A key to health and long life

Contents

PAGE

Preface ...... 7

CHAPTER

Appendix

I. Copy of the Author’s Letter to The

Hospital Gazette , 1891 . . 15 1

II. Copy of the Author’s Letter to The

Medical Ti?nes, 1911 . . 154

III. Copy of Sir Benjamin Ward

Richardson’s Letter to the

“ If you were my fool , Nun cl e, I would have you beaten for being old before your tune” — King Lear.

“ Make the third part of medicine regard the prolongation of life ; this is a new fart and deficient , though the most noble of all, for if it may be supplied medicine will ?iot then be wholly versed in sordid cures, nor physicians be honoured only for necessity, but as dispensers of the greatest earthly happviess that could well be conferred on mortals”

Francis Bacon.

The author of this little book is now in his seventieth year. Almost a quarter of a century has passed since he completed the five-year course prescribed by the Joint Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons in London, but, owing to the demands of other work, he could not devote sufficient time to enable him to pass the final examinations and obtain the medical qualification.

In these circumstances he feels that some apology is due from him for committing a trespass on the domain of the profession by writing on a medical subject. He therefore desires to state, in the first place, that the subject of digestion, or rather of the nature and consequences of bad digestion, on which he writes, has admittedly been to a great extent neglected in the training of students for the profession.

Dr George Keith, in " Fads of an Old Physician,” says :

“ The pity of it is that most medical men overlook the evils which come upon the healthy from free living and that in this they are encouraged by the prevailing doctrines of the day, as taught in the Medical Schools.’ ’

Dr F. J. Wethered, in The Practitioner , said :

‘ ‘ To the Medical Student the cases of indigestion which present themselves for treatment in the Out-Patient Department are regarded with scant interest, as presenting no features likely to aid them in forthcoming ‘ Finals.’ ”

It will hardly be denied that the study and practice of medicine have hitherto been too exclusively concentrated upon the healing of disease and the relief of suffering, and that sufficient attention has not been given to the supremely important, though less pressing, subject of the prevention of disease and the prolongation of life by the regulation of the digestion. This view is strongly supported by the following passage in Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson’s “ Health and Life ”

“ The Physician has been the healer purely, not until the last days — almost our days — the preserver of health. It is the business of the Physician to cure the evils which the world has inherited or acquired. Why should he go into the questions of cause ? The question raised may be social. Is he to interfere with the daily life of his patients, turn their homes upside down, criticise their eating and drinking, find fault with their clothing, instruct them in their working and guide them in their amusements ? ”

Dr Yorke-Davies, in his treatise on " Health and Condition/’ says :

“ The day is dawning, I believe, when the subject of food with relation to health will form a part of our education. Sanitary science has of late made rapid strides, with results that are already an untold national blessing. It is not therefore too much to hope that the science of dietetics may have its day and if it does our posterity will be a stronger, healthier and longer-lived race.”

In the second place, the author desires to draw attention to the remarkable fact that so many divergent, if not inconsistent, theories have been propounded by physicians and scientists in the attempt to explain the origin and history of those injurious substances which, it is admitted, are frequently, and even generally, present in the blood and are very fatal to health. Some attribute them to disorders of gastric digestion, some to derangement of the liver, some to nervous depression, some to particular articles of diet and some to certain microbes normally resident in the body. And then with regard to treatment there is a similar absence of unanimity : one suggests a diet of meat only, another no meat at all, another recommends a diet of vegetables and nuts, another condemns all starch foods, another abolishes breakfast, another says that a substantial breakfast is good for the digestive system, another says that all foods containing certain chemical substances should be avoided, another asserts that slow mastication will prevent all the mischief, another advises complete starvation for many days at a time, while another states that the remedy lies in importing “ friendly microbes ” which are to be found in a certain preparation of sour milk. All these speculations and differences of opinion on fundamental questions must be most confusing and unsatisfactory to a lay inquirer who seeks simple, practical instruction in the means of preserving health. The only general recommendation in which all the medical authorities referred to may be said to agree is that the way to preserve health is to be moderate in all things.

Moderation is, however, only a general principle, not a precise rule ; it is too vague and indefinite to constitute a reliable practical guide under all the circumstances of everyday life ; it leaves room for endless misunderstandings and does little or nothing to instruct the ignorant. The rules suggested in this book are, on the contrary, clear and definite, and can be applied by any observant and careful person to his own case at any time.

No rigid system of dietary is here laid down for any class of persons, everyone being left quite free to find out by experiment what best suits his constitution, circumstances and tastes. At the same time a very simple test or guide is offered as a key to the practical difficulties, and the author has the strongest reason to believe that this key is the true solution, as it provides the means of ascertaining definitely at any time whether a meal has been properly and completely digested or whether it has resulted in dyspepsia, with the consequent formation of “ mal-products ” injurious to health.

In the third place, the author wishes to explain that the suggestions he puts forward have not been at all hastily arrived at, for he has tested and ii practised the rules here laid down during a period of more than forty years and has proved their practical value and accuracy beyond all possibility of error.

Further, he has long been impressed by the fact that in no other important business or interest in life are so much carelessness and ignorance generally displayed as in connection with diet and digestion.

It is indeed strange that civilised men of the twentieth century, who are capable of accomplishing such marvellous feats as calculating the paths of the planets, severing continents, “ putting a girdle round the earth " in little more than Shakespeare's “ forty minutes," and flying at the rate of one hundred miles an hour, do not know whether they digest their breakfast or whether they eat twice as much food every day as they actually require.

Good digestion is generally supposed to be the common possession of all excepting the sick, but in reality it is far more often the exception than the rule, and few are aware that bad digestion is a much worse enemy to health than is time itself, inasmuch as it brings in its train a host of diseases and deprives most men of many years of health and activity.

It is virtually unknown to the mass of laymen that the distinction between healthy digestion and that failure of the stomach's functions which is termed dyspepsia is not merely a question of degree, one being a little better than the other, but that there is a clear physiological difference, the result in one case being healthy nutrition and physical strength, in the other physical weakness and the entrance of poisons into the system which gradually undermine the constitution and seriously shorten the natural span of life.

Amongst the general causes of the prevalence of dyspepsia the number of occupations unfavourable to physical health must be given a prominent place. The complex industrial system of modern civilisation, in which some occupations are physically laborious, others sedentary, some are outdoor, others indoor, some demand physical work only, others mental work only — with endless gradations between all these extremes — creates such differences in the conditions to which the body is subject that no fixed rule or settled custom in regard to diet can be generally adopted. Quoting from the weekly journal, Health :

“ In such circumstances heredity, which is Nature’s means of gradually fitting a race of beings to meet changes in their surroundings, gets little chance of accommodating the constitution of a family to one mode of life. It might do so under the Hindoo system of caste, which compels the son to follow the same trade as his father, but with us a son frequently takes to an occupation differing radically in its physical requirements from that of his father. The great increase of town populations aggravates these irregularities and vicissitudes. Reason tells us, however, that there must be a very close relation between the income and expenditure of a healthy body and that it cannot be immaterial to health how much fuel is supplied to the machinery.”

These considerations show how necessary it is that every individual should possess such a knowledge of general principles as will enable him to cope with some at least of the difficulties in which he may be placed.

For the greater part such industrial drawbacks as those here referred to are unavoidable, but there are national and class customs prejudicial to health which might be changed without any appreciable difficulty. It cannot be an accidental coincidence that in England the custom of taking a substantial breakfast at an early hour should be so general and that dyspepsia should be so very common, while it has been said that indigestion is unknown in France, where a very light breakfast is the universal rule. An easily digested meal, no matter how light it may be, is in every way preferable to a substantial one which overtaxes the powers of the stomach and is not digested. There can be no reasonable doubt that all classes of the English people are in this important matter of diet as extravagant as they are ignorant.

In order to lead up to and support the conclusions arrived at by the present writer, quotations bearing upon the subject of the poisonous substances derived from the digestive tract will be given from the writings of many eminent physicians.

The position taken up in this handbook, and by which it must stand or fall, is, briefly, as follows : —

1. By far the greater number of common

diseases arise from degenerative changes within the body, not from infection or contagion from without.

2. These degenerative changes are the results

of the presence in the blood of mal-products

*4 of digestion called “ lithates,” “ urates'’ or “ uric acid compounds/ ’

3. The blood can be kept free from these

highly injurious substances by a little self-denial and by attention to a few simple precautions in regard to digestion, diet and exercise.

4. The only certain, convenient and reliable

test of healthy digestion, applicable by anyone at any time, is the absence of visible deposits in the water, after cooling.

The supply to every cell in every tissue of the body of pure blood, free from the noxious substances mentioned above, keeps every nerve, muscle and artery in a healthy, efficient state until, in genuine old age, long deferred, the entire frame becomes worn out, not by disease, but under the inevitable decree of Nature. If, on the other hand, digestion is neglected and the blood is daily vitiated by these mal-products, every cell in the body is not only badly nourished, but actually poisoned ; there is a general loss of vigour, and many painful diseases follow gradually on the advancing degeneration of all the organs, the worst sufferers being the arteries, heart and kidneys. Nor is the injury limited to this, for the weakened tissues become less able to withstand the effects of exposure to chills, of accidents and of the attacks of disease-germs coming from without.

The division of diseases into the two great classes referred to above — first those originating internally and caused by degeneration of tissue through mal-nutrition, and, secondly, those originating externally and arising from infection or contagion — suggests that there are really two distinct branches of Preventive Medicine, the one aiming at the preservation of health and prolongation of life by means of healthy nutrition, moderate diet and due exercise, the other seeking to protect the body from the ingress of germs of infections diseases. Both are now, in a general way, included under the term hygiene.

The State has not hitherto fully recognised its duty in regard to hygiene and has taken no steps to give elementary instruction to the people in those simple, but at the same time vitally important, physiological laws, relating to diet, exercise and digestion, on which their health, wealth and happiness so directly depend. Dr Saleeby recommends the inclusion in national education of “ personal hygiene and the formation of habits of health, as obviously and inevitably the first and most important item.”

Apart altogether from the sorrow, pain and poverty which avoidable sickness and premature decay bring upon tens of thousands of families, the financial loss due to the same preventible causes must, from a national point of view, amount to a vast sum every year, and it is evident that any simple instructions which would do even a little to improve the general health of the community and extend the duration of life must be of very great value.

In close connection with the question of the economy to be effected by the prevention of much of the sickness and disease now prevalent, is the possibility of a large saving in the cost of food at present wasted and worse than wasted through the almost universal want of knowledge of dietetics i6 and hygiene. If a more rational system of diet were generally adopted and some instruction in the practical principles of digestion were in everyone’s hand not only would a great improvement in public health be brought about, but that large portion of the nation’s income now lost by the purchase of food which is either in excess of what is actually required or is in excess of what is likely to be digested at the particular time, would be saved. In The Times Food Supplement of the 8th June 1914 the following words are quoted from " The Toiler and His Food,” by Sir William Cooper, C.I.E.

“ He, or they, who can convince the masses of the people that their food is unwisely chosen and eaten in profound ignorance of all the laws governing alimentation, would confer on mankind gifts more material, durable and beneficent than have the brilliant scientists who gave the world steam and electricity and all sorts of strange mechanical devices.”

Instruction should also be given in the cooking of plain dishes in which milk, cheese, eggs, peas, beans and lentils take the place of meat, which is an expensive luxury rather than a necessity. A table given in one of the following chapters shows that nearly as much work can be done by the expenditure of a few pence on cheap farinaceous foods as can be done by the same number of shillings spent on fresh beef.

This book is an endeavour to show that the old maxim, “ Prevention is better than cure,” is capable of far wider application in regard to health

*7 and longevity than the public has any conception of. The thousands of wealthy people who annually spend large sums on visits to British and foreign spas for the purpose of “ taking the waters/' in the hope of clearing out the uric acid compounds from their blood, can hardly be aware that it is quite possible, by leading a more simple and healthy life, to prevent entirely the manufacture of these poisonous substances in their bodies. The fact that luxury, in its many forms, is the real fount and origin of all these troubles is gradually becoming more generally known, and yet, perhaps, not much progress towards a more simple life has been made since Dr Abernethy complained that “ No man will attend to his digestion until death stares him in the face."

The author of this handbook is confident that the day will soon arrive when the simple test which he proposes will be universally recognised as the chief safeguard of health and that it will be deemed essential in any general scheme of instruction for the prevention of physical degeneration. He does not, however, ask any of his readers to act on his advice until careful experiment has satisfied them that the truth is in it.

B

A Key to Health and Long Life

Chapter I

It is most probable that everyone who opens this book will be under the impression that he has a fairly accurate idea of what is meant by the word “ indigestion/’ but it is equally probable that before he has read many of the pages he will have discovered that he knew nothing about the kind of indigestion with which this book chiefly deals.

Acute Indigestion

The explanation is that the only form of indigestion generally known to the lay public is that which announces itself by causing pain or decided discomfort after a meal, a trouble which is of far less common occurrence and of far less importance to the majority of the community than the kind of indigestion which causes no pain or discomfort at the time, which reserves its penalties for perhaps many years, and yet is most injurious to health, gradually undermines the constitution and very considerably shortens the natural term of life.

x9

Dr Andrew Wilson, in “ The Family Physician/’ says :

“ The leading symptoms of all cases of indigestion may be taken to be represented by pain or discomfort associated with the taking of food and with digestion, in so far as the stomach is concerned. We may find other symptoms, represented by flatulence, acidity, constipation and the like.”

Sir Henry Thompson, in “ Diet in Relation to Age and Activity,” speaks as follows : —

“ The word indigestion denotes, not a disease, but an admonition. It is the language of the stomach and is usually an unknown tongue to those who are addressed. Few even listen to the cry, much less imagine that it bears a message of importance.”

But even in this passage reference appears to be made to symptoms that are felt after eating and which more or less distinctly call attention to the stomach’s troubles. Unfortunatelv, however, the stomach, as will presently be explained, is silent about the most common and most serious of its defaults.

Thomas Carlyle’s experiences afford a remarkable instance of persistent neglect of oftenrepeated complaints of the stomach such as those referred to by Sir Henry Thompson. Carlyle’s sufferings were, no doubt, very severe and were due to the mistaken notion that indigestion is an unavoidable weakness of the constitution, instead of being a trouble that can be removed entirely by a more simple and well-arranged diet, with suitable outdoor exercise. He complained :

“ The accursed hag dyspepsia had got me bitted and bridled and was ever striving to make my living day a thing of ghastly nightmares. I resisted what I could, never did yield or surrender to her, but she kept my heart right heavy, my battle being sore and hopeless. ”

And again :

“ I dream horribly, the fruit of incurable biliousness. . . . Digestion totally ruined. Life is verily a weariness on these terms.’ ’

All this time he was probably adhering rigidly to a system of diet which, coupled with hard smoking, was quite unsuited to an elderly man engaged for many hours a day on literary work.

Books on indigestion give long lists of symptoms, such as the following, which are mentioned here only to explain more clearly the plan and purpose of the present handbook : —

Pain or spasms in the stomach.

Flatulence.

Difficulty in breathing.

Vertigo.

Vomiting.

Pyrosis.

Acidity or heartburn.

Regurgitation.

Constipation.

Diarrhoea.

Skin affections.

Nervous debility.

Mental depression.

Insomnia.

It might very naturally be remarked, after reading this list, that persons who suffer from such serious symptoms, except in the slightest and most transient manner, must know that they are decidedly unwell and it might well be assumed that they are in a doctor’s care.

Healthy People

These sick persons are, however, but a small minority of the community and the present book is not addressed to them, but to the majority who are in good health, who have no troublesome symptoms to complain of and who think they require no advice in regard to their diet or manner of life. And yet very many of these healthy people will find, if they put their strength to a quite moderate and reasonable test, by some continued physical exertion, that they are quite out of condition and far from being thoroughly sound. They will get tired in a short time and perhaps exhausted long before a healthy person of their age should feel such signs of weakness.

Mr Eustace Miles has said, in “ Avenues to Health,” that he could count upon his fingers the really healthy men whom he has ever met, and Dr Yorke-Davies gives it as his opinion, in his book on “ Health and Condition,” that :

“ A very common effect of taking food to excess, that does not nourish the nervous system, is want of condition, as evidenced by a general feeling of malaise and fatigue after ordinary exertion. Indeed very few people are in what one may call condition. They may be in health and may do their work in a perfunctory manner, but the individual in good condition does it with zest and energy and life seems brighter and more pleasureable in every way.”

Such people as those here referred to are unwittingly hastening the time when the infirmities of age will overtake them and will forbid all active exercise, while others of the same age as themselves may be in the enjoyment of health and strength. They may, however, be yet at the parting of the ways, and if they listen to good advice in time may escape years of sickness and add many years of health to their lives. The disabling effects of disordered digestion are not confined to people of middle age, for there are many between twenty and forty years of age who find themselves too weak for much active exercise and perhaps believe that their hearts are permanently weakened and that the fault lies in their constitutions. A strict regimen of early rising, careful dieting and regular outdoor exercise might in a few months restore many of these supposed invalids to fair if not full health and activity.

Those who habitually neglect exercise and yet seem in good health often feel tired and drowsy during the day, although they have had a good night’s rest ; they sometimes feel hungry and weak two hours or so after breakfast, and may at times complain of aches in the back or in the legs or the head.

Those who have youth on their side usually feel comparatively strong and well, even when put to the test of hard exercise, in spite of very frequent errors in diet and many unnoticed attacks of dyspepsia, but they are not so strong as they should be. If they kept their digestion in good order they would have far more strength and endurance than they now enjoy. Their present strength is due to their youth and unexhausted constitution and is no proof that their way of living is correct or that they are as well as they might be and ought to be. They resemble a spendthrift who is slowly but surely dissipating the fortune which he inherited and who may not for a long time feel the want of money, although he is every day bringing the moment nearer when his funds will be quite exhausted.

Dyspepsia or Functional Indigestion

The form of indigestion, more strictly called dyspepsia, dealt with in this book has not been given in medical works any name which clearly distinguishes it from the forms of indigestion which cause pain and discomfort, unless it be the term “ functional/ ’ which explains nothing beyond the fact that no actual disease is present to account for the mischief. This kind of indigestion is not “ acute/’ nor can it be correctly described as “ chronic,” as that word implies the continuance of some physical infirmity or weakness and here there is none to cause the dyspepsia that so frequently attacks healthy people. Nor is it “atonic,” as that term is applied when there is a want of nervous tone in the system. There may be no abnormal condition of any organ, as this form of indigestion affects the healthy almost as often as the sick. It may be termed “ functional ” in the sense that the stomach is at the particular moment unable to discharge its proper function when dealing with a certain supply of food owing to its powers being overtaxed and its proper action prevented by some accidental circumstance of a purely temporary nature, such as a larger quantity of food being taken than the stomach can digest ; or the food is in an indigestible state ; or an excess of liquid has been taken with it ; or physical fatigue has caused general depression ; or severe bodily or mental exertion just after the meal has deprived the stomach of much of its blood-supply ; or perhaps great mental excitement has caused a general disturbance of function.

Functional indigestion or dyspepsia has the following characters : —

1. Its cause is independent of general health,

as it may attack the strong or the weak, the healthy or the invalid.

2. It is not usually an exceptional occurrence,

like painful indigestion, but is so extremely common that no one altogether escapes it. It may occur habitually and daily, or, in the case of the healthiest individuals, only on rare occasions.

3. It causes no trouble or pain at the time,

but, on the contrary, may bring a sensation of relief and ease after a substantial meal, as the effort of digestion ceases when this form of indigestion takes place.

4. In the course of years it leads to many forms

of serious disease in cases where it occurs very frequently. These diseases are due to the degeneration of all the tissues and organs, the heart, arteries and kidneys being most affected, and it shortens life by many years.

The fact that functional indigestion or dyspepsia occurs so generally and does not cause at the time any noticeable inconvenience or pain, and that its ill effects are not usually distinctly apparent for many years, constitutes the great danger of this insidious malady. Although it is not regarded as a disease it is the parent of almost all the diseases that originate within the body. The peril lies in the impunity with which men seem to be able to bear its constant attacks and to defy or ignore the natural law that the amount of nutriment which any person requires and the amount which he can at any time digest are both strictly limited and yet the great majority are guided, in matters of diet, entirely by appetite and custom, and are quite indifferent to the existence of any such limits, as though no strict account were kept and no day of reckoning would ever come. Owing to the absence of any distinct warning, errors in diet and in the arrangement of meals, as well as the neglect of regular exercise, may be persisted in for the greater part of a lifetime, while the daily poisoning of the blood is laying up a store of suffering for the future and even now causing unsuspected weakness and degeneration throughout the system.

After any meal digestion may take either of the four following courses : —

i. It may proceed with perfect ease and in a normal, healthy manner to completion.

2. After a substantial meal a very slight feeling

of fulness and effort may be noticeable, especially if a little exercise is taken, but with due rest digestion may be properly completed, as in the first case.

3. After some discomfort caused by the

stomach being overtaxed by an excessive quantity of food or in some other way, as previously mentioned, the normal, healthy process maybe interrupted, digestion breaks down and dyspepsia occurs.

4. Without any warning, perceptible dis-

comfort or unpleasant sensation, the work of digestion may cease soon after the commencement of a meal and dyspepsia may occur, owing to the body being at the moment in no want of nutriment and to the nervous apparatus of the stomach being consequently unprepared for the digestion of a meal. This is what occurs when breakfast is taken too soon after rising from bed, or when a substantial meal is eaten while the whole system is depressed by great fatigue.

Symptoms and Tests of Dyspepsia

The symptoms which indicate a failure of digestion in the stomach and the occurrence of dyspepsia are as follows. Some of these symptoms are observable immediately after a meal, others within a few hours, and some still later : —