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.
179/224 page 155
![guished, and wrote his immoi-tal epic at twenty-two years of age; but his life was miserable and his reason dis- ordered, and he died at fifty-one. Pas- cal and Kirke White are additional ex- amples of the same result.* E.xperience, indeed, amply demon- strates that precocious and excessive activity of intellect and vivacity of feeling are most powerful impediments to healthy and vigorous digestion, and consequently to sufficient nutrition. In early life, therefore, when not only health and comfort, but future useful- ness, depend mainly on the complete- ness and vigour with which the sys- tem is developed, the preservation of the digestive organs by suitable diet, exercise, and regimen, should be a pri- mary object of attention with every sensible parent. Even as regards su- periority of mind, the healthy deve- lopment of the body is of essential im- portance, as the only sure foundation on which mental excellence can be built; because, so long as mind and body are intimately connected with each other, the former must continue to be affected by every change in the condition of the organs on which it de- pends. We enjoy acuteness of vision by preserving the eye in high health, and exercising it regularly and mo- derately ; and, in like manner, we can obtain and preserve intellectual and moral vigour only by preserving the health of the brain, and exercising it in conformity with its natural consti- tution. Instead, then, of feeding the closely- confined and excitable children of the middle and higher classes from early infancy on stimulating animal food, and even giving them wine and fer- mented liquors, we shall act more in accordance with the laws of Na- ture by restricting them, during the three or four earliest years of child- hood, chiefly to a milk and farinaceous ♦ On this nml Uindrnd siibipcta. tlio rcnilor will And much vnlimblG inronnBlion in Dr lirieli.nm's Kcmarks on the Inlluonco of Mental CullTviUiiin and Monlal Excitomcnt upon Ilonlthi roprlntoil, with excellent prnctlcnl Notes, by Iho lalo Dr liolioi t M.'ionish. 2d edition. Olnsgow, IH3(J. See niso Dr C'uldwell'a Thoughts on Physicnl lidnciitlon, ic, and Dr Swcetser'a Mental ilygldnc, already refer- diet, with a small allowance of meat on alternate days; and by seeking to increase their digestive power and bodily vigour by frequent exercise in the open air, before giving them a more solid diet. By these means the development of the body, the keenness of appetite, the tone of digestion, and the desire of, and fitness of the system for, animal food, will increase in re- gular proportion, and a free supply of that species of aliment will even be- come necessary to carry on the gi-owth. 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 con- dition of the digestive organs at the time when is taken it. Children who are prone to bodily exercise, and live almost entirely in the open air, as many of those of the lower orders do, and who disjDlay no unusual sensibility or activity of mind, or, in other words, no unusual irrita- bility of the nervous system, not only bear but require a larger proportion of animal food than their more deli- cate and sensitive companions. Not only is their digestion more vigorous, but the waste going on in the system is much greater, and the nutritive functions are more active: the need, consequently, for nourishing food, and the desire to procure it,* are 2)ro23or- * Here, however,as at later periods of llfe,miscliiet sometimes arises from people not being'sufflcioutly aware that, in common with other sensations, appe- tite may he so far deranned 6;/ disease as to tjlve very incorrect and unnatural indications. It oi'tcn hap- pens, for example, that a patient shivers and com- plains of cokl, when, wo know bv the thermometer that the heat of the skin Is rcallV above instead of below the natural standard. )n like manner, in some morbid slates of tlio nervous system a craving is often felt,which impels the patient to eat,but which isnot true hunger i and hence, if food be taken. It will bo digested with great dilllcnlly. Oecnsionnilv, on tho other hand, no desire for food is experienced when tho system really needs it, .-md when it would bo digested with nnee if introduced into the stomach. l'.s,|uirol alludes to cases of this description, and 1 have mot with similar examples. Voisin also men- lions llml,m the Hospital of Incurables inl'arls, I licro arc some idiots so low In liie scale of Intelligence,as [o make no attempt to tako llio food wlilcli is plaerti before tliem, allhongh tbcv eat and digest le.-ldily wlion fed by others. Sometimes, ngiiiu. a]ipe(ile Is depraved in quality, and the imtlent desiderab » tho most nauseous and repulsive kinds of leod. such na earth, chalk, coals, or excrement. Tiiereare morbid states, loo. In which tlic nppetito is prodigiously increased,and the patleiU consumes Incredible Munn- tltles offood,—whleli. bowever.are very Imperfeetly digested. Charles Domery, for Instance, when n prl- Boncr of war at Liverpool, cunsumed, iu ono day.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20404542_0179.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
