enitentiaries where the food was perfectly suitable if used for a short time only, but where its continued use was followed by disease. When the health of prisoners is affected without any apparent external cause, a change of diet is generally followed by an im- mediate improvement in their condi- tion. The cause of scurvy is evident- ly diseased nutrition, arising from the non-assimilation of some principle es- sential to health and the continuance of life, but which either is wanting in the food, or is prevented from being duly assimilated, by peculiar circum- stances unfavourable to healthy action. Some physicians look for the deficient principle in the vegetable acids, and in support of their opinion refer to the speedy recovery of cases occurring on Bhipboard, when the crews are sup- plied with lemon-juice or fresh vege- tables. It is more probable, however, that the vegetable acids act by aiding in the proper assimilation of the food, and not by supplying a deficient prin- ciple. Others are disposed to ascribe the disease to a deficiency of potash in the system ; and bring forward in con- firmation of this view, cases which were benefited by the exhibition of the ni- trate of that alkali. Liebig, again, ascribes the disease to a deficient sup- ply of inorganic matter, caused by the lonrf-continued use of salt meat, which has^'been deprived of its soluble salts by the brine. But if the absence of these salts were the cause, on what principle could we explain the bene- ficial action of the pure vegetable acids? Other physiologists believe that scurvy may arise from the de- ficiency of any one principle, the presence of which is cssentm to the well-being of the economy. Ihus, Dr Ohristison ascribed the occurrence of](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20404542_0156.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
