Part 24

The table clearly shows the effect of cooking and the effect of mastication upon the salivary digestion of food. Column 1 shows the results obtained after an ordinary test meal consisting of 1½ ounces of water biscuit to 8 ounces of water; column 2, 1½ ounces of water biscuit ground fine, mixed with water and swallowed without chewing; column 3, test meal consisting of 1½ ounces of raw wheat flour and 8 ounces of water; column 4, test meal consisting of 1½ ounces of unground pearled wheat with 8 ounces of water.

═════════════════════════════════╤════════╤════════╤══════╤══════ │ Water │ Water │ │ │biscuit,│biscuit,│ Raw │ Raw │ well │ not │flour.│wheat. │chewed. │chewed. │ │ │ 1 │ 2 │ 3 │ 4 —————————————————————————————————┼————————┼————————┼——————┼—————— Total acidity (A) │ 0.142 │ 0.140 │0.204 │0.136 Calculated acidity (A´) │ 0.156 │ 0.132 │0.186 │0.128 Total chlorine (T) │ 0.296 │ 0.284 │0.332 │0.272 Free HCl (H) │ 0.050 │ 0.028 │0.056 │0.052 Combined chlorine (C) │ 0.106 │ 0.104 │0.130 │0.076 Fixed chlorides (F) │ 0.114 │ 0.152 │0.146 │0.144 Maltose (M) │ 1.088 │ 0.272 │0.000 │0.000 Dextrine and soluble starch (D) │ 0.812 │ 0.548 │0.300 │0.448 │ │ │ │ COEFFICIENTS │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Digestion of albumin (_a_) │ 0.82 │ 0.97 │1.00 │1.00 Digestion of starch (_b_) │ 0.71 │ 0.42 │0.00 │0.00 Salivary activity (_c_) │ 1.17 │ 1.11 │1.14 │1.37 Fermentation (_x_) │ 5.00 │ 11.00 │6.00 │6.00 Chlorine liberation (_m_) │ 0.80 │ 0.70 │0.85 │0.71 —————————————————————————————————┴————————┴————————┴——————┴——————

Several points of interest are to be noted in the above table, the first and most conspicuous of which is the fact that the saliva did not act at all upon the raw flour and raw wheat, as shown by the total absence of maltose in the cases represented in columns 3 and 4. The small amount of dextrine and soluble starch shown was, perhaps, already present in the raw grain, but this point I have not investigated. It is clear, however, that no sugar was produced when raw starch was taken, whereas the amount of sugar produced after the ordinary test meal was more than 1 gram in each 100 c.c. of stomach fluid; in other words, the stomach fluid contained more than one per cent of sugar without taking into account the amount which had been absorbed.

The figures for maltose in column 2 represent a test meal in which little or no saliva was mixed with the test meal, the food being swallowed without chewing, indicating very slight action of the saliva, the amount of maltose found in the stomach fluid being but a trifle more than one-fourth the amount obtained after an ordinary test meal. The amount of soluble starch and dextrine was less than half the normal amount in the case of the raw flour, and but little more in the case of the raw wheat.

Another point of interest is the increased amount of lactic acid found in the test meal taken without chewing, represented in column 2. The coefficient of fermentation which represents the number of milligrams of lactic acid (as expressed in terms of HCl) found in 100 c.c. of stomach fluid was more than double that found after the same kind of test breakfast properly masticated, represented in column 1. The results of this experiment distinctly associate acid fermentation with imperfect mastication and imperfect salivary digestion.

Another fact noted in a comparative study of the results of the analysis of over 5000 stomach fluids, which very strongly confirms this idea, is that starch conversion is usually complete in cases of apepsia, while lactic acid is conspicuous by its absence. In nearly all cases of apepsia which I have encountered, numbering about forty cases in all, the most delicate tests for lactic acid have failed to show its presence except in the most minute quantities; in most cases it was entirely absent.

There are a number of other points of interest in the above table in addition to those which relate particularly to starch digestion. One of the most noteworthy of these is the fact that the digestion of albumen was not unfavourably influenced by the neglect to masticate the food, the coefficient of digestion, in fact, being raised from .82 to .97. This coefficient is a qualitative and not a quantitative index. The higher coefficient indicates a more perfect elaboration of proteids and a close approach to an absolutely perfect proteid digestion.

Another fact of perhaps even greater interest has relation to the digestion of albumen when the wheat was eaten raw, in the form of either flour or wheat. The coefficient of proteid digestion in both cases, as shown in columns 3 and 4, was 1.00, indicating perfect elaboration of the albuminoids. From this it appears that raw gluten, or the proteids of wheat, is digested more perfectly when taken in a raw state than when cooked, the very opposite of which we have seen to be true of starch. The digestion of raw starch may take place in the intestines, by the action of the pancreatic juice, but cannot take place in the stomach, for the reason that the saliva has not the power to penetrate the cellulose envelope of the starch granule, and hence cannot digest raw starch.

This fact coincides in a most interesting manner with the biological fact that man is by nature a frugivorous animal. In the process of ripening, the starch of fruits undergoes a hydration similar to that which takes place in cooking and in pancreatic digestion, whereby the insoluble starch is converted into soluble starch, dextrine, and sugar. This explains, also, why well-ripened fruit may be eaten raw with impunity, while unripe fruit and farinaceous food of all sorts require cooking. In his diet, man, like his nearest relative, the monkey, being naturally a frugivorous animal, may eat fruits in the state in which Nature has provided them; but when he introduces other natural products into his bill of fare, he must adopt artificial means for securing the preparation for digestion which Nature makes in the ripening process of fruits.

The coefficient of chlorine liberation (_m_) is very nearly uniform, indicating that the mastication of food and the cooking of food have little influence upon this digestive function.

The coefficient of salivary activity (_c_) was determined independently for each test breakfast. Its practical uniformity indicates that there was no essential change in the character or quality of the saliva to account for the differences shown by the totals in relation to the stomach digestion of starch.

DR. EDWARD HOOKER DEWEY AND THE “NO BREAKFAST PLAN”

The “No Breakfast Plan,” evolved from the long experimental experience of Dr. Dewey, to secure much needed rest for the stomach and intestines, is described in a book bearing that title which can be had direct from the author by addressing him at his home, Meadville, Penn., U. S. A.

“No Breakfast” is, evidently, a misnomer, but means, in the present application, an appetite _earned_ after arising from sleep. The writer, for instance, often begins work so early in the morning that by the time the ordinary breakfast is ready he has already done a fair day’s work.

The writer has no reported details of the work of Dr. Dewey to add to this volume. In “Glutton or Epicure” full appreciation of this Esculapian Luther is expressed and extracts of his writings are reprinted. In fighting for more than forty years for the principle of less abuse of the tired body of man, Dr. Dewey has rendered a service that some time will be reckoned very great; and while there is no scientific report of the good doctor’s work to call for introductory comment, it would be equally unhealthy to miss an opportunity to express gratitude for what he has done for us all.

PROFESSOR JAFFA AND THE FRUITARIANS

Professor Jaffa, too, of the University of California, has been doing most valuable service in testing the usefulness of fruits and nuts as human foods. He generously furnished the author with elaborate tables of his results, covering several years of observation, showing low nitrogen possibilities similar to those demonstrated by the writer and his colleagues at Cambridge and Yale. These have since been published, and relating to special kinds of foods, as they do, suggest a wide range of choice among the fruits of earth; but the collected evidence of this book shows that human nutrition is best served when the appetite, being kept at normal, is allowed to make selection from the whole range of nutritious products furnished by good Mother Nature.

DR. H. P. ARMSBY

In the Oct. 16th, 1903, number of _Science_, also, is an interesting article by Dr. H. P. Armsby on the heat values and muscular energy values of different food elements and their isodynamic replacement of each other under various conditions.—HORACE FLETCHER.]

Explanation of The A. B. C. Life Series

THE ESSENTIALS AND SEQUENCE IN LIFE

It would seem a considerable departure from the study of menticulture as advised in the author’s book, “Menticulture,” to jump at once to an investigation of the physiology and psychology of nutrition of the body and then over to the department of infant and child care and education as pursued in the _crêche_ and in the kindergarden; but as a matter of fact, if study of the causation of human disabilities and misfortunes is attempted at all, the quest leads naturally into all the departments of human interest, and first into these primary departments.

The object of this statement is to link up the different publications of the writer into a chain of consistent suggestions intended to make life a more simple and agreeable problem than many of us too indifferent or otherwise inefficient and bad fellow-citizens make of it.

It is not an altogether unselfish effort on the part of the author of the A. B. C. Life Series to publish his findings. In the consideration of his own mental and physical happiness it is impossible to leave out environment, and all the units of humanity who inhabit the world are part of his and of each other’s environment.

It would be rank presumption for any person, even though gifted with the means to circulate his suggestions as widely as possible, and armed with the power to compel the reading of his publications, to think that any suggestions of his could influence any considerable number of his fellow-citizens of the world, or even of his own immediate neighbourhood, to accept or follow his advice relative to the management of their lives and of their communal and national affairs; but while the general and complete good of humanity should be aimed at in all publications, one’s immediate neighbours and friends come first, and the wave of influence spreads according to the effectiveness of the ideas suggested in doing good; that is, in altering the point of view and conduct of people so as to make them a better sympathetic environment.

For instance, the children of your neighbours are likely to be the playmates of your own children, and the children of degenerate parents in the slum district of your city will possibly be the fellow-citizen partners of your own family. Again, when it is known that right or wrong nutrition of the body is the most important agent in forming character, in establishing predisposition to temperance or intemperance of living, including the desire for intoxicating stimulants, it is revealed to one that right nutrition of the community as a whole is an important factor in his own environment, as is self-care in the case of his own nourishment.

The moment a student of every-day philosophy starts the study of problems from the A. B. C. beginning of things, and to shape his study according to an A. B. C. sequence, each cause of inharmony is at once traced back to its first expression in himself and then to causes influenced by his environments.

If we find that the largest influences for good or bad originate with the right or wrong instruction of children during the home training or kindergarden period of their development, and that a dollar expended for education at that time is worth more for good than whole bancs of courts and whole armies of police to correct the effect of bad training and bad character later in life, it is quite logical to help promote the spread of the kindergarden or the kindergarden idea to include all of the children born into the world, and to furnish mothers and kindergarden teachers with knowledge relative to the right nutrition of their wards which they can themselves understand and can teach effectively to children.

If we also find that the influence of the kindergarden upon the parents of the infants is more potent than any other which can be brought to bear upon them, we see clearly that the way to secure the widest reform in the most thorough manner is to concentrate attention upon the kindergarden phase of education, advocate its extension to include even the last one of the children, beginning with the most needy first, and extending the care outward from the centre of worst neglect to finally reach the whole.

Experience in child saving so-called, and in child education on the kindergarden principle, has taught the cheapest and the most profitable way to insure an environment of good neighbours and profit-earning citizens; and investigation into the problem of human alimentation shows that a knowledge of the elements of an economic nutrition is the first essential of a family or school training; and also that this is most impressive when taught during the first ten years of life.

One cannot completely succeed in the study of menticulture from its A. B. C. beginning and in A. B. C. sequence without appreciation of the interrelation of the physical and the mental, the personal and the social, in attaining a complete mastery of the subject.

The author of the A. B. C. Life Series has pursued his study of the philosophy of life in experiences which have covered a great variety of occupations in many different parts of the world and among peoples of many different nations and races. His first book, “Menticulture,” dealt with purging the mind and habits of sundry weaknesses and deterrents which have possession of people in general in some degree. He recognised the depressing effect of anger and worry and other phases of _fearthought_. In the book “Happiness,” which followed next in order, _fearthought_ was shown to be the unprofitable element of forethought. The influence of environment on each individual was revealed as an important factor of happiness, or the reverse, by means of an accidental encounter with a neglected waif in the busy streets of Chicago during a period of intense national excitement incident to the war with Spain, and this led to the publication of “That Last Waif; or, Social Quarantine.” During the time that this last book was being written, attention to the importance of right nutrition was invited by personal disabilities, and the experiments described in “Glutton or Epicure; or, Economic Nutrition” were begun and have continued until now.

In the study of the latter, but most important factor in profitable living, circumstances have greatly favoured the author, as related in his latest book, “The A. B.-Z. of Our Own Nutrition.”

The almost phenomenal circulation of “Menticulture” for a book of its kind, and a somewhat smaller interest in the books on nutrition and the appeal for better care of the waifs of society, showed that most persons wished, like the author, to find a short cut to happiness by means of indifference to environment, both internal and external, while habitually sinning against the physiological dietetic requirements of Nature. In smothering worry and guarding against anger the psychic assistance of digestion was stimulated and some better results were thereby obtained, but not the best attainable results.

Living is easy and life may be made constantly happy by beginning right; and the right beginning is none other than the careful feeding of the body. This done there is an enormous reserve of energy, a naturally optimistic train of thought, a charitable attitude towards everybody, and a loving appreciation of everything that God has made. Morbidity of temperament will disappear from an organism that is economically and rightly nourished, and death will cease to have any terrors for such; and as _fear_ of death is the worst depressant known, many of the _worries_ of existence take their everlasting flight from the atmosphere of the rightly nourished.

The wide interest now prevalent in the subjects treated in The A. B. C. Life Series is evidenced by the scientific, military, and lay activity in connection with the experiments at the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University and elsewhere, as related in the “A. B.-Z. of Our Own Nutrition” and in “The New Glutton or Epicure” of the series.

The general application is more fully shown, however, by the indorsement of the great Battle Creek Sanitarium, which practically studies all phases of the subject, from health conservation and child saving to general missionary work in social reform.

HORACE FLETCHER.

Index

A

A. B. C. Life Series, the, xxiv, 15, 47; explanation of, 399-407

Abdominal glands, the, 189, 190

—— muscles, the, 326, 388

—— wall, the, 364

Abernethy biscuit, 131

Acid reaction, of food, 269

Acids, stimulating properties of, 270; supplement weak action in the stomach, 270; special relation to the pancreas of, 270

Addison, Joseph, upon the work of Luigi Cornaro, 28

Adenoids, largely dietetic in origin, 148-152, 156

Afferent nerves, special duty of the peripheral terminations of, 184-185

Agriculture, U. S. Department of, 37

Albumen, digestion of, 394

Albuminoids, the, 395

Albuminous foods, minimum amount of, 74, 78

Alcoholic beverages, explanation of the use of, 252

Algarroba bean, the, 124

Alimentary canal, the, 13, 14, 15, 40; pabulum derived from, 40, 92, 117; Professor Pawlow’s conclusions concerning, 186; experimental investigation of the pathology and therapeutics of, 248, 260, 273, 275, 276, 277

Alimentation, human, study of, 13; theory of, 180

Alkalies, the, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282

Alkaline reduction, 33, 34, 35, 36, 44

—— saliva, 33; its quantity increased by mastication, 96, 102, 146

Alkalinisation, 92

Altruism, placed upon a business basis, xxiv

American Medical Missionary Association, the, 390

—— Medical Missionary Cause, the, xxiii

—— Physiological Society, the, 68

Anderson, Dr. William G., 54, 87, 88

Anger, causes indigestion, 7

Animal economy, 40

—— food, necessitates less thorough mastication than vegetable, 67, 99-100, 173; influenced less than vegetable by cooking, 118

—— organism, the efficiency of, 58

Anthropoid apes, 115, 116

Antiperistalsis, 326, 333, 342, 345, 364; in the colon, 365-370; the question of, 377-383, 384, 385, 387, 388

Antiperistaltic waves, 365, 367, 373, 374, 376, 381, 383, 387, 388

Antrum, the, 307, 308, 311, 315, 322, 323, 326, 327, 333, 334, 336, 340, 341, 360

Apepsia, 394

Appendicitis, relationship between diet and, 141

Appendix, the, cause of catarrh of, 141

Appetite, demands proteid when wanted, xxxii; knows what to do and when to do it, xxxiii; most important factor in digestion, 6; a perfect indicator, 6; a creature of the mind, 7; the caprices of, 7; easily comprehended, how to read, 8, 9, 12; an indicator of what the body requires, 20; will close the valve when enough is eaten, 20; striking effect of insalivation upon, 50; fully understood, prevents intemperance in eating or drinking, 95; sooner satisfied with thorough mastication, 137; the first and mightiest exciter of the secretory nerves of the stomach, 210; is juice, 213; Dr. Pawlow’s experiment showing value of, 226; its initial impulse may originate in the stomach, 244; in the rich and in the poor, 252-253; care should be taken of, 254; physicians most often called on to restore, 254; remarkable how little attention is paid to, 255; bitters increase, 263, 265; the strongest of all stimuli to the digestive glands, 263; connection between gastric juice and, 265.

—— earned, a preliminary necessity of easy digestion, 180

——, false, 6, 9, 29, 75

——, normal, 6

“Appetite juice,” the, 213, 228, 258, 259, 260

Apples, 169

Appreciation, attention necessary to create, 7; necessary to stimulate flow of digestive juices, 7, 12

Armsby, Dr. H. P., on the heat values and muscular energy values of different food elements, 397

Asiatics, the, consume smaller proportion of proteids, 82

Asparagus, 93

Astrup, E., 126

Athletes, reason for training, 22

Attention, necessary to create appreciation, 7; how to command, 8, 9, 12

Atwater, Prof. W. O., 54; on the daily proteid requirement, 76

—— Respiration Apparatus, the, 57

Australians, the, 118, 129, 163

B

Bache Fund, the, 69

Bacteria, the action in the intestines of, 39, 117

Bacterial digestion, 40

—— flora, the, examination of, 26

Bacteriology, advances of, 248, 249

Bailey, 128

Balthazard, experiments of, 314, 315, 327, 328

Baltimore, Md., 68

Barling, Gilbert, 141

Barrett, Robert, 47

Bayliss, experiments of, 343, 344, 345, 359

Batter pudding, 98

Battle Creek, Michigan, 390

—— Laboratories, the, 389-391; experimental investigation of the influence of mastication and cooking of food, etc., in, 391-396

—— Sanitarium, the, xvii, xxiii, xxvii; described, 389-391

Bayert, 123

Beans, 95, 132

Beaumont, experiments of, 305, 309, 310, 313, 326, 327, 329, 330, 334, 336

Beef, 100

Benedict, Prof. Francis G., 54

Berlin, 56, 65

Berne, Switzerland, 284

Betel, chewing, 103, 128

Beverages, mastication in the preparation of, 123

Bidder and Schmidt, experiments of, 202, 204, 231; conditions for success, 204-206

Bile, the, 360

Bitters, therapeutic influence of, 262, 265; increase the appetite, 263, 264, 265

Blondlot, experiments of, 181, 182, 277

Blood, the, toxins absorbed into, 40; influence of the contraction of the masticatory muscles on local circulation of, 107, 148, 149, 278, 355

—— elements, the, 41

Blumfield, Dr. Joseph, 26

Body, the, considered as an engine, 4, 23; derives its necessary energy from food, 72; burdened by excess of food, 73

Boer War, the, 11

Bolting food, 35, 36, 134, 135, 138, 140

Bolus, the, 329, 343, 344

Boston Society of Medical Sciences, the, 342

Bouillon, 266

Bowditch, Dr. Prof. Henry Pickering, xxiv, xxv, 67, 68, 70, 284, 285, 287, 306

Bowel, the, liable to suffer, 140, 345

“Bracer,” a, why required, 20

Braun and Grützner, experiments of, 278

Bread, 78, 98, 99, 132, 137, 143, 171, 270, 271, 274, 275

Brinton, experiments of, 329, 330, 334, 336

British Guiana, 124

—— Medical Association, the, 27, 48, 91, 92

“British Medical Journal,” the, 141

Bronchitis, 144, 146

Broth, strong, 268

Brown bread, 43

Brussels, 68

Buccal digestion, 8

—— nerves, the, 194

Bushmen, the, 118, 123

Butter, 43, 100

C

Cabbage, why indigestible, 99

Cæcum, the, 140, 141, 363, 364, 365, 366, 368, 370, 371, 372, 375, 376, 377, 381, 387

Cake, 132

California, University of, 90, 397

Calm, easy to cultivate, 7

Cambridge, England, xxxi, 26, 47, 49

—— tests, the, 47, 69

—— University, England, xxv, 26, 53, 68, 91

Campbell, Dr. Harry, 8, 12; on the importance of mastication, 92-179, 389

Cancer, produced by inefficient mastication, 138

Cane-sugar, changed to grape-sugar, 21, 169

Cannon, Dr. W. B., 7, 12; on “Swallowing and Movements of the Stomach and Intestines,” 284-300; on the “Movements of the Stomach Studied by means of the Röntgen Rays,” 301-341; on the “Movements of the Intestines Studied by Means of the Röntgen Rays,” 342-388

Carbohydrate foods, 78, 79, 80, 85, 86, 89

Cardia, the, ideas of early writers concerning, 303, 304, 325, 326, 328, 329

Cardiac sphincter, the, 307

Carelessness, the sin of, xvii

Carnegie, Andrew, xxxv

—— Institution, the, 53

Carnivora, the, do not masticate, 97, 161

Cassava root, 124

Cat, the, experiments upon, 289-293, 299, 303, 307, 311, 312, 315, 320, 322, 325, 333, 335, 337-339, 341, 344, 353, 359, 361, 365, 366, 372, 382, 383-386, 388

Catarrh of the appendix, caused by inefficient mastication, 141

Cauliflower, 99