Health and condition in the active and the sedentary

Front matter

IN THE

ACTIVE AND THE SEDENTARY.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS

Preface

hO-

T HERE are few people who go long, without suffering some slight derangement of health, not necessarily dependent upon disease, but due to temporary disturbance in the functions of those organs upon whose continued equilibrium health depends.

These variations from absolute health are more often due to faults of our own, such as errors in eating and drinking, than to causes beyond our control, and are therefore, as I shall endeavour to show in these pages, easy of prevention.

In^ civilized life a perfectly healthy individual is the exception, not the rule ; and in an experience extending over thirty years, I can only recall a very few indeed who have not suffered from illness, or known what it is to feel unwell. There may be every prospect of long life, and yet a person may not go a week without some departure from the healthy state. He or she may feel unusually fatigued without adequate cause ; may suffer from headache ; may be unable to sleep ; may be troubled with indigestion ; be annoyed and worried by trivial causes that would pass

b vi

PREFACE.

unnoticed at other times ; may feel a disinclination for mental exertion, or may take a depressing view of ordinary mundane affairs. These deviations from health may not be incompatible with continuance of the daily duties, but they are with comfort, and with happiness to the individual, and to others.

Long life and healthy life are, in a great measure, in the hands of us all, and the deviations from health that we bring upon ourselves are, if remediable, more correctly so'* by dietetic means than by medicines. The former may be permanent cures, the latter are but palliatives.

Food of a wrong kind, or in too great quantity ; food badly cooked, or taken at wrong times, or hurriedly ; bad water, bad milk, bad wine ; food that does not nourish all the tissues, oi* that nourishes certain of them to excess ; insufficient food, and too much work ; and a luxurious mode of life and insufficient work, will cause departure from health, in the strongest.

We live by what we digest and assimilate, and, paradoxical as it may sound, we often die by what we do not assimilate, — that is, it remains in the system as waste, and clogs the human machine, preventing its proper working, thus inducing disease and premature death.

Perhaps our advanced civilization and artificial mode of existence may have something to do with many of the slight ailments of modern life ; they lead to errors of malnutrition, and hence to nervous exhaustion and want of tone, and are the almost invariable source of deviations from mental and bodily health.

Strange as it may appear, leaders of thought, intellectual men and women, great lawyers and

PREFACE.

VI 1

writers, and people of the highest literary attainments, are seldom introspective where their own health is concerned, and fall easy victims to the most ignorant and pretentious quack, and to advertised nostrums that convert a trivial ailment, due to causes easily remedied by diet and exercise, into a permanent source of ill-health or serious, disease. Those who would not trust the quack with the loan of a sixpence, will entrust him or his nostrums with their lives, with the utmost confidence, and, as I and all other physicians well know, often with most disastrous results. Civilization, education, and the advanced scientific research of our time do not always teach common sense.

I trust I may be pardoned for placing this work before the public. The success of a previous one on the treatment of obesity by scientific dieting, which in three years has passed through six editions of several thousand copies, must be my excuse, as well as the modern growth in favour of the dietetic treatment of the many diseases due to errors in eating and drinking.

In conclusion, I must thank the reviewers for their invariably kind notices of my previous efforts, and commit this work, which I trust points out the truest way of attaining robust health and long life, to their impartial judgment, and to the patience of the reader.

44, Harley Street, London, W., September, 1894.

Preface To Second Edition

The first edition of this work has been most favourably received, and for this I feel largely indebted to the kindness of the Press who have reviewed it so flatteringly.

The fact that a second edition has already been called for, proves to me that a very large section of the reading and thinking public take an increasing interest in questions relating to their health and well-being.

I can only trust that this book has been, and will be the means of helping to that end.

44, Harley Street, W., I^ebrttary, 1895.

Preface To The Third Edition

The first and second editions of this work, embracing several thousand copies, having been exhausted within a year, a third edition is now called for.

I am pleased to find that the dietetic treatment of ailments due to improper diet is now attracting, not only in England and America, but in other countries as well, a considerable amount of attention ; and the very flattering notices of this work that have appeared, both at home and in English papers abroad, evidence its growing popularity and favour.

The success in treating diseases due to malnutrition, and improper diet and mode of life, by diet is so exceedingly encouraging that one becomes an enthusiast. Indeed, there is nothing surprising in this, as it goes without saying that we live and enjoy health by what we eat, and its effect on the economy. Not only does our mode of life influence us, but as we live so we leave to posterity the blessings of health, of a sound constitution, or a legacy of disease in the form of gout, obesity, and other ailments due to dietetic ignorance or excess.

X PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.

My experience in treating such diseases as obesity, gout, etc., by diet is, of course, exceedingly large, and it teaches me this, that more people err from ignorance than from an absolute love of good living. Thousands suffer from taking certain foods in excess that they positively do not like; but they have been taught to believe that certain foods are necessary to them, and thus err from want of knowledge of the physiology of nutrition and waste.

I have persistently, for years, advocated the teaching of dietetics as a greater part of the medical curriculum, and want of attention to this and its results has been pointed out to me by many eminent confreres.

Of course the medical curriculum even now embraces a very large amount of subjects, but I think that the subject of dietetics deserves a far more prominent place than it at present occupies. It is pitiful to see the ignorance on this subject that now exists, even among those who form public opinion.

I can only again express my gratitude to those who have reviewed this work for their almost invariably kindly notices, and I cannot help thinking really more flattering ones than my humble efforts deserve.

44, Harley Street, W., September, 1895.

Preface To The Fourth Edition

The fact that within a period of eighteen months three editions, numbering many thousands of copies, of this work have been exhausted is, one may presume, a small tribute to its popularity. It seems to have filled a want, viz. a work in non-technical language embracing not only the causes of the numerous ailments of mal-assimilation of food but also the prevention of them more especially by dietetic means. I have endeavoured for many years to teach that exercise and dieting is of enormous influence in keeping a person in good health. But diet is of far more importance still in illness, and indeed recovery in cases of exhaustive disease almost entirely depends upon it, and I wish I could say that I think the present system of dieting the convalescent as consonant with the teachings of science as it should be ; but it is not, and many a valuable life is lost for this reason.

The present system of dieting the convalescent tends more to increase bulk than strength, and I regret to say that the ordinary practitioner xii PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION.

understands very little about the values of different foods and their influence during the acute stages of illness, or of convalescence after. This, the most important part (as all can readily imagine) of medical education, is scarcely taught at all at the medical schools.

44, Harley Street, London, W,, April, 1896.

CONTENTS,

Chapter I. Page

What is health ? — Deviations from health — Happiness dependent on health — Perfect health, how to attain — Temperament and health — “ Mens sano in corpore sano ” — Muscular strength has no relation to health — The strength of a chain its weakest link — Insidious causes of disease — The aristocracy long lived, reason why ... ... i

Chapter II

Mode of life influencing length of life — Length of life increased by habits of activity and abstinence — Luxury and excitement— Effects of civilization — Strides in medical science — Accidents and diseases formerly fatal, no longer so — Wearing out and rusting out — Food and work — Pure air essential — Sedentary life — Abernethy on exercise — Relaxation essential — Mental and bodily rest — Sudden deaths, cause of — Heart and nervous system out of tone — Influence of diet and exercise — Pui-gatives and quack remedies, injurious effects of ... ... ... 7

CHAPTER HI.

Food and exercise vital factors — Angina — Gout and obesity — Intellectual men ignorant of their physical requirements — The man who drinks beer thinks beer — Causes of premature decay — Brain food — Food and old age — Depression of spirits — Medicine versus Diet — The stomach and its troubles — Appetite — Diseases due to diet only curable by diet — Evils oT self-medication — The body a machine — Human credulity ... ... ... 12

XIV

Chapter IV

Epochs in life — Climate — Early life — Environment — Density of population — Healthy localities — Mountaineers — Individual responsibility and control — The possible limits of life — Plenry Jenkins — Life-long suicide — Euthanasia ... 17

Chapter V

Growth, maturity, and decay — The foundation of a stong constitution — Maternal care — School and school life — Scholastic life, some errors of — Vital power — Hereditary weaknesses — Physical and mental equilibrium — The blood ; its influence on health — Hygienic rules not irksome— Health dependent on harmonious action of all organs — Cicero on Nature’s work — A good constitution — Strong brain, strong body — Idiots — Early forcing injurious — Precocious development and early decay — Animal training— Premature age, its causes ... ... ... 20

CHAPTER VI. Nutrition and life — Primitive man — The admixture of races

The sins of the fathers — Inherited constitutions — The Nervous — Gouty — Scrofulous — Bilious — Lymphatic —

Their characteristics — Their influence on length of life — Exigencies of modern society — Blended temperaments — Mal-nutridon and diet — Idios)mcrasies ... ... 26

Chapter VII

Medicine in constitutional defects — Constitution influenced by age, habit, accident, and disease — Moral control — The inherited vein — Legacy of disease — The foundation of health — The strong and the weak — Parental duty — The vigour of youth — Dietetics in school — The expert in dietetics — Growth and food — Emulation, effects of —

Girls’ dress — Tight-lacing, diseases from — Preservation of female beauty — Meretricious aids to beauty — Excitement and impure air, evils of — Charlatans and their ways — Cosmetics ... ... ... ... ... 34

Chapter VIII

How to live long — A short life and a merry one — Pleasure and pain — Detrimental habits — The gourmand — Alcohol and its dangers — Its influence on life — Duration of life in the temperate and intemperate, table of — Alcohol in early life, evils of — Excess in alcohol, remote effects of ... 43

CONTENTS.

XV

Chapter IX. Page

The physiology of nutrition — Bacchus and his votaries-- Hogarth’s characters — The beer, gin, and wine tippler The shadow of death — Alcohol in moderation : its effects — The temperance ciaze — Most suitable stiinulants — Alcohol in old age — Alcohol in disease — Special wines for obese and gouty — Aerated waters — Diet of the sedentary and active — Gluttony and tippling — Socrates’ advice — Activity of the ancients — Fatigue, cause of — Overfeeding, evils of — A sensible man — Ill-health, causes of— Beef-tea a stimulant — Too little food, evils of— Fish as a brain food — Conservatism of our race ... ••• 47

Chapter X

Health and Condition, its meaning — Constitutional flaws — Perfect health, and infectious disease — Talent no bar to ignorance and credulity — The dangers of quackery — Imperfect health — Sowing the wind and reaping the storm — The horse in condition and out of it — Working below par — Diet to be adapted to constitution- Diet in relation to occupation — Appearance influenced by diet and

CHAPTER XL

Aristocratic ailments — The London season — The debutante — Exhausting the nervous system — Close rooms and undue excitement — The waste of life — The Bournemouth Cemetery— Banished to die — Care of the teeth — Consumption — “ Too late ” — Poorness of blood — Cicero on middle age — Occupation necessary to health — Work during working hours only — Oiling the machine — Mental health — Solomon on sorrow — The diet of grief — The depressing influence of trouble on the nervous system ... ... 69

Chapter XII

A philosopher’s dicta — Byron’s death — Burns’s death — Southey and literature — Sardanapalus on wine — Sir Walter Scott, his mode of life — The days of the Regency — Sympathy between mind and body — Mental effects of indigestion — The taint of insanity — Softening of the brain — Famine and its effects — Condition in old age — Fisher folk long-lived — Vegetarianism injurious — Luigi Cornaro — St. Paul on wine — Changes in old age to be made carefully — Long life, rules conducive to

XVI

CONTENTS.

Chapter XIII. Food And Work

PAGE

Wear and tear — Building the house — Variety in diet — The hours for meals — Breakfast, lunch, and dinner — Afternoon tea injurious — A proper breakfast — Lunch for the active and the sedentary — A proper dinner — Time for dinner — Modem “whets ” — Wine with meals — Coffee after dinner- — Fluid with meals — Appetite an indication of health — Retirement from business : its effects ... ... 86

Chapter XIV. Exercise

Exercise and rest — Importance of exercise — Its action on the muscular and nervous system — On the heart — Evils of excessive exercise — Examination of heart — Effects of exercise on the skin — On the lungs — On the blood — Walking, effects of — The Black Hole of Calcutta — Daily exercise, amount of — Foot tons, meaning and equivalent of — The limit of exercise — Evils of insufficient exercise — Exercise and brain development — Riding exercise — Rowing — Golf — Cycling — Lawn tennis — Gymnastics —

An artificial horse — Exercise in obesity — The Turkish bath — Massage — The bath, its benefits — Perspiration, amount of — Influence of exercise on digestion — Rhythmical effects of exercise ... ... ... ... 93

Chapter XV. Wines And Other Beverages

Virtues, 'etc., of alcohol — ^Alcohol admissible, when — Dr. Pavy on wine — Disagreement about wine — Alcohol as a poison — Alcohol in relation to state of health — Fusel oil — Effect of age on alcoholic liquors — Adulteration — Cheap new wines dangerous — Colouring — Alcoholic strength — Flavour — Fermentation — F amous vineyards — Blending —

Names of wines — Imitating flavours Spanish wines

— Other wines — Good wine— Quantities that may be taken — “Proof spirit,” table of strength — Tannin in wines — Wines for the gouty, bilious, etc. — Action of champagne — Famous brands — Free from sugar — Tonic properties of ales, etc. — Clarets — Other stimulants, such as tea, coffee, cocoa — Making tea — Modes of drinking tea — Coffee, its beneficial effects : how to make — Water —

Uric acid — Drinking waters — Infectious germs — Hamburg cholera — Safest waters ... ... ... io6

CONTENTS.

XVll

Chapter XVI. Obesity

PAGE

Obesity, its chief cause — Its insidious growth — Corpulency as a disease — How the obese are regarded — Quacks and the obese — Mischief done by quacks — The law and quacks —

A case showing the danger of quack medicines — Self-treatment— Corpulency destructive to beauty — Tight corsets in corpulency — Cases of extreme corpulence — Races, obesity in — Temperaments and corpulency — Mental effect of corpulence — In disease — Fatty heart — Apoplexy — Bronchitis — Dropsy — Cure of corpulency — Ailments incident to obesity — Necessity of reducing to normal weight — Table of stature and weight — Dieting for obesity — No difficulty — Adjustment of amounts of food — Treatment in different parts of the world — Food according to climate — Health and strength restored by loss of fat — Table of losses in weight, four hundred cases — To keep at a stationary weight — Banting, etc. — The food of energy — Scientific dieting — Marienbad and Carlsbad in obesity and gout — Weakening effects of their waters —

Lean meat in obesity — A bad system — Banting’s system wrong — Symptoms of over-eating — Gluttony, dangers of — Food necessary for health, amount of — Workhouse dietary — Convict dietary — Playfair’s tables — Obesity, scientific dieting in — Gluten and bran biscuits — Rapid loss of fat — Obesity detrimental to health — A disease of indolence and ease — Anaemia in the obese — The bucolic complexion ... ... ... ... ... 121

CPIAPTER XVII.

GOUT.

Gout generally hereditary — A disease of luxury and ease — Laplanders and gout — Sir Robert Christison and gout —

Rare amongst spirit drinkers — Gout, refuse in the system — Living to eat, and ea.ting to live — Antiquity of gout —

The cup running over — Poor man’s gout — Nature’s warning— Drugs in gout — Causes of gout— The cure of gout — Suppressed gout — The production of gout — How to produce gout — Symptoms of gout — Archbishop Sheldon and gout — Proper treatment, the preventive — Danger of persistent attacks — Sir Andrew Clarke on gout — Gout not incurable — Hot water and gout — Kalzmar sparkling water — Wines for the gouty — Champagne Absoltl — Advice to the gouty — Change of air — Chronic gout, evils of — Gout and obesity twins — Diet in gout ... ... ... 148

XVlll

CONTENTS.

Chapter XVIII. Indigestion

PACK

Indigestion, cause of — Abernethy on — Deficient nervous stimulus — First symptom of disease — Man an imperfect machine — Indigestion and abstinence — Food should be varied — Digestibility of certain foods — Nervous influence and digestion — Varieties of indigestion — Alcohol a cause of indigestion — Experiments on dogs — Benefits of abstinence— Dyspeptic melancholia — Sympathy between heart and stomach — Protean symptoms of indigestion — The teeth in indigestion — Decomposition of food — Treatment of indigestion — Rest and change — The cooking of food —

Food eaten in sorrow — Fluid at meals — Relative digestibility of different foods — Diet for the dyspeptic — Breakfast— Lunch — Tea — Dinner — Suitable wines and spirits — Warm clothing — Atonic indigestion — Symptoms of —

Rules for dyspeptics — Deficient nervous tone — Indigestion from tight-lacing — Red nose — Indigestion from “ nipping ” — Pepsine cracknells — Dr. Lionel Beale on pepsine — A stitch in time saves nine ... ... ... i6i

Chapter XIX. Excessive Leanness

Hereditary tendency — Disposition influencing — Incompatible with strength — Excessive leanness a bar to insurance — Table of limit of weight to height — The stomach and assimilation — Leanness influenced by diet — Fattening the lean — Leanness incompatible with female beauty — Ladies of the harem — Toning up the nervous system — Large eaters sometimes lean — Uses of certain foods in the system — Alcohol in low vitality — Wines for the lean — General

Chapter XX. Constipation

Common cause of — Classes most troubled with — Causes very numerous — Main causes — Carelessness and indolence inducive of — Action of the bowels should be encour^ed — Purgatives, injurious in childhood — Duty of parents —

The most sensible remedy for — Chronic constipation — Symptoms of constipation — Venous congestion from —

The cure of constipation — Diet for — Liquids for — Tea and coffee injurious in — Massage beneficial for — Constipation in old people — Cooked fruits in — Depressing effects of constipation — Proper treatment of ... ... 192

CONTENTS.

XIX

CHAPTER XXL

THE BILIOUS TEMPERAMENT.

PAGE

Importance of the liver — Its influence in health — Its action on food — The liver a blood purifying gland — Bilious temperament hereditary — Symptoms of inacti'se liver— Action of alcohol on the liver — How to induce disease in — The Strasburg goose — Improper food in the bilious — Treatment of inactive liver — The influence of exercise — Biliousness in the sedentary — Biliousness from improper food — Stimulants in — Podophyllin useful ... ... 200

CHAPTER XXII. bright’s disease.

General causes of — Commonest in the intemperate — Deleterious effects of “ nipping ” — Its influence on liver and kidneys — Tabulated statistics of — Degeneration of tissue caused by — Frequent cause of deaths in middle age — Chronic Bright’s disease, symptoms of — Dangers of — Treatment of Bright’s disease — How to prolong life in ... 209

CHAPTER XXHI.

DIABETES,

Notable effects of diet in — Excretion of sugar in — A disease of mal-nutrition — Symptoms of — Length of life in — Foods for the diabetic — Wines — Vegetables — Dietary — Breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner — Saccharin useful — General rules ... ... ... ... ... 217

CHAPTER XXIV.

ANAEMIA,

Poorness of blood due to mal-assimilation — Causes of, in the female — In the male — Symptoms of — Treatment of — Fresh air and exercise — Dietary for — Constipation, indigestion a cause of — Good blood necessary to good

CHAPTER XXV.

NERVOUS DEBILITY,

The term a misnomer — Caused by errors in nutrition — The quack’s happy hunting-ground — Hypochondriasis and nervous debility — Depressing effects of — Causes of — Food suitable in — Delusions in — The religious enthusiast — Joan of Arc, Peter the Hermit, etc. — Overwork and worry a cause — The cure of — Change of scene in — Alcohol injurious in ... ... ... ... ... 224

XX

CONTENTS.

Slight Ailments Due to Improper Food AND Insufficient Exercise.

CHAPTER XXVI.

HEADACHE.

PAGE

Excess of food, troubles from — Various ailments due to — Neuralgic headache — Cause of — Congestive headache — Symptoms of — Treatment of — Diet for ... ... 229

CHAPTER XXVII.

ACIDITY.

Over-feeding, effects of — Skin diseases due to — Heartburn — Rheumatism — Indigestion and acidity — Stimulants, injurious in — Alkalies, palliatives only — The epicure’s ailment ... ... ... ... ... ... 236

CHAPTER XXVIII.

AILMENTS INDIRECTLY DUE TO MAL-ASSIMILATION OF FOOD AND ERRORS IN THE MODE OF LIFE.

On assimilation — Scrofula or tuberculosis — Functional derangements — Hysteria — Calculi — Accidental death — Disease an accident — Fatalism — Duty and health — Our dual life — The inevitable reward ... ... ... 240

IN THE

ACTIVE AND THE SEDENTARY.

“For life is not to live, but to be well.” — Martial.

Chapter I. What Is Health ?

What is health? — Deviations from health— Happiness dependent on health — Perfect health, how to attain — Temperament and health — “Mens sano in corpore sano” — Muscular strength has no relation to health — The strength of a chain its weakest link — Insidious causes of disease — The aristocracy long lived, reason why.

There is no greater blessing than perfect health, and as long as this condition of perfect health lasts, there is no blessing that is so little appreciated by its possessor. Wealth, power, ambition, pleasure, without it are but Dead Sea fruit. Why should this be so ? The reason is obvious : when a person is in absolute health there is nothing to direct his attention to the fact or to himself. It is a negative condition. Every organ works automatically, and the functions of the body are performed harmoniously and unnoticed, by organs often beyond the control of the individual himself. Indeed most of them are as active during sleep as in waking hours. It is only when, to use a common

B

HEALTH AND CONDITION.

phrase, there is a screw loose, and when a deviation from health takes place, either by the feeling of pain, or of incipient illness with its train of unpleasant symptoms, that we begin to realize the fact that life has lost some of its zest, that the different organs are not in touch with one another, and that there is something wrong somewhere.

Deviations from a state of health may be trivial, and soon rectified, or they may be serious ; they may be bodily deviations, or they may be mental ; but even if trivial they are not to be neglected, because the most trivial ailment may develop into the most fatal. The old proverb that says, “A stitch in time saves nine,” is particularly applicable in this case, and we may instance it in this way. The loosening of a small screw may throw out of gear a mighty engine. We can imagine the possible consequences of this, supposing, for instance, it should occur to a vessel during a storm at sea. In its material sense, the human body is only a complicated piece of mechanism ; it may, for comprehensive purposes, very well be compared to a steam-engine. Thus food is its coal, and fire ; the nervous stimulus which generates power, steam ; muscles, nerves, bones, are its iron, brass, and wood ; indeed, there is scarcely an organ of the human body that has not, in a way, an analogous one in the steam-engine. In a way, it requires the same management. But does it get this ? Let us see. I believe the care of a valuable engine is always entrusted to one who understands its mechanism thoroughly — the amount of coal and water it should consume, the amount of care and attention it requires, and so on. Any defect arising is immediately attended to But with the human engine,

W//AT IS HEALTHS how far does this obtain ? Its owner knows nothing about it. Not even the food that should keep it in health. As to any defect, he is of all the least competent to remedy it.

Though life, health, and happiness depend upon it, man treats himself, as far as the material part is concerned, as if he were something not worth attention, and health is only appreciated when it is lost.

Now, what does perfect health mean? In the adult, it means, first and foremost, that every organ is working harmoniously ; that the mental and bodily functions are acting in concert ; that sleep is natural and refreshing, and that on awaking the individual feels perfectly free from fatigue after ordinary exertion the previous day. The tongue is clean and the muscles are elastic, the pulse is steady, the nervous system quiet but vigorous, the stomach, after its long rest, is ready for food and enjoys it, and the day is begun with a healthy appetite, and its duties with zest.

To attain this state of perfect health, much of course depends upon habit and mode of life. Indeed, perfect health depends upon a combination of hundreds of trivial circumstances in the daily routine. For instance, exercise and rest must be to a certain extent properly adjusted to the diet of the individual. ' Food and its constituents must be regulated in quantity according to the requirements of the system, whether at work or repose. The mind must not be unduly taxed while the body is not sufficiently exercised ; indeed, it is not going too far to say that the whole secret of perfect health, and as a corollary long life, depends in a great measure upon proper adjustment of food

HEALTH AND CONDITION.

and exercise. There are, however, numerous other factors which have to be considered in relation to continued health, and with regard to both physical and mental development. A man of middle height and corresponding weight, as a rule, is the strongest and best able to endure fatigue ; and the man of calm, unruffled nature has a better chance of long life than he who is restless and fretful in disposition. Lord Bacon attributed his healthy and long life to the fact that whenever he laid his head upon his pillow, he could set aside all the worries of the day and enjoy refreshing sleep ; and, indeed, it may be considered a very strong indication of good condition when any one can do this. No person can long continue to enjoy health whose sleep is broken by his inability to cast aside the feverish activity of the day, for what should be calm repose, on its completion. This time-honoured indication of one great requisite of robust health, has come down to us embalmed in the old quotation, “ Mens sano in corpore sano.”