THE HYGIENE OF FOODS-AN BY H. W. TAYLOR, M.D. The separation of certain substances into "foods" and "medicines" is an arbitrary classification, resting upon no logical or scientific basis. In chemical constitution, inorganic construction, and even in physio-pathological effects upon man, the foods and medicines have no peculiarity dividing them into classes that would not serve to divide individuals of the same class as markedly and as unmistakably. It is a fruitful source of error to regard foods as unvaryingly harmless, even when no violent manifestation of disturbed function follow upon their ingestion. That the universal use of one article of food is doing more to shorten human life and to burden what remains of it with innumerable ills, I am led fully to believe from the following outlined experiment and hundreds of confirmatory observations made after the conclusion of the EXPERIMENT. On May 10th, 1877, after having made observations for one month upon the pulse, temperature, respiration and urine, (in accordance with the suggestions of my friend, Prof. S. A. Joues,) I excluded from my dietary all articles save seven and one-half ounces of bread, making up the deficiency in quantity by the addition of a large portion of animal flesh, amounting at first to three and one-half pounds daily, afterwards to four pounds, and finally to five pounds per diem. This consisted mainly of lean beef, fresh, and selected carefully. Occasionally this was varied with wild game, such as young hares, young squirrels (fully grown), prairie chickens and fresh fish. At the beginning of the experiment my weight was 220 pounds; pulse 68; respirations 16; urine 36 ounces, specific gravity 1019 to 1022, without albumen or sugar, and amber-colored. My health was good. My diet had been largely vegetable with a small amount of meats. The daily record of the experiments I consider would only prolong this paper without compensation to the reader. I therefore give only a summary condensed from thirty-six pages of legal cap, closely written. From May 10th, 1877, to September 10th of same year, the experiment was continued as rigorously as possible without other change in my business occupations or surroundings. At that time the following entry is made in my book: "September 10th. Weight 182 pounds; pulse 78; respiration 21; temperature 98.9°; urine 56 ounces, with specific gravity 1026, colorless or very slightly amber tinted, does not foam on shaking; tests for albumen and sugar negative." The urine had been weighed and tested every morning, with a very few exceptions, without discovering aught abnormal save the great increase in quantity and the continuous higher specific gravity. The significant part of this feature was that while the quantity of urine was almost doubled the specific gravity had steadily gone higher. The experiment was ended because of frequent severe attacks of acute laryngitis, closely resembling "catarrhal croup" in a child. This, with an obstinate constipation and a threatened loss of voice, determined me to suspend the "proving." The notable increase of the urinary excretion was not explainable upon the basis of an excess of fluids ingested. There was some thirst, but it was offset by an aversion to fluids approaching a real difficulty in swallowing them. These conditions may be best presented in their order: 1st. Obstinate constipation. Stools often delayed three days. The primary symptom was bilious diarrhoea, which troubled me for two weeks at the outset of the experiment. 2d. Attacks of laryngitis with swelling of glands of throat, extinction of voice and great prostration. These attacks lasted from four to eight days, and occurred four times in the four months. It is to be remembered that this was in summer, when such attacks are at their minimum of frequency. 3d. Large increase in the flow of urine, and a small but steady increase in its specific gravity. 4th. Great bloating of abdomen immediately after meals, with somnolence, dull headache and wakefulness in the after part of the night. 5th. An irruption of boils and pimples, and a general roughening of the skin. 6th. Rapid turning of the hair to gray at an early age (32 years). 7th. A notable change of mental habit. Whereas I am naturally cheerful and of equable temper, I became morose, anxious, melancholy and peevish. Along with this was the pronounced tendency to remain awake in the after part of the night. On the 10th of September I abandoned my meat and took only the seven and one-half ounces of bread with the same fluids in the same quantities which I had used during the experiment. On the 20th of September the following entry is made in my day book: "September 20th. Weight 190 pounds; pulse 70; respiration 16; urine 30 ounces, deep amber, almost red in color, and specific gravity 1019. Tests for sugar and albumen give negative results." During this experiment I had continued in the discharge of my professional duties as usual, and had in no manner altered my habits of life except in so far as drowsiness after meals and in the evening prevented me from reading and writing, as was my wont. The thermometer showed only the slightest variation in temperature, and I took no medicine although tormented with a dull headache that annoyed me very much. Up to the 17th of November I continued to make daily examinations of the urine and demonstrated that the quantity daily excreted varied only a few ounces— the smallest being 27 ounces, the largest 36 ounces. Even the coming on of cool weather seemed to have little or no effect upon the secretion, although one cup of coffee had been added to my daily allowance, and the cold weather must have repressed transpiration by the skin. What, then, was the true explanation of this seeming paradox? No more nor less than that the whole of the meat eaten had been excreted by the kidneys, involving those organs in an amount of extra work as proven by the enormous increase of the daily flow of urine. This conclusion is greatly strengthened by the fact that by simply leaving off the eighty ounces of animal food and continuing the comparatively small amount of vegetable food and the fluids my weight was increased four-fifths of a pound per diem for ten days. Or, in other words, while I had lost seventeen per cent. of my weight while consuming seventy-five ounces of beef and seven ounces of bread daily, during four months, I had begun to retrieve my loss at a much more rapid rate upon the vegetable part of this regimen alone. There can be but one conclusion drawn from this experiment, viz., that animal food is not assimilated in the human body. So thoroughly am I convinced of this fact that I no longer depend upon it as a food, but use it only as a drug and in accordance with the symptoms and conditions primarily produced in this experiment. These are as follows: 1st. Bilious diarrhoea without pain, coming on very early in the morning. This was followed by obstinate constipation, with great diminution of the biliary secretion. 2d. Acute attack of laryngitis identical with the catarrhal croup of children. I have found that exclusion of animal food will entirely obviate the tendency to croup in children, and regard an animal diet as the great factor in some diseases of the larynx and pharynx. 3d. Somnolency after meals, with wakefulness in the after part of the night, accompanied by dull headache, great irascibility, anxiety, and tendency to melancholy. 4th. A species of narcosis, characterized by flushing of the face, somnolency with deep sleep and stertorous breathing. Sudden death during sleep is likely to occur in the course and as the direct effect of this narcosis. The Hon. Zach. Chandler probably died in the narcosis which follows a heavy meal of meats. Many deaths from supposed "heart disease" occur in the course and by reason of this food narcosis. 5th. As a secondary effect, insomnia and night vigil occurring in the after part of the night. 6th. An unhealthy condition of the skin, with pimples, boils and dark discolorations, especially on hands and face. Laying aside the highly probable supposition that certain diseases as tuberculosis, pleuro-pneumonia, scarlatina and measles, may be directly communicated to the human subject by the ingestion of imperfectly cooked animal flesh-nay, that these diseases originate in quadrupeds and are of the most frequent occurrence in some animals used as food by man, we are fully justified in excluding meats from the dietary upon hygienic grounds alone. Were it within the province of this paper to take into consideration the subject of animal food as a source of contagious disease, I might more pointedly enforce this argument. As a matter of personal hygiene, it should claim and receive the serious attention of the representative organization of our school-the American Institute of Homœopathy. |