A TKUE LIFE 
 
 SUSAN EVERETT. 
 

 
 
 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2015 
 
 https://archive.org/details/healthfragmentsoOOever 
 
Health Fragments 
 
 OR, 
 
 STEPS TOWARD A TRUE LIFE. 
 
 EMBRACING 
 
 HEALTH, DIGESTION, DISEASE, AND THE SCIENCE 
 OF THE REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS. 
 
 With One Yutudved and $wcnty-fiw afUnstratians 
 
 By KAPPES, SPIEGLE AND TREAT. 
 
 
 PART FIRST. > 
 
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 GEORGE H. EVERE|^UM.D. S Aj 
 
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 LECTURER ON PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 
 CHARLES P. SOMERBY, 36 DEY 
 1875. 
 
 STREET. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 
 GEO. H. EVERETT, 
 
 in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
 Lange, Little & Co., 
 
 PRINTERS, ELECTROTYPERS AND STEREOTYPERS, 
 
 1U3 to 114 Wooster Street, N. Y. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 This volume is a nugget from sultry, summer 
 weeks following a "year of unusual labor. To my 
 friends this may explain any want of finish 
 found in the following pages. To tell the old, old 
 • story of life, and have it appear new or fascinating, 
 is no idle task ; yet, I trust, the reader wdll not sleep 
 over these pages. They contain the latest and 
 freshest facts of science applied to every-day living, 
 such facts as must render youth more productive, 
 middle age more serviceable, and old age more grace- 
 ful than life can be without them. The chaste and 
 cheerful illustrations herein employed have not 
 been, hitherto, used in connection with health litera- 
 ture ; while Part II. from Mrs. Everett’s pen will 
 find a wmlcome in the hands of every artistic house- 
 keeper. G. H. E. 
 
 New York City, August 11, 1874. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART FIRST. 
 
 CHAPTER I.— Introductory. 
 
 Is health a dream, or a lost art ? — A birthright — Health means energy and enthusiasm— 
 Age measured not by time — Dyspeptic pulpit— Why farmers are' gluttons — Why men 
 hate to grow old — Boyhood poor — Manhood rich— Personal influence — Body means 
 power — Humorous history of Jonathan — Man’s dreams define his heritage — Time 
 lost by disease — Parson’s visit, humorous — Preached him “ to sleep ” — Popular cred- 
 ulity — Panorama of death — Sad summing up— Remedy 1 — 19 
 
 CHAPTER n. — W onders within Us. 
 
 Life and death are twins — The genius of death slowly picking the body to pieces — 
 Hunger — Food determines beauty — Ugly and handsome women —Goethe and Madam 
 Yon Stein — Vulgarity of dyspepsia— Deoortment at table — That Quaker— Great minds 
 and simple breakfasts — Gluttony, its effects on the eye, mouth and nose — Pimples on 
 the face — Shall we follow nature ?— How far instincts should guide eating — Shall 
 appetite be tempted ’—Appetites often determined before birth 20 — 34 
 
 CHAPTER III. — Some Things that concern Women. 
 
 Of queens at home — Dignity of domestic life — Our coming mothers— The neglected girl; 
 how reared, and what becomes of her — A child’s battle for life — How fond mothers 
 destroy their children — The last American child is born — Rights of children — Insolent 
 children and indulgent parents — Women meet disease half way 35 — 49 
 
 CHAPTER IV. — Teeth and Digestive Organs. 
 
 How to obtain and preserve teeth — Best teeth from brown bread — Best dentifrice — 
 Mother’s story — Healthy human digestion— The mouth a sugar factory — Stomach 
 secrets solved — Its work — Bowel digestion the most important — Office of intestinal 
 juices— Medicine, or no medicine ? 50 — 60 
 
 CHAPTER V. — Concerning Food. 
 
 Classification of food — Advanced views — Mineral matters for brain and bone — Nitrogen 
 for muscle — Carbonoids for heat and fat — Leibig’s protest— Robbery of wheat and 
 milk — Cause of corpulence — Table commandments — Bantingism — Fishermen, their 
 food and strength — Battle among doctors — Leibig leads off— Dr. Flint on Weston's 
 
VI 
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 walk— Does fat or phosphorus nourish brain ?— What feeds a fool ?— Goodnatured- 
 food— Composition of brain— Idiots and genius compared— Influences— Brain work 
 and waste— Cause of neuralgia— Poor memory — Boys grow stupid on rice and corn 
 meal — What foods for strength ? 61 77 
 
 CHAPTER VI.— Wjieat, Oats, and Corn. 
 
 Strange theories from strained facts — Doctors and diet — Prevalent professional ignorance, 
 humorous— How the Yankee applied Leibig’s theory, humorous — Why unboTted flour 
 is best— Brown bread builds teeth and starves dentists, humorous protest — Food 
 required in twenty-four hours— Pale girls— How to color the cheek— Practical sum- 
 mary of food, applied to persons and seasons— Analysis of man— Ditto of food— Oat- 
 meal makes fleet horses and strong men— It compared with corn meal— Beans vs. 
 Rice— Yankee vs. Chinaman— Bean-fed horses are swift 78—103 
 
 CHAPTER VII.— More about Food. 
 
 Animal and vegetable diet compared— Diet and passional nature— Animal food— Beef, 
 veal, mutton, pork— Game— Potatoes with and without skins— Turnips, Onions and 
 lettuce— The Irishman and ten pounds of potatoes— Aristocracy of food-invalid 
 makers — Habitual constipation 104—117 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. — Condiments, Tea and Coffee. 
 
 Do condiments do harm — How not to abuse them — Pickles— Wine in pudding sauces — 
 Women must break the wine cup — Where woman’s wit goes — Sick headache and 
 spices — Coffee, its charms and dangers — Coffee prevents normal waste of tissue— 
 Coffee and skin— Tea and Nervousness— Chocolate— Cocoa, etc 118-131 
 
 CHAPTER IX. — Who Eats Correctly must Think Correctly. 
 
 Winter food in Summer bad— Vice versa — How often to eat— One hundred and nineteen 
 pounds of smoked Yankee — Feeding children between meals— Eating when tired — 
 When to eat the best meal — Why we dream — What shall we eat— Never eat unless 
 hungry — Food that “ touches the spot ” — How long to chew a mouthful of bread — 
 How many kinds of food at one meal— Shall we eat pie ? — How much money for 
 eating purposes 133-153 
 
 CHAPTER X.— Catarrh. 
 
 Symptoms of catarrh — Nose— Catarrh a cause of deafness — Ear discharges— Cause and 
 cure — “ Weeping eye” and catarrh — Treatment — Bad breath — Catarrh a blood disease — 
 Scrofulous catarrh — Dyspeptic catarrh — It and weak back — Dry skin and constipation— 
 Doctors treatment of catarrh — Absurdity of snuffs — Treatment of catarrh made 
 
 simple 154-173 
 
 CHAPTER XI. — “False” or Bronchial Consumption. 
 
 Its symptoms — Progress— Curability — Treatment by inhalation — The only rational means — 
 Asthma — Hay Asthma— Catarrh— Throat diseases — Their cause and cure 174-183 
 
 CHAPTER XII. — Air, its relation to Health and Disease. 
 
 Lung food — Breathing— Ten hogshead bed-rooms — Open windows— Night air — Lamps in 
 sleeping rooms, never — Scrofula from impure air— Air in sick rooms — The lungs a 
 system of air-bladders — Mothers develope scrofula in their children — How much air 
 do we need ? 184-193 
 
 CHAPTER Xin.— Consumption. 
 
 Its hopefulness— Muffled steps— Its aristocracy— Consumptive’s farewell — Pale immortal 
 at the river side— A blood disease — Scrofulous consumption— Why consumption is 
 dangerous — Three stages, effusion, consolidation, and breaking down of the tissue— 
 Bleeding of lungs — Sputa— What is scrofula — Salt rheum ? 194-203 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. — Consumption (Concluded). 
 
 Physical signs— Educated physicians seldom differ— Pain, cough, bleeding, and sputa are 
 no certain signs— Other symptoms — How told — One “ lung gone ” or “half gone” is 
 all nonsense — Only ignorant doctors use such terms — Woman’s dress promotes con- 
 sumption — Proper proportions of head, neck, chest and waist — Hereditary taint- 
 idleness and eating — Dust, moisture — Sleeping with consumptives— Dry air arrests 
 consumption — Minnesota and New England — Treatment — Clothing chest — Breathing 
 — Exercise— Climate— Generous diet — “ Pure cod liver oil ” — Medicated inhalations 
 
 save thousands 204-216 
 
 CHAPTER XV.— Concerning Sight and Hearing. 
 
 The eye — Its structure — Diseases — Meibomian glands — Stye — Tarsal ophthalmia — 
 “ Weeping eye ” — Hlustration— Cause and cure — Amaurosis — Inflamed eyes — Treat- 
 ment-Cataract cured by surgery— Cross eyes— Operation for— Simple and certain— 
 Fully explained by engravings — Why they should never be left crooked — Deafness- 
 Running ear — Cause and cure — Practical hints — Thickening of “ ear drum” — Exami- 
 nation o'f ear 217—230 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Vll 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. — For Women. 
 
 Pubescent period— Menses— Cause— Uterus— Ovules and ovary — Fallopian tube— Whence 
 menstrual fluid? — How often— Should, be painless— Irregular, profuse and sup- 
 pressed menstruation— Pain at period — Cause and treatment — Ulceration of womb as 
 simple as an ulcerated finger — Cauterization unnecessary in almost every case — 
 ‘•Whites” — Cause and treatment — Uterine leucorrhoea— Pruritis— Cause and cure— 
 Falling womb — its chief cause — Pessaries? — Supporters — Treatment — Parentage — The 
 child represents every thought of the mother during pregnancy — Treatment of preg- 
 nancy — Abortion — Venery during gestation — Rules by which the child may be born 
 with soft bones — How to insure easy labor;— A bird’s-eye view of the whole situa- 
 tion 231 — 239 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. — Concerning Men. 
 
 Functions and abuse of reproductive organs — Male hysteria— Onanism — Lost manhood— 
 How society suffers from misconception — Pubescent period of the boy — Its dangers — 
 . What gauges his nervous power— Its relation to development of mind and body — 
 Whence tiis strength, charm — Relation of sex power to intellect, pride, energy, and 
 personality— The million listen only to those well developed sexually — Love after 
 fifty — Pubescent period determines the man’s status in life — Marriage-bed consecrated — 
 Children born of decrepitude at a disadvantage — Law of sex congress — What is excess? 
 —What is sexual temperance for every age, sex. and condition? — What is a pure life ? — 
 Symptoms of excess— Nervous symptoms— Other conspicuous symptoms — Secret vice 
 —Evidences — Terrible results to morals — Effects upon offspring who are predisposed 
 to super-sexual sensitiveness — Sexual weakness— Seed, what it is and does— Effect 
 of its absorption on the nervous system — Symptoms of the contrary — Is virility a bur- 
 den or a weakness ? — What is a sexually healthy man ? — Chaste parentage and a pure 
 life — Pure men — Necessity of continence to men of large and active brains — Thorough 
 and effective treatment of the several phases of sexual debility — Tobacco and liquors 
 — Diet— Medicines— A chaste and profitable discussion 240—256 
 
 PART SECOND. 
 
 CHAPTER I.— Dress. 
 
 Woman’s dress and disease — Three essential rules — Undergarments — Best material — How 
 many suits worn at a time — “ Combination garments "'illustrated and explained — Che- 
 mise and Roman toga — How drawers must be made — All about underskirts, corsets, 
 garters, pads, belts, etc. — New method of suspending woman’s clothing, illustrated — 
 The- old system compared with the new “ Combination garment ” 1 — 10 
 
 CHAPTER IT. — Hereditary Genius. 
 
 The History of men as mothers made them — Leading traits transmissable — What a 
 mother has can she give to her offspring ? — Age, experience, youth, immorality ; all 
 written on the child— What the Queen of Scots’ and the handsome Darnley did — Son 
 of Napoleon I. and his mother — Influential Hebrews sprang from aaed loins— Sarah — 
 Syrian grandmother — Reuben, unstable as water — Judah, the lion’s whelp— David — 
 Solomon with a loose screw — Caligula — Nero — Lord Bacon and his great mother — 
 Milton’s low idea of woman — His common wives and unknown children — Edwards 
 and Wesley had great mothers — Pitt, Fox, Goethe, and Napoleon all represent their 
 mothers— Children of prayer — Mills— Samuel vs. Ishmael— Next to God woman has 
 most to do in improving the race — When men reckon children without mothers — A 
 new thing in the statue line for prospective mothers — Nicodemuses of the world — 
 Quakers and pentacostal day — Good time coming — A chapter full of inspiration for 
 every American mother T 11 — 18 
 
 CHAPTER III. — Home Education op Children. 
 
 Next to birth is home life— Shiftlessness is immoral— Three principles: Don’t wait upon 
 children, Teach a child to work. Teach it exactness — Idleness — McDonald and the 
 
 f randmother — Kindergartens — Wasteful to unlearn things — Work as a means of 
 evelopment— Influence of the needle — Men drifting from home, wives carried with 
 them — Child manners— Modesty, Quaker training — True politeness— Physical culture 
 — Proper kind of dress for children — Religious training of children — Example of Rus- 
 kin 19—25 
 
 CHAPTER IV.— Sex in Education. 
 
 First Hebrew love story — Sex slimes everything of to-day — “ Professor ” tells his pupils 
 w r hat eafch sex can and cannot do — Womanhood— The exotic of the ages— What it 
 asks— What man knows of woman’s experiences— Mabel Jones — What Dr. Clacken- 
 boss says — Mabel goes home with a lump in her throat — Her dream— A short talk 
 which contains the key to sex in education. -• 26 — 29 
 
via 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V.— Courtesy between Husbands and Wives. 
 
 Marriage is sacredness or baseness— Give and take— Play of judgment between husband 
 and wife — How to make the worst marriage endurable— Gossiping— infidelity — Inde- 
 cency of parading social troubles— Politeness between husband and wife— No sham 
 will do— Sound to the core — Each won by gentle looks, try it — How heroic quali- 
 ties are born — A story — Worst enemy within— Most married people poltroons when 
 trouble comes— A teachable spirit needful 30—33 
 
 CHAPTER VI.— Hints upon Kitchen and Dinino-room. 
 
 What a kitchen should be — Character of the housekeeper known by her kitchen — How to 
 save labor — Kitchen conveniences— Painted floors— No dark closets— Neatness— Cook- 
 ing stoves and ranges — Description of shelves, drawers, meal-chests, water, etc — Ser- 
 vants, the fewer the better— Proper treatment of servant girls. Dininq-room — “ The 
 dinner-party the highest expression of civilization” — Always preside at your own 
 table— Perfect tabie— Artistic housekeeper— Clouded brows at table — Sons and 
 daughters as table- waiters — Novelty in food— The future home 34—39 
 
 CHAPTER Vn.— Hints upon Bathing. 
 
 Condition of person before bath— Not bathe when weary — Best time to bathe— Tempera- 
 ture of the room— Use of soap— Foot-baths — Hip or sitz-bath, how taken, when and 
 what for — Vapor or Turkish bath— Every person can take one at home at expense of 
 five cents — How ? 40—41 
 
 CHAPTER VIII.— Cookery. 
 
 Practical hints relative to the preparation of food, to which is added recipes and sugges- 
 tions which shall wisely guide the artistic woman to the management of a model 
 table, and healthy household directions for best varieties of brown bread, given in 
 full. In short, it is intended to supply just what every housekeeper needs 42—52 
 
 A beautiful octavo volume. Large new type. Tinted paper. 
 125 handsome and humorous illustrations, gilt back and side 
 stamp. English clotb. Price $2. The Book will sell itself. 
 
 Its Authors are widely-known Lecturers and Health Teachers, and 
 are competent to speak with authority upon matters referred to in this 
 volume. 
 
 Agents Wanted. 
 
 Address, 
 
 Geo. SI, Everett, ITS. I>„ or IWrs. Susan Everett, M. JO, 
 
 P. O. Box 1812, New York City. 
 
CHAPTER 1. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 § 1. Is Health a Dream or a “Lost Art?’’ 
 
 Health crowns all else. The flush of youth, 
 the well-tempered ways of middle life, the strong 
 arm which wins great battles, the sublime courage 
 for the hero of each day, the Christian’s walk and 
 ways, the peaceful waiting of the latter days, the 
 great eternity we meet beyond ; all these, and more, 
 depend upon a well-conditioned life, expressed by 
 the familiar term good health. 
 
 It is more than absence of pain. It means more 
 
 than to sleep soundly and work willingly. It means 
 
 1 
 
ur. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 the best possible expression of life force. It means 
 culture, a clear skin, a bright eye, a tinted cheek, 
 and limbs that “ ache with strength.” With it, the 
 eagle dwells in the clouds ; without it, he is dull and 
 stupid as a barn-yard fowl. With it come Swiss 
 carols, and other wild warbles from a full heart ; 
 without it, even youth becomes dull and pale, old 
 and haggard ; and the hateful language of suffering 
 supplants that of song. Health means energy, am- 
 bition, enthusiasm, a divine activity which conse- 
 crates all the quickened purposes of a royal soul. 
 
 Its opposite is torpor, idleness, stupidity, gan- 
 grene, jealousy, suspicion, misanthropy, crime. 
 Youth is clothed with everything beautiful and 
 attainable; while we identify old age with lifeless 
 leaves and withered branches. It does, but should 
 not, mean disease. 
 
 We reluctantly part with youth, and unwillingly 
 watch our gray hairs. “ I am so sorry I’m growing 
 old!” said a father while gazing on his sweet-faced 
 daughter. Hot because silver hairs are unbeautiful 
 
 o 
 
 of themselves ; but we associate them with decrepi- 
 tude, a slow step, a staggering mind, a stagnant 
 memory. 
 
 Age is measured not by time — we grow old be- 
 cause we lose the hope and aspiration, the bloom 
 and charm of youth. How unlovely is life with its 
 ■clubbed feet, its dimmed vision, its bald head, pirn- 
 
A THREAD OF GOLD. 
 
 3 
 
 pled face and blossomed nose ! Wliat more cheer- 
 ful than a graceful old woman, or a grand old man 
 of eighty, in whom dwell the ardor of youth, and 
 the peacefulness of an Autumn eve ? 
 
 Infancy, age, strength, weakness, smiles, tears, 
 hope, despair, success, failure, are only partial ex- 
 pressions of that force, which, like 
 
 § 2. “A Thread of Gold,” 
 
 runs through every organized individual, vegetable 
 
 O t/ O / o 
 
 or animal, grouping individuals into families, families 
 into communities, and these into more complex com- 
 binations, where strife, conquest, disease, and death 
 in turn prevail. 
 
 A little seed is planted in the earth, then a shrub, 
 and ere long an oak shades an acre. A little cell, 
 the first expression of physiological life, an infini- 
 tesimal bladder with fluid contents, keeps unfolding, 
 and unfolding, until we see the worm, the butterfly, 
 the bee, the bird, the elephant, or the mastodon, 
 which makes the earth tremble with his tread. 
 Even more wonderful is the new-born babe, poorest 
 and most helpless of all. To-day he fills a cradle, 
 to-morrow he makes and controls mighty engines, 
 dragging millions of tons through the air swifter 
 than the flight of a bird, or ploughing the deep 
 with some monster vessel, contending with the 
 tempest. A little later he seizes a chain of fire, 
 and binds distant continents, until the pulse-beat of 
 
4 
 
 DR. EVERETT'S HEALTH FRAGMENTS. 
 
 Paris is felt in America. This variety of expression, 
 the seed, the flower, the fragrance, the fruit ; this 
 wonderful force which converts the acorn into an 
 oak, the cell into a mastodon, the babe into a New- 
 ton, sailing among the stars and proclaiming the 
 marriage of distant worlds ; this strange wonder- 
 working force we call life, vitality. Its study in- 
 creases in interest as ourselves become involved with 
 it, and we more clearly understand our relations to 
 time, disease, and health. 
 
 § 3. Health a Birthright. 
 
 Occasionally a soul barters its body for some 
 heroic stride heavenward, but such cases are excep- 
 tional. The religious martyr, a brave fireman, sailor, 
 soldier, or, above them all, some silent, suffering 
 woman, sitting beyond the gaze of vulgar eyes, toll- 
 ing: out her strength over some unfortunate child or 
 unworthy husband, counting stars for a rosary, and 
 snatching: moments of slumber while the angels 
 watch her wasted features. Such as these, there are, 
 who find’ shorter paths to heaven ; but, for most 
 mortals, the way is steep and rugged, requiring a 
 stout frame, strong limbs, and a brave, healthy 
 heart. 
 
 Health is the birthright of every child well born, 
 of every man who wisely uses his substance, of every 
 woman who seeks, among other means of grace, a 
 
HEALTH A BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 5 
 
 wise knowledge of tlie laws wliicli interrelate her 
 body to its tasks and time. The most heavenly 
 babe is wreathed in smiles ; the bravest boy is not 
 the sickliest ; the most Christian woman thinks of 
 herself least. The best man is free to use every 
 power of body and mind for those more needy 
 than he. Aches and ills may enter into Christian 
 experience, but they are not a necessary part of it. 
 He who would do his best must be his best ; as every 
 member of his body must be fruitful of strength. 
 
 The actualities submerge the possibilities of 
 human experience ; the latter find lodgment in only 
 fevered visions. 
 
 The dreams of man define his heritage, and alone 
 bound his possessions. He who lives not on the 
 hillsides, or rides not mountains with the storm, and 
 sees not the contending elements, nor numbers 
 the stars, has lived but half. 
 
 He is a hard man whose face and form and 
 thought tell us he is fettered by pig iron, steel rails, 
 and the dry details of practical business. The rustle 
 of parchment and ring of dollars make discord in 
 the heart. You must eat the food of the gods if 
 you would exalt the countenance. Said a beautiful 
 girl, “ Oh, sir ! I am so little of what I wish to be ! ” 
 and in her glowing face I read a prophecy of what 
 she has since attained. Take your ideal, a robust 
 form, elastic step, profusion of lustrous ban, eyes 
 
6 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 * 
 
 like diamonds, tinted cheeks, ruby lips set with 
 pearls, all animated by a loving, aspiring soul ; com- 
 pare this embodied dream of what is attainable in 
 health, with the tame faces, weak backs and wasted 
 forms, the blighted minds, hardened hearts, suspi- 
 cious glance, tottering step ; the aches and pains, 
 and invalidism, — Is not health mostly a dream, and 
 its attainment one of the lost arts ? 
 
 § 4. “Yankees?” or Americans? 
 
 Towards the close of the sixteeenth century, 
 there appeared a new type of the genus homo. 
 It is yet a disputed point whether he should be 
 regarded as a distinct creation, or owes his existence 
 to some evolutionary process best explained by 
 Darwin. This type does not interest itself in its 
 origin. Indeed, in one respect, it resembles Topsy, 
 makes no distinct claim to parentage, and is rather 
 flattered by the idea that it “ coin’d up ” itself. 
 This is the more agreeable because all else human 
 is so inferior to itself, in ideas of government, poli- 
 tics, and religion. It adopted, and is now known, 
 by the nom de plume of “Yankee;” and as such 
 we shall refer to some points involving his history 
 and capacity. 
 
 He came from some unknown shore to Plymouth 
 Rock, which he seized and claimed by right of 
 possession. The soil was worthless, and the new 
 
YANKEES ? OR AMERICANS l 
 
 7 
 
 proprietor had no capital except “ brains,” “ cheek,” 
 and a pliable conscience. His knowledge of busi- 
 ness was clearly shown by a system of advertis- 
 ing which arrested the attention of Europe. The 
 Yankee had no means of his own, but a course of 
 conduct similar to that which secured for him real 
 estate, enabled him to obtain a share of the money 
 brought by each immigrant. 
 
 He invited capitalists, teachers, and preachers- 
 and by a liberal use of the imagination, a goose 
 quill, and tannate of iron , the Yankee soon found 
 himself at the head of a thriving colony. He 
 proved himself a compound of trickery, trade, and 
 energy, with an all-engrossing idea of absorbing 
 every dollar and every soul which touched his shore. 
 During the early settlement of the colony he became 
 converted , and, like unto the olden times of Israel , 
 the Yankee became “a chosen people ; ” by burning 
 witches and hanging turbulent Quakers, he secured 
 the divine favor, entered heaven, and brought away 
 the supreme law for the government of all people. 
 All men are born free and equal ; hence he had 
 a right to the soil equal with the natives, and as the 
 latter had no firearms the Yankee became sole 
 proprietor. 
 
 If an Englishman came to this new settlement 
 
 O 
 
 with money enough to build a school-house and 
 brains enough to write a book, the Yankee wrote 
 
8 dr. .everett’s health fragments. 
 
 his name upon both book and build W and 
 claimed them. If a big-headed German, or an in- 
 genious Frenchman touched the shore he was 
 swallowed up. Poor Pat would hardly have time 
 to get, his brogues on before a spade would be 
 thrust in his hand, and he set to digging canals 
 and building railroads. In short, this long, lean 
 
 restless, 
 
 g i 11 g , lying, 
 trading, absorb- 
 ing creature has 
 swallowed up 
 the Jewish Bi- 
 ble, the Chris- 
 tian Testament, 
 the laws and 
 literature of 
 older nations, 
 and almost 
 every man, wo- 
 man, and child, 
 which have 
 
 found a home in the New World. 
 
 So intensely has he individualized himself that 
 teachers and preachers, the schools and pulpits of 
 the land, seem proud of the sobriquet Yankee. 
 Every success is labeled “Yankee” — every invention 
 is a Yankee invention. In short, though he is only 
 
YANKEES ? OK AMERICANS ? 
 
 9 
 
 every twentieth person, yet by a piratical egotism 
 he claims the attainments and possessions of the 
 other nineteen. JCvery germ or gill of blood from 
 England, Scotland, France, Germany, Switzerland, 
 or Italy, which has been imported to this conti- 
 nent within two centuries must be dubbed “ Yankee 
 blood.” The pride of being an American is mostly 
 lost in the strutting peacockism of a pure Yankee. 
 
 His face is so familiar that it would be recog- 
 nized at a glance in any capital of Europe ; but 
 one looks lono- before he can see in him the 
 
 O 
 
 thought, benevo- 
 
 American people have no mean position. Our ora- 
 tors, probably, outnumber those of all Europe, 
 whilst the average American physique is quite 
 inferior to that of the Old World. 
 
 In mechanical 
 enterprise and in- 
 genuity, in archi- 
 tecture, common 
 schools, literature, 
 and commerce the 
 
 lence, religion, phi- 
 losophy, or culture 
 which mark the 
 leading features of 
 foremost Ameri- 
 cans. 
 
 THE AMERICAN OF 1976. 
 
10 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 We are only a few generations from a generous, 
 well-nourished ancestry, with yearly contributions 
 from England, Scotland, Ireland, France, and Ger- 
 many, which continually pour rich blood into our 
 depleted veins; but the exhaustive habits of our 
 people are such, that the deterioration of one hun- 
 dred years hence is not of uncertain prediction, 
 unless health is better protected by an assiduous 
 regard for hygienic laws. 
 
 The good-natured, old-fashioned men of our 
 
 childhood are fast 
 passing away — 
 those aldermanic 
 men of a genera- 
 tion past, who sat 
 on store-steps and 
 told stories, — who 
 laughed and made 
 others laugh ; men 
 of mirth and gene, 
 rous dinners, who 
 could not stand 
 straight and see their toes, — men who were happy 
 and contented with themselves, and the human 
 race generally. 
 
 We do see a resemblance to them occasionally, but 
 these can seldom stand the test. If you were to tap 
 them, you would find a keg of lager bier instead 
 
 TESTING ALDERMANIC QUALITIES. 
 
DYSPEPTIC PULPIT. 
 
 11 
 
 of the natural contents of a healthy abdo- 
 men. 
 
 § 5. Dyspeptic Pulpit. 
 
 The country parson’s pastoral call is the signal for 
 a rural festival. The boys are sent out to run down 
 the old hens; and the matron resorts to every de- 
 vice that will render her table inviting. Pickles, 
 pepper, “chow-chow,” mince pie — so the good man 
 asks our Father to bless the food. Does the reader 
 suppose the Lord ever blessed a green pickled 
 cucumber, or the pepper-box \ If so, lie lias much 
 to learn of the science of feeding. 
 
 It were as well to ask a blessing on twenty grains 
 of arsenic, as over scrofulous meat and a red pepper- 
 box ; neither of which has any relation to this most 
 beautiful of religious exercises. 
 
 The good man eats heartily, goes home, has the 
 headache ; and then prepares sermons that make the 
 heart ache. Untold time, alone, will reveal the 
 number of bad sermons preached by good men, be- 
 cause they had bad pickles in their stomachs. 
 
 The health or disease of a Christian minister tem- 
 pers his mind and tones his theology. Students of 
 Divinity should be thoroughly educated oh all mat- 
 ters pertaining to their health, and the best means 
 of preserving it. Piety and dyspepsia have too long 
 been linked ; and it is time both ministers and lay- 
 
CORDIAL RECEPTION OF A COUNTRY PARSON. (See p. 11.) 
 
WHY FARMERS ARE GLUTTONS. 
 
 13 
 
 men should know that a robust body, good diges- 
 tion, and healthy physical exercise, are conducive to 
 Christian culture ; and that a cheerful mind and 
 hearty laugh, are as good a passport to heaven as a 
 long face. Disease clouds the mind, sours the tem- 
 per, and robs the heart of hope. A man cannot 
 continually sin against his own body and serve the 
 Lord with all his talents. 
 
 ’ § 6. Why Farmers are Gluttons. 
 
 The farmer’s virtue is mostly negative. The 
 schoolboy is regaled with wise sayings from Cicero 
 and Franklin concerning the virtuous tendencies of 
 a rural life. Yet farmers are a simple class of peo- 
 ple. They suffer little, sin little, think little, and 
 seldom go to court but as witnesses or jurors. 
 
 The school teacher uses a word of four syllables, 
 and he is requested not to use such “ big words,” 
 as he is speaking to “ only an ignorant farmer .” 
 As though a farmer had any moral right to be 
 ignorant, more than a minister, doctor, or lawyer ! 
 It is easy of explanation. He thinks he must eat 
 much to be strong. So, to work hard for six days he 
 continually gratifies his gluttonous appetite. On 
 the Sabbath he forgets his rule, or reverses it. 
 Because he does nothing he can eat all the more. 
 Take a Pennsylvania farmer’s Sunday breakfast, — 
 ham, eggs, buckwheat cakes, saur krout, waffles, 
 
14 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 molasses, etc., etc. Clevevly through, the boys bring 
 around the fat horses, and Mr. Farmer goes to 
 church. He is a “good” man, regular in attend- 
 ance, prompt in payment of dues ; and exemplary in 
 silence , if not in conversation. 
 
 The minister is through with preliminary exercises, 
 and takes his text ; the spare, pale man has toiled 
 through the week to prepare a sermon that may 
 benefit the farmer; but before lie gets half through, 
 he looks down to see Mr. Farmer sound asleep, if he 
 has not already been interrupted by his snoring. 
 The good minister is trying to get at his head and 
 heart ; but the vitality of the farmer has gone to his 
 stomach, to relieve it of mince pie and saur Jcrout. 
 
 If farmers were to put into books and study that 
 vitality, now wasted in disposing of food which they 
 eat, over and above the natural demand of their 
 bodies , they might rank among the best informed 
 classes of the land. As it is, this large and pro- 
 ductive class of our people are stupid and illiterate, 
 because they do not know why they should, or are 
 unwilling to control their appetites. 
 
 § 7. Personal Influence 
 
 is next to heaven. All power ends in bending 
 others to our own will or way of thinking. Only 
 kings and emperors rule, be they crowned or not. 
 Individual influence is founded not more on quality 
 
POPULAR CREDULITY. 
 
 15 
 
 and quantity of mind than body. It is largely a 
 question of avoirdupois. 
 
 If you would be a leader of the people, secure 
 the means of a 
 large physical 
 growth. We 
 follow leaders 
 larger than our- 
 selves. Most 
 politicians are 
 portly me n. 
 
 New England 
 has more brain 
 than body. She 
 has written the 
 history, poetry, 
 and music of 
 America ; and 
 
 she has greater influence in the counsels of the 
 nation than any other equal number of states. To 
 secure it she sends large-bodied men to Washington. 
 
 Other conditions being equal, size determines _ 
 power in politics as it does in mechanics. 
 
 § 8. Popular Credulity. 
 
 It would be amusing if it were not painful to wiW'O/ , 
 ness the zeal with which the masses seek out and 
 
 * ^ A' * . 
 
 , UV 
 
 I ^ r s y 
 
 ■ >«£§ **» 
 
 W> UBWi '- 1 
 
 POLITICIAN. 
 
1G 
 
 DR. EVERETTS HEALTH FRAGMENTS. 
 
 patronize Patent Medicines, “ Indian Doctors,” Faith 
 Doctors, and other charlatans. 
 
 One generation ago, the New York Sun received 
 $5,000 to advertise Brandreth’s Pills. By many the 
 advertiser was regarded as a crazy adventurer. He 
 soon retired with a competency. Since then, scores 
 of others have succeeded as did he. It is stated 
 that two-tifths of all moneys spent for advertising 
 only give publicity to preparations of this kind. To 
 say they do ten-fold more harm than good, is a mild 
 condemnation of the commercial and moral robbery, 
 involved in the manufacture and sale of patent 
 medicines. 
 
 Indian doctors give little medicine among their 
 own tribes, — they assume to cure by charms, 
 dances, and mysterious words. Recently a tribe of 
 Sioux put their “ Medicine Man ” to death, because 
 he could not cure small -pox, which was raging 
 among the “ papooses.” Society should apply a simi- 
 Ifir test to the parasites who practice upon the 
 people’s credulity in the Medicine Man's name. 
 
 Faith Doctors. — These are they who cure by 
 laying on hands. There is a truth in their pre- 
 tensions, — the well may help the weak. A vigor- 
 ous, strong hand placed on another’s aching head, 
 often dispels the pain, almost instantly. 
 
 We may not be able to explain why , or how , 
 
POPULAR CREDULITY. 
 
 n 
 
 but God lias linked tlie human race in tlieir suffer 
 ings as well as in their joys; and it is pleasant to 
 think that a well-toned person may give joy, peace, 
 and rest to a suffering one by mere touch, often- 
 times. Yet, even this gift is prostituted by charla- 
 tans, and seemingly intelligent people are often 
 carried captive by their pretentions. The following 
 anecdote was told the writer as true in substance, 
 some years ago : 
 
 A “ Faith Doctor ” had advertised to be at a cer- 
 tain place in Hooppole township, Posey County, In- 
 diana, but was detained to complete a previous aj> 
 pointment. 
 
 On the day mentioned for his arrival a young 
 gentleman from the rural district inquired for “ that 
 air big doctor .” A young horse - jockey, seeing an 
 opportunity for a practical joke, announced himself 
 as the “ doctor.” Inviting the verdant into the par- 
 lor, he accosted him with, 
 
 “ Now, sir, what is the matter? ” 
 
 Verdant. “ Wal, Doctor, I’m deef !” 
 
 Jockey. “ Which ear ? ” 
 
 Verdant. “ Left ear.” 
 
 Jockey. “Then turn around, sir.” The new 
 doctor boxed his ear soundly three times. . After he 
 had recovered his center of gravity, the “ doctor ” 
 asked, “ Now, sir, how do you feel ? ” 
 
 Verdant. “ I think I hear better.” 
 
 2 
 
18 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 Jockey. “ Call day after to-morrow^ for another 
 treatment.” 
 
 On the day appointed tlie poor fellow returned 
 and brought two others to receive treatment. 
 
 Caterpillar Cure. — A little girl, when trund- 
 ling a baby with several rolls of flannel about its 
 neck, one hot summer’s mid-day, was accosted by a 
 gentleman with, 
 
 “ Sissy, what are you smothering that child with 
 flannel for, on such a day as this ? ” 
 
 Little Girl. “ Mother did that. An old lady told 
 ma if she put a caterpillar in the middle roll it 
 would cure baby’s whooping cough. The whoops 
 will leave the baby and go into the caterpillar.” 
 
 § 9. Panorama of Death. 
 
 In New York City the funerals average four hun- 
 dred and sixty per week. One half of these are of 
 children who should live. Three-fourths of the 
 deaths in this country are the result of diseases pre- 
 ventable or curable, under proper conditions of liv- 
 ing. These are consumption, liver disease, fevers, etc. 
 
 Of the incapables in the United States there are 
 Insane ........ 37,000 
 
 Idiotic ....... 24,000 
 
 Blind 20,000 
 
 Deaf and dumb ..... 16,000 
 
A SURE REMEDY. 
 
 19 
 
 Americans pay to dentists each year $5,000,000. 
 This, notwithstanding dentists are like doctors and 
 jails, necessary evils. Live right and you will not 
 need them. The average time lost by women from 
 disease is sufficient to give each a university edu- 
 cation. 
 
 It were idle to attempt a computation of loss 
 through doctors’ bills, servants’ hire, and time wasted 
 by illness ; but far and above all these must be esti- 
 mated character undeveloped, and opportunities 
 lost, which should fit us for something better. 
 
 § 10. A Sure Remedy. 
 
 A knowledge of the body and its functions is the 
 only safeguard for public health. It is not sufficient 
 for physicians to know what the people need, or 
 what they should do. The masses must know it for 
 themselves. Health is the natural condition, and if 
 doctors were paid the half for teaching the people 
 they now receive for drugging them, society would 
 be improved. 
 
 With our present advanced knowledge of physi- 
 ology and hygiene, effectually taught in all our 
 schools, and practically carried out in the house- 
 holds, the crime, disease, and dissipation which now 
 bend the back of society, would be greatly lessened; 
 and all true reforms receive an impetus which we 
 may now dream of, if we cannot enjoy. 
 
§ 11. Wonders Within Us. 
 
 More wonderful tlian mountains and rivers, and 
 dewy meads and glistening buttercups, is this 
 “ house we live in ,” so rare in its economy of 
 
LIFE AND DEATH ABE TWINS. 
 
 21 
 
 space, and perfectness of structure. So complex is 
 it, with its deep and swift-flowing streams, filled 
 with life, bearing its uncounted fleet of microscopic 
 vessels, each vessel laden with life and joy, or song 
 and sorrow, for some particular part ; its wonderful 
 system of telegraphy, which unites the smallest tissue 
 to the great whole. Its courts of reason and art, its 
 cathedral, its solemn chants, its war, work, patience, 
 petulance, pity, and a thousand other children of the 
 soul. The soul itself. All these, and this. Not 
 standing, but restless as the sea, changing, changing 
 forever. It of to-day is not to-morrow. 
 
 § 12. Life and Death are Twins. 
 
 The cradle and the grave are side by side — we 
 must live to die, and die to live. Every heart- 
 beat two millions of blood-cells are born — every 
 heart-beat two millions die ; every minute one hun- 
 dred and forty millions are created, and as many 
 carried to the grave. I cannot move an arm or 
 take a step without inviting death ; I cannot see 
 a star or watch a humming-bird without waste 
 of optic nerve ; and every flight of fancy, or spoken 
 word, or strain of music, has death for a companion. 
 “ I die daily,” yea and more ; he is not who was 
 an hour ago, whether he will or not, the word is 
 onward, — onward to the great forever — silently, 
 noiselessly, to the great, unknown forever. 
 
22 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 § 13. Waste and Repair. 
 
 Mr. Huxley’s application of tlie correlation of 
 forces, to preserve the equilribium which we call 
 health, is the simplest basis for a practical under- 
 standing of hygiene; for the upbuilding must be as 
 constant as the waste. In childhood the waste is 
 less than the building process; during the middle 
 age they equal each other ; and during the decline, 
 or old age, the repair is less than the waste; and 
 gradually, the life forces give iq:> the contest, 
 and death claims its own. 
 
 The constructive process is carried on by means 
 of organs called digestive , by which food is dis- 
 solved, thence blood is formed, from which the 
 several tissues are regenerated. These digestive 
 organs are of infinite variety, adapted to the species 
 or condition of the animal; the cow has four 
 stomachs, the rabbit three. Fowls have a crop 
 and a gizzard, where the gravel grinds the grain 
 preparatory to further digestion. 
 
 § 14. The Varied Voice of Hunger. 
 
 Hunger is the body’s prayer for food. The 
 general desire for life is the multiplication of the 
 prayers from each atom of the body. Hunger is 
 the bugle-call u to arms,” the dining-room a battle- 
 ground. The Genius of Death slowly picks the 
 
THE YAEIED VOICE OF HUNGER. 
 
 23 
 
 body to pieces; the skin, kidneys, lungs, etc., are 
 perpetual grave-diggers. 
 
 Slowly we crumble, and ere long would give up 
 to inanition, did not hunger warn us to replenish the 
 table. Spring, Summer, Autumn, and the ingenuity 
 of man, combine to furnish material for repair. The 
 process of destructive assimilation is obvious from 
 the pounds discharged from the body during twen- 
 ty-four hours. 
 
 This waste is replenished from the blood ; each 
 of the tissues has power of selecting from the blood 
 what is necessary for its repair. Good blood is the 
 product of digestion, and must have all the ele- 
 ments of the several tissues in due proportions. 
 Hunger is the sense of regeneration, and resides in 
 the tissues, though we receive the dispatch gener- 
 ally in the stomach and mouth. This demand for 
 food is regular in healthy persons, the frequency 
 of its occurrence depending largely upon the habits 
 and occupation of the person. A man in out- 
 door, active exercise, should feel this desire for food 
 thrice daily ; if he indulges his appetite oftener, the 
 desire will conform to regular habits of eating. 
 Those engaged in sedentary employment should have 
 less frequent demands for food. The repeated de- 
 sire for food by children is largely the result of too 
 frequent feeding by the nurse or mother. The 
 hours for feeding children should be so separated 
 
24 
 
 DR. EVERETT S HEALTH FRAGMENTS, 
 
 HIS SUNDAY MORNING DISCOURSE TO A CONGREGATION 
 
 too heartily. (See p. 14.) 
 
FOOD DETERMINES BEAUTY. 
 
 25 
 
 that their stomachs can have periods of rest. After 
 the first year, children will do well on three meals 
 a day; and it is unwise, or worse, to feed them 
 oftener. Opium, alcohol, and tobacco diminish the 
 appetite, and their much use allays the desire for 
 food altogether. 
 
 15. Food Determines Beauty. 
 
 Royal souls are frequently born in the kitchen 
 and bred in the dining-room. It is an established 
 fact, that a common *egg may become a Queen, 
 or common bee, as it is fed on common or “ royal 
 jelly.” That when bees lose their queen, they 
 take a common egg, enclose it in a royal cell , 
 feed it with “ royal jelly? and the perfect queen bee 
 will appear in due time. “ Thus having not only 
 their bodily organization , but their psychical nature 
 essentially altered by the nurture they have re- 
 ceived .' 1 ' 1 (Carpenter’s Mental Physiology, p. 60.) 
 
 This is as true of human as other queens. Coarse, 
 gross, and gluttonous habits of life degrade the 
 physical appearance. You will rarely be disap- 
 pointed in supposing that a lucid, clean, clear-skinned, 
 bright-eyed, self-respectful lady, is very careful of 
 the food which forms her body and tints her 
 cheek ; nor are you unwise in supposing that 
 great, coarse, unclean, dull-eyed, greasy-faced man, 
 
26 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 is regardless of table habits and table furniture, 
 if he can only get a sufficiency of rich, coarse 
 food, to till his capacious stomach. Two tomato 
 worms are differently fed. One on the coarse 
 leaves of coarse plants, the other on the petals 
 of fragrant, tinted flowers. The latter will be a 
 beautiful thing, tinted like unto a rainbow; the 
 former will be plain, and unlovely. Just as true 
 is it of boys and girls, and men and women. The 
 quality and quantity of the materials which form 
 their bodies, must determine their appearance. 
 
 We see it in the bloated' form of the inebriate, 
 as compared with his opposite, but it is as true 
 of what we eat as what we drink. 
 
 Goethe lived carefully and abstemiously, and car- 
 ried his personal beauty to old age ; while Mad- 
 am von Stein lost Goethe’s love by gross habits 
 of eating sausages, and drinking strong coffee, 
 
 O O' O O t 
 
 which destroyed her beauty. Many a beauty has 
 been slain by greasy pastry, griddle-cakes, and 
 other indigestible substances. Let it be written on 
 the understanding, beauty is icon by a wise diet , 
 and lost by gluttony. 
 
 § 16 . Deportment at Table. 
 
 “ An animal is judged of at feast.” A man be- 
 trays his breeding at table. Unconsciously he tells 
 you he is a gentleman or a boor. If you want your 
 
DEPORTMENT AT TABLE. 
 
 27 
 
 philanthropy tested, come with me. Here is a W est- 
 ern bound train, stopping “ twenty minutes for din- 
 ner.” Into the dining-room rush two hundred of 
 that unwashed, unsanctified heap of material called 
 human. Did you ever watch a lot of pigs contend- 
 ing for swill ? Scrambling, shoving, crowding and 
 gulping. Do those people remind you of the pigs % 
 Never have I loved my people less than at a hasty, 
 hotel table. Indeed, I could only tolerate them 
 when I compared them with the people from other 
 lands, at same table with them. Then I was forced 
 to see that others were only less decent than our- 
 selves. 
 
 The higher we ascend, above the strictly animal 
 line of conduct, into the aesthetic, the more agreeable 
 we are to our fellow, especially if he sits opposite 
 us at table. Dr. Abernethy was strictly philosophi- 
 cal in his advice to an American official who con- 
 sulted him concerning dyspepsia. 
 
 Dr. A. “ So, sir, you had dyspepsia in America.” 
 
 Official. “ Yes, sir.” 
 
 Dr. A. “ And you have come to London to re- 
 main some months ? ” 
 
 Official. “ Yes, sir.” 
 
 Dr. A. “You will need no treatment, for while 
 you remain, you will probably be compelled to eat 
 among polite people.” 
 
 Dr. Abernethy conveyed the idea that a truly 
 
28 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 polite man could not have dyspepsia. He was not 
 very incorrect. 
 
 I once knew a Quaker woman who said those 
 who came to her house to live, gradually improved 
 in appetite and health. Her table was exquisitely 
 neat, and the food so prepared that its sight was an 
 appetizer. The latter was served in small quanti- 
 ties ; and one felt that to eat largely would be an 
 outrage. Conversation was cheerful, facetious, but 
 seldom personal. Over and above all was the quiet, 
 assuring manner of the Quaker woman, more tran- 
 quillizing than aught else. The gentleman is not 
 only careful not to offend, but he is bound to enter- 
 tain those about him. In short, eating should be 
 done as gracefully, as moderately. The best appe- 
 tizers are not the contents of the castor, more than a 
 well-ordered mind, which is quick to perceive and 
 supply the needs of its neighbor. 
 
 § 17. Gluttony 
 
 is the parent of gout, dyspepsia, kidney disease, 
 apoplexy, corpulency, rheumatism and neuralgia ; 
 also of a score of other unchristened children. 
 
 I have never met true refinement in the person 
 of a gross eater. Great geniuses are sometimes 
 great gluttons. The best type of gentlemen never 
 are. Goethe and Thorwaldsen were very consid- 
 erate of their food ; and when we see these giants 
 
GLUTTONY. 
 
 29 
 
 making a breakfast off a glass of milk and a roll, 
 we have learned from more tkan tkeir pens and 
 models. 
 
 This liabit tarnishes the soul, and publishes its 
 work on the face. 
 
 Eye. — It generally robs the eye of intensity 
 of expression, and color, also of brilliancy, — when 
 it leaves the eye still sparkling, it surrounds it 
 with mottled, sodden, puffy or high-colored, half- 
 animated flesh, leaving it like a jewel set in putty. 
 
 Gluttony and the Mouth. — Wreathe your 
 mouth in smiles by spare eating. Gluttony thick- 
 ens the lips, and imparts an indescribable coarse- 
 ness to them. It robs them of redness, ploughs 
 fissures, and makes cracks in them. The glut- 
 ton’s mouth may remind us of cod-fish, — never of 
 kisses. 
 
 Effects of Gluttony on the Nose. — Particu- 
 larly upon the nose does nature take her revenge. 
 I never saw an unexceptionable nose upon a man 
 who habitually ate or drank to excess. 
 
 The nose is a promontory from which the topo- 
 graphy of life and character can be studied. 
 
 Pimples, blotches, minute blood-vessels enlarged 
 and straggling over the surface, a purplish tint, 
 thick skin, and a certain unspiritual or super-ani- 
 mal expression are some of the means nature uses 
 to expose the habits of a glutton. 
 
30 
 
 DR, EVERETTS HEALTH FRAGMENTS. 
 
 On the other hand, we rarely meet a “ clean ” 
 looking man who has lived forty years, free from 
 disease, unless he is a small eater. 
 
 § 18. Shall we follow Nature? 
 
 Certainly, if you can find her ; but be careful you 
 do not get after some old hag instead. The glutton 
 finds her in a yard of sausage ; the drunkard sees 
 her in a glass of grog; the dyspeptic in every abomi- 
 nation which gratifies his insane appetite. A cele- 
 brated surgeon of Philadelphia, once said to a medi- 
 cal class of three hundred, “ Young gentlemen, with 
 all your theories concerning diet, you have much to 
 learn. You have lieai'd much relating to animal and 
 vegetable diet, etc., etc. ; but my advice to you is, if 
 a little child crave a little salt, give it. If she crave 
 much salt, or pepper, or vinegar, or pickles, give 
 them. 1 Nature ’ is much wiser than you are, or 
 we.” 
 
 He supposed a case of dyspejisia; it may have 
 been inherited from a mother, certain it is that the 
 '■Nature' 1 he referred to was the miserable old bel- 
 dame which unphilosopliical doctors, and drunkards, 
 and dyspeptics follow all their lives. 
 
 You may know Nature by the company she keeps. 
 Her friends are sweet breath , sound sleep, clear com- 
 plexion, bright eyes, strong back, a cheerful dispo- 
 sition, "a clear head, and a merry laugh. If you have 
 
HOW FAR INSTINCT SHOULD GUIDE EATING. 31 
 
 followed lier to irregular meals, wine and wakeful- 
 ness, to aclies, pains, and loss of sleep ; if you find 
 her companions have a tobacco breath, bad teeth, 
 red .noses, pale or pinched features, sour temper, 
 domestic strife, irreverence, no matter how much 
 they may talk about ‘ Nature ,’ you are following a 
 false goddess. 
 
 Our appetites are often determined before birth ; 
 and bad habits beget over-mastering impulses, which 
 many mistake for natural demands ; but it is no 
 safer to follow them than the behests of a lunatic. 
 
 § 19. How far Instinct should guide Bating. 
 
 The bird and bee trust safely to their instincts. 
 The little duck leaves its shell with a sublime faith 
 and plunges into the water. With not less safety 
 or certainty may a boy of twelve trust to his in- 
 stinct, if he were properly born and bred. Most 
 persons can trust their appetites implicitly after 
 weeks of rest, and a perfect absence of con- 
 diments, stimulants, and narcotics. The highest, 
 broadest, and noblest parts of man are his instincts. 
 A perfectly healthy man may be a law unto him- 
 self ; this does not apply to one in a million, how- 
 ever. Ituskin says, “ the greatness or smallness of 
 a man is determined at his birth ; ” but, before its 
 birth, the child has appetital tendencies which 
 fetter him through life. For invalids, and especially 
 
32 
 
 DU. EVERETTS HEALTH FRAGMENTS. 
 
 dyspeptics to make tlieir appetites supreme, is no 
 more sensible than enthroning a maniac. “Nature ” 
 is a much abused term ; she is always gentle, ab- 
 stemious, wise, safe, temperate. When we look 
 for her in our own selves, especially after we have 
 lived a gluttonous or vicious life for years, she is 
 generally “ not at home.” The reader is safest after 
 
 “the gentleman who believes in following ‘nature’ while at table, if 
 
 NOWHERE ELSE.” 
 
 a careful study of hygiene. Then she may set 
 her house in order and take her seat at table. 
 Better know when and what to eat than guess at it. 
 
 Those wdio prate most about what “ nature ” de- 
 mands have by their vicious indulgences removed 
 themselves from her influence. As gluttons and 
 gourmands, they give to their perverted appetites 
 the appellation of “ nature.” 
 
SHALL APPETITE BE TEMPTED. 
 
 33 
 
 § 20. Shall Appetite be Tempted? 
 
 Animals in tlieir natural condition have regular 
 hours for eating, exercise and rest. The wild 
 pigeon dines 'as regularly as the sun moves. x\ 
 healthy appetite craves food at appointed hours. 
 The English laborer wants and eats five meals a 
 day — the American three. Feed your child three 
 times a day only, 
 and that often only 
 will it call for food. 
 
 Feed it ten times a 
 day and the demand 
 for food will corre- 
 spond with the hour 
 of feedimr. Feed 
 
 o 
 
 it irregularly and 
 often and it will 
 soon become a real 
 Amer i can baby, 
 crying for food as 
 often as its mouth 
 is empty, nervous, 
 peevish, dyspeptic. 
 
 “Lead us not into 
 temptation,” should 
 be repeated at every street corner, and as often as 
 one meets a pea-nut stand. John Bull fills his 
 pockets with sandwiches before he takes the cars, 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 Jonathan, his, with newspapers ; but on every car are 
 candies, nuts, fruit ; and at every station apple pies, 
 and popcorn, are temptingly thrust in our ears and 
 eyes. Candy-stands, and the “ cheese-and-cracker ” 
 department of grocery stores ought to be suppressed. 
 Every grandmother shows her affection by loading 
 the plate, and urging us to eat. Every one’s “ Golden 
 Rule,” Eat only at regular hours , and never then , unless 
 you are hungry , nor oftener than three times a day. 
 
 § 21. How to Secure an Appetite. 
 
 Wait. Time, “which befriends all the sad and 
 disappointed,” will not forget you. Abstain utterly 
 from food ; you will get hungry by-and-by. It is a 
 real luxury to be hungry j try it. See how clear 
 your head will be ; how much better you will think. 
 The best thoughts are not born upon a full stomach. 
 How many wretched people there are who regard it 
 as a misfortune to lose a meal. Never sympathize 
 with them. They are always unthrifty or diseased. 
 Next to time, outdoor exercise ; especially if your em- 
 ployment is within doors, and your occupation 
 sedentary, mountain air, morning walks, active exer- 
 cise and time are the best appetizers. 
 
CHAPTER HI. 
 
 Some Things that Concern Women. 
 
 § 22. Of Queens at Home. 
 
 XTH an acute sense of 
 tlie wrongs, deprivations, 
 and disabilities of women, 
 and a desire for lier 
 presence and influence in 
 every department of life, 
 where she can, with 
 profit, work for her own 
 interest and her brothers’, 
 the writer still claims 
 there are some 
 she has no right to do. 
 She has no right to be ignorant or indifferent 
 to the practical duties of a well-ordered household ; 
 no right to spend her time in the routine of 
 a frivolous, idle or fashionable life. She has no 
 right to be ashamed of the kitchen, and install 
 an underbred, ignorant person, over matters so im- 
 portant to herself, and every member of her family, 
 as is the selection and preparation of daily food. 
 
36 
 
 DE. EVERETTS HEALTH FRAGMENTS. 
 
 THE TO-DAY’S QUEEN OF THE KITCHEN. 
 
 She lias no right to be ignorant or indifferent 
 
 of the necessity or the art 
 of dressing her child or her- 
 self, in a becoming and 
 healthful manner. She has 
 no right to allow her girl to 
 enter womanhood without 
 such knowledge, and con- 
 victions, as shall prove the 
 surest safe-guard against 
 disease, and in favor of a 
 healthy, happy life. She 
 has no right to waste her life in wrangling, while 
 three-fourths of all children are born of ignorance, 
 vice and crime, which blossom in their after lives, 
 and are entailed to their offspring in turn. She 
 has no right to shirk a healthy maternity. Oh, 
 America ! Thou need’st honest politicians to guide 
 thee, strong arms to defend thee, and virtuous 
 voters to sustain thee ; but more than all these 
 dost thou need a wise, conscientious motherhood! 
 Without it, the first three are soon wasted ; with 
 it, thy children will supply them all ; and thy 
 vestal fires will burn forever. 
 
 § 23. Dignity of Domestic Life. 
 
 Americans are ashamed of work, especially do- 
 mestic labor. We swindle ourselves with plati- 
 
DIGNITY OF DOMESTIC LIFE. 
 
 37 
 
 tildes which we assume to, but do not, believe. 
 “ One person is as good as another if he conducts 
 himself with propriety,” “ Labor is honorable,” 
 and Fourth of July orations go well together. A 
 lady teacher, of large experience, regards it unbe 
 coming her position to know anything about dinner 
 before the hour for eating arrives. She has charge 
 of a large school of young ladies, is regular in 
 religious and other exercises — -talks wisely to the 
 girls about appearances, music, needle-work, art 
 of drawing, etc. She graduates a large class every 
 year — a lot of pale-faced, small-waisted, falsely- 
 dressed creatures — “ finished ” in brain, body, art 
 of dressing, and conversation. Years for music 
 and French, not one day for what would fit the 
 girl for domestic labor. Her bad complexion is 
 explained when you look at the doughnuts, griddle- 
 cakes, and biscuits, sausages, and white bread she 
 eats. 
 
 The teacher is ashamed of domestic work , and 
 she graduates her pupils with a similar sense of 
 false propriety. There are few fashionable women 
 who respect work or clothe the affairs of domestic 
 life fvith dignity. What pertains to the kitchen 
 is regarded as drudgery; the cook requires as much 
 brains as the Governor of the State, while society 
 thinks the commonest vagrant girl in the country is 
 good enough to cook our food. Yet the character 
 
38 
 
 I» It. EVERETT S HEALTH FRAGMENTS. 
 
 of the child is largely determined by Bridget’s 
 cookery; and meanwhile the indolent hands of the 
 ■‘lady” are be jeweled and on exhibition. Poor 
 cooks are continually undoing the best work of the 
 pulpit and school-room. 
 
 A neatly set table inspires us with a sense of 
 dignity and courtesy which we cannot feel when 
 dining from rough boards. Simple, healthy food, 
 exquisitely prepared, and served upon shining 
 dishes, and brilliant silverware, with snowy nap- 
 kins, and glistening goblets, a gentle blessing, and 
 cheerful conversation, embrace the sweetest com- 
 munions and the happiest moments of life. The 
 health question must be regarded as a moral one, 
 because its laws and the Ten commandments have 
 a common Author. 
 
 Clothe the table with such thoughts, then wis- 
 dom, wit, and Christian courtesy will vie to make 
 the meal hours the best of the twenty-four. 
 
 She is a true queen who knows how to preside 
 over an artistic table. 
 
 He is a true king who plays the host to perfec- 
 tion. 
 
 § 24. Our Coming Mothers. x 
 
 The American girl is eminently a prodigy. She 
 hurries from pantalets to maternity, where her 
 possession consists chiefly of cradles, babies, and 
 baby graves, until thirty ; then, with broken health, 
 
OUE COMING- MOTHEBS. 
 
 39 
 
 the mother enters tlie “ invalid corps” and only 
 in exceptional cases is she heard from afterwards. 
 The physical condition of our women is such, that 
 only a fair proportion is lit for maternity at their 
 best ; while our graveyards enter a silent protest 
 against the mad stampede to motherhood, before 
 the girl has education in, or common familiarity 
 with, the duties or necessities of so imperial a posi- 
 tion. She oftentimes marries before her own bones 
 have attained their growth or wonted hardness. 
 As a result, two-fifths of the graves of our land 
 cast shadows no longer 
 than walking-sticks. 
 
 Recent reports of 
 Cincinnati tell us, of 
 children b orn in a 
 given year, one-half 
 did not live to attain 
 the aere of twelve 
 
 O 
 
 months. 
 
 It would be quite 
 safe to offer premiums 
 on all healthy girls of 
 sixteen years, as long 
 as so few are fitted 
 to answer the requirements. She who wins 
 the medal should have clear skin, rosy cheeks, 
 bright eyes, sound teeth, red lips, an abundance 
 
 MARRIED AT 16 — DIED AT 26. LEAVING SIX 
 FEEBLE CHILDREN. 
 
40 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 FAITH DOCTOR’S ” SURE CURE FOR DEAFNESS. (See p. 17.) 
 
OUR COMING MOTHERS. 
 
 41 
 
 of lustrous hair of her oivn growth , full form, strong 
 limbs and back, no aches, pains, corns or corsets, and 
 in short, a healthy, bright, sunny-tempered girl of 
 sixteen, weighing one hundred and fifteen pounds. 
 What proportion does the 
 reader think will apply for 
 the medal, after reading these 
 conditions ? 
 
 Thackeray said, American 
 women were “ handsome, dis- 
 contented creatures.” 
 
 The Abbe Bobbin said 
 of American ladies : “ They are tall and well propor- 
 tioned ; their features are generally regular, their 
 complexions fair, and without color. * 
 
 At twenty years of age, the women have no longer 
 the freshness of youth. At thirty-five or forty, 
 they are wrinkled and decrepit. The men are 
 almost as premature.” 
 
 Beau jour, French consul-general to this country 
 for ten years, said our girls were very beautiful, 
 “ But this beauty fades and passes in a moment. 
 At the age of 25, their forms change, and at 30 
 the whole of their charms have disappeared.” 
 
 For does Michelet except Americans when he 
 says, “Woman* is an exquisite invalid, with a per- 
 ennial headache, and nerves perpetually on the 
 rack.” 
 
42 
 
 DR. EVERETTS HEALTH FRAGMENTS. 
 
 § 25. The Neglected Girl. 
 
 The bane of American motherhood is mostly 
 chargeable to the miseducation of our girls. Of the* 
 school-days, few are devoted to physical or physi- 
 ological culture. Before the pupil has mastered the 
 first principles of a practical course of study, the 
 sesthetical is made paramount. Music, needle-work, 
 and the studies commonly pursued, involve little of 
 value, so far as they relate to her health, or its loss. 
 She is imperfectly clothed, nor dieted, nor exercised. 
 She meets disease half way , falls an easy prey ; and, 
 before she fairly enters girlhood, shows a tendency 
 to unnatural conditions, which often become perma- 
 nent. 
 
 A lady teacher said to the writer, “ W e do not 
 graduate our pupils until they have spent two 
 weeks in the kitchen to learn the art of cooking.” 
 On this she based a claim to patronage. Two weehs 
 in the Tcitchen , and two years to misunderstand 
 boarding-school French ! Two weeks in the kitchen, 
 and twice two years to music and needle- work ! 
 While to be a first-class *cook requires time, culture, 
 and natural ability equal to that needed to govern a 
 battalion of soldiers. 
 
 So universal is the frailty of American girls that 
 professional men of large experience fegard their sex 
 and their debility as synonymous. Not doubting the 
 fallacy of such a conclusion, the writer still sees but 
 
a child’s battle foe life. 
 
 43 
 
 one way to disprove it, and at tlie same time give 
 tlie girl the liealtli she rarely enjoys; that is, by giv- 
 ing her a thorough physical culture, from the third 
 to the •sixteenth year; and at the same time let her 
 be educated into a conscientious regard for habits 
 and laws which perpetuate the best conditions of 
 both body and mind. 
 
 A silly girl rarely makes a sensible woman ; and 
 on the other hand, a healthy, sensibly educated girl 
 seldom fails to become an important member of her 
 circle in after years. In the earnest efforts of re 
 formers to enlarge the sphere of woman’s labor and 
 usefulness, they have almost forgotten the needs of 
 wifehood and home. 
 
 § 26. A Child’s Battle for Life. 
 
 Children learn to cry long before they can laugh. 
 Only half of them survive childhood. The igno- 
 rance and ingenuity of cook, nurse, and mothers com- 
 bine to wage war against the babies’ existence. 
 The doctor * joins the enemy with diluted whisky, 
 and the child is conquered. The battle has been 
 renewed not only every day, but ten times a day, 
 with nipple and spoon and bottle and whisky — bad 
 in quality, worse in quantity. The little stomach is 
 a “ raw recruit ; ” but it is compelled to do the ser- 
 vice of a veteran. 
 
 * The Public Health Association of New York city recommends for a 
 young child whisky and water when it is thirsty. 
 
44 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 A mother brought her child to the writer for ad- 
 vice. It was a real American baby, built after the 
 design of a Rutabaga turnip, big about the head, 
 and tapering to a point like a tadpole, a large scrof- 
 ulous abdomen, with small neck and wasted limbs. 
 
 Dr. E. “Madam, your child is scrofulous, and is 
 suffering from imperfect nutrition.” 
 
 Mother. “ Doctor, what can you do for it ? ” 
 
 Dr. E. “ I can cure your child, if you will take it 
 home and cover its bare limbs with flannel, feed it 
 
 only three times a 
 day on plain, 
 wholesome food, 
 let it play in the 
 open air, and 
 in your stove- 
 wood.” 
 
 Mother. “ Doctor, 
 what do you mean 
 by ‘ plain, whole- 
 some food ? ’ for 
 his appetite is very 
 delicate, and if I 
 did not prepare dainty dishes for him, I believe he 
 would die for want of appetite.” 
 
 Dr. E. “ Do not worry, Madam, about his dying. 
 Feed him oatmeal gruel, Graham bread, fruits, a 
 little lean meat, and no ‘nick-nacks,’ and at 
 
child’s battle foe life. 
 
 45 
 
 regular intervals : liis appetite will come to 
 
 him.” 
 
 Mother. “ But, Doctor, look at his poor little arm ! 
 One stick of wood would break it off ; then, every 
 time he go£s out doors he takes cold.” 
 
 So the fond, foolish, mother took her child home. 
 She would not allow him to breathe pure air for 
 fear he would catch cold, as did the mother who 
 would not allow Fritz to go into the water until 
 he had first learned to swim. 
 
 She pandered to his false appetite with tarts and 
 tit-bits and pastry. The child grew paler and paler, 
 and the curtains were drawn a little closer, and a 
 little closer, to shut out the least stray streaks of 
 sunlight until, by-and-by, the foolishness of the 
 mother prevailed over the providence of God, and 
 the child died. It died because the mother was 
 too ignorant to care for it. The same treatment 
 would have killed the kitten. 
 
 Over the cradle, the mother is consoled by such 
 phrases as, “ The mysterious Providence of God,” 
 “ The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away,” etc., 
 etc. Such remarks do not apply to the occasion, and 
 are simply cant. That a “Providence” does sur- 
 round our misfortunes, and that the mother or others 
 may learn lessons of faith, patience, and humility, 
 is not to be questioned. Still the fact stands alone, 
 
 , the child died because it was improperly cared for. 
 
46 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 The Lord mourns over that empty cradle with the 
 mother . 
 
 In a New England city were ladies who pampered 
 their poodle-dogs as many mothers do their Charlies . 
 When these poodles became dyspeptic,* they were 
 sent to a notorious “poodle doctor” without the city. 
 In due time the little patients were pronounced 
 cured, and returned to their mistresses full of health 
 and mischief. The doctor’s treatment was a mys- 
 tery, and is explained as follows : The poodles had 
 ample play-ground, in the middle of which was an 
 open shed, through which the pure air circulated 
 from sunrise to sunrise again. Blankets and shav- 
 ings furnished a comfortable bed for the invalids, 
 who were provided with milk twice a day, lean 
 meat once a day, and a long whip three or four times 
 during the day. Simple diet, pure air, and ample 
 exercise restored them to health. The same pre- 
 scription would save many a pampered “ Charley ; ” 
 then mothers’ hearts would not be widowed, and the 
 child would not go up over the mountains to God. 
 
 § 27. The Last American Child is Born 
 
 unless society retraces its steps. There is, and will 
 continue to be, the olden number of babies; but 
 children we do not see any more. By children , I 
 mean sensible, modest, respectful specimens of the 
 genus homo , between the ages of five and fifteen 
 
THE LAST AMERICAN CHILD IS BORN. 
 
 47 
 
 years. One who lias not been to Palestine or a 
 fashionable boarding-school, who does not “ know ” 
 threefold more than her mother, who does not know 
 enough to interrupt elderly people in conversation, 
 who will wait until grandfather is served at the 
 table, who will be as respectful to servants as grand- 
 mother is; in short, a quiet, modest, healthy, cheer- 
 ful, obedient, respectful little girl ; or a boy between 
 the ages mentioned, who does not chew tobacco, or 
 smoke cigars, or drink, or belong to a “ fast ” base- 
 ball club, who does not speak of his father as “ the 
 governor,” or call him “ old man ; ” who has ever 
 learned and not forgotten the “ sir,” or “ mam,” when 
 addressed by one old enough to be his father or 
 mother. A modest, respectful, polite boy. One 
 almost feels “ mine eyes would grow younger ” at 
 such a sight. 
 
 Europe is still an “ old fogy” and is proud of her 
 children. Lord D recently addressed the Mon- 
 
 treal Normal School, as follows : “ I confess if there 
 is any criticism which I have to pass upon the youth 
 of this new country — I do not say of Canada espe- 
 cially, but of the continent of America — it is that I 
 have been struck by the absence of the deference 
 and respect for those who are older than themselves, 
 to which we still cling in Europe. I have observed, 
 in traveling on board the steamboats on the St. Law- 
 rence, children running about from one end to the 
 
48 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 other, whom, more than once, I have been tempted 
 to take up and give a good whipping. I have seen 
 them thrust aside two gentlemen in conversation, 
 trample on ladies’ dresses, shoulder their way about, 
 without a thought of the inconvenience they were 
 occasioning, and, what was more remarkable, these 
 little thoughtless indiscretions did not seem to at- 
 tract the attention of their parents.” 
 
 It sounds strange to hear a man of culture talk 
 about the necessity of childish politeness. As 
 though a true-born American baby had not an in- 
 herent right to trample on every law of politeness 
 and good-breeding ! As though he had not a right 
 to be a “ puppy,” or a social pirate, or anything else 
 he pleases ! As though the saucy 
 little impertinent compound of 
 “ boarding-house manners ” and em- 
 broidery, should be respectful to 
 her mother or anybody else ! 
 
 Seriously, we have our kinder - 
 gar tens, and too much cannot be 
 said in their praise, if their teach- 
 ers are competent ; and we spend 
 largely of our means for common 
 school purposes ; but the shame and crime of Ameri- 
 can parentage are exhibited in the large proportion 
 of impertinent and impolite children which issue from 
 homes of worldly wealth and Christian pretension. 
 
 LITTLE IMPERTINENT GIRL. 
 
THE LAST AMERICAN CHILD IS BORN. 
 
 49 
 
 The observer is often at a loss where to place his 
 outraged sense of propriety, whether, as did Lord 
 D — — , in a desire to punish the children, or to let 
 it rest on the underbred and indulgent parent, who, 
 by lack of administrative power, looseness, or vagrant 
 views of “ liberal education,” is primarily responsible 
 for the ill-conduct of the child. 
 
 4 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 28. Teeth and Digestive Organs. 
 
 OOTH building is a simple, nat- 
 ural, painless process. If mothers 
 eat proper food before the child 
 is born, and during the nursing 
 period, the teeth will appear at 
 the proper time and without un- 
 usual excitement ; the child will 
 suffer no functional disturbances 
 and soothing syrups 'will be un- 
 known. 
 
 A Mother’s Story. A mother 
 once said to the writer, “ Before 
 my first child was born and during the nursing pe- 
 riod I craved toast and coffee ; eight months after its 
 birth the teeth began to appear. They were pale 
 blue, poor, and soon wasted ; soothing syrups and 
 sleepless nights I ever associate with those months. 
 Before my second child was born, and afterward, I 
 ate largely of codfish. Three months after the birth 
 of Hector the little pearls appeared, beautiful and 
 bright. During the formation of his teeth I never 
 lost an hour’s sleep from the child’s illness, and he 
 
TEETH AND DIGESTIVE ORGANS. 
 
 51 
 
 has never tasted soothing syrups or any nostrum to 
 quiet pain or secure sleep.” 
 
 This anecdote explains the whole matter. Mothers 
 should disabuse their minds of the thought that chil- 
 dren must be more sickly, or sensitive, during this 
 period than at any other time. 
 
 The ignorance of mothers on this point is only 
 equaled by the wickedness of infant destruction 
 occasioned by all those cordials which produce sleep, 
 and impair the mind and digestion of the child. 
 Material for enamel of teeth is found in fishes, lean 
 meats, vegetables, and the hull of grain ; and if these 
 articles be used as diet during the forming process, 
 the child has a guarantee for good teeth. 
 
 The lion’s whelp has perfect teeth from meat; 
 the buffalo or bison, from grass alone ; and the ele- 
 phant builds teeth to outlast a century from simple 
 vegetables. Our cats, calves, and dogs have no tooth- 
 ache. Good vegetables, grains, or meats ever make 
 good teeth if properly used. New England builds 
 the best teeth in America from beans, brown bread, 
 
 and fish. Sugar, starch, butter, lard, and the differ- 
 
 * 
 
 ent preparations of white flour have not the elements 
 from which perfect teeth are made. Brown bread 
 contains a “ mouthful of blessings.” 
 
 Parents need a quickened moved sense which will 
 deny their children sweetmeats, cakes, and whatever 
 else deprives them of good teeth, and that will give 
 
52 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 in their stead unbolted bread, meats, milk, and fruits ; 
 in short, almost any food not deprived of its natural 
 elements. 
 
 § 29. How to Preserve Teeth. 
 
 First. Avoid hot drinks. The still-fed cow soon 
 loses her teeth. The warmer her mess the sooner 
 they decay. 
 
 Second. Remove all substances from between the 
 teeth after each meal. Tooth-picks should be of 
 wood or quill, — of metals, the gold is preferable. 
 
 Hard. The best dentifrices are a soft brush, soft 
 towel, and soft water. 
 
 Fourth. Avoid cracking nuts with the teeth, also 
 smoking and chewing tobacco. 
 
 Fifth. Keep your teeth bright by abstaining from 
 vinegar and chewing crusts of bread and hard 
 crackers. 
 
 § 30. Healthy Human Digestion 
 
 Depends largely upon the proper use of teeth. The 
 formation of the first, or milk teeth , commence^ 
 three months before the child is born. They are 
 twenty in number, and are conrpleted when the 
 child is two and a half years old. About the fifth 
 or seventh year these begin to give place to the 
 permanent teeth. The fangs of the first are ab- 
 sorbed, and gradually the second set is formed. The 
 
THE MOUTH A SUGAR FACTORY. 
 
 53 
 
 latter are thirty-two in number, and are complete, 
 generally, about the seventeenth year, but sometimes 
 later than the thirtieth year of age. 
 
 For convenience the teeth may be divided into 
 incisors and molars, or, cutters and grinders. 
 
 Enamel of Teeth. The crown is covered by some- 
 thing analogous to glass. It is the hardest of all 
 organic structures, and if once destroyed is slowly 
 or never repaired. This incrustation of enamel is 
 protected by a membrane about one-thirty-thousandth 
 part of an inch in thickness, closely adherent, and 
 called the cuticle of the enamel. 
 
 The body of the tooth is composed of dentine or 
 tooth ivory , which is analogous to bone, but much 
 harder, and less capable of repair. Inside of this is 
 the pulp cavity, in which are nerves and blood- 
 vessels. This is the only part of the teeth endowed 
 with sensibility. 
 
 Comparative anatomy evidently teaches that the 
 human race is designed to live on a mixed diet ; but 
 experience has taught that man can live indefinitely 
 on a diet of either animal or vegetable composition. 
 
 § 31. The Mouth a Sugar Factory. 
 
 Solid food should be retained in the mouth until 
 it is divided by the action of the teeth, without 
 which stomach digestion is prolonged and difficult. 
 A neglect of mastication is a common cause of 
 
54 
 
 UK. EVERETTS HEALTH FRAGMENTS. 
 
 THE OLD LADY’S CATERPILLAR CURE FOR WHOOPING-COUGH. (See p. IS.) 
 
THE MOUTH A SUGAR FACTORY. 
 
 55 
 
 dyspepsia. During the commi- 
 nution of food in the mouth it 
 becomes saturated with saliva, 
 which is necessary to timely 
 digestion of starchy substances. 
 
 About three pints of saliva 
 are secreted in a day, by three 
 pairs of glands situated near 
 and emptying into the mouth. 
 The importance of this saliva is 
 obvious from the following 
 facts : — First. Starch cannot 
 subserve purposes of food until 
 after it is converted into sugar. 
 Secono. l. A granule of starch is 
 instantly converted into sugar 
 by being saturated with saliva. 
 
 Iodine brought in contact 
 with starch yields a blue line. 
 Mix starch with saliva and im- 
 mediately apply iodine, which 
 is the chemical test for starch, 
 and you will fail to secure the 
 blue line. 
 
 Now apply the chemical test 
 for sugar to the compound of 
 starch and saliva and you will 
 satisfy yourself that the mouth 
 
 DIGESTIVE APPARATUS. 
 
 A. Stomach ; B. Left lobe of liver : 
 C. Rectum; D. Transverse colon; 
 E. Descending colon; F. Small intes- 
 tines; G. Ascending colon. 
 
56 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 is a sugar factory, or that saliva converts starch into 
 sugar. 
 
 The tube leading from the mouth to the stomach 
 is called ^Esophagus, which serves to conduct the 
 food to the stomach. 
 
 § 32. Stomach secrets Solved. 
 
 Dr. Beaumont contributed largely to Physiological 
 science by experiments upon Alexis St. Martin. In 
 these the process of digestion was exposed to actual 
 observation, which rendered facts to prove what were 
 before mere views of conjecture. Tims were studied 
 the action of the stomach and its juices upon differ- 
 ent articles, and upon the same kind of food differ- 
 ently prepared. For instance, the time required 
 for digestion of uncooked cabbage, two hours and a 
 half ; cabbage with vinegar, two hours ; boiled cab- 
 bage, four hours and a half. 
 
 In this way theoretical propositions have been 
 gradually substituted by positive knowledge. Add 
 to this the labors of organic chemists, who have de- 
 termined the composition and food value of meats, 
 vegetables, and fruits, and dietetics approximates 
 a science. 
 
 § 33. The Stomach and its Work. 
 
 It is a pouch situated beneath the diaphragm to- 
 wards the left centre of the ti'unk of the body. (See 
 p. 55). In shajie it resembles a bagpipe. Its capa- 
 
TIIE STOMACH AND ITS WORK. 
 
 57 
 
 city varies from one to five pints, in rare cases capa- 
 ble of holding from two to three gallons. 
 
 The stomach is constructed of three (or four) 
 coats, a serous, muscular and mucous. 
 
 The inner or mucous coat is the most important in 
 this connection, containing as it does gastric and 
 mucous glands. The former secrete from one to 
 fourteen pints of gastric juice in twenty-four hours. 
 The secretion from the mucous glands of the stomach 
 has no digestive property so far as known. 
 
 Gastric juice dissolves the albuminoid portions 
 of food. Its quality and quantity largely determine 
 the character of the digestion. Gluttony, anger, 
 fear or fever, frequently arrest the secretion of this 
 stomach- juice. Under their influences the lining 
 coat becomes red and dry, or pale and moist. At such 
 times, Dr. Beaumont informs us, large quantities of 
 water are immediately absorbed, while solid food 
 remains in the stomach undigested for twenty-four 
 or forty-eight hours. 
 
 After this second stage of digestion the food is 
 passed in small quantities to the duodenum or second 
 stomach, where it meets the pancreatic juice and the 
 bile. Here occur the third and fourth stages of 
 digestion. 
 
 In the twenty -five feet of small intestines, follow- 
 ing, the fifth stage or 
 
58 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 § 34. Bowel Digestion 
 
 takes place. Physiologists have not clearly defined 
 views concerning the function or action of the intes- 
 tinal juice secreted in the jejunum and ileum. The 
 importance of this stage of digestion is, however, 
 evident from the facts that the nutritious properties 
 of the food, chiefly, are carried to the blood from 
 this portion of the alimentary canal, and that a 
 very large proportion of the entire digestive juices 
 are here secreted. According to Murchison, the sali- 
 vary glands secrete in twenty-four hours three pints ; 
 stomach, twelve or fourteen pints; pancreas, twelve 
 
 GLANDS WHICH SECRETE INTESTINAL JUICES, MAGNIFIED. 
 
 and a half pints; liver, two pints; while that 
 secreted by the small bowel proximates from forty 
 to eighty pints. Here, however, the digestion is 
 effected by the combined action of all the digestive 
 juices, so that we have hitherto been unable to cor- 
 rectly estimate the influence of any one fluid at this 
 stage. It is safe to infer that bowel digestion has 
 hitherto attracted less attention than it merits, and 
 that bowel dyspepsia is a more fruitful source of 
 suffering; than has been referred to it. 
 
 O 
 
COLON OR LARGE BOWEL. 
 
 59 
 
 Much of what is commonly called “ Biliousness ” is 
 simply indigestion at this stage. 
 
 Thus we close a hasty description of the machinery 
 by which food is changed, so that it may be con- 
 verted into blood, to subserve the demand of the 
 several tissues. 
 
 I repeat the several digestions , or stages of diges- 
 tion. The first, occurs in the mouth ; the second, in 
 the stomach; the third, is pancreatic digestion; the 
 fourth, liver digestion ; and the fifth, and most im- 
 portant, we call intestinal or bowel digestion. Dys- 
 pepsia may refer to one, more, or all of these stages ; 
 hence there are several kinds of dyspepsia. 
 
 § 35. Colon, or Large Bowel. 
 
 The contents pass from the small into the larger 
 bowel, and its return is prevented by a valve formed 
 by a protrusion of the small intestine in the colon.* 
 
 The large bowel may be called a reservoir , and 
 though it possesses great absorbing powers, it will 
 not be profitable to dwell upon it as a digestive 
 organ. It should be unloaded once in twenty-four 
 
 * Here may be settled the difference between Hydropathic and medical 
 men as to the practical value of cathartics. The large bowel may be 
 emptied by injection ; not so the small. “ Summer complaints” are fre- 
 quently caused by the retention of indigestible substances in the folds of 
 the small intestines. To cure we must remove the obstruction, which is 
 easily effected by a simple cathartic, but wholly beyond the reach of an 
 injection. 
 
60 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 liours. This may be encouraged by the use of coarse 
 bread or oat-meal, and fruits, especially figs and ap- 
 ples, as food, and, when necessary, we may properly 
 resort to enemata of tepid water. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Concerning Food. 
 
 § 36. Classification of Food. 
 
 The following, in 
 time, may be greatly and 
 gladly improved ; but, 
 at present, the writer 
 regards it as a practical 
 statement of the most 
 advanced views on the 
 food question. As such, 
 it is offered to the kindly 
 consideration of those 
 who can profit by it, and for improvement by those* 
 who may hereafter serve the public better. 
 
 The common method of classifying food, into the 
 nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous, is too general for 
 practical purposes ; to the chemist and physiologist 
 these terms may convey distinct ideas; but to the 
 general reader they express very little. 
 
 The following is not less scientific, and is easily 
 applied. 
 
 First. Mineral matters for Brain and Bone, — these 
 are not separable as yet by organic chemistry, and 
 
62 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 we may group them together. Liebig denominates 
 them Phosphates, because phosphorus is so fre- 
 quently present ; and because this element contra- 
 distinguishes largely the brain and bone from other 
 solid substances of the body. Under this head we 
 shall group the food most suitable for brain and 
 bone building. 
 
 o 
 
 Second. A second class embraces elements forming 
 the base of all solid tissues, but found chiefly in the 
 muscular structure, — these are called Nitrogenous. 
 
 Third. This class may be called Carbonoids, or Car- 
 bonaceous, as they consist of articles which subserve 
 purposes of combustion, and represent the heating 
 or warming substances of the body. Alone they 
 would support life but for a limited time. They 
 constitute a very large per cent, of all food required, 
 and are found very plentifully in meats and vege- 
 tables. According to Liebig, this class is heating 
 and breathing food ; and as such they must have an 
 equivalent of mechanical power. They also serve 
 through oxydation, to produce acid compounds need- 
 ful in digestive juices and bile, also several acids 
 found in perspiration. 
 
 Fourth. A class which contains little or no nutri- 
 tion, but forms the waste of most articles of vegeta- 
 ble food, to which may be added the Gelatin of 
 animal tissues. 
 
TABLE COMMANDMENTS WANTED. 
 
 63 
 
 These four classes are represented by the follow- 
 ing, which is a modified table from Bellows. 
 
 Table I. 
 
 1st Class. 
 
 PHOSPHATES. 
 
 2d Class. 
 NITROGENOUS. 
 
 3d Class. 
 
 CARBONOIDS. 
 
 Active fishes. 
 
 Fishes. 
 
 Batter. 
 
 Wild goose. 
 
 Cheese. 
 
 Lard. 
 
 Lean meats. 
 
 Lean meats. 
 
 Fats. 
 
 Oatmeal. 
 
 Beans. 
 
 Oils. 
 
 Beans. 
 
 Peas. 
 
 Fine flour. 
 
 Peas. 
 
 Oats. 
 
 Rice. 
 
 Wheat. 
 
 
 
 4th Class. 
 WASTE. 
 
 Green vegetables. 
 Berries. 
 
 Fruits. * f 
 
 Gelatin, TOP Git 
 
 G 
 
 . ^ME-RCAN 1 
 
 \ LiBR f 3 
 
 \i ^ S 
 
 A judicious diet would be composed about dhu^M 5 » 
 Of Phosphates from 2 to 4 parts. 
 
 Of Nitrogenous “ 12 to 18 parts. 
 
 Of Carbonoids “ 50 to 80 parts. 
 
 These are found mixed in both animal and vege- 
 table food, and should be so eaten. By extracting 
 starch, oils, and sugar, and using them in undue pro- 
 portions, we sacrifice mind, health, and beauty. Men- 
 tal stupidity and physical corpulency, also neuralgia, 
 by underfeeding the nerves, are thus superinduced. 
 
 In our use of milk and wheat we continually in- 
 vite disease by wasting the best of both. 
 
 § 37. Table Commandments Wanted. 
 
 Every year of the past half century has contribu- 
 ted something to our general understanding of the 
 food cpiestion. Formerly, hasty inferences from 
 
64 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 facts, supposed or real, and a loose empiricism were 
 the only guide. Later, the experiences of Conaro 
 and Graham, and statements from Liebig, challenged 
 thought and provoked experiments. 
 
 Banting astonished the world with the statement 
 that the fatness or the leanness of a man depended 
 on what he ate, or that he had starved himself into 
 respectable human proportions by ceasing his glut- 
 tony. Moses told his people (Lev. xi. 9-12) to eat 
 fish with fins and scales, and avoid those which had 
 none ; and an English king was severely judged, be- 
 caused he died from an overdose of Lamprey eels. 
 To-day the eel and sturgeon, and almost all scaleless 
 fishes are common articles of diet. 
 
 Since the great German chemist touched food with 
 the fire of his genius the scientific world has been 
 questioning and quarreling like overgrown children. 
 
 It were idle to attempt a succinct statement of how 
 or why we have attained our present relation to the 
 food question. The results are neither certain nor 
 satisfactory. The common reader looks in vain for 
 a set of table commandments that will regulate his 
 body ; and the student who seeks a settlement in 
 the higher domain of scientific controversy, finds only 
 dogmatic opinions, personal vanities, and a. mass of 
 facts, waiting for other facts, and somebody to 
 arrange them all into a system which shall be practi- 
 cally applied to every-day life. 
 
BATTLE AMONG- THE DOCTORS. 
 
 65 
 
 Dr. Davy says, “ In no other class than that of 
 fishers do we see larger families, handsomer women, 
 or more robust and active men.” Also, that fish-eat- 
 ers as a class “ are strong, healthy, and prolific.” A 
 medical teacher of some repute in New York city, 
 declares fish fit food for -fools, and denies its brain- 
 nourishing properties. The poor doctor was taught 
 such nonsense when a boy, and, like the Bourbons, 
 he has limited capacity for learning anything new or 
 forgetting anything old. 
 
 § 38. Battle Among the Doctors. 
 
 Liebig, having determined that muscular tissue 
 was formed mostly of nitrogen, said nitrogenous food 
 is required to supply its waste. Also that muscular 
 tissue would require greater repair with much use 
 than little, and that, therefore, the nitrogen elimi- 
 nated would hold a certain ratio to the use of the 
 muscle. This simple, almost self-evident inference 
 lias been warmly contested. Because the excretions 
 did not show waste of nitrogen, in due proportion to 
 the exercise of muscle, Liebig was discredited. 
 
 Then the question arose whether the emunctory 
 organs did not exhibit the elements of nitrogenous 
 tissue in a changed form, as a partial product of their 
 labor. Thence came the question as to said muscu- 
 lar tissue assuming a fatty degeneration. Liebig had 
 argued, on chemical grounds, in favor of its occurrence 
 
 5 
 
66 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 (see Pavy on Food, pp. 90-96). Virchow thinks 
 it probable ; Carpenter suggests a partial explana- 
 tion. We may regard this at present as contested 
 ground, with a more than probable chance that the 
 end will prove a waste of muscular tissue propor- 
 tioned to its exercise. 
 
 In the New York Medical Journal for June, 1871, 
 is reported observations made bj" Dr. Austin Flint, 
 Jr., during Weston’s five days’ walk, strongly corrob- 
 orative of Liebig’s views concerning muscular waste 
 and muscular exercise. Time, patient observation, 
 and experiments will make complete what is now 
 fragmentary ; and let us hope we are on the margin 
 of discoveries which will, with certainty, state the 
 law by which we can wisely regulate the diet, both 
 with reference to the character and composition of 
 the structure nourished, and the quality and quan- 
 tity of the exercise involved. 
 
 § 39. Does Fat or Phosphorus “Determine the Character of Mental 
 
 Action ? ” 
 
 With a peculiar obstinacy, physiologists refuse to 
 see more in food than the organic structure, with its 
 nitrogenous base, and the fuel-fat which provides 
 molecular combustion. That a certain kind of food 
 is needful for strength, and another for tempera- 
 ture, they can see ; but that another certain kind is 
 equally required for manifestation of mind, is what 
 
DOES EAT DETERMINE MENTAL ACTION? 67 
 
 they habitually overlook, or silently ignore. There 
 are not three books on dietetics within the English 
 language, which would prescribe a different diet for 
 Bacon, Stuart Mill, or Spencer, than they would for 
 the commonest mediocre do-nothing in the land ; the 
 philosopher and fool require the same food. Prac- 
 tically, they see a man, and they prescribe nitroge- 
 nous food for strong tissues, and carbon to heat the 
 body up and keep it going, that is all. 
 
 A common mind presents itself. It has the usual 
 ego inheritance, which is common sense and an inter- 
 rogation mark. It sees a steam engine, watches the 
 whirl of wheels, sees the smoke, next the boiler, and, 
 lastly, it sees the source of all, the furnace. Its curi- 
 osity and admiration extend back, from effect to 
 cause, and end with the chunk of charcoal. 
 
 It sees another mill with its wonderful shuttles 
 and grooves deftly clothing the race. Its million 
 spindles spinning, and other frames weaving, the 
 silks and satins which more than match everything, 
 save the fair forms which wear them. Its cunning 
 wheels with prancing, dizzy joy, praising the hand 
 that made them. Back still further is the coarse, 
 creaking, rumbling water-wheel, and a step farther 
 is the pond of water. The admiration of this com- 
 mon mind focalizes over the hot furnace and the fish- 
 pond. Its stupid senses see no further. 
 
 It cannot see the coining mind, which burnt the 
 
68 
 
 DR. EVERETT S HEAT/TH FRAGMENTS, 
 
 A CHEERFUL MEAL. (See p. 38.) 
 
DOES FAT DETERMINE MENTAL ACTION? 
 
 69 
 
 candle low in the socket for half a lifetime, until, 
 out of his wild dream, or sleepless night, was born 
 the thought which formed the machine, that seemed 
 kindled into life by a spark from the All Forming. 
 It cannot se^ 
 the divine 
 part of th 
 pale m a 
 which 
 
 t h e rolling 
 rive r, and 
 summons the 
 coal beds to 
 feed the 
 being he has 
 just created. 
 
 Not in fat 
 or flesh, but 
 in the spar- 
 kling phos- 
 phates lies 
 
 THE BRAIN- WORKER MUST HAVE PHOSPHATIO FOOD. 
 
 “ coiled the 
 
 power” which turns the wheels of this world, and 
 visits the stars of others. 
 
 It is not the wires or decomposed, coarse copper 
 that carries thought across the continent. 
 
 It was not the winds that tossed Franklin’s kite 
 about, or the hand that held it ; but the genius that 
 
70 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 sat upon it as a crest, or surrounded it as a halo, 
 that made the kite immortal. 
 
 In some ways the world works clumsily enough ; 
 hut fat is not the best of man; nor is his thought 
 made of it ; nor does his soul live in it more than 
 the genius does in the mill-pond. The clod builds 
 the grain, the grain feeds the man, and the man 
 talks with Glod ; but the clod is not a companion of 
 divinity. It is only a foot-stool. The fats keep the 
 body warm, and generate molecular force ; but they 
 no more coin the thought than the clod sits in the 
 counsels of heaven. If fats represented the genius 
 of food, then would the scales determine the volume 
 of thought, as they do the volume of beef. On the 
 contrary, the stupidest, laziest, lowest, most useless 
 and thoughtless of the human species are often the 
 fattest. 
 
 You cannot live without fat any more than you 
 can without water ; but the man is more frequently 
 smothered in the former than in the latter. 
 
 The history and lives of the Esquimaux are not 
 alone written in three words, “ drowned in fat? The 
 lean shoat has quickened senses, and limbs fleet as a 
 steed, while his fat father good-naturedly grunts, and 
 sleeps life away. 
 
 On the contrary, in swift birds and restless fleas, 
 and the chit of grains whence the new life starts, 
 and within the skulls of bright men, and not within 
 
SOMETHING WE KNOW OF THE FOOD QUESTION. 7 1 
 
 tlie skulls of fools, the phosphorus is found iu large 
 proportions. 
 
 Phosphorus for life and soul expression ; fats for 
 heat, fuel, grease, and good-nature. 
 
 § 40. Something we Do Know relative to the Food Question. 
 
 Dr. Leidy gives the following as representing 
 the chemical composition of the brain and spinal 
 
 cord : 
 
 Table II. 
 
 Water 80 
 
 Albuminous matter 7 
 
 Fatty matters in association with phosphorus. 7 
 
 Osmazome 1 
 
 Phosphates of potassa, lime, and magnesia, | 
 chloride of sodium, and sulphur ) 
 
 100 
 
 Chemical composition of the gray and white sub- 
 stance of the brain, by Lassaigne : 
 
 Table IK. 
 
 GRAY. WHITE. 
 
 Water 85.2 73.0 
 
 Albuminous matter 7.5 9.9 
 
 Colorless fat 1.0 13.9 
 
 Red fat . 3.7 0.9 
 
 Osmazome and lactates 1.4 1.0 
 
 Phosphates 1.2 1.3 
 
 100.0 
 
 100.0 
 
72 
 
 DR. EVERETT S HEALTH FRAGMENTS. 
 
 “Tlie fatty constituents of the brain are remarka- 
 ble, as two of them, being acid compounds, contain a 
 large amount of phosphorus, amounting to about 
 one-twentieth of the entire solid substance of the 
 brain.” — Aitkerts Practice , vol. ii., p. 269. 
 
 “ The fatty matters of the brain are found, accord- 
 ing to Fremy, almost exclusively in the white sub- 
 stance, where mental action does not originate.” — 
 Gray's Anatomy. 
 
 “ The spinal cord contains more albumen and more 
 soft fat than the brain.” — Vagueline. 
 
 Composition of spinal cord from L. Heritier: 
 
 Table IV. 
 
 Water 
 
 Albumen 
 
 Fat 
 
 Osmazome 
 
 Phosphorus 
 
 710.50 
 
 73.00 
 82.50 
 
 115.00 
 
 19.00 
 
 1000.00 
 
 “ The nerves contain more albumen and more soft 
 fat than the brain.” — L. Heritier. 
 
 “ There can be no doubt that the most important 
 part of the mechanism engaged in mental action is 
 situated ill the gray matter of the cerebral convolu- 
 tions. Nerve cells (not fats or albumen) and nerve 
 fibres , only, are the active agents.” — Beale. 
 
SOMETHING WE KNOW OF TOE FOOD QUESTION. 73 
 
 “ In relation with the delicate living matter, situ- 
 ated near the surface of the gray matter of the con- 
 volutions of the brain, which is alone concerned in 
 mentcd action , I conceive that vital power attains its 
 most exalted form. It seems temporarily chained to 
 this matter, through which alone it can make itself 
 evident.” — Beale. 
 
 “ The brain of man constitutes only about one- 
 fortieth of the weight of the body ; yet it receives 
 about one-fifth of the entire blood, or eight times 
 the quantity given to other parts of equal weight.” — 
 Carpenter. 
 
 “The blood returns from the brain substance 
 greatly altered in its chemical composition, espe- 
 cially as regards the loss of free oxygen, and its 
 replacement by various oxycompounds of carbon, 
 hydrogen, phosphorus, etc., etc., that have been 
 formed by a process analogous to combustion.”— 
 Carpenter. 
 
 “ The supply of blood to the cortical layer, gray 
 matter, is far larger in proportion to the amount of 
 its substance than it is in any other part of the 
 body. Of the enormous amount of blood which 
 goes to the brain, the white structure receives 
 comparatively little.” — Carpenter' 's Mental Physiol- 
 ogy, p. 94. 
 
74 
 
 DR. E’VERETT’S HEALTH FRAGMENTS. 
 
 Chemical composition of the brain from Draper : 
 Table V. 
 
 
 INFANTS. 
 
 "YOUTHS. 
 
 ADULTS. 
 
 AGED. 
 
 IDIOTS. 
 
 Water. . . . 
 
 827.90 
 
 742.60 
 
 725.10 
 
 738.50 
 
 709.30 
 
 Albumen . . 
 
 70.00 
 
 102.00 
 
 94.00 
 
 86.50 
 
 84.00 
 
 Fat 
 
 34.50 
 
 53.00 
 
 61.00 
 
 43.20 
 
 50.00 
 
 Osmazome . 
 
 59.00 
 
 85.90 
 
 101.90 
 
 121.80 
 
 148.20 
 
 Phosphorus . 
 
 8.00 
 
 16.50 
 
 18.00 
 
 10.00 
 
 8.50 
 
 
 1000.00 
 
 1000.00 
 
 1000.00 
 
 1000.00 
 
 1000.00 
 
 Proportions of fat in different brains : 
 
 An adult of average intelligence, l-4th of solid brain. 
 Idiot l-5th “ “ 
 
 Of the solid substance of the brain there is of 
 phosphorus : 
 
 In adults l-15th part. 
 
 Idiots have less than l-30th “ 
 
 Inferences. 
 
 First. If the brain depended upon its fats or 
 albumen for its superior vital expression, its special 
 function should be excelled by the spinal cord, and 
 many other structures of the body. 
 
 Second. That if the presence or appropriation of 
 fats determined the vital excellence of the brain, the 
 white substance should be superior in that respect^ 
 as it contains more than five times the fat of the 
 
CONDITION OF BRAIN AND NERVES. 75 
 
 gray matter. But to the latter substance all phys- 
 iologists refer the most exalted vital action. 
 
 Third. If the vital action, conceded to the brain, 
 depended upon the presence of albumen, then the 
 white matter must be the superior seat of it ; but 
 the gray matter monopolizes both the blood and the 
 superior vital action. 
 
 Fourth. As this exalted vital action cannot be 
 referred to the fats, or the albumen, we of necessity 
 refer it to the phosphorus , which contradistinguishes 
 the brain substance from all other soft tissues of the 
 body. 
 
 Fifth. Chemical analysis fully sustains this by 
 showing that mental excellence is contradistinguished 
 from idiocy, not by superior show of fat, albumen, 
 or anything else except phosphorus. That while 
 the yet unthinking child and the idiot have but eight 
 to eight and a half parts of phosphorus, the average 
 adult man possesses eighteen parts. 
 
 § 41. Condition of Brain and Nerves Depends upon Food. 
 
 The brain cannot be fed without organized phos- 
 phorus. Like other tissues of the body, it is contin- 
 ually crumbling away, and must be rebuilt or lost. 
 It has albumen, fat, and salts, as other parts of the 
 body; but, unlike the rest, it and the bones abound 
 in phosphorus. After severe mental labor the ex- 
 cretions show, by experiment, extra waste of phos- 
 
76 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 pliorus; while, in France, the chemists claim to tell 
 quality and quantity of mind by the soluble phos- 
 phates which form so large a proportion of the brain. 
 A reference to table five in the preceding paragraph, 
 would seem to show that their pretensions are not 
 entirely groundless. 
 
 By the said table it will be seen that the brain of 
 infants, in whom thought is feeble at best, and of 
 idiots, contains a small amount of phosphorus ; while 
 the age when life is most active and thought most 
 vigorous, shows a corresponding increase. 
 
 The writer feels more friendly to the above con- 
 clusion, because there are few published facts bear- 
 ing in an opposite direction. So far as evidence has 
 been adduced, it is in favor of the above. 
 
 A prospective mother, by the selection of food 
 which contains little or no phosphate of lime, may 
 give birth to a child the bones of which are soft and 
 pliable. This is because the blood from which the 
 child’s body was built contained but little of those 
 elements which hardened the bones ; with equal force, 
 we think, the brain can be regenerated only by those 
 elements in the blood which constitute its substance 
 and its worth. Debility of brain and nerves, com- 
 monly called neuralgia, can generally be traced to 
 a habit of eating that which contains but little phos- 
 phorus. One man makes a dinner of baked shad 
 and Graham-bread, and he feels energetic and clear- 
 
CONDITION OF BRAIN AND NERVES. 
 
 77 
 
 headed ; another eats griddle-cakes, white bread, 
 butter, and sirup, and feels stupid and lazy. 
 
 A sehool-boy who eats corn meal, rice, and molas- 
 ses is in a poor condition for study. Observe the 
 lady with pinched features, 
 restless eyes, sleepless, cross, 
 and nerves “ pricking 
 through.” She has eaten 
 heartily as to bulk, but the 
 white bread, biscuit, cake, 
 toast, butter, and strong tea 
 contained no brain food. 
 
 Literally her nerves have 
 been starved. This will 
 largely explain why nervous diseases are on the in- 
 crease in America. To supply nerve and brain ' 
 waste, phosphorus must be organized. Medical men 
 were led into an erroneous practice, a few years ago, 
 in the treatment of consumption. They observed, 
 in this disease, the destructive assimilation showed 
 extra pkospliatic waste, and endeavored to restore it 
 by phosphoric acid combined with a base. The 
 remedy was inorganic, and their purpose failed. 
 Brain and nerve food can only be found in animal 
 and vegetable matter. 
 
 NEURALGIA. 
 
CHAPTER VL 
 
 Concerning- Wheat, Oats, and Beans. 
 
 § 42. Where Providence puts a Man, He plants Food for Him. 
 
 HIS rule lias some ex- 
 ceptions, but is gener- 
 ally true. Tlie tropics 
 abound in vegetable 
 productions which . 
 would meanly feed a 
 Northern race. The 
 <j> seals are filled with fat, 
 and adapted to a peo- 
 ple who dwell in the 
 shadow of perennial 
 icebergs; while the 
 same food would breed 
 a pestilence near the 
 Equator. 
 
 English wheat con- 
 tains much starch ; but the same grain grown be- 
 neath a warmer sun, and in a warmer soil, would 
 contain less of the heating properties and more 
 gluten. Because the atmosphere of England is cold 
 and moist, the people require much blood-heating 
 
OUT OF THE MIST. 
 
 79 
 
 food ; and its soil contains the elements which pro- 
 vide it for the grain. 
 
 Men who never wear undergarments in New York 
 are compelled to adopt them in London. In short, 
 people who live in colder climates require, in their 
 food, elements which heat the blood, or enable them 
 to resist the cold without, and British wheat con- 
 tains those properties ; while the same grain, planted 
 in South America, Italy, or many parts of Asia, 
 would be rapidly changed into kernels containing 
 less starch, and more of the nutrient properties of 
 the grain. 
 
 This may be better understood by comparing 
 Northern and Southern corn. The former contains 
 most of the fattening properties, while Southern corn 
 yields fourfold more nourishment for brain and 
 bone, and nearly threefold more of muscle-food. 
 
 PHOSPHATES. NITP.OGENOUS. CARBONOEDS. 
 
 Northern corn ... 1 12 68 
 
 Southern corn ... 4 34 40 
 
 Thus it will be seen that Southern corn is adapted 
 to brain work, while Northern corn may be used to 
 fatten stock, or put school-boys to sleep. 
 
 § 43. Out of the Mist, or Drunkenness, Diet, and Doctors. 
 
 From the mongrel facts and almost universal jar- 
 gon relative to the diet question, as it is popularly 
 discussed, we derive little science and less comfort. 
 
80 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 Self-constituted health-teachers hav T e wrought with 
 
 o 
 
 less prudence than zeal ; abstract theories, empty 
 experiences, and insipid dishes have been pushed 
 to the front, and supported by an earnestness and 
 arrogance only equaled by the self-denial and ver- 
 dancy of the class which claims to have mastered the 
 sum of nature’s secrets relative to human appetites 
 and indulgences. The multitudes speak from their 
 stomachs alone. False appetites and gluttonous 
 desires disqualify them for the witness or jury box. 
 
 The medical profession treat the diet question 
 with a temerity, or indifference, almost inexcusable. 
 The temperance question has taxed the ingenuity of 
 legislatures, judges, and philanthropists, because 
 alcohol robs this world of work and worth. Un- 
 wise table habits, gluttony, and other improper uses 
 of food, are far more disastrous to human life and 
 human growth than all forms of alcoholic indul- 
 gences combined. Yea, fourfold more. Most cases 
 of scrofula, dyspepsia, and drunkenness may be 
 traced to bad habits of eating. Irritating and innu- 
 tritive articles put into the stomach are the chief 
 source of false appetites, which lead to indulgences 
 that end in drunkenness. Hence society has a claim 
 upon the medical profession for a 'philosophy of diet 
 which shall be as much a part of the youth’s educa- 
 tion as the multiplication-table. At present a dis- 
 sertation on scientific feeding, by Huxley, would be 
 
WHEAT THE KIHG OP COBH. 
 
 81 
 
 as novel and as interesting to tire literary, commercial, 
 and clerical classes in America as the discovery of a 
 new planet, or the long-sought northern passage. 
 
 In the consideration of a subject so common, of 
 which so much is said, and a definite knowledge of 
 which is so difficult to obtain, it is but natural to 
 expect a limited success. Nor is the task more 
 agreeable, because each proposition must be con- 
 tested with abnormal appetites, — the most impatient 
 and tyrannical of human instincts. 
 
 Sufficient is known of the general question of food 
 to deprive it of novelty. The facts involved are 
 sometimes so vaguely stated as to render them un- 
 serviceable. To talk of proteids , amyloids , and min- 
 erals, found in fruits and flesh, and appropriated for 
 the regeneration of human tissue, is true, and may be 
 scientific ; but it is so obscure a statement of facts 
 most needed, that the mass profit as little in their 
 rehearsal as they would in reading a poem in the 
 original Greek. 
 
 § 44. Wheat the King of “ Corn.” 
 
 Were man required to name one article of food 
 best calculated to sustain life amid the varied labor, 
 exposures, and zones of the earth, that one would be 
 wheat. It is a species of grass older than the his- 
 tory of any civilization ; and to-day it finds expres- 
 
 6 
 
82 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments, 
 
 THE POODLE DOCTOR AND HIS PATIENTS. (See p. 46.) 
 
WHEAT THE EHSTG- OF CORE. 
 
 83 
 
 sion in five hundred different varieties, and feeds 
 more millions than any other named food. 
 
 Planted in colder soil, it develops properties 
 adapted to the people who till it ; while warm cli- 
 mates yield wheat containing less of the warming 
 properties, and more of the nitrogenous, bone and 
 brain forming constituents. 
 
 As the corn of the Southern States differs from 
 that grown in the North, so the wheat of Turkey 
 contains less of that which warms the blood, than 
 the same grain would produce if perfected in North- 
 ern Europe. 
 
 Wheat may be called the monarch of all food, 
 from the extent of its use, the varied life it is calcu- 
 lated to sustain ; and, 
 especially, because it 
 contains all the ele- 
 ments of the human 
 body in about the 
 same proportion as 
 they are there found. 
 
 W ere man given 
 
 wheat alone as it transverse section of a grain of wheat. 
 
 comes from the field, Heatersand Fat; 
 
 he need only add the pure water to make his dietary 
 complete. Thus he might live into gray locks, make 
 laws, and rule nations, and, dying, leave behind him 
 a strong and stainless life. 
 
84 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 Of tlie seventeen organizable elements, it contains 
 fourteen, and these unequally distributed in different 
 parts of the grain. This drawing represents a trans- 
 verse section of a grain of wheat. The outer rim 
 and what lies next to it abound in the proper- 
 ties of muscle, bone, and teeth. These include the 
 starch granules incased in cell-walls, where are 
 placed the heat and fat producers ; while, inclosed 
 by them all, whence starts the new life of the seed 
 grain, is securely placed the phosphorus which 
 abounds in the brain and nerve of man. 
 
 These three essential elements are mixed, each 
 contributing a little to the other; and still each 
 having a home of its own, where we can always 
 find it. 
 
 Liebig vehemently protested against his country- 
 men robbing the wheat of the rim and the chit, by 
 the process of bolting the flour, especially as it de- 
 prived the bread of the phosjohates for brain-nourish- 
 ment. Still the white flour was preferred, and its 
 ablest advocates contented themselves with answer- 
 ing the great German chemist thus: “Why complain? 
 If we eat the starch and feed the balance of the 
 grain to the swine, and then eat the swine, what can 
 we lose?” So into the swill-barrel went the bran 
 and shorts, and out of the pork-barrel came scrofu- 
 lous meat, built in part of that which should have 
 nourished mind, and taught men better than to 
 
BOLTED OB UNBOLTED ELOUR. 
 
 85 
 
 make a staple food of so unhealthy an animal as the 
 hog. 
 
 The Yankee was the first to utilize Liebig’s idea 
 on the food question. He argued thus : “ If the hog 
 eats the brain food he should exhibit more mentality 
 than is accredited to him ; and to test this, I will see 
 what education can do for him.” 
 
 The result is well known. The Educated Pig was 
 soon on exhibition, and beat the man at his own 
 game of “ j>oker.” 
 
 § 45. Bolted or Unbolted Flour. 
 
 Bread to contain the elements of the body must 
 represent the entire wheat. The bran abounds in 
 glittering, pearly teeth, and long, strong bones ; but 
 where the flour is valued in proportion to its white- 
 ness, the wheat is emasculated to produce that which 
 commands the highest price. Thus the brain, bone, 
 and muscle building qualities are extracted, and the 
 starchy portion preserved. White flour, thus pre- 
 pared, has been shown by actual experiment to be 
 incapable of sustaining life for a long period ; and it 
 is not surprising that Liebig should contend against 
 sacrificing the most valuable parts of the grain to a 
 false pride, or falsely educated palate. 
 
 Americans are not less careless, or criminal, in this 
 respect. Aursing mothers sacrifice the health of 
 their children by an ill-chosen diet; and in our 
 
86 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 toothless babes, the demand ..for soothing syrup, 
 false teeth in so many girls not yet out of their 
 “ teens,” aud imperfect forms of our boys and girls, 
 we ’see a strong reason why the “ staff of life ” should 
 not be robbed of what, in a natural condition, con- 
 tains all that is needed for perfect bodies. 
 
 The many preparations of white flour, by leaving 
 
 DENTISTS PROTEST AGAINST BROWN BREAD, BECAUSE ITS USE LESSENS THEIR RECEIPTS. 
 
 the system unfed, produce that debilitated con- 
 dition which leaves it a prey to every disease or 
 passing wind. To the different preparations of 
 white flour, so liberally used, we charge imperfect 
 nutrition, neuralgia, constipation, and a good propor- 
 tion of children prematurely buried. 
 
 The American people have lived largely upon 
 white bread, white biscuit, and an endless variety of 
 
ANALYSIS OF WHEAT. 
 
 87 
 
 white crackers for forty years, and to-day they em- 
 ploy five thousand dentists at an expense of five 
 million dollars each year ; while not three women in 
 one hundred have perfect teeth at the age of twenty- 
 five. Establish a general use of brown bread in 
 every family, so that the hull of the wheat enters into 
 the composition of daily bread for two generations, 
 and, three out of four of all dentists would be com- 
 pelled to seek some other vocation as a means of 
 support. 
 
 § 46. Analysis of Wheat.— Payen. 
 
 Table VI. 
 
 Nitrco-enous matter 
 
 .. 14.45-1 
 
 
 “Water 
 
 Carbohydrates 
 
 .. 68.48 
 
 
 Nitrates or muscle-makers. . 
 
 Fatty natter 
 
 .. 1.25 
 
 
 Carbonates, or heat and fat 
 
 Minera’ matter 
 
 . . 1.60 
 
 or 
 
 producers 
 
 Water 
 
 .. 14.22 
 
 
 Phosphates, or food for 
 
 
 
 
 brain, nerves, etc 
 
 14.22 
 
 14.45 
 
 69.73 
 
 1.6 
 
 This table represents all the elements of the 
 human body in proportions required for heating, 
 also for the nourishing of brain and muscle. 
 
 Under ordinary circumstances, a man requires of 
 nitrogenous food one fifth the amount of carbon- 
 aceous needed for warming the body, and the phos- 
 phates should constitute from one and a half to three 
 per cent, of the entire diet. 
 
 Dr. Dalton, quoted elsewhere, and the following 
 tables are in full accord with this view : 
 
88 
 
 I)U. EVERETT’S HEALTH FRAGMENTS. 
 
 Table VII. 
 
 Daily Requirements op the Body. — Letlieby. 
 
 
 NITROGE- 
 
 NOUS 
 
 FOOD. 
 
 CARBON- 
 
 ACEOUS 
 
 FOOD. 
 
 CARBON. 
 
 NITROGEN. 
 
 
 Oz. 
 
 Oz. 
 
 Gr. 
 
 Gr. 
 
 During idleness as determined by ) 
 dietaries ) 
 
 2.67 
 
 19.61 = 
 
 3.816 
 
 180 
 
 During idleness as determined by ) 
 excretions J 
 
 2.78 
 
 21.60 = 
 
 4.199 
 
 187 
 
 Average 
 
 2.73 
 
 20.60 = 
 
 = 4.005 
 
 184 
 
 Routine work as determined by } 
 dietaries. f 
 
 4.56 
 
 29.24 = 
 
 = 5.688 
 
 307 / 
 
 Routine work as determined by[ 
 excretions ) 
 
 439 
 
 23.63 = 
 
 = 4.694 
 
 290 
 
 Average 
 
 4.48 
 
 26.44 = 
 
 r 5.191 
 
 3^ 
 
 I 
 
 This will be better understood by a reference to 
 the following drawings, which exhibit the three im- 
 portant principles in grains : 
 
 a- 
 
 WHEAT. SOUTHERN CORN. NORTHERN CORN. 
 
 A. Nitrogenous, or muscle and bone food ; B. Carbonoids, or beat and fat pro- 
 ducers ; C. Phosphates, or food for brain and nerves. 
 
 § 47. Why the Bran Should Be Preserved. 
 
 The bran of wheat is composed mostly of an indi- 
 gestible woody fibre, and constitutes from five to ten 
 
PRACTICAL SUMMARY OOXCERXIXU FOOD. 
 
 89 
 
 per cent, of tlie whole grain. In it are found all the 
 iron and silicate of the wheat. By a microscopic 
 examination of the excrement of horses and cattle, 
 the woody fibre of the bran is found undigested ; 
 but the silex and iron leave the bran in the process 
 of digestion, and this, observes Dr. Bellows, may ex- 
 plain why horses always have sound teeth. 
 
 Pale, anemic girls crowd our streets. A rosy cheek 
 is a rarity. The iron in wheat paints the glow, and 
 the fresh, “pinky” complexion depends upon the 
 same artist. Chlorosis, pale faces, and dental labor, 
 hold an inverse ratio to the use of unbolted wheat 
 flour and good brown bread. 
 
 Coxstipatiox is largely overcome by the use 
 of bran in bread. It is a simple and efficacious 
 agent to secure a soluble condition of the bowels. 
 Its habitual use is superior to all the cathartic pills 
 in America. When the bowels are irritable, and 
 diarrhoea easily provoked, it is well to sift the bran 
 from the wheat. The soluble properties of the bran 
 render Bran Tea a grateful drink in summer com- 
 plaints, and I have met people who had great faith 
 in its curative powers, when thus employed. 
 
 § 48. Practical Summary Concerning Pood. 
 
 Briefly stated, the brain and other nervous struc- 
 tures are composed largely of phosphorus, soda, and 
 potassa, readily soluble in water. These exist in 
 
90 dr. eveeett’s health fragments. 
 
 proportions of about two parts in one hundred, dur- 
 ing middle life. The muscles contain mostly nitro- 
 gen in the proportion of sixteen to the hundred 
 pounds, or sixteen per cent. The bones are rendered 
 hard by phosphate of lime. 
 
 To form cushions, to give rotundity and symme- 
 try of form, as well as to generate force and preserve 
 the temperature of the body, a large proportion of 
 the daily food is required. 
 
 Apply the thermometer to your arm-pit in Jan- 
 uary, and it will report about 98° F. In July it 
 will tell you the same story. If the temperature be 
 under 98°, we call it disease; if over 100°, it is dis- 
 ease; if much over 100°, it indicates something 
 fearful. 
 
 Nature preserves the temperature of the human 
 body much as we generate heat to render our homes 
 comfortable. 
 
 In winter much fuel is consumed; in summer 
 much less. This fuel is composed largely of carbon. 
 In chemical composition, that which subserves pur- 
 poses of combustion and preserves the temperature 
 of the body is similar to what we burn in the fur- 
 nace, the preponderating substance being carbon. 
 To simplify what is needed for heating, and rotund- 
 ity of the body, we will call them Carbonoids , by 
 which we mean articles composed largely or alto- 
 gether of fat, starch, and sugar. 
 
FOOD IK ITS KATURAL STATE. 
 
 91 
 
 To substances needful for repairing the waste of 
 brain-structure, we shall apply Liebig’s term phos- 
 phates ; and we may safely follow the same author 
 and call muscle-food nitrogenous. These terms will 
 be used hereafter to designate brain, muscle, and 
 warming food. 
 
 § 49. Food in its Natural State. 
 
 The following tables have been carefully prepared, 
 and will be a safe guide, for all practical purposes. 
 The writer is aware to what extent exceptions may 
 be taken to them ; but he trusts the generous reader 
 will not cavil on minor matters when the truths con- 
 tained are so important. Until results in organic 
 chemistry can lie attained without preliminary in- 
 cineration, they can only approximate perfection. 
 At present it is clearly a duty to make the best of 
 what we have, and wisely wait for the better 
 thoughts coming. 
 
 ANALYSIS OF MAN. 
 
 Chemists exhibit the following result in the anal- 
 ysis of the human body.. Of 100 parts, 
 
 Two per cent, of phosphorus for brain and nerve. 
 
 Sixteen per cent, of nitrogen for muscle. 
 
 Seventy per cent, of carbon for heat and fat. 
 
 Food should contain elements bearing a true ratio 
 to the chemical constituents of the human body — 
 
92 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 modified by the temperature of the weather and the 
 character of the employment. 
 
 ANALYSIS OP FOOD. 
 Vegetables. 
 
 Table VIII. 
 
 f 
 
 PHOSPHORUS, 
 FOR BRAIN. 
 
 NITROGEN, 
 FOR MUSCLE. 
 
 CARBON, FOR 
 HEAT & FAT. 
 
 WASTE. 
 
 WATER. 
 
 Potatoes .... 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 16 
 
 8 
 
 74 
 
 Sweet potatoes. 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 22 
 
 6 
 
 67 
 
 Onions 
 
 £ 
 
 i 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 94 
 
 Cabbage .... 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 J 
 
 t 
 
 92 
 
 Asparagus . . . 
 
 i 
 
 X 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 94 
 
 Cucumbers. . . 
 
 X 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 H 
 
 93 
 
 Fruits. 
 
 Table IX. 
 
 
 PHOSPHORUS, 
 FOR BRAIN. 
 
 NITROGEN, 
 FOR MUSCLE. 
 
 CARBON, FOR 
 HEAT & FAT. 
 
 WASTE. 
 
 WATER. 
 
 Apples 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 4 
 
 80 
 
 Pears 
 
 £ 
 
 4 
 
 10 
 
 4 
 
 80 
 
 Currants .... 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 lOf 
 
 81 
 
 Cherries .... 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 21 
 
 7 
 
 70 
 
 Figs 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 58 
 
 16 
 
 18 
 
 Prunes 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 20 
 
 9 
 
 65 
 
ANALYSIS OF FOOD. 
 
 93 
 
 Miscellaneous. 
 Table X. 
 
 
 PHOSPHORUS, 
 FOR BRAIN. 
 
 NITROGEN, 
 FOR - MUSCLE. 
 
 CARBON, FOR 
 HEAT & FAT. 
 
 WASTE. 
 
 WATER. 
 
 Human milk . 
 
 i 
 
 3 
 
 7 
 
 0 
 
 894 
 
 Cow’s milk . . . 
 
 i 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 0 
 
 86 
 
 Cream 
 
 0 
 
 CO 
 
 44 - 
 
 0 
 
 92 
 
 Butter 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 100 
 
 0 
 
 00 
 
 Lard 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 100 
 
 0 
 
 00 
 
 Cheese 
 
 5 
 
 30 
 
 28 
 
 0 
 
 37 
 
 Yolk of eggs. . 
 
 2 
 
 17 
 
 30 
 
 0 
 
 51 
 
 White of eggs . 
 
 3 
 
 13 
 
 00 
 
 0 
 
 84 
 
 Chocolate. . . . 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 88 
 
 1 
 
 00 
 
 Clam 
 
 2 
 
 12 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 84 
 
 Meats. 
 
 Table XI. 
 
 
 PHOSPHORUS, 
 FOR BRAIN. 
 
 NITROGEN, 
 FOR MUSCLE. 
 
 CARBON, FOR 
 HEAT & FAT. 
 
 WASTE. 
 
 WATER. 
 
 Beef 
 
 2 
 
 19 
 
 14 
 
 0 
 
 65 
 
 Venison 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 20 
 
 8 
 
 0 
 
 69 
 
 Mutton 
 
 2 
 
 21 
 
 14 
 
 0 
 
 63 
 
 Chicken 
 
 3 
 
 21 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 74 
 
 Pigeon 
 
 3 
 
 23 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 72 
 
 Bacon 
 
 4 
 
 OO 
 
 62 
 
 0 
 
 29 
 
94 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 Fishes. 
 
 Table XII. 
 
 
 PHOSPHORUS, 
 FOR BRAIN. 
 
 NITROGEN, 
 FOR MUSCLE. 
 
 CARBON, FOR 
 HEAT & FAT. 
 
 WASTE. 
 
 WATER. 
 
 Salmon 
 
 7 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 72 
 
 Smelt 
 
 6 
 
 17 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 76 
 
 Lobster 
 
 5 
 
 14 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 81 
 
 Herring 
 
 5 
 
 18 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 73 
 
 Halibut 
 
 3 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 78 
 
 Eel 
 
 4 
 
 17 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 75 
 
 Trout 
 
 4 
 
 17 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 78 
 
 Cod-fish .... 
 
 2 
 
 17 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 80 
 
 White fish . . . 
 
 3 
 
 16 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 71 
 
 Oysters ..... 
 
 i 
 
 12 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 88 
 
 Cereals or Grains. 
 
 Table XIII. 
 
 
 PHOSPHORUS, 
 FOR BRAIN. 
 
 NITROGEN, 
 FOR MUSCLE. 
 
 CARBON, FOR 
 HEAT <fc FAT. 
 
 WASTE. 
 
 WATER. 
 
 Wheat 
 
 2 
 
 15 
 
 67 
 
 4 
 
 12 
 
 %e 
 
 2 
 
 13 
 
 73 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 Barley 
 
 4 
 
 12 
 
 52 
 
 18 
 
 14 
 
 Oats 
 
 3 
 
 17 
 
 51 
 
 16 
 
 13 
 
 Beans 
 
 4 
 
 24 
 
 40 
 
 17 
 
 15 
 
 Peas 
 
 3 
 
 26 
 
 41 
 
 16 
 
 14 
 
 Northern corn. 
 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 68 
 
 5 
 
 14 
 
 Southern corn. 
 
 4 
 
 34 
 
 40 
 
 10 
 
 12 
 
 Buckwheat. . . 
 
 H 
 
 8 
 
 60 
 
 20 
 
 10£ 
 
 Rice 
 
 i 
 
 H 
 
 00 
 
 3 
 
 13 
 
OATMEAL OR SCOTCH MEAL. 
 
 95 
 
 § 50. Oatmeal or Scotch meal. 
 
 A witty Scotch divine was “ bearded ” by an Eng- 
 lishman on account of the diet of his countrymen. 
 
 “Yes,” replied Chalmers, “Scotch men and Eng- 
 lish horses feed on oatmeal, and they are the strong- 
 est men and fleetest horses in the world.” 
 
 Liebig placed oatmeal alongside the choicest Eng- 
 lish beef. The famous Professor Forbes tested the 
 size and strength of his students for twenty years. 
 “ He found that, in height, breadth of chest and 
 shoulders, and strength of arms and loins,” the Bel- 
 gians ranked lowest, next the French, then the Eng- 
 lish ; but above them all were the Scotch and Scotch- 
 Irish, who, as children, lived largely on oatmeal and 
 milk. During the Peninsular War, the finest men 
 who fought under Wellington were Highlandmen; 
 and they for years preferred their kilt, oatmeal and- 
 bagpipes, to the whiskey rations of the common 
 British soldier. These Scotchmen were the hardiest 
 and healthiest of those who contended against Na- 
 poleon. 
 
 The Scotch use oatmeal as a staple food. They 
 are a tall, hardy, healthful class, and in metaphysical 
 ability and size of brain compare favorably with 
 any other people on earth. 
 
 The memory of my boyhood is filled with pictures 
 of beautiful Scotch girls who left their heather and 
 hillsides to cross the Atlantic. Three thousand miles 
 
96 
 
 * 
 
 UK. evekett’s health fragments. 
 
 in a slow sailing vessel, witli a long journey on foot, 
 did not increase the tidiness of their appearance ; but 
 I now think of them trudging along with a bag of oat- 
 meal on one shoulder, and a little child on the other. 
 Stopping by a stream they would mix the water and 
 the meal, and drink it from the heel of their slippers. 
 The product of our fashionable milliners and dress- 
 makers would deride them ; but for the clear skin, 
 bright eyes, rosy cheeks, strong backs, and stout limbs 
 of those pretty Scotch girls, she could afford to give 
 ten years of her life, and then die a better woman. 
 
 § 51. Cornmeal Compared with Oatmeal. 
 
 Two farmers, in the presence of the writer, were 
 discoursing concerning: food for horses. One claimed 
 from a large experience, that the cornmeal was supe- 
 rior. The other as warmly favored his oatmeal side 
 of the cjuestion. 
 
 Table XIV. 
 
 Composition of Dried Oats. — Payen. 
 
 Nitrogenous matter 14.89 
 
 Starch. 60.59 
 
 Dextrin, etc. 9.25 
 
 Fatty matter ...... 5.50 
 
 Cellulose 7.06 
 
 Mineral matter 3.25 
 
 100.00 
 
CORNMEAL COMPARED WITH OATMEAL. 
 
 97 
 
 Table XV. 
 
 Composition of Dried Corn. — Payen. 
 
 Nitrogen 
 
 Starch. 
 
 12.50 
 
 67.55 
 
 Dextrin, etc 
 
 4.00 
 
 Fatty matter 
 
 8.80 
 
 Cellulose 
 
 5.90 
 
 Mineral matter 
 
 1.25 
 
 
 100.00 
 
 It is hardly a debatable question. The food for 
 brain and nerves, for muscle and bone, contained in 
 the oats, is greatly superior to that possessed by the 
 corn, as a comparison of the tables will show. For 
 strength and endurance two pounds of oats are 
 about equal to three pounds of corn. For “ nerve,” 
 ambition, energy, the oats are threefold superior. 
 On the other hand, if it be to keep the horse in 
 good condition during the winter, when little work 
 is required of it, the corn is to be preferred. In 
 other words, if you want your horse to be smooth, 
 fat, and lazy, feed him corn ; if you want for him 
 life, speed, strength, feed him oats. If you want 
 him to “pull in the breeching ,” feed him corn ; if 
 you want him to pull in the bits, feed him oats. 
 
 In childhood the oat is to be preferred to the 
 cornmeal. The frame is shaped and proportioned 
 
 during youth. That the seed determines the char- 
 
 7 
 
THE YANKEE UTILIZING LIEBIG’S IDEA OF PHOSPHATES, BY EDUCATING A PIG TO PLAY POKER. (See p. 86.) 
 
BEANS YS. RICE. 
 
 99 
 
 acter of the crop is true ; but that the product 
 may be greatly varied by the quality of the soil 
 from which its nourishment is derived, is equally 
 true. 
 
 Nature has set limits to the frame of every boy ; 
 but these are seldom attained; and when children 
 are raised on food which abounds in properties of 
 bone and muscle, the height, breadth, and strength 
 will surpass another child of equal natural gifts, but 
 whose food contained material for frame in insuffi- 
 cient proportion. The men who were raised on 
 white flour, cornmeal, rice, fats and sweets, will not 
 only be less healthy, but will be diminutive in size 
 compared with the boys who ate oatmeal, beans, 
 peas, etc., up to their manhood. 
 
 § 52. Beans vs. Rice. 
 
 The one belongs to the swamps of Florida and 
 the plains of Asia ; the other, to the barren hills of 
 New England. The one is tropical, easy to raise, 
 lazy, luxuriant, sleepy ; the other is identified with 
 a tall and hardy race. Rice is good for sleep, idle- 
 ness, peacefulness, and a vegetative life. Heroes 
 have little of it. It is not food for the gods, or for 
 the best men. Beans build the long bones of Maine 
 men, and are a source of much of the thrift, industry, 
 and enterprise peculiar to Yankee character. Rice 
 contains sufficient brain food to keep the one who 
 
100 
 
 du. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 eats it awake — but little more than that. Beans are 
 loaded with brain building material. 
 
 'Rice gives warmth and fat and comfort. Beans 
 bring restiveness, leanness, and disquietude. Rice 
 requires one hour for 
 'digestion. Beans re- 
 quire three or four. 
 
 The swiftest of 
 Arabian horses em- 
 ployed in hunting 
 ostriches, are fed al- 
 most exclusively on 
 camel’s milk and 
 dried beans. The 
 hardiest, strongest, 
 and healthiest men 
 in America are found 
 among: the Maine 
 
 lumbermen, who live largely on beans. 
 
 Table XVI. 
 
 Composition of Rice. — Letheby , 
 
 Nitrogenous matter 6.3 
 
 Carbo-hydrates 79.5 
 
 Fatty matter 0.7 
 
 Saline matter 0.5 
 
 Water 13.0 
 
 NEW ENGLANDER FED ON BEANS, AND A CHI- 
 NAMAN ON RICE. 
 
 100.0 
 
BEANS YS. RICE. 
 
 101 
 
 Compare this with the following table, which 
 represents the 
 
 Table XVII. 
 
 Composition of Beans. — Payen. 
 
 
 ENGLISH BEAN. 
 
 WINDSOR BEAN DRIED 
 
 Nitrogenous matter . , 
 
 . . . 30.8 
 
 29.05 
 
 Starch, etc 
 
 . . . 48.3 
 
 55.85 
 
 Cellulose 
 
 . . . 3.0 
 
 1.05 
 
 Fatty matter 
 
 . . . 1.9 
 
 2.00 
 
 Saline matter 
 
 . . . 3.5 
 
 3.65 
 
 Water 
 
 12.5 
 
 8.40 
 
 \ 
 
 100.0 
 
 100.0 
 
 The carbo-hydrates and fat in rice are over eighty 
 
 ARABIAN OSTRICH HUNT WITH BEAN-FED HORSES. 
 
 per cent, of the entire grain — these are all heat-pro- 
 ducing ; while in beans these elements are deficient. 
 
102 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 For brain and nerves one pound of beans equals 
 eight pounds of rice. 
 
 As a muscle feeder one pound of beans equals live 
 pounds of rice. 
 
 Because rice is easy of digestion, it is a good food 
 for weak stomachs in convalescent conditions, but 
 should not be used alone and continuously, as it so 
 poorly feeds the nervous structure that neuralgia or 
 other phase of nervous debility is sure to follow. 
 
 Beans lack Carbonoids, and require to be cooked 
 with fat. In America the complement is pork ; but 
 this is ill-cliosen, from the scrofulous condition of the 
 swine, and because it increases the indigestability of 
 beans — fat beef, butter, or cream, etc., are preferable. 
 
 One of the best cooks I know in New England 
 considers fat beef preferable to pork, both from a 
 sanitary consideration and because it imparts a bet- 
 ter flavor to the beans. 
 
 § 53. How long should Beans be Cooked ? 
 
 If stewed, never less than six hours, and if baked, 
 never less than twelve. 
 
 Thorough cooking improves the flavor, and so 
 changes the woody fibre as to render them less ir- 
 ritating to the bowels. 
 
 The late General George II. Thomas stated to a 
 friend of the writer, that to effectually reorganize 
 the American army, it would be necessary to “ teach 
 
HOW LONG SHOULD BEAKS BE COOKED ? 108 
 
 the boys how to cook beans, or do without them.” 
 He referred the chronic diarrhoea, which caused a 
 greater number of deaths than all the battles fought 
 during the war, to partly cooked beans and strong 
 coffee. Others there were, but these were the chief. 
 
 Bad water, exhaustion from long marches, expo- 
 sure, and many other causes, diminished the vitality ; 
 but the bowel irritant was found in half-cooked 
 beans, that gave direction to the expression of the 
 morbid condition. 
 
 A lady in Portland, Maine, of rare genius in pre- 
 siding over a household, says, “ she never allows 
 beans on her table cooked less than eleven hours.” 
 
 Soup is one of the best preparations of beans. 
 Let the beans be soaked over night if you would 
 save time ; but in no case, whether the beans are baked 
 or used for soup, should they be parboiled, or the first 
 water poured off. The parts of meat or vegetable 
 which nourish brain may be dissolved in cold water, 
 and by pouring it off this valuable' part is lost. 
 
 Beans are too hearty for invalids, and should be 
 used in limited quantities by persons engaged in 
 sedentary business. They are best adapted to 
 active, out-door employment. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 More about Food. 
 
 § 54. Animal and Vegetable Diet Compared. 
 
 E may live upon either 
 one comfortably, cheer- 
 fully, and enjoy excellent 
 health. 
 
 Meats are more stimu- 
 lating than grains, and 
 they are more liable to 
 excite the emotions. 
 
 A mother recently con- 
 sulted the writer relative 
 to her child. It was rest- 
 less, fretful, peevish ; a 
 source of great discomfort to the mother, whose 
 health was yielding to the tax imposed by the 
 child’s care. Finding the child to be a hearty eater, 
 and wanted only meat, the mother was instructed to 
 confine the child to three meals each day, at regular 
 intervals, and of an exclusively vegetable and milk 
 diet. 
 
 Two weeks afterwards the mother said, “My child 
 
WHEST HOLINESS SHALL BE, ETC. 
 
 105 
 
 is changed. It is no trouble to care for him. His 
 restless, feverishness, and temper seem all gone.” 
 
 Meat-eating nations exhibit more passion, anger, 
 and revenge, while the people who subsist upon 
 vegetables are docile and avoid war. 
 
 In olden time, those whom God chose as Prophets 
 and Apostles , through whom the sunlight of another 
 world was sent in streams to earth, as a class, lived 
 on fruits and grains. These seem to “ thin the 
 blood,” and increase the sensitive capacity of the 
 individual. The passional and impulsive nature, the 
 pride, and temper are fostered by animal diet, while 
 gentleness, quietness, and self-control may be encour- 
 aged by fruits and grains. Thus children may be 
 fed into petulance or prayer. Kot a thought or 
 fancy but may be tempered and toned by the food 
 used. If we ate more as Christ did, we could walk 
 more with him. 
 
 § 55. When “Holiness shall be as Common as Bells on the Horses.” 
 
 Blondin educated a minor faculty until, suspended 
 midway between heaven and earth, he won the gaze 
 of an admiring world. 
 
 Multiply that by a million to compute the possi- 
 bility of our natures — when all people are fed upon 
 sparkling phosphates ; when the law of diet is fully 
 understood and obeyed; when every limb of the 
 body and every faculty of the soul are educated to 
 
106 
 
 de. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 their greatest perfection ; when every other is edu- 
 cated as was that one faculty in Blondin, we shall 
 approach what is now only a dream of an infinite 
 perfection — when we are faithful to the whole ques- 
 tion of physiology and its application, a new era shall 
 have commenced. 
 
 We shall then he converted not alone by pulpit 
 and prayer ; but we shall “ cast out devils ” by heal- 
 ing disordered stomachs, and human nature will be 
 represented by a being so much better than ourselves 
 that his whole soul will be attuned to the angel’s 
 morning song, and “ Holiness will be as common as 
 bells on the horses.” 
 
 § 56. Animal Pood. 
 
 The lean and fat combine all the elements of the 
 human body, and in suitable proportions. The car- 
 bonaceous property of meat is composed entirely of 
 fat ; and in vegetables the heaters are derived from 
 •starch, sugar, and fats — ten grains of fat being 
 equal to twenty-five grains of starch. 
 
 Meats contain about three times the water of 
 wheat, and they are about equal in nutrition, the 
 concentrated fats giving place to the extra water. 
 
 Lean meat possesses nitrogenous and phosphatic 
 properties in about the same proportion as beans 
 and peas. Its gelatine is carbonaceous, but capable 
 of little or no digestion ; though it gives consistence 
 
BEEF. 
 
 107 
 
 to soups, and promotes regular action of the 
 bowels. 
 
 When the muscle of meat is eaten, it should be 
 combined with potatoes, white flour, or other articles 
 that will supply its deficiency. 
 
 § 57. Beef. 
 
 Beef, in America and Great Britain, heads the list 
 of meats. 
 
 Table XVIII. 
 
 Composition of Lean Beef. — Letheby. 
 
 Nitrogenous matter 19.3 
 
 Fat 3.6 
 
 Saline matter 5.1 • 
 
 Water 72.0 
 
 100.0 
 
 Table XIX. 
 
 Composition of Fat Beef. — Letheby. 
 
 Nitrogenous matter 14.8 
 
 Fat 29.8 
 
 Saline matter 4.4 
 
 Water 51.0 
 
 100.0 
 
 Beef skillfully prepared is easy of digestion, and 
 possesses stimulating properties which facilitate 
 mental labor. 
 
108 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 §58. Mutton 
 
 differs but little from beef in qualities of nourish- 
 ment, but is less in favor, on account of its flavor and 
 lack of equal stimulating properties. It is more 
 digestible than beef, and on that account is some- 
 times preferred. 
 
 Table XX. 
 
 Composition of Fat Mutton. — Letheby. 
 
 Nitrogenous matter 12.4 
 
 Fat 31.1 
 
 Saline matter „ 3.5 
 
 Water 53.0 
 
 100.0 
 
 § 59. Veal. 
 
 This is less nutritious and more difiicult of dmes- 
 
 O 
 
 tion than beef or mutton. For strength and power 
 of endurance, workingmen are not partial to veal. 
 
 Table XXI. 
 
 Composition of Veal. — Letheby. 
 
 Nitrogenous matter 16.5 
 
 Fat 15.8 
 
 Saline matter 4.7 
 
 Water 63.0 
 
 100.0 
 
 § 60. Pork. 
 
 Among the laboring classes of Asia, Europe, and 
 
PORK. 
 
 109 
 
 America, pork is an almost universal article of diet. 
 It contains less nourishment for brain and muscle 
 than beef or mutton, and is much more difficult of 
 digestion than either. 
 
 On account of its diseased condition the better 
 educated classes of all countries use it less than for- 
 
 FISHING AMONG THE ICEBERGS FOR SEALS, WHICH FURNISH FAT REQUIRED IN AN 
 EXTREMELY COLD CLIMATE. 
 
 merly. It is a prolific source of scrofula, “bilious- 
 ness,” and dyspepsia ; and of late years has become 
 more odious on account of the Trichina Spiralis, or 
 pork parasite, which infests its flesh, and often proves 
 fatal to the consumer. 
 
 Lard is a filthy grease, and unfit for cooking pur- 
 poses. 
 
110 
 
 DR, EVERETT S HEALTH FRAGMENTS, 
 
 SCOTCH IMMIGBANTS WESTWABD BOUND. (See p. 95.) 
 
WILD GAME. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Table XXII. 
 
 Composition of Fat Poke. — Letheby. 
 
 Nitrogenous matter 9.9 
 
 Fat 48.9 
 
 Saline matter 2.3 
 
 Water. 39.9 
 
 100.0 
 
 g 61. Wild Game. 
 
 This occupies a first rank in tlie list of foods, both 
 on account of its wholesomeness and nourishing pro- 
 perties. Venison, the wild pigeon, and the pheasant 
 are probably not excelled by any other meat ; and 
 most wild game possesses a flavor which commends 
 it to the epicure. All wild birds are safe food for 
 those who prefer it ; though, occasionally, a bird 
 may be poisonous from having eaten poisonous ber- 
 ries. 
 
 The reader is referred to the general list of foods 
 in table (see paragraph 49), for the relative value of 
 some articles of game, as the space of this volume 
 will not enable us to discuss this subject at greater 
 length. Before leaving this topic, we might say, the 
 muscles of wild animals are more solid, and contain 
 less fat than are found among the domesticated, the 
 result, doubtless, of their greater use. 
 
 § 62. Fruits. 
 
 In botany, seed and fruit signify the same. Our 
 
112 de. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 use of the term is more general, and applies to what 
 is common table dessert, such as apples, grapes, ber- 
 ries, etc. Fruits consist of the seed and pericarp 
 (derived from the Greek peri and Icarpos). The 
 latter consists of epicarp, endocarp, and mesocarp , or 
 intermediate substance between the seed and the 
 skin or outer layer. 
 
 The sweetness of fruits depend upon their 
 starch being converted into sugar ; and the sour- 
 ness of others by the amount of free acid they con- 
 tain. 
 
 Fruits are specially adapted to the demands of the 
 system in summer time, and are a proper substitute 
 for the over amount of fat and starch required dur- 
 ing cold weather. Their nutrient properties are very 
 limited; but they counteract the effect of a concen- 
 trated diet of meats and salt fish. 
 
 Fruits are also valuable in cases of rheumatism 
 and gout, when, by their salts, they change the char- 
 acter of the blood, as is evident from the urinary de- 
 posits following their use. 
 
 Fruits are heartily commended to “high livers,” 
 as their presence is less obnoxious than the same 
 quantity of rich ei^ and more indigestible food. They 
 are “ blood coolers,” and do not encourage fevers or 
 inflammation. 
 
 Unripe fruity creates alimentary disturbance, from 
 the amount of acids it contains, while over-ripe fruit 
 
OF POTATOES. 
 
 113 
 
 is liable to premature decomposition, and thus may 
 derange the intestinal canal, or its functions. 
 
 The habit of preserving fruit in an equal weight 
 of sugar is bad. They should be used as near their 
 natural condition as practicable. Some kinds are 
 more digestible when cooked. 
 
 § 63. Figs for Constipation. 
 
 Figs grown in warm climates are rich and luscious, 
 containing much that is nutritious, especially of sac- 
 charine matter — the best are Turkey figs, brought 
 from Smyrna. In cases of habitual constipation two 
 or three figs before breakfast, and with the last meal 
 of the day, are generally productive of the best re- 
 sults. They are liable to derange the "stomach and 
 bowels if eaten too freely. 
 
 § 64. Of Potatoes — With or Without Skins. 
 
 The potato is a prince among its fellow tubers 
 and roots. It is a native of South America, brought 
 thence to North America, and was carried to Eu- 
 rope during the sixteenth century, but not exten- 
 sively cultivated in England until two hundred 
 years thereafter. It became a favorite product in 
 Ireland, where it formed a chief source of suste- 
 nance. 
 
 Dr. E. Smith says an Irishman will consume ten 
 and a half pounds of potatoes daily, or three and a 
 ' 8 
 
114 
 
 dr. eveeett’s health fragments. 
 
 half pounds at each meal. These, with buttermilk, 
 gave to the Irish people an efficient and economical 
 diet. 
 
 Table XXIII. 
 
 Composition of the Potato. — Letheby. 
 
 Nitrogenous matter 2.1 
 
 Starch, etc 18.8 
 
 Sugar 3.2 
 
 Fat 0.2 
 
 Saline matter 0.7 
 
 Water 75.0 
 
 100.0 
 
 The casein of the buttermilk supplied the nitro- 
 genous elements, so deficient in the potato as to 
 render it, alone, an unsuitable diet. Potatoes sup- 
 plement meat, fish, and all other articles rich in nitro- 
 gen ; and they maintain their rank in the diet list 
 not only because they are wholesome, but also be- 
 cause they do not fatigue the palate. Only the 
 mealy potato is readily digested. In cooking, the 
 starch granules absorb the juice, swell and sep- 
 arate the cell walls, when the pulp assumes a loose 
 farinaceous mass. When the liquid is absorbed only 
 in part, the cells do not separate, and the potato 
 remains firm, watery, and indigestible. 
 
 Dr. Letheby says, “ Potatoes are best cooked in 
 their skins, for the waste is then only three per cent., 
 
.ONIONS. 
 
 115 
 
 or a half ounce to the pound, whereas, if they are 
 peeled first, it is not less than fourteen per cent., or 
 from two to three ounces to the pound.” 
 
 § 65. Turnips. 
 
 The turnip is inferior to the potato as an article 
 of food. It is properly used with meats, or other 
 concentrated articles; but without company is a 
 feeble stomach companion. 
 
 Table XXIV. 
 
 Composition op the Tuknip. — Letlieby. 
 
 Nitrogenous matter 1.2 
 
 Starch, etc 5.1 
 
 Sugar 2.1 
 
 Salts 0.6 
 
 Water 91.0 
 
 100.0 
 
 Carrots and parsnips may be ranked with turnips, 
 and are of similar dietetic value. 
 
 § 66. Onions. 
 
 These belong to. the lily tribe, but in this utili- 
 tarian age, they are nipped in the root before the 
 blossom appears. Like the garlic and the leek, the 
 onion contains a volatile, acrid oil, which is an irri- 
 tant and excitant. The odor and flavor are more 
 pungent in onions raised in colder climates ; while 
 
116 
 
 DR. EVERETTS HEALTH FRAGMENTS. 
 
 those of southern countries are milder, and therefore 
 better when stewed or roasted. 
 
 The onion is chiefly valuable as a flavoring agent ; 
 and the taste of one will sometimes impart a keen 
 relish to beans, which without it would have been 
 unpalatable. 
 
 The chief objections to the use of onions are their 
 lack of nutrition, and the offence they may give to 
 others after you have eaten them. 
 
 § 67. Lettuce. 
 
 This is an agreeable salad, and is most used after 
 nature’s long winter nap, when all greens are grate- 
 fully received by the system. 
 
 As a nutrient it is comparatively worthless, being 
 somewhat like the sawdust which the farmer mixed 
 with meal to feed his growing pigs, “ it doesn’t fat, 
 but fills up.” 
 
 The milk of the mature lettuce possesses sleep- 
 producing properties, and may be regarded as a mild 
 form of opium. From it is manufactured a medical 
 agent called Lettuce opium. 
 
 § 68. Aristocracy in Food. 
 
 Let the best rule. Oats, wheat , beans, beef, fruits, 
 fish, and game. These are the nobility of the cook’s 
 kingdom. From them spring strength, grace, good 
 manners, gentle blood. No kitchen is complete with- 
 out them. No meal perfect and those absent. 
 
ARISTOCRACY EN FOOD. 
 
 117 
 
 Middle class. Potatoes, salt beef, salt fish, pork, 
 sausages, onions, squashes, hash, fried potatoes, fried 
 eggs, white bread, doughnuts, griddle-cakes. 
 
 Invalid corps. Pickles, salads, cake, strong tea 
 and coffee, preserves, rich pastry. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Condiments — Coffee and Tea. 
 
 § 69. Condiments 
 
 ARE chiefly appetizers. Their use 
 is mostly the result of habit. 
 Those who never use them never 
 want them. To crave them is not 
 natural. Cloves, pepper, mustard, 
 and “ Halford Sauce ” retard di- 
 gestion and produce irritation in a 
 stomach unaccustomed to their presence. But their 
 use has become a universal custom, and they require 
 more than a passing notice. A good dinner is more 
 than chemical quality and quantity which represent 
 the demands of the body. It must be comfortable, 
 palatable, cheerful. The more innocent condiments 
 and pleasant conversation hold a similar relation to a 
 well-managed table. Granted, in the abstract, that 
 we may bide our full time without them, that we may 
 be just as strong, and free from disease ; still, he who 
 makes my food more inviting, or he who makes 
 me laugh, helps me heavenward. We have already 
 too many straight- jacket reformers. I mean those 
 who are so intensely logical that they severely con- 
 demn the use of any food which does not form tissue 
 
IIOW NOT TO ABUSE CONDIMENTS. 
 
 119 
 
 or furnisli heat. The Health Reform has been 
 greatly retarded by “ hobby riders,” who are sure 
 to dignify their hobbies by the name of 'principles. 
 
 He who prefers his meat or bread without salt or 
 other seasoning, has a right to use them thus ; but 
 he who insists that a moderate use of salt, butter, 
 plain catsup, or weak tea, impairs digestion or de- 
 stroys health, is blind to the facts of history, igno- 
 rant of practical experiments on the changes of food 
 in the stomach, or too illogical to give wise or safe 
 counsel on the philosophy of eating. 
 
 § 70. Do Condiments do Harm? 
 
 Of course they do. What does not harm when 
 abused? Much of dyspepsia, neuralgia, irritability, 
 and sick headache is chargeable to the abuse of con- 
 diments. 
 
 The writer was once accosted by his hostess at 
 table, thus : 
 
 Hostess. “ Doctor, what will you have ? ” 
 
 Doctor. “An appetite, madam.” 
 
 The good woman placed before me a dish of horse- 
 radish. A teaspoonful would have brought me an 
 appetite ; and if I had used it, the first rule of 
 healthy eating would have been violated. It is, 
 Never eat unless hungry. 
 
 § 71. How not to Abuse Condiments. 
 
 Condiments may be used to season or flavor diet 
 
120 
 
 DR. EVERETT S HEALTH FRAGMENTS. 
 
 proper, when the article employed is so innocent in 
 quality or limited in quantity, as not to irritate the 
 mucous surface over which it passes, or otherwise 
 interfere with the structure or vital action of the 
 system. Therefore a limited use of salt, vinegar, or 
 aught else, which yields ouly pleasure to the sense 
 of taste, is harmless, or even beneficial. In this 
 category do properly come lemon, caraway, cinna- 
 mon, salt, etc., etc. 
 
 § 72. Pickles 
 
 have been subjected to wholesale condemnation by 
 those most actively engaged in health reform. As 
 an appetizer they usually do injury ; because the 
 gratification of hunger secured by their agency does 
 more harm than good. 
 
 The cucumber, cauliflower, or onion pickles, are 
 indigestible, and irritable to the stomach and bowels ; 
 and they possess no nutrient properties worth' men- 
 tioning. 
 
 Peaches, apples, and beets, when pickled, are less 
 objectionable ; but even these are preferable with- 
 out the pickling process. 
 
 § 73. Pepper, Cucumber Pickles, etc. 
 
 While it is proper to use inoffensive spices to 
 render food more palatable, it should never be for- 
 gotten that pepper, cloves, pepper-sauce, capsicum, 
 cucumber pickles, chow-chow, and all the more pun- 
 
WHERE WOMAN’S WIT GOES. 
 
 121 
 
 gent condiments are, in any considerable quantities, 
 totally incompatible with a healthy taste or natural 
 appetite. Topers, gluttons, and dyspeptics seldom 
 fail to patronize them ; and their use begets those 
 diseased cravings which often extend to the use of 
 alcohol and habitual drunkenness. 
 
 As nature seasons the apple, the peach or the 
 strawberry, you may season your food ; but it is not 
 well or wise to encourage the use of spices, which in- 
 flame the stomach and establish disease. 
 
 § 74. Wine in Pudding Sauce? 
 
 No. The woman who flavors her sauce or pies 
 with alcohol, whether it appears as wine or brandy, is 
 careless, ignorant or corrupt. Many 
 a man has his alcoholic diathesis fan- 
 ned to fury, by having pampered his 
 false love for pungent flavors. 
 
 -1 O WOMEN MUST BREAK THE 
 
 Mrs. Stowe’s bravest character in wine-cup. 
 
 “ My wife and I,” should be a warning to all right- 
 minded hostesses. 
 
 A conscience that does not consider the possible 
 consequence of a wine-flavored pudding sauce served 
 to husband, sons or friends, is unsound if not 
 criminal. 
 
 § 75. Where Woman’s Wit Goes. 
 
 It is sharp; it may bring tears. You will find it 
 in the pickle-bottle. Woman is not proud of her 
 
122 
 
 de. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 bread (honestly, she ouglit not to be) ; she boasts not 
 of her roast or her steak ; but she has paid two dol- 
 lars for a French cook-book, from which to learn how 
 to feed the first six inches of her husband’s alimen- 
 tary canal. To feed his brain, his heart, legs, and arms, 
 she never thinks of— but, to “have it taste good!' 1 ' 1 
 that’s the aim. To get that into his mouth which 
 would make him crazy, if put into his eye ; to get 
 into his stomach that which would blister his hand 
 if applied to it; then, to make him “ smack his lips” 
 and call it good, that is the climax !— unless, indeed, 
 it occurs later, when he has progressed from the 
 pickle-bottle to the wine-bottle, and then goes home 
 to “ raise the Old Boy.” Many a drunkard is made 
 such from overspiced food. 
 
 § 76. Sick Headache and Spices and Fifty Dollars. 
 
 “ Doctor, I will give you fifty dollars to cure my 
 sick headache,” said a robust German, at a “ Table 
 de IloteP 
 
 Doctor. “ I will cure you, and effectually, if you 
 will allow me to direct your eating as well as pre- 
 scribe your medicine.” 
 
 German. “ No, doctor, I tinks my stomach knows 
 better what is good for me, as any physician does. 
 
 Doctor. “Well, my man, you should let your 
 stomach be your physician, if it knows more than 
 the doctor.” 
 
SICK HEADACHE AND SPICES. 
 
 123 
 
 A few minutes later his steak appeared covered 
 with onions, and fragrant with the odor of pepper. 
 He took five articles from the cruet-stand and coated 
 one side of the meat, then turned it over and coated 
 the other side similarly. As he cut this compound 
 in small pieces, his eyes become lustrous, and his 
 face beamed with pleasant anticipation, reminding one 
 of Byron, 
 who knew 
 the devil 
 was in a 
 similar dish, 
 but was sat- 
 isfied to go 
 to t o p h e t , 
 for the priv- 
 ilege of eat- 
 ing it. 
 
 The doc- 
 tor might 
 have said to 
 this man, 
 
 “How, good 
 
 “my stomach knows better what is good for me as any 
 fell O W, cut DOCTOR DOES.” 
 
 that meat through the centre and put one half on 
 your back, and if it don’t draw a blister I will give 
 you fifty dollars.” 
 
 To what extremes are people led ! One man re- 
 
124 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 houses oats ok corn. (See page 96). 
 
COFFEE, ITS CHARMS AND DANGERS. 125 
 
 fuses a grain of common salt on his meat, or to render 
 his vegetables more palatable, because salt is “inor- 
 ganic, and therefore cannot be converted into tissue,” 
 though this same salt forms a part of the blood. 
 The other insists on applying to the stomach, that 
 which, if repeated on the outer skin, would convert it 
 into something resembling rawhide. In structure, the 
 limns: membrane of the stomach is similar to the 
 outer skin, only more sensitive. Thus irritated, the 
 stomach becomes the seat of abnormal desire and false 
 appetites. From it come strange voices through the 
 night in “dreams” and “visions.” People never 
 have “ Nightmare ” who allow their stomachs to rest 
 while they themselves sleep. 
 
 § 77. Coffee, its Charms and Dangers. 
 
 It is the nectar of the nineteenth century. Not bet- 
 ter was given to the old heathen' gods. Schiller wrote 
 under its influence, and died middle-aged. Beetho- 
 ven drank coffee daily, and was deaf at forty. 
 Goethe despised it, and lived beyond eighty. It 
 seduces millions by its pleasant intoxication. Doc- 
 tors hardly reason about it. They drink it, and 
 under its influence they talk about it as an old 
 friend ; and then they advise other people to drink 
 it because they do. Say they, “ ‘ It makes the sol- 
 dier brave, gives rest to the weary,’ 1 strength to the 
 weak,’ ‘ thoughts to the dull brain,’ ‘ makes sleepy 
 
126 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 people wakeful,’ and ‘ wakeful people sleepy.’ Last- 
 ly, it is not food, but it takes tlie place of food, and 
 therefore should be used.” The actual amount of 
 nutriment contained in three cups of coffee, as pre- 
 pared, is too trifling to speak of ; but, we are told, 
 by its use we can prevent the normal waste of tissue , 
 can prevent “ retrograde metamorphosis of tissue .' 1 ' 1 So 
 much the worse. Waste is as natural as repair. 
 The digestive organs are means through which blood 
 is elaborated for the formation of tissue. This tissue 
 
 lives its time and dies, after 
 which it is carried off by 
 means of emunctory organs — 
 by the skin, kidneys, etc. A 
 free use of coffee is followed 
 by feeble emunctation; thus 
 the kidneys yield less urea, 
 which is a product of the 
 death of nerve tissue ; the 
 skin acts less efficiently ; the 
 body wastes more slowly. 
 Then the wise remark is 
 made, “ its use may be con- 
 tinued indefinitely with ad- 
 vantage .” This is a coffee 
 course of reasoning — some- 
 thing is kept back. The aver- 
 age amount of urea eliminated 
 
 o 
 
 1. Dermis ; 2. Epidermis ; 3. Cu- 
 ticle ; 4. Soft layer ; E. Adipose and 
 other tissue under skin ; 6. Tactile 
 papillae ; 7. Sweat glands ; 8. Duct ; 
 9. Spiral passage of the latter; 10. 
 Opening of the sweat glands. 
 
COFFEE, ITS CHARMS AND DANGERS. 127 
 
 •in twenty-four hours, is about five hundred grains. 
 This is natural, therefore healthy. Many miles of 
 tubing enter into the composition of the sweat 
 glands, through which a large proportion of the 
 product of destructive assimilation finds egress. 
 This also is necessary to health. Practically, coffee 
 by its effect on the nervous system defeats a natural 
 and physiological process of blood purification, — 
 therefore cannot be regarded as a health agent. 
 
 That the human constitution may become used to 
 coffee, and even demand its continued use, as it does 
 to alcohol, tobacco, and opium, needs no argument 
 to prove. But instead of recommending its frequent 
 use, it were wiser to say, coffee is not properly a 
 food, and should not be sought to nourish and form 
 tissue ; but it may be used in great moderation, and 
 add much to the enjoyment of life. It will bridge 
 over moments of despondency, cast gleams of light 
 into dark places, and give cheer to a social hour. 
 Like a little song or a loving friend, not necessary to 
 your existence; but if you intelligently use them, 
 they are means of growth and grace. 
 
 A misuse of coffee produces “biliousness,” nervous- 
 ness, despondency, headache, neuralgia, dyspepsia, 
 etc.; invalids should avoid it altogether. Persons 
 of a highly susceptible organization should use it 
 seldom, and never strong, or before retiring. Its 
 common use in America is greatly to be regretted. 
 
128 
 
 DR. EVERETT S HEALTH FRAGMENTS. 
 
 As a rule, the conscience and common sense of the 
 old coffee-drinker is so adulterated by his favorite 
 beverage that he refuses to see clearly, or reason cor- 
 rectly with himself. Bulvver was not far wrong 
 when he made “habit ten times stronger than na- 
 ture.' 1 ' 1 
 
 Parents commit a crime against their children when 
 
 O 
 
 they allow them to use coffee. 
 
 Table XXV. 
 
 Composition of Coffee — 100 Parts. 
 
 Caffein 0.8 
 
 Casein 13.0 
 
 Gum and sugar 55.5 
 
 Fat and oil (volatile) 13.0 
 
 Mineral matter 6.7 
 
 Caffei-tannic and caffeic-acids 5.0 
 
 Woody fibre 34.0 
 
 Water 12.0 
 
 Chemical elements of caffein are identical with that 
 of tlieine : 
 
 c 8 H 5 0 2 N a . 
 
 The “ coffee complexion ” is too well known to re- 
 quire comment. 
 
 § 78. All about Tea. 
 
 Health reformers, generally, join in its abuse. 
 Strong tea, sharp noses, and “ shattered nerves ” have 
 
ALL ABOUT TEA. 
 
 129 
 
 been huddled together. A physician came to its 
 relief recently, by showing that it contained four 
 per cent, nitrogen, and, therefore, nourished the inva- 
 lid ; but poor tea suffered worse for having found a 
 friend. 
 
 Tablk XXVI. 
 
 Chemical Composition oe Tea. 
 
 Theine . . . 
 
 
 2 to 3 
 
 Casein . . . . 
 
 
 15 
 
 Gum 
 
 
 18 
 
 Sugar 
 
 
 3 
 
 Tannin . . . 
 
 
 25 
 
 Volatile . . 
 
 
 s 
 
 Fat 
 
 • 
 
 4 
 
 Fibre 
 
 
 20 
 
 Mineral. . . 
 
 
 5 
 
 Water . . . 
 
 
 about 6 
 
 
 
 100 
 
 Chemically, caffein and theine are identical. 
 
 c 8 h 5 o 2 n* 
 
 As a nutrient it is comparatively worthless. It 
 seems an infliction to give a patient a pound of tea 
 and a hogshead of water for nourishing properties 
 that can be had in a small beefsteak. 
 
 Stimulating;, warm drinks are common amon? all 
 civilized races. Of these, tea is the most used, and, 
 all things considered, probably the most harmless. 
 
 9 
 
1.30 
 
 dr. eyerett's health fragments. 
 
 Its total abandonment is unlooked for, and, if practi- 
 cable, would probably be unwise. 
 
 Used in moderation, it is a pleasant, harmless stim- 
 ulant, not necessary to life, but a source of comfort. 
 It exhilarates, comforts, and takes the fringe off 
 those moments when called to “ pass under the rod.” 
 As a warm drink it encourages capillary circulation ; 
 and when you use it you will be less liable to use 
 what is worse. It should be taken in moderation, 
 and never at nUkt. 
 
 O 
 
 You ask, “ Does it not destroy the nerve tone, 
 produce dyspepsia, neuralgia,” etc. ? Strong tea does 
 this, and more, often producing insanity ; so yon 
 may poison yourself with potatoes, if you take a suf- 
 ficient quantity. In advanced life, one cup of weak 
 tea at a meal may be used without ill-health or im- 
 propriety. Among children, when habits are form- 
 ing, and the nervous system impressible, its use 
 should be universally discouraged. For them u Cam- 
 bric tea ” is as palatable and more healthy. 
 
 Strong tea in excess produces nervousness, irrita- 
 bility, despondency, dyspepsia, neuralgia, and insan- 
 ity. Hence the rule should be, weak tea or total 
 abstinence. 
 
 § 79. Chocolate 
 
 is made from seeds of the Cocoa-tree, roasted, de- 
 prived of husk, sweetened, flavored, and ground. 
 This boiled in milk forms a pleasant warm drink, 
 
COCOA. 
 
 131 
 
 #■ 
 
 but the Theobromine is less stimulating than 
 Theine or Caffein, and it will probably never become 
 a general substitute for tea or coffee. This is the 
 more to be regretted, as the ill-effects following its use 
 are slight compared with that of tea or coffee. 
 
 § 80. Cocoa 
 
 is an agreeable drink made from ground cocoa-seeds 
 mixed with starchy matter ; its flavor is more delicate 
 than that of chocolate, and it is less frequently adul- 
 terated. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Scientific use of Physiology at Table. 
 
 § 81. Who Eats Correctly must Think Correctly. 
 
 Wlien they learned that the yolk and white of an 
 egg contained not the elements which formed the 
 skeleton of the chick, they sought and found this 
 reply, — The yolk contains phosphorus which be- 
 comes oxydized, by which an agent is formed that 
 successfully attacks the lime in the egg shell : thus 
 is found the needed jihosphate of lime to harden the 
 bones of the chicken. 
 
 Similar questions and answers must tell us what 
 the brain is, and how to feed it. How muscle and 
 bones are composed, and where the material may be 
 
SUMMER AND WINTER FOOD. 
 
 133 
 
 obtained. Beyond this tbe question must go. Not 
 only wliat is tbe composition of tbe brain, and wbat 
 will build it, but, wdien tbe mind is particularly 
 taxed, wbat is tbe character of tbe waste, and wbat 
 kind of food is needed to repair tbis waste ? Wbat 
 constitutes a muscle ; and in muscular exercise wbat 
 tissue is specially wasted, and bow repaired ? If 
 pbospbate of lime hardens bones, bow shall we feed 
 our children to secure for them towering and strong 
 skeletons \ 
 
 Not here can we stop our inquiries. We must 
 show tbe composition of each article of diet, — its 
 nutritious capacity, its digestibility ; bow it can be 
 best cooked, and when it should be eaten. All tbis 
 is but tbe beginning of a science which includes food, 
 body, brain, thought, emotion, disposition, hope, pa- 
 tience, petulance, prayer, and a long list of other 
 things, upon which must bang tbe life, temperance, 
 purity, and progress of tbe race. 
 
 § 82. Summer Pood in Winter is Bad; Winter Pood in Summer is 
 
 Worse. 
 
 We must consider not alone tbe elements which 
 compose the human body, or the preceding divisions 
 of tissue or structure, but also tbe season of tbe 
 year, tbe occupation, tbe time employed, etc. 
 
 Tbe teacher, thinker or inventor, by mental labor 
 would waste largely of those elements which com- 
 pose the brain and nervous structure. To supply 
 
134 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 this waste the food employed should contain largely, 
 in an organized condition, phosphorus, soda, and 
 potassa. 
 
 On the other hand, where the muscular structure 
 was mostly employed, the food should contain nitro- 
 genous material in over proportions. 
 
 During winter, with the mercury at zero, the 
 human system requires an abundance of the fats 
 and sugars, from which heat is generated to resist 
 
 the cold without ; while 
 in warm, sum m e r 
 months, these carbon- 
 oids would be a pro- 
 lific source of disease. 
 
 During these seasons 
 nature wisely provides 
 fruits and berries in 
 abundance, which gene- 
 rate little heat, and are, 
 therefore, poor friends 
 to “ biliousness,” fevers, 
 and inflammations. 
 
 Our great fat friend, who subsists on rich meats 
 and gravies, buckwheat cakes and molasses, butter 
 and cream, the year round, finds himself inconven- 
 iently warm during the “ dog days.” 
 
 On the other hand, his neighbor, who abstains from 
 all animal food, and feeds mostly on fruits and vege- 
 
 THE VICTIM OF A SUPER-CARBONACEOUS DIET 
 
 IN HOT WEATHER. 
 
FOOD FOB ONE DAT. 
 
 185 
 
 tables, labors under a serious disadvantage during the 
 winter months ; as food 
 deficient in starch, sugar 
 and fat, fails to provide 
 the warmth within the 
 body which enables it 
 to resist cold without. 
 
 Thus we find a class who 
 appear bloodless, and 
 shiver with the first fall 
 wind, from the continued 
 use of a diet deficient 
 in carbonaceous proper- 
 
 *■ ONE WHO DENIES HIMSELF HEATING FOOD MUST 
 
 •£j0g SUFFER IN COLD WEATHER. 
 
 § 83. Food for One Day. 
 
 Dr. Dalton says, “From experiments performed 
 while living on an exclusive diet of bread, meat, fish 
 and butter, with coffee and water for drink, we have 
 found the entire quantity of food required during 
 twenty-four hours, by a man in full health, and tak- 
 ing free exercise in open air, is as follows : 
 
 Table XXVII. 
 
 Meat 16 ounces. 
 
 Bread 19 “ 
 
 Butter or fat 3i “ 
 
 Water 52 fluid ounces. 
 
 “ That is to say, rather less than two and a half 
 pounds of solid food, and over three pints of water.” 
 
136 
 
 db. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 Experiments upon prisoners in Scotch prisons 
 show that men may be sustained for an indefinite 
 time upon less than one and a quarter pounds of 
 solid food per day, with water added. In the latter 
 case the men were inactive ; and the waste was con- 
 sequently less. 
 
 In the above table the food used is concentrated. 
 To secure nutrition from vegetables it would require 
 a larger bulk to provide the same muscle, fattening 
 or brain food. Where berries, apples, and similar 
 fruits constituted a fair proportion of the diet, the 
 bulk would require to be increased. 
 
 A reference to the food tables in this book will 
 enable the reader to understand the increase or 
 decrease in quantity, according to quality of food 
 chosen. The same man, engaged in out-door physi- 
 cal exercise, requires a third more food than he 
 would confined to an office, or other sedentary em- 
 ployment. 
 
 § 84. How Often shaft we Eat? 
 
 Of this, experience teaches everything and nothing. 
 One, two, three or many meals a day are taught by 
 names equally respectable. 
 
 A notable Health teacher said, once per day ; and 
 he practiced it. In one year he gluttonized himself 
 into dyspepsia, when he exhibited his better sense 
 by abandoning his theory and practice. 
 
 Others, with better judgment, advanced the two 
 
HOW OFTEN SHALL WE EAT \ lo7 
 
 meal system. In its- favor may be said it lessens 
 woman's labor. Do you wonder her many friends 
 are slow to oppose it ? Our poor mothers, wives 
 and sisters, toiling through a long, struggling day, 
 filled with a dead routine of domestic drudgery ! 
 What is a sadder sig/ht than a silent, suffering 
 woman, bowed down with a backdoad of trifles all 
 her life ? No literary, clerical, political, financial 
 
 THE AVERAGE WOMAN’S PROSPECTS AND PROPERTY, 
 
 or mechanical prospect ; no swift rivers or snowy 
 mountain peaks, or sweet-toned branches or dewy 
 meads ! Only a low sandy desert, with scattered 
 knives and forks, wash tubs and cradles ! What a 
 toilsome treadmill is the life of more than three- 
 fourths the women of the world ! If to drop a meal 
 from the day gives her an hour’s rest or sunshine, 
 do you object \ Of course, these things should not 
 
138 
 
 dii. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 “ABNER'S WATER CERE” IN THE “ VALLE'S OF JEHOSHAPHAT,” WHERE OUR ARTIST WENT TO INSPECT THE DIETETIC 
 
HOW OFTEN SHALL WE EAT ? 
 
 139 
 
 be so ; but they are , still there are objections to the 
 two-meal plan. 
 
 First. Gluttony. — Its advocates are the most 
 systematic gormandizers I have ever known. In the 
 Water Cures , where invalids congregate to improve 
 their conditions by simple habits, plain living, baths, 
 and alternating exercise with rest, the two meal sys- 
 tem very generally prevails. The quantity of food 
 consumed each day by these pale, sickly people will 
 average considerably more than the same number 
 of Maine lumbermen would allow for daily rations. 
 
 Second. Irregularity. — Your meals are at hours 
 different from those society has named ; so that giv- 
 ing or receiving invitations to dine or sup with 
 friends involves a violation of the habits of either 
 one or both parties to the entertainment, those who 
 invite or are invited, and the law of regularity is set 
 aside. 
 
 Third. The happiest hour is sacrificed by 
 omitting the old-fashioned “ supper meal .” When 
 the day’s work is done, the head emptied of busi- 
 ness, hopes buoyant, heart full ; when the one desire 
 of making the others happy actuates each member 
 of the circle — this evening meal is the benediction 
 of the day. 
 
 Life is so full of friction and care that we cannot 
 afford to dispense with an hour so free from all that 
 disturbs and chafes. 
 
140 DR. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 Spare the old-fashioned “ supper table ! ” Ou it 
 place food and flowers, alternately ; and make these 
 more acceptable by the sunshine of your hearts and 
 imperturbable good-nature. Do not argue. Do not 
 scold. See that your abundant humor hurts no one. 
 Sanctify the occasion by feeling and giving your 
 best. 
 
 § 85. Better than Two or Three Meals. 
 
 A proper quantity and quality of food eaten at 
 hours so the stomach shall have periods of labor and 
 of rest. 
 
 About four hours are required to digest an ordi- 
 nary meal. Breakfast at seven o’clock, will be di- 
 gested at eleven. Now give your stomach an hour’s 
 rest. Dinner at one— from five to six o’clock the 
 stomach rests, — a light supper, soon digested, at nine 
 or ten o’clock you seek your couch and sleep sweetly, 
 while your stomach rests and is prepared to dispose 
 of a hearty breakfast. That is a syllabus of a daily 
 Christian’s diet. 
 
 § 86. Irregular Eating. 
 
 You slept without ventilation, and this morning 
 your appetite was feeble, — a light breakfast, pieces 
 during the forenoon, dinner with a “ coming appe- 
 tite,” a lunch during the afternoon, a light supper, 
 with something to satisfy an u all gone ” sensation 
 before we retire. Think of it ! By introducing 
 even a nut or an apple into your stomach during the 
 
SMOKED YANKEE. 
 
 141 
 
 forenoon you arrested or prolonged digestion. The 
 stomach having worked until dinner hour, was bur- 
 dened by an afternoon lunch, and had not a moment’s 
 rest until bed-time, when you refilled it, and com- 
 pelled it to toil through the long night, only to re- 
 peat the direful dose to-morrow. 
 
 Is it any wonder you dream of ghosts and hob- 
 goblins ? or contend with “ nightmares ? ” 
 
 § 87. One hundred and nineteen Pounds of Smoked “ Yankee.” 
 
 A lean specimen of the “ stub and twist ” Yankee 
 several years ago accosted the writer, thus : 
 
 “ Doctor, I don’t believe in your rules for eating, 
 or causes for dyspepsia. I weigh one hundred and 
 nineteen pounds, and have kept hotel for seventeen 
 years. I eat three regular meals, apples, nuts, or 
 crackers between meals every day, and before I re- 
 tire I take a hearty lunch of beans, pie, or aught 
 else. I always sleep well ; and when I am awake 
 and not eating, I chew tobacco, and always swallow 
 the saliva.” He told me this at forty. Four years 
 afterwards his health failed him — his weight was re- 
 duced nearly twenty pounds. A more miserable 
 man I have never met. Unfit for business, proud, 
 yet incapable of supporting his family in their 
 former position, despondent in the last degree, and 
 every hour of the day filled with suffering. It 
 seemed as though this little smoked specimen was 
 
142 
 
 DR. EVERETT S HEALTH FRAGMENTS. 
 
 first employed to show what a human frame might 
 endure, and, second, to teach how much one might 
 suffer and still live. 
 
 “ The mill of God grinds slow, 
 
 But oh, how fine ! ” 
 
 § 88. Feeding Children between Meals. 
 
 Mothers feed their children into disease from 
 which come inharmonious characters and wasted 
 frames. 
 
 She who feasts her child between meals and edu- 
 cates the stomach into dyspepsia is, in the sight of 
 heaven, committing a crime. It is a poor excuse that 
 in her fond foolishness she covers her error with the 
 idea that she “ cannot bear to hear him cry.” There 
 is more charity in saving your child from suffering 
 than stopping his tears at the price of his health. 
 
 “ Taste nothing between meals , not even a nut or an 
 apple? 
 
 § 89. Bolted Food and Broken Health. 
 
 A mother said to the Writer, “ My son has not al- 
 lowed himself more than two and a half minutes to 
 dine in three months.” He was a pale, nervous, dys- 
 peptic. He had not time to eat his dinner like a 
 Christian, and so he must “ bolt ” it like a turkey. 
 Rapid eaters are proverbially gluttons. Dinners 
 eaten in three minutes usually weigh more than 
 those meals which occupy twenty. It would be a 
 
BOLTED FOOD AND BROKEN HEALTH. 
 
 143 
 
 profitable invention that might enable a Wall street 
 broker to dispose of a reasonable meal in two and a 
 half minutes. To him time and money are every- 
 thing, health nothing. Waking or sleeping, the one 
 wish is, wealth or the means to attain it. In his pre- 
 mature and near-by old age, his houses and lands and 
 ships and gold 
 will not re- 
 store his shat- 
 tered nerves to 
 health, or sti- 
 fle the cry of 
 a n outraged 
 stomach. His 
 palsied hand 
 cannot reach 
 
 back to seize A WALL STREET MAN HAS ONLY THREE MINTJTES FOR DINNER 
 FINDS HE CAN SAVE THIRTY SECONDS BY EMPLOYING AN EAT- 
 
 tne last oppor- eng machine. 
 
 tunity ; his days are filled with misery, and his nights 
 are only a wild requiem of rest gone forever. 
 
 A half hour’s rest after a hearty meal is an econ- 
 omy of time which no business man can afford to 
 waste. 
 
 Feed two hounds, put the one in the kennel, 
 and the other on the chase. Two hours subse- 
 quently, if an examination occur, it will be found, 
 that the hound which rested shows advanced diges- 
 tion, while in the other case, the food is hardly 
 
144 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 * 
 
 changed from the condition in which it entered the 
 stomach. 
 
 In the one case the vitality was employed in the 
 stomach, in the other the nose and heels monopolized 
 the life forces, and the stomach was deprived of that 
 power needed for digestion. The same rule applies 
 to man. After eating, rest, lest your stomach bear 
 testimony against you. 
 
 § 90. Eat Slowly. 
 
 This you must do for enjoyment or health. 
 
 Keep your food where you can enjoy it; that is, 
 only in the mouth. The idea of bolting a meal to 
 enjoy it ! Have you ever tried perfect mastication ? 
 If not, try it. Even .dry bread, thoroughly masti- 
 cated, and then retained in the mouth to tantalize 
 and coquet with the gustatory nerve, provides a rare 
 comfort. 
 
 Rapid eating is a common cause of dyspejisia. 
 When the food is hurried to the stomach in large 
 pieces, uncut, and unmixed with the saliva, the di- 
 gestion is prolonged and difficult. 
 
 Abundant conversation, and absence of all drinks 
 while eating 'are two means of our curing this low 
 habit. 
 
 § 91. Eating when Tired 
 
 is directly productive of dyspepsia. Housekeepers, 
 farmers, students and teachers, habitually tax their 
 stomachs when body, brain, and spinal cord are in a 
 
 0 
 
W HE N TO EAT THE BEST MEAL ? 145 
 
 fatigued state. From tliis cause women become 
 neuralgic and dyspeptic ; farmers find themselves 
 chained to old coughs and “ liver complaints,” while 
 business and professional men suffer from “ throat 
 ail.” The stomach is as sensitive to bodily tone as 
 a barometer to atmospheric conditions. It is never 
 less weary than the body. A universal habit of 
 sleeping a half hour before the middle and after 
 meal of each day, and indigestion would soon go out 
 of fashion. 
 
 A vast amount of dyspesia is the result of “ brain 
 and body fag .” 
 
 § 92. When to Eat the Best Meal ? 
 
 In the morning, when the body is fresh from 
 sleep, and the stomach rested by thirteen hours’ fast- 
 ing. The brain, which furnishes digestive power, 
 via one of its heaviest nerves, in the early hours of 
 morning possesses its maximun of force, and then 
 best supplies the stomach with vital energy. At 
 this happy confluence of condition and circumstances, 
 a man may lay in a judicious store of bread, meat, 
 and fruit that shall furnish a basis for the next 
 twenty-four hours’ wear and tear. It should be 
 clone leisurely and thankfully; I say thankfully , be- 
 cause a grateful, benign frame of mind is conducive 
 to good digestion. 
 
 I knew a wise woman, once, who always sent her 
 child from the table unless it presented a smiling 
 
 10 
 
146 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 face. She deemed it bad manners to sit in the pres- 
 ence of others with a taciturn countenance. The 
 lady was wiser than she knew. It is not only bad 
 aesthetically, to carry a frowning visage to the table, 
 but unphysiological. How natural to be thankful 
 in the morning. lie must be an idiot, or a moral 
 nonentity, who can forget that his safe passage 
 through the hours of darkness is scarce less than a 
 miracle. Every hour after the day’s work fairly be- 
 gins, lessens digestive force, for the reason that nerv- 
 ous force is now appropriated to work, thought and 
 emotion. Hence six p. m. dinners are unwise or 
 worse. 
 
 § 93. Why we Dream. 
 
 A clergyman related the following to the writer : 
 “ I eat temperately and intelligently, nothing between 
 meals ; and my ‘ tea ’ is light, and taken at least 
 four hours before I retire. I have not the ordinary 
 symptoms of indigestion, but my sleep is much dis- 
 turbed by dreams .” 
 
 Upon inquiry, I found the gentleman always read 
 from supper until bed - time. He deprived the 
 stomach of vital power by inviting the blood to the 
 brain. When he went to sleep, nature “ rolled up 
 her sleeves ” and went down to unload the stomach. 
 In the act she created a disturbance which, being re- 
 ported to the sensorium, ended in a dream . 
 
 Let the stomach rest after eating, even lightly. 
 
WHAT SHALL WE EAT? 
 
 147 
 
 A young “ Hoosier ” was anxious to know why lie 
 “ dreamed about his great-grandfather every night.” 
 It had been his custom to eat mince-pie before he 
 retired. The doctor advised him to add beans and 
 bacon, so that his dreams might include his great- 
 grandmother, and some hobgoblins, that he might 
 “ raise the devil generally ” through the night. 
 
 § 94. What shall We Eat ? * 
 
 is an ever-recurring question, growing more impor- 
 tant as people become more intelligent. 
 
 Even medical men are jioorly prepared to give 
 satisfactory replies. If a physician is asked how a 
 mother may supply insufficiency of breast milk for 
 her child, he will probably advise ale, or porter, not- 
 withstanding the fact that chemistry teaches these 
 contain very little in common with the structure of 
 the child’s brain, bone, or muscle. The best medical 
 institutions in our land teach but little on the sub- 
 ject of diet ; and few graduates can prescribe a 
 judicious diet for mother or child. A recent medical 
 writer in this city insisted on the absurdity of scien- 
 tific feeding as applied to individuals, claiming 
 “ what is one’s meat is another’s poison,” forgetful 
 of the fact that he was asserting an ignorance, and 
 betraying a want of culture, which any educated 
 man should be ashamed of. 
 
 Vegetarians deny the right of man to a meat 
 
148 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 diet. Their claim is a mere abstraction, unsustained 
 by science, history or facts. Granted that Dr. Gra- 
 ham and Louis Carnaro enjoyed good health to ad- 
 vanced years, and that the strong boatmen on the 
 Mediterranean coast, with them, ate only grains and 
 grapes or other vegetables ; still it does not follow 
 but that they might have lived even longer on a 
 mixed or meat diet. In short, they only prove that 
 life may be well sustained upon an exclusively vege- 
 table diet. This, none will doubt. 
 
 A second class claims England as the beef-eating 
 nation of the world ; and she excels- in qualities of 
 brain and back, and provides the athletes of the 
 nineteenth century. This only proves that beef 
 is an excellent article of diet. In either case the 
 conclusion is empirical, resting upon experience , which 
 makes a score of fools to a single philosplier. 
 
 An old Dutch lady thought she had cured with 
 cow’s milk five hundred children with measles. An 
 old man thinks bacon and saur hrcmt the most 
 healthy diet, because the doctor has not visited his 
 family for years. A medical expert said in my hear- 
 ing recently, that oysters were preferable for a man 
 whose diet was limited to a single article (see Table, 
 § 49). Each could fortify the position assumed, by 
 scores of facts. Yet each conclusion was false, and 
 unsupported by science. A Western editor endeav- 
 ored to secure brain for his child by feeding oysters. 
 
149 
 
 FOOD THAT “ TOUCHES THE SPOT.” 
 
 If he had persisted, and given these only, his child 
 would have been first a fool, and then a corpse. 
 Oysters are easy of digestion, when properly pre- 
 pared for use ; but they lack elements of brain struc- 
 ture, and are deficient in that which preserves the. 
 warmth needful for life. 
 
 § 95. What Not to Eat. 
 
 First. Eat nothing unless you are hungry. 
 
 Second. Eat nothing unless your stomach is empty. 
 
 Third. Eat no fat pork, potatoes fried in lard, pie- 
 crust, or other pastry containing lard or other filthy 
 grease ; cabbage boiled in grease, mince pies, pre- 
 serves, sardines, or aught else - which careful obser- 
 vation has shown to be indigestible and productive 
 of discomfort or dreams. 
 
 § 96. Never Eat unless You are Hungry. 
 
 Never invite an appetite. Those ladies who insist 
 on loading your plate when you have no desire for 
 food, perpetrate untold mischief. 
 
 When the stomach is in a condition to digest food 
 it will always crave it ; and oftentimes it calls when 
 it is incapable of digesting. ■ 
 
 § 97. Pood that “ Touches the Spot.” 
 
 A discordant laugh. A merry one. A voice filled 
 with music ; another like a cracked pot. A hand 
 full of royal feeling ; another like Uriah Heep’s. A 
 
150 
 
 Dii. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 meal which you relish ; a second as juicy as chips ; 
 a third disgusts you. Do you wonder why ? Poor 
 cooks, dull, stupid, sleepy cooks, spoil the best beef. 
 Tis not the food alone, but the manner of serving it. 
 ^Esthetic people enjoy a meal as much with the eyes 
 as mouth. A hog will eat almost anything. So 
 will some men. Beware how you prepare food for 
 that “ large-eyed, dreamy woman.” Wound her eyes 
 and hunger flies. 
 
 No hash ! No pie-plant in strawberry season ! 
 No “ mux? Only a little, tastefully served. Try 
 and find out what she would like. If you do, you 
 may “ touch the spot.” Ten cents of what she rel- 
 ishes goes farther than two dollars of what she does 
 not. 
 
 § 98. How Long to Chew a Mouthful of Bread. 
 
 Presuming you are well bred, and not hurried to 
 your business with a vulgar desire to cheat some- 
 body — about thirty seconds. Try it. Always re- 
 membering the most genteel people are seldom in a 
 hurry. 
 
 § 99. How many Kinds of Food at one Meal ? 
 
 Better few than many. Many dishes invite over- 
 eating. Few people would gluttonize if the meal 
 comprised three simple dishes. 
 
 Housekeepers would save trouble, time and ex- 
 pense by an elegant preparation of three or four 
 dishes instead of the many. The number of dishes 
 
SHALL WE EAT PIE \ 
 
 151 
 
 prepared or partaken of has, however, less to do 
 with proper eating than a due consideration of time, 
 quality and quantity, as applied to a meal or month. 
 
 § 100. Shall we Eat Pie ? 
 
 Yes, if there is no lard in it. To determine the 
 respectability of a 
 pie, you must study 
 the inside as well as 
 the outside. Study 
 most rich, greasy 
 pies carefully, and 
 you will discover 
 his satanic majesty, 
 horns, hoof and all. 
 
 Iomorance of dietet- 
 
 O 
 
 ics blinds the com- 
 mon pastry-con- 
 sumer. Taste is his 
 super-active special 
 sense. No wonder 
 the dyspeptic and 
 health reformer join 
 in a crusade against them. 
 
 Fat, rich, meat pies are the most unwholesome of 
 foods. Yet may we never outlive the good old- 
 fasioned apple pie, pumpkin pie, or the squash. 
 
 The German language has no name for our pie ; 
 nor has he who speaks it our dyspepsia. “ Fritz ” 
 
 THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY EAT WITH THE PIE. 
 
152 
 
 DR. EVERETT S HEALTH FRAGMENTS. 
 
 must be happy ; but what has he not lost by having 
 no pie ? 
 
 § 101. Dessert for Dinner? 
 
 Always. The choicest . are baked apples and 
 cream. Oranges, pears, grapes, strawberries, good 
 humor, sprightly conversation — talk, can’t you \ 
 Then learn. These will not give you indigestion. 
 Rich pies and puddings may. 
 
 § 102. How much Money for Eating Purposes ? 
 
 The less the better, so the body be fairly nour- 
 ished. 
 
 A frugal meal, on a handsomely furnished table, 
 with agreeable companions, is preferable to prodi- 
 gality ungracefully dispensed. 
 
 Charming table etiquette, and a few exquisite 
 dishes, would not be a bad prescription for all the 
 “ erring qualities of digestion.” A friend of the 
 writer appropriates two dollars per week for each 
 member of her family. Her table is a model in ap- 
 pearance and attendance, which, coupled with a cer- 
 tain indescribable “ atmosphere ” that some high-bred 
 women unconsciously impart to all about them,” 
 renders each meal an episode. Her dessert of baked 
 apples and cream is superior to ordinary plum pud 
 dings and mince pies. She has also the “ gift of 
 conversation.” Ideas are the choicest ^ spices and 
 flavors at table. Other things equal, a conversa- 
 
HOW MUCH MONEY FOR EATING PURPOSES ? 153 
 
 tional hostess can set a better table with less money 
 than she of the single syllable order. “ Brains ” pay 
 as well in dining-room and kitchen as in any other 
 department of labor. 
 
 Among Mr. Vanderbilt’s first fortunate invest- 
 ment was a wife, who saved money from a wisely- 
 ordered table. This money afterwards enabled him 
 to buy a schooner. 
 
 If all the young wives of our mechanics and mer- 
 chants were to imitate Mrs. V., we might yet live to 
 see a host of Vanderbilts. There is nothin^' more 
 
 O 
 
 discouraging to a young mechanic than to eat three 
 dollars as fast as he earns it— especially if he be not 
 too strong in health, and sees a family growing up 
 about him. 
 
 Every shrewd, far-sighted woman will save a little 
 each wqe\ no matter how trivial the income. By 
 deftly mixing her smiling sweetness and simple 
 dishes, she can economize and rule her department. 
 A lady friend of ours tried it. Three months of 
 bean soup, brown bread, oat meal, fruits, a baby 
 that never cried, husband ten pounds heavier, and a 
 plethoric pocket-book followed. 
 
 Of course the husband “ grumbled ” for a few days 
 until he became “ civilized.” Two charming parlor 
 pictures, and her husband’s refusal to return to the 
 old way, was the result. Not he who earns , but he 
 who saves grows rich. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Catarrh. 
 
 § 103. Its Causes and Cure. 
 
 CATARRH is so common, and its vic- 
 tims number so many, that it demands 
 more than a passing notice. 
 
 It is defined by the French physi- 
 cians as “ increased secretion from a 
 mucous membrane.” In this country 
 the term, by popular consent, is ap- 
 plied to a “ cold in the head ” un- 
 cured; or inflammation of the lining' 
 membrane of the nose and adjoining- 
 passages. 
 
 One condition of inflammation is 
 heat, which dries the mucous mem- 
 brane of the nose ; therefore, a first 
 symptom of catarrh is a dry nose. 
 
 A red-haired friend of my boyhood had feet too 
 pretty to be encased in overshoes ; and each winter 
 morning on his way to the school-house he took 
 cold. In his seat he would look steady and sombre 
 as a deacon, while he whistled one half of “ Yankee 
 
CATARRH, ITS CAUSES AND CURE. 
 
 155 
 
 Doodle ” tlirougli his nose. Our teacher, Burke, re- 
 garded Dan’s nose much as Mr. Caxton did the baby, 
 wondering that “ so little a thing could make so big 
 a noise.” 
 
 Heat also relaxes the membrane ; then follow 
 watery discharges. These become more consistent 
 
 DAN” WHISTLING YANKEE DOODLE THROUGH 
 HIS NOSE. 
 
 from the nose to the ears, cheek-bones, frontal 
 sinuses and throat, then the voice-box and tubes of 
 the lungs. In the latter case we call it bronchitis, or 
 catarrh of the air-tubes of the lunns. 
 
 O 
 
 and profuse, until 
 finally gathering in 
 quantities, scabs are 
 formed which affect 
 the membrane as a 
 poultice would the 
 outer skin. If this 
 matter remains long 
 it rots and renders 
 the breath offensive. 
 
 If this inflamma- 
 tion is not arrested 
 it invades the pas- 
 sages which lead 
 
 104. The Nose. 
 
 is a double organ ; hence we have two noses, each 
 divided into three chambers and communicating with 
 passages to frontal sinuses, where the plates of the 
 
156 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 skull are doubled, to the hollow or antrum of the 
 
 cheek-bone, and with the 
 throat. Three of these 
 passages are double and 
 all of them are liable 
 to be involved in nasal 
 catarrh. Hence by ca- 
 tarrh we often mean a 
 prolonged cold in the 
 head, with pains in ear, 
 throat, or jaw, or a disa- 
 greeable fullness of the 
 head, and a stuffed sen- 
 sation in the nose, and 
 many other symptoms 
 
 INTERIOR OF NOSE AND ADJACENT ETRCCTTTRE. ^y|] j(.p ‘HU fl’6C[Uent Or 
 
 constant sources of annoyance, if not distress. 
 
 § 105. Symptoms of Nasal Catarrh. 
 
 These vary in almost every case, and also in differ- 
 ent stages of the same case. They embrace dryness, 
 and itching or bleeding, soreness or discharges from 
 the nose ; burning heat and pains through the bones 
 of nose and forehead, confused thought, watery eyes, 
 a “stuffed sensation” in nose and throat, hoarseness 
 or loss of voice, profuse discharges, at first thin, after- 
 wards thick, yellow or greenish, sometimes streaked 
 with blood. 
 
 These effusions often are viscid and adhere to the 
 
CATARRH TIIE CAUSE OF DEAFNESS. 
 
 157 
 
 palate or nasal structure, producing nausea, hawking, 
 coughing, and spitting, especially in the morning ; 
 sometimes these accumulations prevent breathing- 
 through the nose. Catarrhal patients are generally 
 very sensitive to exposure to drafts of cold air, which 
 increase the discharges. Partial deafness, increased 
 with renewed cold, noises in the head, and offensive 
 breath, are also common symptoms. 
 
 § 106. Catarrh the Cause of Deafness. 
 
 Loss of hearing is most frequently caused by this 
 
 SECTION OF EAE. 
 
 10. Ear-Drum; 11. Outer Canal; 12. Eustachian Tube. 
 
 disease ; probably nine-tenths of all causes of dimin- 
 ished hearing begin in nasal catarrh. These are 
 easily determined, because the deafness is increased 
 by a renewed cold. 
 
 The structure of the ear may be seen from the en- 
 graving, which represents the outer ear, its middle 
 chamber and the cochlea, or “ snail shell ” in which is 
 
158 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 distributed the auditory or nerve of hearing. The 
 trumpet-shaped tube, called Eustachian tube, extends 
 from the middle ear to the nose ; and any inflamma- 
 tion of the nasal membrane is liable to traverse 
 this tube. Thus the sense of hearing becomes in- 
 volved with catarrh. 
 
 In treating these cases of partial or complete deaf- 
 ness, the cause must be removed. The writer meets 
 with uniformly good results by treating the catarrh, 
 and not interfering directly with the structure of the 
 ear. Specialists, known as Aurists, who treat only 
 the ear rarely meet with success. It is folly, or worse, 
 to a]^ply remedies to the ear when the cause of deaf- 
 ness originates and continues in the nose. Not long 
 since a gentleman called on me who had so far lost his 
 hearing, that it was difficult to talk with him; and 
 in two months his hearing was perfectly restored. 
 
 The treatment was directed to his catarrh. No 
 operation, drops, or other local ear application would 
 have done him any good. I cannot urge this too 
 strongly, because so many are duped by those who 
 presume to understand and treat only the ear. No 
 physician is capable of treating a fair proportion of 
 cases of deafness until he understands and can cure 
 catarrh. 
 
 § 107. Bar Discharges 
 
 originate in an inflamed nose and throat, generally 
 following scarlet fever, small-pox, or measles. These 
 
WEEPING EYES AND CATABEH. 
 
 159 
 
 cases mostly commence in childhood, and depend for 
 their continuation upon a scrofulous habit of body. 
 .They are treated with success by carefully regulating 
 the diet and general habits of life, by astringent in- 
 jections in the ear, preceded by use of syringe, with 
 a warm, weak solution of castile soap night and 
 morning, and by changing the alterative medicine 
 each week. Ear injections should always be fol- 
 lowed by an insertion of cotton for several hours ; 
 otherwise the patient may take cold in the ear and 
 the bad symptoms become aggravated. If the dis- 
 charges are not arrested, the delicate structure of the 
 ear will be wasted by ulcerative inflammation, and 
 the hearing become permanently impaired. The 
 treatment of running ear is in bad repute, because 
 the hygienic habits of the patients are generally 
 overlooked. 
 
 Frecpaent bathing, a soluble condition of the bow- 
 els, and abstinence from pork, grease, and eating be- 
 tween meals, must be strictly enjoined. 
 
 Parents cannot be too severely judged who allow 
 the running ear of a child to go uncared-for, when 
 timely treatment would do away with the offense, 
 and save the hearing. 
 
 § 108. Weeping Eye and Catarrh. 
 
 The tears are secreted by a gland located near the 
 upper and outer structure of the eye-ball. In health 
 they first lubricate the eye and then pass away 
 
160 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 through a channel which connects the eye with the 
 nose. This accompanying engraving illustrates the 
 structure referred to. 
 
 The inflammation in nasal catarrh extends to those 
 
 tubes. Thus they become obstructed so the tears 
 cannot follow their natural course, and they are 
 forced over the cheek. This is an extremely uncom- 
 fortable disease, frequently resulting in an abscess, 
 and permanent facial deformity. 
 
 TREATMENT FOR WEEPING EYE. 
 
 The writer has never examined a case of “ weep- 
 ing eye ” that was not complicated with catarrh of 
 the nose, except a few where injury from burn or 
 bruise provided an independent and exceptional 
 cause. 
 
 The common method of tubal dilatation by 
 mechanical means is not only unphilosophical, but it 
 has proved the most unsatisfactory branch of oph 
 
BAD BKEATH. 
 
 161 
 
 thalmic surgery. Temporary advantages are gained 
 by tbe use of probes or tents ; and in very rare cases 
 tbe benefit derived is permanent ; but on the whole, 
 eye surgery has lost many friends by the indiscrimi- 
 nate use of this common method of treatment. 
 
 In the early stage of this disease, the remedy is 
 most effectual when confined to the treatment of 
 nasal catarrh. This will be explained in its proper 
 place in another part of this volume ; and to it the 
 reader is referred. 
 
 109. Bad Breath 
 
 is generally the result of catarrh of the nose. It is 
 one of the 
 most unpleas- 
 ant symptoms, 
 frequently 
 rendering its 
 victims unfit 
 t o associate 
 with friends, 
 and unwel- 
 come members 
 of any assem- 
 
 11 TTT1 A CASE 117 WHICH A DISGUSTINGLY BAD BKEATH POLLUTED 
 
 b 1 y. Y\ 11011 AN OMNIBUS. 
 
 the sense of smell is impaired, people, otherwise re- 
 spectable, often compel their friends to submit to a 
 nuisance they little dream of. Catarrh; with bad 
 
 11 
 
162 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 breath, may be communicated from husband to wife 
 or children. 
 
 Many cases are infections, and where they are not, 
 loved ones may be alienated by a breath which pol- 
 lutes and poisons the air that others are compelled 
 to breathe. Yet, it is difficult to tell a loved one 
 that his breath is very offensive ; and wives some- 
 times submit to this loathsome companionship for 
 years, before they will tell their husbands how dis- 
 gusting. they are. 
 
 § 110. Uncomplicated Catarrh. 
 
 The reader will understand the above to be a mis- 
 nomer. Catarrh is always associated with dyspepsia, 
 kidney, skin, or bowel complications, or specific 
 poison of the blood. 
 
 An energetic business man sought the advice of 
 the writer, when the following colloquy occurred : 
 Patient. “ Doctor, my friends say you thoroughly 
 understand catarrh ; and I want you to treat mine.” 
 Dr. E. “ How is your general health, sir ? ” 
 Patient. “ Excellent. Nothing in the world ails 
 me but catarrh.” 
 
 Dr. E. “ How is your appetite ? ” 
 
 Patient. “ First rate ; my stomach is all right. I 
 came to see you about my catarrh" 
 
 Dr. E. “ Do you belch wind ? ” 
 
 Patient.. “ Yes; I have had that for years; but 
 
UN COMPLICATED CATABEH. 
 
 163 
 
 that’s nothing. I only came to consult you about 
 catarrh .” 
 
 Dr. E. “ Do you perspire readily ? ” 
 
 Patient. “I don’t sweat at all; have not for 
 years. Skin is dry and harsh, hut I don’t care for 
 that.” 
 
 Dr. E. “ Are you weak across the hack, sir ? ” 
 Patient. “ Yes, that is an old habit; but I don’t 
 care for that. It is 
 only my nose / I soil 
 a half-dozen hand- 
 kerchiefs every 
 day.” 
 
 Dr. E. “ Are you 
 constipated \ ” 
 
 Patient. “Oh, yes! 
 sometimes go a 
 whole week, but 
 that doesn’t trouble 
 me. If you will 
 cure my catarrh , I 
 will stand the rest.” 
 
 He regarded his health good with dyspepsia, a 
 dry skin, and almost every other functional derange- 
 ment which produces bad blood conditions ; and de- 
 voted his anxiety to his nose ; while the nasal dis- 
 charges were a simple result of the conditions obsti- 
 nately overlooked. Of course he had tried every 
 
 DOCTOR, I SOIL HALF A DOZEN HANDKERCHIEFS EVERY 
 DAY WITH MY CATARRH.” 
 
164 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 snuff and “ wash ” to no effect but to sodden and 
 sour bis mind. 
 
 § 111. Catarrh a Blood Disease. 
 
 A perpetuation of catarrh depends entirely upon 
 the condition of the blood. It is as much a blood 
 disease as typhoid fever, which, indeed often involves 
 catarrh. It is impossible to be healthy otherwise 
 and have catarrh. Call it a “ cold in the head ; ” 
 and if that alone ails you — a few days — a free sweat, 
 absence of food, a soluble condition of the bowels, 
 and you are well. 
 
 “ If, then,” you ask, “ the continuation of catarrh 
 depends, upon impure blood, why is not mine cured, 
 since I have been taking blood purifiers ? ” 
 
 The so - called Blood Purifiers but furnish igno- 
 rant people an opportunity to pay “fool tax.” If 
 your impure blood is caused by an inactive skin, 
 you need a sweating-bath and frequent change of 
 ' clothing. 
 
 If, from dyspepsia, you need a proper diet, maybe, 
 constructive medical treatment. If, from scrofula, 
 you need hygienic and medical alterative treatment, 
 and the remedies changed every week, etc., etc. 
 
 But, irrespective of the cause of your impure blood , 
 you have used “Vinegar Bitters,” or some equally 
 vicious advertised nostrum ; and then you wonder 
 “ why your blood is not pure t ” The fact is, you 
 have been misled. 
 
DYSPEPTIC CATARRH. 
 
 165 
 
 § 112. Scrofulous Catarrh. 
 
 Many people think themselves free from scrofula 
 because they have no ulcers, carbuncles, running ear, 
 rotten bones, or enlarged glands, while these are 
 only symptoms. In another part of this volume it 
 will be seen that scrofula may be produced by 
 breathing bad air. When we speak of scrofula, we 
 practically mean that the blood lacks, or has lost, 
 some constitutional element. 
 
 Catarrh is a most frequent expression of infantile 
 scrofula. Children most afflicted by it have dis- 
 charges from nose or head, take cold easily, and are 
 peculiarly liable to lung disease. They are pale and 
 puny, and are raised with difficulty, if at all. The 
 glands of the throat are liable to swell, and croup is 
 fond of such children. 
 
 § 113. Dyspeptic Catarrh. 
 
 So called when, with nasal catarrh, the condition 
 of stomach, or other digestive organs, is such that 
 healthy blood cannot be made. 
 
 Dyspepsia or indigestion perpetuates catarrh, by 
 establishing unnatural or unhealthy blood conditions. 
 By unhealthy blood we mean that which lacks essen- 
 tial properties, or that which possesses properties 
 that do not properly belong to it. In cases of nasal 
 catarrh from this cause, the nose becomes the point 
 of expression for diseased conditions, as an ulcer else- 
 where may be in a case of scrofula. 
 
166 
 
 DR. EVERETTS HEALTH FRAGMENTS. 
 
 Weak Back and Catarrh. 
 
 A very large proportion of persons wlio sutler 
 from catarrh, complain of a weak back. In such 
 cases tlie kidneys fail to do their appointed work ; 
 the blood is impure in consequence, and tlie dis- 
 charge from the nose continued or increased. 
 
 The kidneys should separate from the blood five 
 hundred grains of urea (which is the ashes of the 
 nervous system), in twenty-four hours. This done 
 imperfectly, or in part, and catarrhal or other com- 
 plications are aggravated, as in cases of rheumatism 
 or gout. 
 
 Catarrh and Dry Skin. 
 
 MAGNIFIED SECTION OF SKIN. 
 
 10, 8, 7. Sweat glands; 5. Subcu- 
 taneous and fatty tissue. 
 
 The skin is one of the most 
 important blood-cleansing or- 
 gans. Many miles of tub- 
 ing, called sweat glands, col- 
 lect the dead tissue from the 
 body and carry it away. In 
 this manner passes off more 
 than half of all the solid and 
 fluid food for the body. When 
 this is feebly done, or only 
 in part, the other emunctory 
 organs are charged with its 
 elimination ; and if there be 
 ulceration in the nose, or on 
 the leg, the discharge is in- 
 
doctors’ treatment of catarrh. 
 
 167 
 
 creased. Tlius, we see, a common cold with a dry 
 skin aggravates an ulcer on any part of the body ; 
 because then nature will use a diseased nose, or a 
 sore leg, as an outlet for that which should pass off 
 through the skin. 
 
 CONSTIPATION 
 
 results in impure blood. The absorbing capacity of 
 the intestines is such that matter which should be 
 excrementitious is dissolved, •carried to the blood, 
 and this foreign or “ impure ” matter must find some 
 other outlet. This may be through skin, kidney, or 
 nose if this member be sensitive. 
 
 § 114. Doctors’ Treatment of Catarrh. 
 
 It is a notorious fact that the great majority of 
 medical graduates have only a limited understanding 
 of the nature of catarrh or what causes it. 
 
 Recently the writer was informed of a county 
 medical society in Michigan, whose members dis- 
 cussed the question of catarrh, during a regular 
 monthly session, and decided by a unanimoils vote 
 that it was a “ climatic disease , and incurable .” 
 
 One of the members of this respectable (?) medical 
 body, said to the writer : 
 
 Dr. P. “ Doctor, what success do you meet with 
 in treating nasal catarrh ? ” 
 
 Writer. “ Uniformly good, sir.” 
 
168 
 
 dr. eveeett’s health fragments. 
 
 Dr. P. “ I cannot handle it. I believe it is caused 
 and continued by our climate.” 
 
 Writer. “ Then why is it that everybody who 
 breathes your climate does not have it ? ” 
 
 Dr. P. “ I can’t tell.” 
 
 Writer, “ Doctor, how do you feed your catarrh 
 patients ? ” 
 
 Dr. P. “ I j>ay no attention to their diet, but let 
 them eat when and what they please.” 
 
 Writer. “ What do you advise in such cases when 
 the skin is dry, and perspiration very limited ? ” 
 
 Dr. P. u I don’t care anything about the skin in 
 catarrh cases.” 
 
 Writer. “ Do you recognize constipation as a fre- 
 quent complication ? ” 
 
HOW NOT TO TREAT CATARRH. 
 
 169 
 
 Dr. P. “ I see no relation between constipation 
 and catarrh.” 
 
 Writer. “ Doctor, what is your treatment ? ” 
 
 Dr. P. “ I medicate the nose with muffs , injec- 
 tions and washes ; indeed, I have tried everything 
 without success.” 
 
 Does the reader wonder, that he failed, when 
 catarrh is not a disease , hut a “ flag of distress ” 
 which nature has hung out, saying, there is some- 
 thing wrong within ? 
 
 When this condition is perpetuated by syphilitic, 
 diptheritic, or other special blood poison, or by 
 scrofula or constipation, there is more required than 
 any mere local treatment to effect a cure. 
 
 § 115. How not to Treat Catarrh. 
 
 Nostrum venders advertise remedies for two 
 classes of disease. One class is incurable ; the other 
 embraces those diseases imperfectly understood, or 
 unsuccessfully treated, by a majority of the medical 
 profession. 
 
 Phthisis pulmonalis or true consumption, in its ad- 
 vanced stage usually belongs to the first class. A 
 small abscess may occur in the lung, and the person 
 not die from it, but where the abscess is of any con- 
 siderable size, the result is too frequently fatal. 
 Every city in the land is placarded with “ Cures for 
 Consumption.” 
 
 There is another class, curable but still uncured. 
 
170 de. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 » 
 
 To this belongs catarrh. Your patent medicine 
 vender offers no specific for measles, small-pox, or 
 scarlet fever, for these are successfully treated ; but 
 every street-corner is infested with some “ snuff ” or 
 other nostrum for the cure of catarrh. 
 
 The disease is extremely common; the remedy 
 sought with fervor, faith, and money. The supply 
 follows the demand, and, whether cured or not, the 
 “ remedy ” is always at hand. 
 
 “ Catarrh Sxuff.” It never cured a single case 
 of catarrh , and never will, until the nature of the 
 disease is changed. This is not only true of catarrh 
 snuffs, but all other mere local remedies , which are used 
 to produce a mere local effect. You perhaps have a 
 bad cold and suffer; you use some snuff, and in time 
 you are better. You give the credit to the snuff, I, 
 to nature. As we proceed with the discussion the 
 reader shall see why catarrh snuff will cure all cases 
 that would get well without any special treatment 
 but none other. 
 
 § 116. Treatment of Catarrh. 
 
 Inquire carefully into the cause, which, being 
 clearly determined, we must seek to remove. 
 
 First. By rules (see Health Rules, in another part 
 of this volume) carefully regulating the habits of 
 the patient. Proper eating, involving time when 
 meals are taken, quantity and quality of diet, etc. 
 This is a first duty of the physician in the treatment 
 
TREATMENT OF CATARRH. 
 
 171 
 
 of all chronic diseases, and particularly in ca- 
 tarrh. 
 
 Clothing should be equally distributed over the 
 body, and the feet protected with thick-soled boots. 
 The skin kept natural by bathing two or more times 
 a week, each bath followed by brisk friction with a 
 towel. Constipation overcome by the use of oat-'’ 
 meal, unbolted wheat flour, fruits, and if need be, an 
 
 DR. EVERETT’S FOUNTAIN SYRINGE AND NASAL DOUCHE 
 FOR TREATMENT OF CATARRH. 
 
 occasional cathartic. In case of special poisons, the 
 vapor or Turkish bath is of the utmost importance. 
 
 In all cases the treatment is more rapidly effectual 
 by judicious medical administration; in many, this 
 becomes absolutely necessary. I cannot give you a 
 formula adapted to even a majority of cases; for that 
 which would meet the demands of one case might do 
 no good in another, arising from a different cause. 
 Local treatment is important as an adjuvant, but 
 
172 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 cannot be relied upon when the constitutional treat- 
 ment is neglected. This is best accomplished by the 
 Nasal Syphon or Nasal Douche bottle, which will 
 hold at least one and a half pints of liquid, and 
 should be used each night and morning. For com- 
 mon use, there is nothing better than tepid salted 
 water. 
 
 The amount of salt and temperature of the water 
 may be properly suited to the comfort of the patient ; 
 and by inserting the end of the tube in the nostril, 
 meantime leaning forward, and breathing through 
 the mouth, while the body of the liquid is raised 
 higher than the head, the contents of the bottle will 
 pass in a stream over the internal surface of both 
 noses, thoroughly cleansing the membrane, and en- 
 couraging healing of the parts diseased. In both ap- 
 plications, each alternate day, a deodorizer and dis- 
 infectant may be added to advantage. The selection 
 of what is best for each case properly belongs to the 
 physician in charge. The structure of the nose is 
 such that snuffs or contents of syringes cannot be 
 applied to but a small portion of the diseased surface, 
 to say nothing of the fact that the disease is a gene- 
 ral, and not a local one. 
 
 In treating catarrh we have applied the same prin- 
 ciples that we would iu curing an ulcer on the outer 
 part of the body ; and there is no doubt that every 
 case of catarrh may be cured where the blood condi- 
 
TREATMENT OF CATARRH. 
 
 173 
 
 tions are such as would permit us to treat success- 
 fully an ulcer ou the leg or arm. 
 
 When the inflammation has advanced so that the 
 lining membrane of the throat, voice-box, or bron- 
 chial tubes are involved, it is necessary to substitute 
 an inhaler for the nasal 
 douche. In the treat- 
 ment of a case they are 
 generally combined 
 with great advantage. 
 
 The engraving' on this 
 page represents an in- 
 strument the writer has 
 used for years with the 
 best results. I would 
 impress upon you the following facts : 
 
 First. That catarrh is a blood disease , and should 
 be treated similarly to an ulcerated surface on any 
 other payt of the body. 
 
 Second. That all “ snuffs ” or other treatment con- 
 fined to the nose alone will fail in every case. 
 
 Third. That catarrh is perfectly curable when the 
 treatment includes the common-sense involved in the 
 foregoing consideration of the disease, in all cases se- 
 curing proper functional conditions for the body ; 
 and when the blood is tainted by scrofula, or a spe- 
 cific poison, it must be restored to healthy conditions 
 before the nose can be perfectly cured. 
 
 PIPfPNr 
 
 INHALER FOR TREATMENT OF CATARRH, THROAT- 
 AIL, ETC., ETC. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 § 117. False or Bronchial Consumption. 
 
 ELSEWHERE tlie writer has dis- 
 cussed consumption proper. Akin 
 to it is another wasting disease, de- 
 pending upon a slow, progressive 
 inflammation of the lung structure, 
 beginning with the mucous mem- 
 brane lining the air passages. 
 
 It is usually the successor of nasal catarrh, which 
 the reader will understand is inflammation of the 
 nasal membrane and associated structures. 
 
 If the inflammation extends to the back part of 
 the mouth, we call it pharyngitis ; if to the voice- 
 box, it is called laryngitis ; if to the bronchial tubes, 
 it is called bronchitis. These tubes are the “ wind- 
 pipe ”• continued ; and they terminate in a cluster of 
 air-cells similar to a bunch of grapes. These little 
 cells are numbered by millions, and are lined by a 
 very delicate membrane. 
 
 On one side of this membrane is the blood from 
 the heart, on the other side the air we breathe. It 
 would cover an area of about one twentieth of a 
 
SYMPTOMS OF FALSE CONSUMPTION. 
 
 175 
 
 square mile if stretched out ; and the entire surface 
 should he fanned by every inspiration. It is very 
 sensitive to noxious gases, and through it stimulants 
 
 and narcotics reach 
 the blood, and rapid- 
 ly impress the 
 nerves. 
 
 This membrane is 
 the dangerous seat 
 of the disease head- 
 ing this paragraph — 
 Bronchial consump- 
 tion — a slow, tedi- 
 ous, lingering mes- 
 senger of death, 
 which numbers more 
 
 VOICE-BOX AND AIR-TUBES OF THE LUNGS, WITH THEIR ... , . 
 
 TERMINAL LOBULES AND AIR CELLS. VlCtlHlS fcll&H ltS XW111 
 
 that commences with tubercles. 
 
 § 118. Symptoms of False Consumption. 
 
 It generally commences with a “ cold in the head,” 
 sneezing, hawking, coughing, spitting, sore throat, 
 and distress across the chest. As the cough in- 
 creases, the sputum changes from a watery to a 
 glairy, ropy consistency. This becomes thick, yellow, 
 viscid, and, in later stages, often streaked with blood. 
 Sometimes with bronchial haemorrhage in consider- 
 able quantities. The disease is characterized by 
 
176 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 spells of coughing, generally worse in the morning, 
 and by a gradual loss of flesh. Night sweats, consti- 
 pation, with periods of looseness of the bowels , short- 
 ness of breath, cold feet, and general debility of 
 mind and body. A “ tired feeling,” and occasional 
 sensations of heat in hands and feet, even when 
 their touch is cold. These symptoms, with coughing 
 and sensitiveness to atmospheric conditions, continue 
 until time wears the flagging energies out, and eter- 
 nity summons the spirit to service in another sphere. 
 
 § 119. Progress of False Consumption. 
 
 Its progress is capricious. Now galloping its 
 pretty victim to the grave in three months. Again, 
 slowly forging the chains for forty years, and then 
 giving its prize to “ bowel complaint ” or cholera, or 
 some other innovator. 
 
 When the inflammation of the tubes tends to a 
 thickened and fibrous condition, with a dry hacking 
 cough, and a rough voice, it often lasts many years 
 before it proves fatal. This is contradistinguished 
 from the tuberculous consumption largely by the 
 external sign that the latter disease rarely lasts over 
 eighteen months, while the former may continue a 
 quarter of a century. 
 
 § 120. Complications with False Consumption. 
 
 It is rarely or never a primary disease. Scrofula, 
 dyspepsia, constipation, “ biliousness,” loss of appe- 
 
C U B ABILITY OF FALSE CONSUMPTION. 177 
 
 tite, bowel derangements, sexual debility, catarrh, 
 and wasted nerve force, are its common companions. 
 It frequently follows an attack of typhoid or other 
 fever. In short, it always travels in companionship, 
 and never alone. 
 
 § 121. Curability of False Consumption. 
 
 In this, particularly, does it differ from tubercu- 
 lous consumption. There is no doubt but bronchial 
 inflammation often leads to tuberculosis ; then the 
 same principle applies to its treatment that would 
 to the last named. 
 
 The cure of false consumption is simply a question 
 of vitality. If the complications are serious, the dis- 
 ease may be fatal from the outset ; but in ordinary 
 cases the cure is easily effected, if taken in time. 
 
 Probably forty-nine out of fifty cases might be 
 cured in its early stages ; while the latter period of 
 the disease, with bronchial haemorrhage, and lost 
 nutritive power, may offer little or no hope. 
 
 An experienced physician can generally predict 
 results with comparative certainty. This of course 
 presupposes a thorough knowledge of physical diag- 
 nosis. 
 
 The writer would insist upon the same skill here 
 that he would in a case of true tuberculosis, for a 
 description of which the reader is referred to another 
 part of this volume. 
 
 12 
 
178 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 Competent physicians seldom err in diagnosing 
 lung disease. 
 
 § 1'22. Treatment of False Consumption. 
 
 Here we must asmin introduce our old friend 
 
 O 
 
 Nature , and tell you the old , old story. Recreation, 
 rest, respiration, ventilation, sunshine, good whole- 
 some food, pure air and a pony. Apply the rules 
 we have carefully written for the “ treatment of con- 
 sumption.” Taste no patent medicines. Go to 
 some honest, sensible practitioner. Let him guide 
 your treatment, always remembering that even he is 
 little to you unless his treatment accords with the 
 best system of hygiene . 
 
 If he tells you to eat what you like, dismiss him. 
 If he permits you to sleep without thorough venti- 
 lation, and is regardless of your dress, work, expos- 
 ure or drink, dismiss him. If he has some “ wonder- 
 ful discovery,” or some wonderful drug which cures 
 such cases as yours always, dismiss him. If he tells 
 you all drugs are “ poisons ,” and cannot help you, 
 dismiss him. If he puts you on a low diet, or gives 
 you baths which take your strength from you, and, 
 waste your flesh, dismiss him. If he tells you 
 “ water cure ” or “ movement cure,” or a “ Turkish 
 bath,” or a humbugging “ respirator ” will cure you, 
 do not employ him. 
 
 Remember, and your life may tell whether you do 
 
TEEATMENT OF FALSE CONSUMPTION. 
 
 179 
 
 or not, the most learned of men always seek to sur- 
 round you with every appliance nature provides for 
 keeping you here as long as possible. The food 
 that feeds and the wind that fans you ; the bath 
 which equalizes the circulation and removes effete 
 matter ; the moisture or dryness of the air around 
 you ; all these, and much more, the physician uses 
 first. He does not leave the directions in a general 
 way, but specifically prescribes them, and then adds 
 proper medical treatment. 
 
 Fools believe alone in drugs and “ doctors.” Hy- 
 gienic monomaniacs see no difference between a drug 
 and the devil. A set of artful dodgers offer you 
 harmless doses of moonshine, and ask you to “ shut 
 your eyes ” and swallow. The elegant Stille would 
 look at you, question you, inquire into your history, 
 and wisely direct your every habit of life, more care- 
 fully, than an unskilled physician could. If your 
 case required, he would give constructive tonics to 
 assist your digestion. He would certainly correct 
 every functional derangement as far as possible with 
 medicine and hygiene, and I am sure he would give 
 you inhalations to be used several times daily. 
 These to remove the cause of your cough, to lessen 
 the sputa, heal the inflamed lung surface, and ab- 
 sorb the effused moisture. 
 
 I am also sure he would not put medicine in your 
 stomach to secure any specific effect in your lung ; 
 
180 
 
 DR. EVERETTS HEALTH FRAGMENTS. 
 
 that lie would give you uo expectorants with opium, 
 or lobelia, or mineral acids, or ipecac, or tartar-emetic 
 to derange your digestion, or interfere with your 
 nutrition, or with the elimination of disintegrated 
 tissue. At least, the above indicates the exact course 
 the writer would pursue in the treatment of a case 
 of Bronchial consumption. 
 
 It were well if he could be more definite. That 
 he could give rules, and recommend remedies adapted 
 
 to each case. But this 
 cannot be done. It is 
 necessary to know just 
 what should be done be- 
 fore you do it. The rules 
 of life already referred to 
 are applicable to every 
 case, but the medical or 
 instrumental appliance 
 belongs to the physician, 
 There 
 
 is no greater bane of this age than the advertised 
 specifics, and the mountebanks who make or dis- 
 pense them. While we are sure that public edu- 
 cation on matters of health is second to no other 
 branch, we are just as certain that a wise adminis- 
 tration of medicine belongs to the thoroughly edu- 
 cated physician, and not to the populace or the 
 pretender. 
 
 DR. EVERETT’S INHALER FOR TREATMENT OF 
 
 BRONCHIAL CONSUMPTION. £11 d 110116 Otliei’. 
 
ASTHMA. 
 
 181 
 
 Good health depends upon wise living. This 
 should every one feel and 'know. The abuse of 
 drugs belongs to the quack and the ranter. The 
 use of these to the true physician and none other. 
 
 § 123. Asthma. 
 
 Many suffer from it, but it seldom or never causes 
 death, directly. 
 
 It is a nervous disease characterized by difficult 
 breathing, often following its subject, at intervals,*' 
 into advanced life. It was once characterized by 
 many names, such as dyspeptic asthma, congestive 
 asthma, etc., etc. ; but Dr. Salter properly observes, 
 
 “ All asthma is paroxysmal, and in each case the 
 source of the disease must be studied to direct the 
 means of relief intelligently.” It is caused by moist 
 atmosphere or fog, by dyspepsia, by debilitated 
 nerves, hysteria, etc. 
 
 It may be stated here that most asthmatics are 
 over-eaters. Gluttony is a commonest provocation 
 of the attack. In these cases all treatment fails, 
 unless the diet of the patient can be restricted. This 
 he will seldom allow. When asthma is complicated 
 with bronchitis, and the attack preceded by a cold, 
 cough, or sneezing, the case can generally be im- 
 proved or cured, by curing the catarrh or liability to 
 cold. 
 
 Hat Asthma is only relieved by change of resi- 
 
182 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 dence during the time it is most liable to occur. It 
 is generally relieved by going to the sea-side or 
 mountains. 
 
 Uncomplicated Asthma is generally incurable. 
 Smoking of mullen leaves, tobacco, stramonium, or 
 brown paper, sometimes wards off the attack. 
 
 Treatment by inhalation is, by all means, the most 
 effectual. It is a very treacherous disease, coming 
 when we least expect it, and departing without a 
 moment’s warning; sometimes amenable to simple 
 treatment, at other times yielding to no device. A 
 teaspoonful of powder composed of equal parts of 
 white rosin and loaf sugar at times furnishes wonder- 
 ful relief ; but inhalation is worth all other means 
 combined. 
 
 § 124. Throat Diseases. 
 
 These are largely of a catarrhal nature, except in 
 childhood, when scrofulous complications exist. It is 
 not only the pain or swelling which renders them 
 disagreeable ; but the hacking cough, hawking, spit- 
 ting, and the unmusical character of the voice, ex- 
 tending to partial or even complete loss of voice, that 
 render them troublesome, and prompts the sufferer to 
 seek relief. In this class may be included “ minister’s 
 sore-throat.” The latter seldom or never exists 
 unless the stomach is deranged. Dyspepsia and im- 
 prudent use of voice are its parents. A branch of 
 
THEOAT DISEASES. 
 
 183 
 
 the large nerve directed to the stomach is distributed 
 to the vocal organs ; hence this intimate relation. 
 
 Our space does not admit of a full discussion ; but 
 under the “Treatment of Catarrh,” the reader will 
 find directions adapted to this disease. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 Air : its Relation to Health and Disease. 
 
 § 125. Lung Food. 
 
 vapor. This we call pure air. Other gases or sub- 
 stances are found in it, generated from many sources. 
 
 Impure air is produced mostly by animal and 
 vegetable decomposition. This may be from heat and 
 moisture ; but the most prolific source of bad air de- 
 pends upon animal expiration. The carbonic acid 
 thus produced is a worst enemy to health, and is 
 met most frequently in our bed - chambers and un- 
 ventilated sitting-rooms. 
 
 HE lungs are fed by air as 
 the stomach is by bread. 
 
 The atmosphere is com- 
 posed of oxygen and nitro- 
 gen. Of the former, there 
 is one part ; of nitrogen 
 four parts. The latter is 
 serviceable only to dilute 
 the oxygen. Added to 
 these are a trace of car- 
 bonic acid, and more or less 
 
ON BREATHING. 
 
 185 
 
 § 126. On Breathing. 
 
 We breathe, or should breathe, twenty times every 
 minute, through the nose and not the mouth. 
 Nature has stretched across the nose, or the external 
 openings to it, certain hairs, which take the place of 
 strainers, keeping from the lungs offensive particles 
 of dust, or other things which would irritate them, 
 as they might injure the eye if brought in contact 
 with its delicate mucous membrane. 
 
 The lungs are simple air-bladders, lined by a 
 membrane so delicate it is called structureless ; on 
 one side of this membrane is air, on the other blood. 
 Through it one way pass elements of the blood 
 which have died, and in the opposite direction passes 
 the oxygen of the air in the lungs, to unite with the 
 blood, converting- it from a dark to a bright vermil- 
 ion color. Oxygen represents the entire value of 
 common air, for human respiration. Nitrogen is the 
 vehicle by which it is rendered acceptable to the 
 lungs. 
 
 Air is valuable in proportion, first, to the amount 
 of oxygen it contains; second, to the absence of 
 deleterious or poisonous matter present. Put super- 
 oxygenated air in a bell-glass, and the bird which 
 breathes it becomes wild and dizzy, lives fast and 
 dies soon. 
 
 On the contrary, a diminished proportion would 
 soon produce dullness and stupidity. This rule ap- 
 
186 dr. eyerett’s health fragments. 
 
 plies equally to persons. When the oxygen in a 
 room becomes partially exhausted, the people are 
 listless and sleepy, as much from the absence of oxy- 
 gen as the jjresence of carbonic acid. 
 
 § 127. Of Bedrooms. 
 
 We breathe twenty times per minute, and require 
 from two to five quarts of air for each inspiration. 
 Thus ten gallons, at least, are required every minute. 
 Multiply this by sixty, and again by the number of 
 hours in a day, and you will find each person needs 
 a vast amount every twenty-four hours. 
 
 Let us say, one hundred for the day, and, there- 
 fore, fifty hogsheads during the night ; or with ex- 
 ceeding generosity, call it twenty-five. Then with a 
 bedroom as large as twenty-five hogsheads the air 
 would be all passed to the lungs during the night. 
 But before we can inspire two quarts of air, a similar 
 quantity of impure or poisonous air must be ex- 
 pelled ; thus when the night is half gone, the room 
 would contain twelve and a half hogsheads of im- 
 pure air mixed with the same quantity of yet unused 
 air ; hence the whole would be unfit to breathe. 
 
 Still, we must consider that bedrooms are built 
 not larger than ten hogsheads, and that not one per- 
 son, but three or four, occupy the same room. Add 
 to this the fact that the expired air is loaded with 
 carbonic acid, and organic matter, both of which are 
 
OF BEDROOMS. 
 
 187 
 
 very poisonous ; then only can we have a conception 
 of the injury to health from insufficient ventilation. 
 
 One pair of adult’s lungs throws off one pound of 
 solid carbon in twenty-four hours. This is exhaled 
 as carbonic acid, which 
 you may readily learn by 
 passing air from the lungs, 
 with a pipe-stem or tube, 
 through a small bottle of 
 lime-water, converting it 
 from a transparent to a 
 milky fluid. That is, the 
 carbonic acid from the 
 tuna's uniting with the 
 lime in the water is chang- 
 ed into carbonate of lime, 
 or “ whitewash.” 
 
 “That Coukter Boy.” 
 
 The writer was recently 
 called to the bed-side of 
 an invalid lady. The bed- 
 room was nine by four- oPEN windows, oatmeal, and exercise. 
 
 teen feet, and the ceiling less than ten feet from the 
 floor. In it were two large beds, a “ trundle-bed,” 
 and a crib ; it was occupied by four grown persons, 
 two children, and a baby. The husband, after much 
 thought, discovered the source of his wife’s illness. 
 
 “ I see now,” said he, “ that Courter boy threw a 
 
188 
 
 dr. everett’s health eragments. 
 
 stone and broke the corner from that pane of glass ; 
 Susan has taken a cold ; and I have a doctor’s bill to 
 pay.” 
 
 There were two windows, closed and curtained ; 
 and when, in the providence of God, a mischievous 
 little boy had broken a window-pane, so that a few 
 stray streaks of pure air should reach that filthy 
 room, this man would defeat the provision by clos- 
 ing it. 
 
 O 
 
 “I SEE NOW, THAT COURTEB BOY,” ETC. 
 
 These people had pale faces, furred tongues, head- 
 ache, and irritable dispositions. They had no appe- 
 tite for breakfast and so invited hunger by pepper, 
 mustard, pickles, and coffee. Dyspepsia was a com- 
 mon guest in that household, and stood by them a 
 fixed friend. 
 
IS NIGHT AIR HEALTHY ? 
 
 189 
 
 § 128. Carbonic Acid a Poison. 
 
 This is generated in the body and continually 
 thrown off. If not speedily removed it may re-enter 
 the lungs and produce disease or death. 
 
 Air containing one per cent, of it produces head- 
 ache. Six per cent, is dangerous to breathe. Ten 
 to twelve per cent, of carbonic acid will terminate 
 life in a very short time. Each cubic foot of air 
 thrown from the lungs contains seventy cubic inches 
 of carbonic acid. Each cubic foot of coal gas con. 
 sumed in your room produces two cubic feet of car- 
 bonic acid. 
 
 Burning one pint of oil produces about twenty 
 cubic feet of carbonic acid. Burning one cubic foot 
 of coal gas in your room, you consume ten feet of 
 oxygen. Each person, by exhaling carbonic acid, 
 poisons one foot of air every minute. 
 
 These facts clearly show the unheal thfulness of 
 allowing lamps or gas to burn in your sleeping-room 
 during the entire night. 
 
 § 129. Is Night Air Healthy ? 
 
 Towards, and during the night, in miasmatic dis- 
 tricts, the emanations from the earth are productive 
 of fevers. These may be avoided by a gentle fire in 
 the room at sunset, rendering the atmosphere dry, 
 and destroying the cause of the fever. 
 
 The atmosphere in darkness is less vitalizing than 
 
190 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 at noon-day. Foolish prejudices exist against the 
 former. It is all we have from sunset to sunrise ; 
 and the simple question is, “ Shall we have it pure or 
 poisoned ? ” 
 
 Goethe would wrap himself in his blanket in cold 
 weather, and spend the nights out-doors, under the 
 trees. Soldiers preserve better health without than 
 with tents, except in extremely cold or wet weather. 
 Healthy, strong persons, may sleep with open win- 
 dows the year round. Delicate persons, who are 
 sensitive to cold, should avoid cold currents of air 
 both night and day ; especially at night, when the 
 vital energies are lower than during the day. In 
 the effort to avoid “ night air” invalids generally 
 get what is worse, that is, air poisoned by the car- 
 bonic acid and organic matter from their own bodies. 
 It is worse than folly to seek out-door life at water- 
 ing places for health, and each night occupy a small 
 and unventilated bedroom. The nioht more than 
 
 O 
 
 neutralizes the day. 
 
 § 130. Scrofula from Impure Air. 
 
 Dr. Baudoloque, an eminent French physician, says : 
 “ The repeated respiration of the same atmosphere is 
 a primary and efficient cause of scrofula.” 
 
 “If there be entirely pure air, there may be bad 
 food, bad clothing, and want of personal cleanliness, 
 but scrofulous diseases cannot exist? 
 
AIR IN SICK ROOMS. 
 
 191 
 
 “That persons may live in the most healthy coun- 
 try, pass the greater part of the day in the open air, 
 and yet become scrofulous because of sleeping in a 
 confined place where the air has not been renewed. 
 
 Young rabbits, born of healthy parents, develop 
 scrofula and die of consumption in a few weeks, if 
 fed upon heating food and compelled to live in a place 
 poorly ventilated. 
 
 Mothers often develop scrofula in children by cov- 
 ering their cradles and otherwise depriving them of 
 pure air. 
 
 § 131. Air in Sick Rooms 
 
 Should be constantly changing, especially in acute 
 diseases. 
 
 In scarlet fever, measles, small-pox, and other dis- 
 eases characterized by increased heat of body, the air 
 is rapidly loaded with emanations from the body, 
 which charge the surrounding atmosphere with death. 
 It is this which often increases the severity of the 
 disease ; and then follows a slow recovery or death. 
 
 In typhus and typhoid fever, by keeping the pa- 
 tients utterly out-doors, the mortality has been re- 
 duced a half or more, while the milder forms recover 
 in half the usual time. 
 
 To control a fever, thorough ventilation, frequent 
 bathing, and change of clothing are worth tenfold 
 more than all that medicines can do. 
 
192 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 How Much Air do We Need? — -This is no longer 
 a question of doubt or controversy among physicians. 
 Dr. Parker says, after many experiments, “ I have 
 found at least 2,000 cubic feet of air per hour must 
 be given to keep the carbonic acid at five or six per 
 1,000 volumes, and to entirely remove the smell of 
 organic matter.” 
 
 In some mining districts it is found necessary to 
 give 6,000 feet per hour to each man, and if that 
 amount be reduced, the work performed decreases. 
 
 The dullness and stupidity of children in schools 
 depend mostly on the non-ventilation of the rooms. 
 
 Thus only can we explain why sensible people con- 
 vert their pews into sleeping chambers within sound 
 of a brilliant discourse. 
 
 Change of Air. 
 
 Air should move at the rate of about 100 feet to 
 the minute, and the current should be from the ceil- 
 ing towards the floor. 
 
 Carbonic acid and organic matter are both heavier 
 than common air ; hence, from the mouth they tend 
 to the feet. In miasmatic districts of Italy the dog 
 has fallen dead at the feet of his master, while the 
 man walked along; unharmed. The old-fashioned fire- 
 
 O 
 
 places were health-agents, by affording an exit for 
 these two messengers of death. 
 
 Churches and school-houses are seldom well venti- 
 
CHANGE OF AIR. 
 
 193 
 
 lated. The Chickering Institute, of Cincinnati, has 
 an excellent system of ventilation ; and the health of 
 teachers, as well as the intellectual progress of the 
 pupils, attest the wisdom of the founder, who, of all 
 men, understands the value of pure air in a school- 
 room. 
 
 Heald’s Hygienic Home, on the banks of the Bran- 
 dywine, in Delaware, is a model in the way of ven- 
 tilation. This, among other wise methods adopted 
 by its proprietors, has largely contributed to its popu- 
 larity as a home for invalids. 
 
 We allude to these because efficient ventilation is 
 entirely exceptional in the public institutions of this 
 country. 
 
 13 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Consumption. 
 
 § 132. Its Hopefulness. 
 
 JONSUMPTION, any year of tlie last 
 decade, lias dug more graves tlian scar- 
 let fever, small-pox, and cliolera com- 
 bined. More than one hundred thou- 
 sand annually, in the United States 
 alone. Still we little fear it. They 
 who have it will not believe it ; and 
 they who have it not scarcely can 
 hear its muffled footsteps approach- 
 ing. 
 
 It seems strange that organic dis- 
 eases of the chest, in themselves fa- 
 tally effective, should so closely “ inter- 
 marry hope and death.” Stomach, 
 and liver, and intestinal diseases are 
 canopied by dark, clouds ; from them we die a hun- 
 dred times in fear, and only once in fact. Organic 
 diseases of the heart and lungs are perfectly incur- 
 able, while the victims are unconcerned. 
 
 An anxious wife brought her husband to my 
 
CONSUMPTION, ITS HOPEFULNESS. 195 
 
 office. His heart was much enlarged, and he was 
 liable to fall dead any hour of the day ; yet he was 
 totally indifferent, traded in patent rights, and whis- 
 tled the “ Devil’s Dream.” 
 
 A pale, beautiful, brilliant girl gathers the flowers 
 to crown her upon May-day, and gazes with 
 delight on the false rose which consumption has 
 painted on her cheek ; but she fades in the fall 
 
 winds, and Christmas-day 
 finds her chair empty, and 
 her mother in mourning. 
 
 Decently, a young, pale 
 man, was accosted by his 
 brother : “ Henry, suppose 
 you should die, what dispo- 
 sition would you have made 
 of your property ? ” The 
 question had been asked be- 
 fore, and he replied, half 
 angrily, £i I am not going to die. I am going to get 
 well.” In twenty-four hours he was in his coffin. 
 A kind Providence cheered him to the last ; and 
 while fate was cutting his threads, one by one, he 
 was glowing with hope of the near-by summer, and 
 counting days and joys which belonged to another 
 world. 
 
 Another has sallow complexion, deranged func- 
 
196 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 tions of the liver, stomach, and bowels, sleepless 
 nights, formless fears, business 
 cares, gloomy future, and a 
 comfortless now ; yet he lives 
 forty years to hug his sorrow 
 and make others miserable. We 
 seldom see an old hypochon- 
 
 below the waist. 
 
 § 133. Aristocracy of Consumption. 
 
 Consumption is eminently an aristocratic disease. 
 The poor widow is unable to clothe her children well, 
 and they run out-doors, breathe pure air, and make a 
 
 driac die ; his disease is mostly 
 
 HYPOCHONDRIAC. 
 
 THE RUGGED LAD LAUGHS AT 
 CONSUMPTION. 
 
 THIS PAMPERED BOY OF WEALTH 
 MEETS CONSUMPTION HALF WAY. 
 
 
 t noise, as all children should. They are rugged and 
 strong, seldom have colds, but abound in mischief. 
 
ARISTOCRACY OF CONSUMPTION. 
 
 197 
 
 Another mother jealously guards her pale-faced 
 boy from wind and want. He is pampered with 
 pretty clothing, and pastry; while he is kept in- 
 doors, lest the wind and sun should prove unfriendly. 
 No rugged exercise ; no stimulation from hunger or 
 privations. So he is called away and the mother left 
 alone. 
 
 Out on the frontier a man neglects to supply the 
 filling for space between 
 the logs of his dwelling; 
 the free air blows through, 
 and consumption passes by. 
 
 It neglects the cabin where 
 a blanket takes the place of 
 a door, overlooks the hum- 
 bler dwellings of the poor, 
 with shattered window, 
 treads the marble steps and 
 velvet carpets to the ele- 
 gantly-furnished bed-room, and steals the darling of 
 the household away. 
 
 Its victims are those we can least afford to spare. 
 They illustrate the old adage, “ Whom the gods love 
 die young.” The least fitted for the vicissitudes of 
 a struggling life, the best fitted for heaven. Tenny- 
 son’s “ May Queen ” is typical of this class ; and few 
 of us but have seen her counterpart. She smiles over 
 her hectic cheek while the nails are being noiselessly 
 driven in her coffin. 
 
198 dr. Everett's health fragments. 
 
 Red-cheeked Bridget is in no danger, while the 
 bright boys of eight and twelve, who seek conversa- 
 tion with men and talk and think beyond their years, 
 are not overlooked. 
 
 § 134. Consumptive Farewell. 
 
 It comes with this disease not always, but often. 
 Most cases are curable if taken in time ; but most are 
 not taken in time. The hope which crowns its 
 morning whispers delay until the afternoon ; then it 
 is too late. 
 
 “Farewell!’’ “Farewell!” These are golden 
 words in the early sunset hour, from fading, ruby 
 lips, encircled by a pale face set with roses — words 
 sweetly said— Death is robbed of its sting, and Life 
 immortal is fringed with promises of the beautiful 
 now and happy hereafter. 
 
 More and more she leans on her physician. Who 
 that ever led a pale immortal to the river side, has 
 not thanked God for the hope planted in her soul 
 for these trying moments ? 
 
 After all, death is not so terrible ! It is but 
 another baptism, wherein the young mother wades 
 into the stream and falls asleep, to wake in the lov- 
 ing arms which await her on the other side. The 
 thin curtain is drawn aside, we get a glimpse into 
 Heaven, and she has gone on. 
 
 That is all — until we meet the beautiful forever. 
 
PHTHISIS A BLOOD DISEASE. 
 
 199 
 
 § 135. Phthisis a Blood Disease. 
 
 Consumption is a blood disease, depending upon a 
 scrofulous habit of -body. One person has scrofula, 
 with skin as point of expression we call it — “Tetter” 
 or Salt Rheum ; another, enlarged glands in the neck 
 — it is the same disease manifested through the lym- 
 phatic glands ; a third has a similar condition of the 
 blood, with tuberculous deposit in the lung — we call 
 it consumption. It is not the essential character of 
 the disease, so 
 much as the 
 character of 
 tissue invad- 
 ed, which ren- 
 ders consump- 
 tion dan o-er- 
 
 O 
 
 ous or incur- 
 able. The 
 Imm tubes ter- 
 
 O 
 
 minate in lit- 
 tle sacs with 
 delicate walls 
 Avhich sepa- 
 rate the air from the blood. These sacs, or air-cells, 
 become filled with dead, tuberculous matter. This 
 is at first fluid, but gradually assumes the consistency 
 of new cheese. 
 
 When this de-vitalized tissue has undergone disin- 
 
 CAVITIES IN THE LUNG FORMED BY CONSUMPTION. 
 
200 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 tegration, it, with the adjacent structure, forms an 
 abscess in the lung. Preceding this local change is 
 an abnormal condition of the blood, and a diseased 
 condition of the membrane through which the effu- 
 sion takes place. 
 
 § 136. Scrofulous Consumption. 
 
 The ingenuity of medical writers of all ages has 
 been taxed to understand or describe scrofula. 
 
 By one its definition is u a torpid condition of the 
 nervous system, the blood being rich in some consti- 
 tuents, and poor in others.” Another defines it as 
 altered proportion of blood discs to serum, as com- 
 pared with health standard. Still another writer 
 says “ the blood of scrofulous subjects has a defici- 
 ency of red globules, and an increase of albumen.” 
 Dr. Dunglison calls it “ a morbid condition of the 
 system, characterized by indolent glandular tumors,” 
 etc. 
 
 It is a diseased condition of the blood characterized 
 by deposits of de-vitalized accidental tissue. This de- 
 posit may occur in the lyfnphatic glands of the neck, 
 in the brain, bone, or kidneys, lungs, or almost any 
 part of the body. If this diseased action occurs in 
 the skin, we may call it scrofula of the skin, “ tetter, 
 or salt-rheum,” if the deposit be in the primary air- 
 cells, or primary lobules of the lungs, we call it con- 
 sumption. 
 
THREE STAGES OF CONSUMPTION". 
 
 201 
 
 The reader will, then, understand consumption as 
 scrofulous deposits in the lungs.. The term scrofula 
 is imperfectly understood by most people. It does 
 not necessarily mean, tumors, or swellings, or ulcers, 
 but a condition of the blood which is followed by 
 dead deposits in any tissue of the body. 
 
 § 137. Why Consumption is Dangerous. 
 
 Because the scrofulous deposit is in the lung tis- 
 sue, composed mostly of delicate membranes and 
 numerous blood - vessels, situated near the heart. 
 When this deposit rots, the surrounding tissue is de- 
 composed, blood-vessels are broken, and the heart, 
 by mechanical force, pumps the blood through the 
 111110; substance to the mouth. 
 
 In other words, consumption is dangerous not from 
 the essential character of the disease, but from the 
 character of the tissue invaded, and its anatomical 
 relation to the heart. 
 
 § 138, Three Stages of Consumption. 
 
 -First. There is an abnormal condition of the 
 blood, and of the membrane which constitutes the 
 walls of the air-cells ; so that through these walls 
 elements of the blood pass, and form deposits in the 
 little chambers usually occupied by air. This is 
 called the effusive stage, and is generally, at first, 
 confined to the upper portion of the lung. Thus 
 the breathing capacity is lessened and the respira- 
 
202 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 tion becomes quicker, so that the diminished breath- 
 ing surface may supply the usual amount of oxygen 
 by the system. 
 
 The second stage is a period of rest, during which 
 the deposits, called tubercles, become first hard and 
 semi-fibrous, afterwards they are infiltrated by the 
 serum of the blood, and soften. This is, practically, 
 a rotting process. 
 
 The third stage of consumption is the last, and 
 involves the disentegration of the parts. By the 
 breaking clown, abscesses are formed which empty 
 themselves through the mouth. It is now the life of 
 the patient is endangered or lost. 
 
 § 139. How doss Consumption Destroy Life? 
 
 Death from consumption may result in several ways. 
 
 First. The effusion during the first stage, may 
 occupy so much of the area of the lung that the 
 oxygen appropriated by the residue of lung space is 
 insufficient to support life. 
 
 Second. The dead tissue in the lung may be ab- 
 sorbed and carried to the blood, thus by a species of 
 pus-poisoning it may destroy the nervous power and 
 terminate vital action. 
 
 Third. Haemoptysis may cause death by exhaus- 
 tion. 
 
 Fourth.. The sputa resulting from voiding of ab- 
 scess may cause strangulation and death. 
 
 required 
 
HOW DOES CONSUMPTION DESTROY LIFE? 203 
 
 Fifth. The progress of this disease is generally 
 very slow, and the nutritive, or blood-making, organs 
 become gradually impaired ; so that day by day 
 the red corpuscles of the blood disappear, and this 
 fluid is depreciated in quality until the tissues die, 
 because they cannot find subsistence from this for 
 merly “ river of life.” 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Consumption-. — Concluded. 
 
 § 140. Physical Signs. 
 
 T may be difficult to ex- 
 plain them, though, so cer- 
 tain that well-informed 
 physicians seldom differ 
 materially in their opin- 
 ion of a given case. The 
 means ar$, diagnosis by 
 observation, auscultation, 
 and percussion, or the 
 science of reading lung 
 disease by interpreting the appearance, breathing 
 sounds, and such as can be heard by percussion, or 
 pounding the chest walls. 
 
 When the lung is healthy, the sound elicited by 
 striking over its surface is resonant, as though .you 
 were beating a drum. If tuberculous deposits exist 
 beneath your blow, the sound will be flat or dead, as 
 though you were striking a liver or beefsteak. Add 
 to a skillful method of percussion proper instruments, 
 and the use of an ear educated to discriminate be- 
 
OTHER SYMPTOMS OF CONSUMPTION'. 
 
 205 
 
 tween diseased and healthy sounds of the lungs, and 
 a deposit in the air-cells, of even inconsiderable size, 
 may be detected with singular certainty. 
 
 This field of observation and experience must be 
 monopolized by the cultured men of our profession ; 
 for the mysteries and needful discernment are without 
 the domain of the pretender and the charlatan. Grod 
 will not allow the illiterate quack to contest this 
 ground with the competent physician. Retraction 
 of the chest walls below the collar-bone, and “ dull- 
 ness ” on percussion over the lung, are the worst in- 
 dications. 
 
 § 141. Other Symptoms of Consumption. 
 
 These will be better understood after a statement 
 of what are not certain signs of consumption. 
 
 First. Cough. This is not a reliable sign. There 
 may exist the most obstinate cough, for weeks or 
 years, and the lungs still be utterly free from de- 
 posits. A cough is provoked by irritation or inflam- 
 mation of the throat or bronchial tubes. 
 
 The writer has seen cases of this disease in which 
 there was little or no cough , until the third stage. 
 In short, there may exist the worst* cough and no 
 consumption, or the worst consumption and no 
 cough. 
 
 Second. Sputa. In cases where there is no light 
 red blood, the sputa, examined by the unaided eye, 
 
206 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 furnishes no certain sign of consumption. A patient 
 may expectorate thick, yellow, viscid, consistent 
 matter for weeks, months, or even years, and still 
 no tuberculous deposit be found in the lungs. We 
 can only infer this disease from the sputa when by 
 the aid of a microscope we discover broken-down 
 tissue of the lung. 
 
 Let sufferers remember this. The most competent 
 and skillful physician will not pretend to judge your 
 case consumption f rom the general appearance of the 
 sputa. 
 
 Third. Bleeding of the lungs may indicate con- 
 sumption if the blood be light red and of consider- 
 able quantity ; but even this is no certain sign of 
 tuberculosis of the lungs; while dark blood is fre- 
 quently cast from the lungs, and the latter possess 
 no deposit of tubercles, and no lesion. 
 
 Fourth. Pain in the ' chest is no certain sign of 
 consumption. The lungs are largely non-sentient ; 
 though the chest walls have an abundant distri- 
 bution of fibres from the sensitory nerves. In neu- 
 ralgia and rheumatism, or in pleurisy, there may be 
 severe pain in the chest ; and not infrequently the last 
 stage of consumption may come, and the patient 
 never have complained of pain once. 
 
 y 142. One Lung “gone,” or “Half gone,” etc. 
 
 Few physicians have a correct knowledge of lung 
 
ONE LUNG “GONE,” ETC. 207 
 
 disease when they graduate ; and a small proportion 
 of them afterwards become proficient in reading dis- 
 eases of the chest. Most opinions given in such 
 cases are ignorantly gratuitous or meanly empirical. 
 Such phrases as “You have tubercles in one lung.” 
 The spot is generally indicated. “ You have an ab- 
 scess as large as a walnut,” or “ as large as my fist.” 
 Or “ one lung is half gone , one lung is entirely 
 gone,” etc. Each of these phrases indicate the char- 
 latan and the impostor. 
 
 Educated, honest men, never use them to describe 
 luno’ disease. A thousand to one neither of these 
 
 O 
 
 conditions exists, and the patient live to hear it de- 
 scribed. If you have a lung abscess as large as the 
 first joint of your thumb, the chances are against 
 your recovery. 
 
 This structure may be wounded, or lung abscesses 
 may result from chronic disease ; but such cases are 
 exceptional, and extremely rare. 
 
 Before one lung is destroyed, or you have lost a 
 fair fraction of “ half your lung” the chance of sav- 
 ing you has passed. 
 
 The writer was consulted in a case of chest dis- 
 ease, when he was told the following : 
 
 Mr. A., aged thirty-four years, had been suffering 
 from bronchitis for several months. By advice of 
 his physician, he sold his farm at a sacrifice, and with 
 his family travelled several hundred miles to place 
 
208 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 himself under the care of a physician who assumed to 
 understand and treat lung disease from a large expe- 
 rience. After pay- 
 ing ten dollars con- 
 sultation fee, he 
 was told to go 
 home immediately, 
 that “ one of his 
 lungs was entirely 
 gone, and the 
 other was half 
 gone.” 
 
 The young man 
 wisely selected 
 another medical 
 
 adviser. 
 
 4 . 
 
 „ § 143. Women’s Dress Promotes Consumption. 
 
 The decree of fashion is only second to that of 
 Divine Providence. She is a brave woman who suc- 
 cessfully contests the etiquette of the hour. This is 
 true not only of herself, but her children. 
 
 On the coldest winter afternoon you may meet a 
 regiment of little, bare-legged, bare-armed children 
 on Broadway. If their fathers were to adopt a simi- 
 lar warmth of dress, and exposure, they would re- 
 quire a physician in twenty-four hours. 
 
 Fashion says, “ bare-kneed babies and mothers 
 have not the sense or the courage to oppose. The 
 
women’s dress promotes consumption. 209 
 
 “ corset crusade ” is so old that we shall give novelty 
 to our page by not condemning what every sensible 
 woman knows to be a folly and a crime. The 
 accompanying engravings will show the difference 
 between a natural, healthy waist, and one which 
 has been constricted by tight dresses or corsets. 
 
 If a young lady were thoroughly educated concern- 
 ing laws of health she would be ashamed to appear 
 in public with an eighteen or twenty-inch waist. 
 To say, “ I am naturally small-ioaisted ,” is another 
 way of saying, “ I am dis- 
 eased ; ” and with a true 
 sense of the duty you owe 
 to yourself and society, 
 you would as willingly 
 say, “ I am naturally a 
 fool.” 
 
 A man well-known in 
 our national politics re- 
 cently brought his daugh- 
 ter of eighteen to the 
 
 ° NATURAL CHEST WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN 
 
 writer for advice relative CORSETED, 
 
 to her health. During the conversation he stated 
 she was “ very delicate and frail,” also that a “ sixteen- 
 inch corset w as too large for her.” No lady should 
 be satisfied with a waist less than twenty-four inches ; 
 and where the chest measures thirty-five inches, the 
 
 waist should be twenty-eight inches, at least. 
 
 14 
 
210 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 The following indicates the relative proportions of 
 a well-formed woman : 
 
 Measurement of head 22 <1 inches. 
 
 “ “ neck 13 “ 
 
 “ “ chest 32 “ 
 
 “ “ waist 27 “ 
 
 What is considered by fashionable women “ a very 
 loose corset ,” diminishes the breathing capacity one- 
 
 sixth or more. This depriva- 
 tion of oxygen is a direct cause 
 of consumption. 
 
 Distribution of Clothing. 
 This should preserve uniform 
 temperature over the body. 
 The arms and legs stand most 
 in need of extra covering, as 
 the trunk is supplied with 
 great vascular organs .which 
 render it less liable to chill. 
 Where there is a tendency to 
 consumption, the upper part of the chest and arms 
 should be particularly protected ; so that no exposure 
 would affect them more than other parts of the body. 
 
 For style and method of women’s dress, the reader 
 is referred to another part of this volume. 
 
 CHEST DEFORMED BY CORSETS. 
 
 § 144. Other Gauses of Consumption. 
 
 First. Hereditary Taint. Individuals and fami- 
 
OTHER CAUSES OF CONSUMPTION. 
 
 211 
 
 lies show a tendency to consumptive diathesis, or habit 
 of body. This may be observed in succeeding gene- 
 rations, as from parent to child, and, also, where both 
 parents are free from this disease, while their children 
 show an early predisposition to lung symptoms, and 
 a part or all of them may die of consumption before 
 they have arrived at manhood or womanhood. 
 
 Where, from the constitutions of the parents, or a 
 misrelation of temperaments, or structural conditions, 
 as between husband and wife, the children exhibit a 
 proclivity to consumption, the deposit of tubercles 
 may follow measles, bronchitis, or lung fever. 
 
 Children born of scrofulous parents may develop 
 tubercles from a bad cold ; and so strong; is the hered- 
 itary tendency, that marriage between persons who 
 by themselves or their families exhibit a scrofulous 
 history should not be tolerated, as the child of such 
 a union will be strongly predisposed to consumption. 
 
 This tendency becomes intensified when consan- 
 guinity is added to the scrofulous taint of parents. 
 
 Second. Impure Atmosphere. Dr. McCormac puts 
 at the head of the list of consumption breeders. 
 Clark, Laennec, and Parker ascribe a very large pro- 
 portion of these cases to the same cause. Experiments 
 on animals fully sustain these eminent men ; and it 
 may now be regarded as settled that imperfect ven- 
 tilation for infants and adults is the most prolific 
 source of this wasting disease. 
 
212 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 Third. Idleness and eating take a respectable rank 
 in the march of this ally of death. Whatever causes 
 diminish the nutritive power or depress vitality pro- 
 duce consumption. A diet composed mostly of fats 
 and sweets, which yield an overplus of carbonaceous 
 elements to the blood, is favorable to tuberculous 
 deposits. When young rabbits are thus fed, and con- 
 fined in impure atmosphere without exercise, tuber- 
 cles are rapidly developed and they die of consump- 
 tion. 
 
 A similar cause hastens the death of many children 
 confined to unventilated rooms, an improper diet, and 
 little or no exercise. Consumption is a wasting pro- 
 cess, and when the blood-making organs fail to repair 
 the daily waste of tissue, the fatal result is only a 
 question of time. As exercise assists digestion , the 
 want of it invites decay and death. 
 
 Fourth. Among other causes productive of. condi- 
 tions which favor tuberculosis may be mentioned de- 
 pressing mental conditions ; working in dust of emery 
 wheel ; long exposure to a cold, moist atmosphere, 
 with conditions that cause repeated colds ; insufficient 
 clothing ; nursing consumptive mothers, and sleeping 
 with and breathing the same air with victims of this 
 disease. 
 
 § 145. Dry Air Arrests Consumption. 
 
 Out on the “ plains ” the meat of the buffalo or 
 antelope may hang out-doors, and be cured as per- 
 
TREATMENT FOR CONSUMPTION. 
 
 213 
 
 fectly as in an Eastern smokehouse. The same meat 
 hanging along New England streams will rapidly 
 rot. In the first instance the atmosphere is dry, and 
 pure ; in the last, moist, and so encourages putre- 
 faction. 
 
 When a limited tuberculous deposit, or the ulcer- 
 ation peculiar to many cases of bronchitis is brought 
 in contact with dry air, the tendency towards disin- 
 tegration is arrested ; and many cases of lung disease 
 may be cured in Minnesota or Colorado, which 
 would prove fatal in a less favored climate. 
 
 The curative reputation of the West, however, 
 has hitherto depended as much upon poor houses , 
 thorough ventilation , and an out-door life , as upon the 
 quality of the atmosphere. 
 
 As Minnesota becomes settled, and the tight, un- 
 ventilated dwellings of New York are imitated, its 
 climate is regarded with less favor by consumptives ; 
 yet her atmosphere was never more curative than 
 to-day. To get it you must live out-doors and in the 
 sunlight when you can. If you contemplate a visit 
 West, thoroughly study ventilation before you start ; 
 and do not forget it while you live there. 
 
 § 146. Treatment for Consumption. 
 
 First. Improve the condition of the blood that has 
 been impoverished by preliminary dyspepsia, which 
 always precedes the tubercular deposit. 
 
214 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 Second. Subdue the fever, arrest the cough, en- 
 courage absorption of tubercle, and by every possible 
 means save the strength of the patient and add to it 
 what you can. 
 
 To accomplish the above, Hygienic management is 
 more important than any or all medicines can be 
 without it ; and to secure this the following rules, 
 modified to meet the demands of special cases, will 
 serve as a general guide : 
 
 First. Pure, fresh air of an even temperature, 
 twenty-four hours of each day. 
 
 Second. Moderate to brisk exercise in open air 
 every day. 
 
 Third. The patient should have a uniform dry 
 climate, with a mean temperature of sixty to sixty- 
 four degrees, and a range of not more than twelve to 
 fifteen degrees. 
 
 Fourth. The chest should be thoroughly protected 
 with several folds of flannel and one of soft leather, 
 and the arms and legs well covered. 
 
 Fifth. Sleep from nine to fifteen hours each day. 
 
 Sixth. Little or no in-door labor ; total sexual 
 abstinence and careful cleanliness of body must be 
 enjoined. 
 
 Seventh. A generous, nourishing diet, by one hearty 
 and two spare meals each day ; the food to consist 
 largely of healthy meats, coarse bread, oatmeal, barley 
 and fruits. 
 
TREATMENT EOR CONSUMPTION. 
 
 215 
 
 Eighth. Avoid a spare diet and every system of 
 bathing which diminishes strength ; for, while judi- 
 cious bathing, for cleanliness or to control fever, and 
 compresses, ivisely applied, are beneficial, yet no 
 course of water treatment ever cured a single case of 
 
 consumption. 
 
 Ninth. Medical treatment is extremely important ; 
 and in the choice of remedies, opium, tartar emetic, 
 the mineral acids, or aught else that impairs nutrition 
 or renders the stomach irritable, must be avoided. 
 
 Tenth. Medication by inhalation is the proper 
 method for local treat- 
 ment of the lungs. In 
 this way the cough may 
 be diminished, absorp- 
 
 tion encouraged, and 
 
 local healino; effected. 
 
 This will be shown by 
 the changed appearance 
 of sputa and improved 
 respiratory power. 
 
 The accompanying engraving indicates the instru- 
 ment the writer has used for years with gratifying 
 results. 
 
 Eleventh. A judicious course of constructive tonic 
 treatment is an essential part of a wise plan. The 
 author does not include formulas for medical treat- 
 ment, because he believes an indiscriminate use of 
 
216 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 valuable remedies does less good tli&n harm ; that 
 only physicians can prescribe medicine wisely, and 
 rather than take it unwisely it had better be avoided 
 altogether. 
 
 Twelfth. Cod Liver Oil and Whiskey. — The vir- 
 tue is in cod liver oil, and it is only a filthy grease at 
 best. Its medical properties and food properties are 
 identical. 
 
 On the fishing wharves at Portland, Maine, you 
 can, any week-day, see large vessels containing the 
 entire entrails of the cod, halibut, and several other 
 kinds of fishes thrown together. In due time, if the 
 offensive odor does not drive all hands away, this 
 filthy mass is boiled, and then strained. The fluid is 
 sent to the refinery, where, by a chemical process, the 
 odor is extracted in part and the color improved. 
 Then it is bottled, labeled “ Pure Cod Liver Oil, for 
 the Cure of Consumption,” and shipped for use. 
 
 Dr. • Carson, one of the most learned of living 
 physicians, advised his students to exchange cod liver 
 oil for cream. The latter contains all the curative 
 properties of the former, and is more agreeable. 
 
 In consumption there is a frequent aversion to fats, 
 and for want of these the body wastes. 
 
 Cod liver oil will frequently fatten the patient, but 
 it is to be commended as a food, and not for any speci- 
 fic medical properties it is supposed to possess. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Concerning Sight and Hearing. 
 
 § 147. The Eye. 
 
 is the broad pathway through 
 which all objects and forms 
 present themselves before, 
 and impress themselves upon 
 the soul. Other courts there 
 are with sweet sounds and 
 gentle touch ; but this alone 
 has statuary, colored leaves 
 of all the seasons, books, 
 sweet - faced friends, pictures 
 “ afire with genius,” sun rising and sun setting, shapes 
 of all things living and dead. Curtain the “ windows 
 of the soul,” and see how dark is life. Poor old grand- 
 father sits in perpetual night, until fading memory 
 removes him from the things beautiful which glad- 
 dened early days. Death takes him from his dark 
 prison, and new sight, new 11 birth,” new joys and 
 heaven are, to him, born the same hour. 
 
 Nature has been wonderfully generous to this im- 
 portant part of man. The home of the eye is com- 
 
218 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 mancling in position, and inclosed with strong, bony 
 walls which protect it from accident or enemy. The 
 genius of light works through a mysteriously con- 
 structed globe, the sides of which are strong and 
 flexible. The frontal part of these is called a cornea , 
 which is thick, strong and transparent. Behind the 
 cornea is a beautiful muscle called the iris, which 
 regulates the amount of light that may reach the 
 posterior chamber. The round window of this mus- 
 
 A SECTION OF THE EYE SHOWING THE SEVERAL STRUCTURES, AND THEIR 
 RELATION. 
 
 cle is called the pupil, which becomes smaller as the 
 light becomes stronger. A large pupil was among 
 Italian girls a sign of beauty, and to render this 
 window larger they employed a drug called “ deadly 
 night - shade.” This afterwards derived a new name 
 from its use — “ bella donna ” or “ beautiful lady.” 
 Its use confuses the sight ; and the beauty thus 
 secured rapidly vanishes and leaves disease in its 
 
MEIBOMIAN GLANDS. 
 
 219 
 
 stead. Back of the iris is a pigment, the color of 
 which determines the “ color of the eye.” Behind 
 the pupil is the crystalline lens , which, by its shape, 
 regulates the vision, as it pertains to near by or dis- 
 tant objects, and may be compared to the glasses in 
 a telescope. The large posterior chamber of the eye 
 is filled with a clear jelly called vitreous humor. 
 Upon the inner coat of the wall is distributed the 
 optic nerve , or nerve of sight. It alone receives the 
 impression of the object, and is particularly involved 
 in the disease called amaurosis. 
 
 The outer structure of the eye is provided with 
 curtains, lined by the same membrane which covers 
 the eyeball, called conjunctiva. This is lubricated 
 by tears, secreted by a special gland, and flowing 
 continually to prevent friction or inflammation of 
 the conjunctiva. 
 
 § 148. Meibomian G-lands. 
 
 These are situated in the eyelids, and open upon 
 their edge. They furnish an oily fluid which pre- 
 vents the tears from running over the lid. In ap- 
 pearance they resemble a “ string of pearls.” These 
 are very liable to disease in scrofulous children. If 
 only one of them becomes inflamed, it is called a 
 “ stye / ” but when the whole are involved, it is 
 called tarsal ophthalmia , which is always indicative 
 of the state of the general health, and when neg- 
 
220 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 lected, or improperly treated may lead to involvement 
 of tlie globe of tbe eye, or ulceration of tlie cornea. 
 
 Treatment. — When the edges of the lids become 
 thick, red, irritable or inflamed, they should be 
 bathed frequently with warm, salted water, until 
 thoroughly cleansed, and then simple cerate, or a 
 
 OPHTHALMIA OR SCROFULOUS SORE EYES. 
 
 mild, absorbent ointment, applied night and morn- 
 ing. Alterative medical treatment,' changed each 
 week, and the strictest regard to diet and bathing 
 perpetually enjoined, are absolutely necessary to suc- 
 cessful treatment. 
 
 § 149. Weeping Eye. 
 
 This is caused by a partial or complete closure of 
 the tear duct, which commences in the “ corner ” of 
 the eye and empties in the nose. 
 
INFLAMED EYES. 
 
 221 
 
 The tears are secreted by a gland situated in the 
 
 upper and outer 
 part of the eye. 
 When the na- 
 sal duct becomes 
 obstructed, the 
 tears are com 
 pelled to flow 
 over the cheek 
 instead of taking 
 
 SHOWING THE TEAR GLAND, AND THE PASSAGE DISEASED IN . .. 
 
 “WEEPING EYE.” their natural 
 
 course through the nose. 
 
 Not unfrequently a fistula is formed between the 
 nose and the internal canthus of the eye, which dis- 
 figures the face, and calls for surgical interference. 
 
 Treatment. This is a most common complication 
 of nasal catarrh. The reader is referred to Chapter 
 X. of this volume, where the writer has discussed 
 its treatment at greater length. It is a condition so 
 frequently mistreated, that one afflicted by it cannot 
 be too careful in deciding by whom, or in what man- 
 ner he will be treated. 
 
 § 150. “Inflamed Eyes” 
 
 sometimes called conjunctivitis , or catarrhal ophthal- 
 mia. In acute stages the discharge from inflamed 
 eyes coming in contact with others, frequently re- 
 peats the disease ; but even then, the disease seldom 
 
222 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 lasts long, unless the general system is in a bad condi- 
 tion, or the treatment is atrociously heroic , as is too 
 frequently the case. 
 
 Red Eyes are short-lived, unless the stomach is 
 deranged. The sympathetic nervous system, which is 
 so abundantly supplied to the stomach, controls, 
 likewise the blood-vessels of the eye ; and the ap-‘ 
 pearance of the eye depends upon the condition of 
 the digestive organs. 
 
 Treatment. Keep the bowels soluble by diet, and 
 saline cathartics. Studiously adhere to a simple, nu- 
 tritious, u cooling ” diet, composed largely of fruits 
 and grains. Bathe frequently, and wash the eyes 
 several times daily in tepid salted water. Put the 
 latter in a basin and hold the eye therein, opening 
 and closing them often. The operation is painless 
 and pleasant. Avoid using the eyes or exposing 
 them to a strong light. Above all else avoid salves , 
 ointments or eye-water which .produce pain. The 
 common treatment for this disease is tenfold worse 
 than the disease itself. Stimulating external washes 
 are often very beneficial ; and a weak solution of ace- 
 tate of zinc externally apjdied, sometimes rapidly 
 reduces local inflammation. 
 
 § 151. Granular Eyelids. 
 
 These may be the product of any form of inflam- 
 mation of the eyes, or their improper treatment, but 
 is most frequently found among intemperate people. 
 
CATARACT. 
 
 223 
 
 It is a formation of fleshy granules on the lid-lining, 
 making it rough and uneven, and causing a sensation 
 
 O O f o 
 
 as though sand-grains were in the eye. 
 
 Treatment. This should he thorough and effective. 
 No “ Eye water” or “ Eye washes.” You can get no 
 permanent relief until the granulations are destroyed. 
 In the hands of a skillful surgeon this means gentle, 
 painless scarification of the granules, followed by an 
 astringent application, and it in turn by olive oil or 
 glycerine. 
 
 Above all else, avoid tinkering. “ Legitimate ” 
 treatment is bad enough ; but the curse of sore eyes 
 has come largely from the abominably empirical prac- 
 tice of old women , old men , “ Indian doctors ,” and 
 “ Eye doctors .” 
 
 After a long and extensive practice, the writer 
 has thoughtfully adopted the following rule, viz., 
 never make a painf ul application to the eye structure 
 unless you want to destroy some substance. 
 
 § 152. Cataract. 
 
 This is an opacity of the crystalline lens. It may 
 be congenital, is often the result of injury, but it is 
 generally a companion of old age. Once commenced, 
 it cannot be arrested by art, unless good habits of 
 living may. The only remedy is a surgical one. 
 Operation by needle or knife, generally the latter, is 
 the only cure ; medicine has no effect on it whatever. 
 
224 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 The operation is generally followed by good results 
 when the patient, before the operation, can distin- 
 guish a sunny window or a bright lamp-light. When 
 all sense of light is gone, the operation will certainly 
 fail. You are safe in selecting a thoroughly-educated 
 surgeon and following his advice. In cataract the 
 pupil is of “ milky ” color. 
 
 § 153. Cross Eyes. 
 
 The direction and motion of the eye are determined 
 by the use of one or more of the six muscles which 
 have their attachment to the sclerotic or strong coat 
 of the eye, a few lines back of the cornea. 
 
 Four of these are called straight muscles, and are 
 named superior , inferior , interior and exterior , accord- 
 ing to their positions. The other two are oblique. 
 To each of these muscles are distributed nerve- 
 
CE0S3 EYES. 
 
 225 
 
 fibers, which regulate their action. If the nerve to 
 one becomes paralyzed, the opposite and healthy 
 muscle draws the eye to itself. When this result 
 throws the sight of one eye across the other, it is 
 called “ cross eyes,” or convergent strabismus. If the 
 eye be thrown out, it is called divergent strabismus. 
 
 This is most liable to occur in early childhood, 
 sometimes before birth, but it may appear at any 
 period of life. Convulsions, irritation of teething , in- 
 
 MINNIE HARRINGTON BEFORE HER EYES MINNIE’S PICTURE AFTER DR. EVERETT’S 
 
 WERE STRAIGHTENED BY DR. E. OPERATION. 
 
 jury from blow or fall, or brain disease may produce 
 it. In such cases the one eye gradually loses its 
 power of sight, and if the eyes be not straightened 
 the appearance of the person is permanently injured. 
 
 The operation for cross eyes furnishes the most 
 satisfactory results of any department of eye surgery. 
 It consists of an entire section of the stronger muscle 
 of the crooked eye, and a careful, limited dissection 
 of the sub-conjunctival fascia. To this add the sub- 
 
 15 
 
22G be. -everett’s health fragments. 
 
 junctival stitch , and a skillful operator can set the eye 
 in any direction he prefers. It is a simple, safe, cer- 
 tain operation, and is followed by tlie loss of only a 
 few drops of blood. In no degree is the sight inter- 
 fered with, except to jmt the eye in a proper position ; 
 and then, by its after use, the sight may be increased 
 and strengthened. 
 
 Formless fears till the minds of the uninitiated in 
 this matter, and fond parents often allow their child 
 to grow up with injured appearance, diminished sight 
 and spoiled disposition , because they are afraid the 
 child may lose its sight or life in the operation. After 
 a large practical experience of many years, the writer 
 can assure the reader that the operation is free from 
 all danger , and that in all cases the result can be only 
 good if the operator understands his business. 
 
 Fon years 1 luvve refused to make a fee unless the 
 operation was a perfect success. The eyes can be 
 straightened at any age, but it is always best to have 
 it attended to early, even as early as the second or 
 third year, and after that the earlier it is done the 
 less the danger of losing the sight of the crooked 
 eye. 
 
 The parent who allows his child to grow up with 
 “ crooked eyes,” and the consequences which follow 
 their possession, is committing a crime which his ig- 
 norance, fear, or after years can never atone for. 
 
EAR. 
 
 227 
 
 § 154. Ear. 
 
 This is tlie saddest and sweetest gift of God. 
 Through it comes warning, greeting, good news, 
 good-by. The grand old anthems, the hymns of 
 heaven, the bugle blast,' the broken sobs, the bene- 
 diction, the whisper which fades away into the night 
 and grows stronger as we hear it to-morrow from 
 the sky. What would this world be without voice, 
 without music, without sound or ear to catch it \ 
 Man’s is not the best. Many animals hear better 
 than he. His is simple, but wonderful. 
 
 The outer ear is called th q pavilion, which collects 
 sounds that pass through the outer canal and strike 
 the “ drum? That is a delicate, yet tough mem- 
 
 b r a n e , w li i c h 
 separates the 
 outer from the 
 middle ear, across 
 which sounds 
 travel on little 
 ear-bones to the 
 cochlea, or shell 
 in which is the 
 nerve of hearing. 
 There the mes- 
 sage is received 
 and reported to the brain. The passage marked 12 
 connects the ear with the throat. Every time we 
 
228 
 
 dr. Everett’s health fragments. 
 
 swallow, this Eustachian tube is opened and admits 
 of air passing to the middle chamber of the ear. If 
 this be discontinued, or if from any reason the air is 
 not supplied through this chamber, the sense of 
 sound is impaired, and hearing rendered difficult. 
 
 § 155. Deafness 
 
 Is the commonest companion of old age, and few 
 other disabilities are so trying or inconvenient. It 
 may be caused by old age, for which this world pro- 
 vides no relief. Sometimes the oil secreted by glands 
 in the outer canal becomes hardened into wax, wliicb 
 causes partial deafness. In such cases the wax 
 should be melted by warm castile soap and water, 
 discharged from a syringe; after the wax is removed 
 insert a few drops of pure olive oil or glycerine. In 
 these cases there is, generally, unusual heat in that 
 structure, which may be overcome by strict atten- 
 tion to the general health. When the wax is hard 
 it is well to soften it with glycerine before using the 
 syringe. 
 
 Thiclcening of the ear-drum is not an uncommon 
 cause of deafness, especially among scrofulous per- 
 sons. In such cases the treatment should be general 
 rather than local. 
 
 Catarrhal deafness is more common than all others. 
 This is usually preceded by symptoms of nasal 
 catarrh, the inflammation passing from the throat 
 
OTORRHGEA. 
 
 229 
 
 along tlie Eustachian tube to the ear. The symp- 
 toms are not only dullness of hearing, but noises in 
 the head, and a profuse secretion of mucus partially 
 or completely closing the tube. In this the deaf- 
 ness is always increased with renewed cold. The 
 treatment is spoken of particularly in Chapter X., 
 to which the reader is referred. 
 
 § 156. Otorrhcea, or Running Ear. 
 
 This is liable to follow measles or scarlet fever 
 when the patient is a scrofulous child. It is caused 
 by inflammation of the structure of the ear, and must 
 be arrested before the delicate parts are wasted, or 
 the hearing becomes permanently impaired. It is not 
 safe to let it alone , lest the injury done is irreparable. 
 
 The treatment is often tedious and prolonged ; 
 but not more than one case in one hundred is incur- 
 able. Dr. Gross wisely insists on the absolute neces- 
 sity of a careful dietary, and a rigid observance of 
 health rules generally. After this is regulated in 
 every important particular, constructive tonic and 
 alterative medicines should be used, the latter 
 changed every week. To these are added astringent 
 drops applied to the running ear after it has been 
 thoroughly cleansed by warm castile soap and water 
 at night. The drops should be used with discretion, 
 and never without the first-mentioned part of the 
 treatment. 
 
230 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 § 157. Practical Hints Concerning the Ear. 
 
 Deafness is generally the result of inflammation 
 seated in some part of the ear structure. The first 
 symptom of deafness should excite solicitude suffi- 
 cient to inquire the cause, and remove it if possible. 
 
 All persons afflicted with deafness should avoid 
 damp cellars, cold currents of air, and protect their 
 ears by suitable covering. 
 
 Avoid repeated colds, as they are the parent of 
 
 METHOD OF EXAMINING EAR WITH SPECULUM AND CONCAVE MIRROR. 
 
 most cases of deafness. You cannot too carefully 
 guard against so-called Aurists or ear doctors. So- 
 ciety has few members more dangerous than “ Doc- 
 tors who understand and treat only the eye and ear? 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 For Women. 
 
 § 158. Menstruation. 
 
 O far as the anatomical structure is con- 
 cerned, the reproductive organs of a little 
 three-year old girl are as perfect as those 
 of a woman at thirty-three ; but they are, 
 like the tree which has not borne fruit, 
 functionally deficient. At about fifteen 
 the ovaries become active. By a natural 
 process, one of the little subdivisions of 
 the ovary undergoes a process of suppuration and 
 casts forth a little ovum, or egg, which is seized by 
 
 1, 3, Fallopian tube; 4, Ovary; 5, Round cord; 6, Fundus of womb; 7, Body of womb; 
 8, 9, Neck of womb; 10, Mouth of womb; 11, Vagina. 
 
 the extremities of the Fallopian tube, and thence 
 conducted to the uterus. 
 
 During the development of the egg the uterus be- 
 comes congested, and by a process of extravasation 
 its lining membrane yields a red fluid, very similar 
 to capillary blood, and called the menstrual discharge. 
 
232 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 This should appear every twenty-eight days; and 
 during the time the girl should experience no pain or 
 other sign of illness. It is a natural physiological 
 process, and perfectly healthy females notice the dis- 
 charge as the first sign of the “period.” 
 
 § 159. Irregular Menstruation. 
 
 Injudicious dressing, leaving the limbs exposed, 
 want of exercise, scrofula, dyspepsia, and many other 
 causes, enfeeble the condition of girls so that the 
 “ period ” is ushered in with pain or caprice. Some- 
 times there is an absence or suppression of the menses 
 for weeks or months ; at other times, by a relaxed 
 condition of the uterus, or lack of muscular or ner- 
 vous tone, as pertaining to her general structure, the 
 discharges are profuse, even alarmingly so. 
 
 These symptoms do not, generally, indicate any 
 special disease of the reproductive organs, but are a 
 warning that attention to the general health as to 
 diet, dress, exercise and bathing are necessary. When 
 these first appear, a wise regard for health rules will 
 remove the cause and restore the lost health. 
 
 When the discharge is profuse, a quiet, recumbent 
 position, and twenty drops of laudanum, repeated 
 every half hour until its influence is felt, will usually 
 prove a simple and efficient corrective. 
 
 § 160. Fain at Period. 
 
 Dysmenorrhoea is one of the chief sources of female 
 suffering. It is common to the single and the mar- 
 ried. Its immediate cause is congestion of the womb. 
 There can be no pain without an overfulluess of the 
 uterine vessels. This congestion may be referred to 
 
ULCERATION OF WOMB. 
 
 233 
 
 a “neuralgic” or rheumatic condition of the womb, 
 or to an inflammation of the cervix or neck, which 
 prevents the menstrual fluid from flowing into the 
 vagina. 
 
 o 
 
 It is one of the old standing disorders that has baf- 
 fled “ old ladies ” and old doctors. Warm drinks and 
 warm foot-baths answer for simple cases; but in 
 severer cases the following rule will be found more 
 efficient : At first indication of pain at menses, take a 
 sitz-bath of water, as hot as you can endure it, for 
 five minutes, a hot foot-bath at the same time ; then 
 go to bed, cover warm, apply hot cloths over abdo- 
 men, and hot bricks to feet. Thus rest for two hours ; 
 then avoid exposure to cold. 
 
 In others, preceded by ulceration and a stricture 
 of the passage leading to the body of the womb, a 
 sponge tent may be inserted to advantage. This can 
 only be done by a skillful hand, and, fortunately, is 
 seldom needed. 
 
 The frequent method of treating this condition by 
 local instrumental appliances is a product of the ig- 
 norance, weakness, and licentiousness of medical 
 practice. It is approved by some good men in the 
 profession, but the writer has for years been satisfied 
 that it is seldom necessary. 
 
 Our space is too limited hereto discuss this disease 
 or its treatment at lenAk ; but I would simo’est the 
 necessity of frequent hip-baths and vaginal injections 
 of tepid water ; also of a regard for best conditions 
 of skin, bowels, and digestive organs. 
 
 § 161. Ulceration of Womb. 
 
 This is generally preceded by pain at period. 
 
234 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 Ulceration is a product of inflammation , and where 
 congestion of the body or neck of the womb exists 
 for a protracted period it generally develops an ul- 
 cerated surface. This, however, is as simple as an 
 ulcer on the linger, and should be treated upon the 
 same principles. A vaginal injection of a quart of 
 salted water, two or three times daily, with sitz-baths 
 and absence of all sexual excitement, is in the right 
 direction. In obstinate cases a local application will 
 hasten a cure ; but when necessary its full benefit 
 may be secured by a remedy suited to the case, ap- 
 plied by the patient’s own hand, in the shape of cot- 
 ton saturated with the remedial asrent. 
 
 O 
 
 The process of cauterization in common vogue can- 
 not be too severely condemned. Here, also, must 
 every possible attention be paid to the general health. 
 
 § 162. Leucorrhosa, 
 
 commonly called “ Whites,” from the appearance 
 of the discharge. In most cases it is simply catarrh 
 of the vagina. Sometimes the condition pertains to 
 the lining membrane of the womb, when it is called 
 Uterine Leucorrhcea. This symptom frequently de- 
 pends upon excessive sexual congress, dyspepsia, 
 atony of the nervous or muscular system, and consti- 
 pation. 
 
 Treatment. Constructive tonics, thorough hygiene 
 as applied to dress, diet and exercise, hip-baths and 
 frequent injections of tepid salt water, with a re- 
 moval of any other provoking cause that may exist, 
 will seldom fail to bring good results. 
 
 In Uterine Leucorrhoea, a medicated application 
 
FALLING WOMB. 
 
 235 
 
 with saturated cotton not only hastens a cure, but 
 renders it more certain. 
 
 § 163. Pruritus. 
 
 Itching of the outer and inner labia is an annoying 
 symptom. It is most frequently the result of untidy 
 habits and an acrid vaginal discharge. In some cases 
 the condition resembles salt rheum. 
 
 Treatment. Vaginal injections of tepid salt water, 
 frequent cleansing of the parts with Castile soap and 
 water, and the following formula : Carbolic acid, 
 twenty drops; alcohol, four drams; chloroform, one 
 dram ; water sufficient for six ounces mixture. Apply 
 for obstinate itching. 
 
 I i 
 
 § 164. Falling Womb. 
 
 Caused by a plethoric or congested condition of 
 the womb (hence in many patients the symptoms are 
 increased at time of period), by a relaxation of the 
 parts which support the womb, by a relaxed condi- 
 tion of the abdominal walls, and, more than all else , 
 by the habit of suspending clothing from the loins , and 
 by corsets. 
 
 In descending, the womb frequently assumes a 
 lateral, anterior, or posterior tendency, sometimes 
 folding upon itself, as the accompanying cuts indi- 
 cate. These complicated misplacements are generally 
 characterized by an aggravation of the usual symp- 
 toms — of a dragging sensation in the groin, pain on 
 inner side of thighs, and in the back, pressure in 
 
236 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 lower pelvis, and disinclination to 
 stand. 
 
 Treatment. In eacli case the cause 
 must be discovered and removed, — 
 all clothing suspended from the 
 shoulders, hip-baths, and cool as- 
 tringent injections frequently ap- 
 plied. In every case prolapsed 
 bowels accompany a prolapsed 
 womb ; hence an external sup- 
 porter which helps to preserve the 
 natural position of the bowels is 
 good. 
 
 Pessaries, as a rule, do more harm 
 than good ; but in extreme cases they 
 are serviceable. 
 
 § 165. Of Parentage. 
 
 Hannah represents a type of the 
 divinest in woman. Pier intense 
 sorrow because she was barren ; her 
 prayer, followed by her great joy 
 and sincere thankfulness when she 
 became a mother, are as natural as 
 simply told. Mother is the only 
 sacred word in all languages. To 
 prince or pirate, in giddy youth or 
 gray old age, among all peoples and 
 in all climes, the term mother is 
 sainted. I never icnew a man to 
 swear l>y his mother. 
 
 Before the child is born his destiny has been 
 
 A. Retroflexion. 
 D. Retroversion. 
 C. Anteflexion. 
 
 B. Anteversion. 
 
OF PARENTAGE. 
 
 237 
 
 largely determined. It is but the product of the 
 father and mother, — their health, disease, their tem- 
 per, tone, culture ; not only all they were, but all they 
 wished to be and were at 
 the moment of conception, 
 that was the thing begot- 
 ten. Then the mother and 
 God do the rest. Every 
 wish, thought, word, has 
 its effect on the offspring. 
 
 mouthful of bread 
 goes to form the blood 
 and brain and bone 
 through which that little 
 soul must climb to Heaven 
 or sink to Hades. 
 
 How needful, then, that 
 she say, intelligently 
 
 , , . r ’ These figures show the difference between 
 
 Whetner sne Will nave a relaxed and tense abdominal walls. In the 
 
 former, all the organs of the abdomen are 
 
 Samuel or an Islunael ! P rola P sed ' (seep.m.) 
 
 During pregnancy she should have rest, recreation, 
 books, attention, care; in short, she should have as 
 much of a foretaste of Heaven as this world affords 
 in nine months. 
 
 Should she even dream of abortion? Yes, if she 
 wants her child to be a murderer, as she is in her heart. 
 
 What shall be the limit of sexual congress during 
 the period of gestation ? The same as it should be 
 with any other perfectly healthy animal, none at all. 
 The precocious licentiousness of childhood can only 
 be explained by the excessive sexuality of parents 
 before children are born. As passion, anger and 
 
238 
 
 DR. EVERETT’S - HEALTH FRAGMENTS. 
 
 cruelty may repeat itself in your offspring, so will 
 temperance, truth, charity, reverence and prayer. 
 
 Do you want help to reproduce your best ? Then 
 I will give you some wholesome advice which will 
 render childbirth a luxury. We will assume that 
 you and your husband are healthy and harmonious ; 
 also, that you have, in your best mood, thoughtfully 
 and religiously undertaken your task. We will then 
 write for you a few simple rules : 
 
 First. Study to be not only contented but cheer- 
 ful. Keep your heart full of song. 
 
 Second. Eight months before your child is born 
 adopt a system of morning walks and regular bath- 
 ing. Every other morning, at least, take a general 
 bath in water cooler than the body, followed by 
 thorough friction with a soft towel. 
 
 Third. Six mornings of the week take a hip-bath 
 of water as cool as you can with comfort, and as often 
 take a vaginal injection with at least a quart of water. 
 
 Fourth. Eat little or no flesh, fish or fowl, and ab- 
 stain during the last four months from bread or meal 
 which contains the hull of the grain. Let your diet 
 during the last half of pregnancy be of rice and fruit 
 chiefly. By using nothing which has phosphate of 
 lime to harden the skeleton of the child, he will be 
 born with bones so soft that you can tie them in a 
 knot. In this condition the child’s head and other 
 parts will so accommodate themselves to the strait 
 through which they must pass, that the mother will 
 have, not a painless labor, but one so comfortable as 
 only to remind her that we are all born in travail 
 to a world where roses are abundant and their 
 
OF PARENTAGE. 
 
 239 
 
 fragrance measured only by our grace and good 
 nature. 
 
 Fifth. That is all. Now that the baby is born, 
 and your arms are full of joy, as I see the tint return- 
 ing to your cheeks I am reminded that your physician 
 is almost an intruder. And so g-o-o-d-b-y-e. 
 
 V 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Concerning Men. 
 
 § 1 66. How Medical Respectability relates Itself to the Dangers and 
 Indiscretions of Youth. 
 
 -HEN I received my Medical Diploma 
 from the Old University of Pennsyl- 
 vania, I Lad never during the entire 
 years allotted to undergraduates 
 heard a lecture on the use or abuse of 
 the reproductive organs. I was 
 clothed with their highest authority 
 to teach and practice the healing art ; 
 but they sent me forth utterly ignorant of the true 
 use , and more fearfully common abuse of the sex pow- 
 er. Then, when a young man came to me with 
 weary loins, sweaty feet, wasted memory, lost concern 
 trative power, despondent, tired of life, victims of 
 “ wet dreams with dull, glassy eyes, pimpled face, 
 ringing ears, and clammy hands, and prayed me for re- 
 lief, my revered teachers told me his disease was im- 
 aginary , a sort of male hysteria. 
 
 When I sought his history, and was told by him 
 that onanism had wasted his powers and prospects, 
 I went again to my teachers 'and they told me to 
 “ advise him to marry,” and give him tonics. 
 
 When years had made me wiser than to seek to 
 
HOW MEDICAL RESPECTABILITY, ETC. 241 
 
 “ draw water from a dry pump,” I strongly suspected 
 my teachers had learned too little of the Curative 
 art , and that my young patients had “ learned too 
 much ” of their sexual nature, and had fatally prac- 
 ticed what they knew to their own destruction. In 
 years after, when I was lecturing in St. Louis, a 
 young man of twenty-eight years, related to one of 
 the first families, consulted me relative to tertiary 
 syphilis of three years’ standing. His story was a 
 short one. “ I was troubled with frequent emissions, 
 
 and went for treatment to Surgeon , who gave 
 
 me medicine, and recommended illicit intercourse at 
 regular intervals. In six weeks I had this disease, 
 and you see the result.” The surgeon referred to 
 was at the head of the medical and surgical frater- 
 nity in that large city. The young man strictly fol- 
 lowed his advice, and had added to his maladies a 
 loathsome disease, which must clothe his whole life 
 like a shirt of Nemesis. 
 
 The larger proportion of young men have practiced 
 and suffer the results of onanism ; and medical men 
 neither feel their needs, nor are they capable of 
 meeting them. The greater proportion of respecta- 
 ble men, of which Dr. Chambers is an honorable 
 representative, totally ignore the existence of, and': 
 results from self-pollution. Another class treat the 
 whole affair lightly, having no deep convictions any 
 way. Still another class, of which Drs. Carpenter 
 and Acton are good samples, acknowledge the sin, 
 and the need of a remedy. 
 
 All, however, heartily join in condemning the men 
 who reap a rich harvest in advertising to cure “ Lost 
 Manhood,” etc. qg 
 
242 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 Society is infested by a class of medical pirates , 
 whose ignorance of the healing art and lack of hon- 
 esty are their chief professional investment. These 
 appeal to the army of sexual sufferers, and manage 
 to get large sums of money from those whose pride 
 would prevent an exposure of the wrong done. In 
 my mind these medical shysters and pirates on the 
 high seas are equally respectable. Still the facts re- 
 main. Society suffers from the inefficiency of physi- 
 cians. These medical scoundrels coidd not ply their 
 vocation a month if the legitimate physicians did their 
 whole duty. The common “ Private disease doctor” is 
 not half so great an enemy to good society as the St. 
 l^ouis surgeon , above referred to. Shame on the medi- 
 cal men who waste their ammunition on the “ quack 
 system,” when three-fourths of our entire profession 
 are so delinquent in their duty to society that our 
 acts of omission work a tenfold greater wrong than 
 the robbery actualty perpetrated by the quacks. 
 Why should young men neglect the latter while we 
 neither understand their conditions, nor invite their 
 confidence. 
 
 § 167. Semen — What it is, and Does. 
 
 This generative fluid is highly organized and sub- 
 serves a most important purpose in the divine econ- 
 omy concerning man. It is secreted by the testes 
 from the pubescent period until very advanced age, 
 even to eighty or ninety years. Its appropriation is 
 like its secretion, constant as the beating of the 
 heart. Its use, aside from reproduction, is not 
 clearly demonstrated ; but it would seem to consti- 
 
WISE USE OF A GREAT GIFT. 
 
 243 
 
 tufce a super-vitalizing food for the nervous system. 
 At least, the nervous tone holds a direct ratio to its 
 production and absorption. Castration invariably de- 
 prives the person thus mutilated of a strength, clear- 
 ness, aroma, or other jiower which can only be dis- 
 pensed with at a sacrifice. The function of semen, 
 either by its production taking from the blood that 
 which would, if left, obstruct the most exalted phys- 
 ical or mental expression, or by furnishing pabu- 
 lum to the blood, by which the above exalted 
 action is more liable to occur, is to provide a more 
 powerful expression of soul and body. Hence, sex 
 power gives zest to reason, efficacy to prayer, clear- 
 ness to intellect, loftiness to pride, energy to labor, 
 and a personality to its possessor which is never 
 found with wasted virility. As a rule, men who 
 are heard by the million are thoroughly sexed. It 
 means power — the divinest gift pertaining to earthly 
 existence. He who can use great sex power wisely 
 is richer than houses and lands and ships and gold 
 and silver can make him. 
 
 § 168. Wise Use of a Great Gift. 
 
 The Cardinal Maury said to Portal, “ A man of 
 sense past fifty ought to give up the pleasures of 
 love, for every time he indulged in them he threw 
 on his head — or coffin — a handful of earth.” When 
 on his death-bed, Newton told Dr. Brown '•'‘lie had 
 never lost a single drop of his seminal fluid in all 
 his life . ” 
 
 When Cicero was asked if he still indulged in the 
 pleasures of love, he answered, “ Heaven forbid! 1 
 
244 
 
 DR. EVERETT S HEALTH FRAGMENTS. 
 
 have forsworn it as I would a savage and a furious 
 monster .” These were men who made the most of 
 this life and themselves. 
 
 In youth the hoy needs every drop of this fluid to 
 secure that culture and training of his powers, the 
 use of which must determine his status in this life, if 
 it does not in the world to come. 
 
 In his maturity, nature requires a sufficient expen- 
 diture to secure a following generation. If a man 
 expends greatly beyond this, he kills “the hen which 
 lays the golden egg;” then nature writes debauchee 
 upon him, even though his excessive venery has 
 been confined to his own marriage-bed, and disfigures 
 his face, so that he is unfit for all society, save that 
 whose breath is pollution. Men of advanced years 
 cannot afford to waste themselves sexually ; and the 
 world can poorly afford a place for their children 
 begotten in a decrepitude which is ever punished if 
 found in the bridal-chamber. 
 
 § 169, The Law of Sexual Congress. 
 
 “ It is always wrong,” say some, “ except for re- 
 productive purposes only.” The strongest reason for 
 rejecting the proposition is derived from the fact 
 that, probably, no healthy man or woman who ever 
 taught it, would live it if they submitted to the dig- 
 nified relations of a sound, sensible marriage. Moral 
 platitudes and sentimental clap-traps are too common 
 nowadays. 
 
 A law, to be worth anything, must be measurably 
 practical. This world would have been good long 
 
THE LAW OF SEXUAL CONGRESS. 
 
 245 
 
 ago if tlie truisms of old maids and men, and the 
 effusions of young girls and sophomorical boys could 
 be substituted for the old-fashioned decrees of Provi- 
 dence. 
 
 I cannot give a law regulating venery , stating fre- 
 quency, occasion, etc., etc. Social science speaks 
 with authority ; but as yet her mandates cannot be 
 squared with the cheap philosophy which supports 
 promiscuous intercourse ; and her behests are a fear- 
 ful protest against the terrible lust which people 
 practice simply because they are husband and wife. 
 This we do know, however, sex principle is the great 
 source of executive ability in any direction, moral, 
 intellectual, or physical. To preserve it, hoard yet 
 wisely use it, is what we must need to know and do. 
 Independent of the wrong done to society by sexual 
 excess, no man or woman can afford to waste them- 
 selves sexually. Sexual excess will, unfit you for 
 any and every good work and way. Then, if you 
 would be clean, strong, or influential, save your sex 
 power. This applies to every age, sex, and condi- 
 tion. Let it be distinctly understood, that every act 
 of venery is, by its very nature , weakening. When 
 this is accepted, five-sixths of sexual wrong will 
 cease. From this we draw the strongest reasons for 
 living a 'pure life. Recently my religious friend se- 
 verely censured a third person for social immorality, 
 and in the same breath admitted tenfold the sexual 
 excess, as applied to his own wedded life. The 
 latter he justified, as both moral and scriptural. Oh, 
 ye “ whited sepulchres ! ” Verily, virtue hath its own 
 reward. 
 
246 
 
 DK. EVERETT S HEALTH FRAGMENTS. 
 
 § 170. Symptoms of Sexual Excess. 
 
 These cover all years from fourteen to forty years, 
 
 even more. Lallemand, Acton, and Jean Jacques 
 Rousseau have about completed their description : 
 
 “ Haggard 
 features, thin, 
 pale, and irri- 
 table. Dizzi- 
 ness, despon- 
 dency, ner- 
 vousness, dys- 
 pepsia, con- 
 stipation, 
 weak back, 
 clammy hands 
 and sweaty 
 feet, jumples 
 on the face, a 
 glassy expres- 
 
 THE OFFSPRING OF SENILITY AND NERVOUS DECAY. 
 
 sion 
 
 eye, 
 
 of the 
 wasted 
 
 memory, erections, emissions, mucous or seminal dis- 
 charges at stool, or during micturition, sexual excita- 
 bility, and overliasty orgasm.” These and countless 
 others. They are not alike in any given case ; and the 
 symptoms are as common to married life as boyhood, 
 and more frequently found between twenty-two and 
 thirty-five, than earlier. For it must be understood 
 that where onanism is moderately practiced these 
 symptoms are mildly presented, if at all. U sually after 
 eighteen, the victim ceases his vile habits, while the 
 results follow him into manhood, and mar the poor 
 
SECKET VICE. 
 
 247 
 
 children begotten by him, unless, as is often the case, 
 dementation, insanity, or suicide claims its victim 
 before the marriage-chamber is polluted. 
 
 § 171. Secret Vice. 
 
 Dr. Acton says, “ There is too much reason to fear 
 that this scourge of our youth prevails to an extent 
 which will not be known with any certainty till years 
 hence they are seeking medical relief, too often, alas ! 
 in vain.” Yet the same author wades through pages 
 to show why the 
 teacher, or fa- 
 ther, or mother, 
 or physician, or 
 somebody else 
 should warn the 
 poor boy in time 
 to save him ! 
 
 Prof. C., a 
 teacher of State 
 reputation, and 
 one of the grand- 
 est men in Cin- 
 cinnati, said to 
 the writer, “ If 
 one of my schol- 
 ars grows pale, 
 or careless of 
 
 THE OFFSPRING OF PURE AND VIGOROUS PARENTAGE. 
 
 study, or listless, or allows pimples to appear on his 
 face (he gave many other signs), I invite him to my 
 room and instruct him in a virtuous knowledge of his 
 sexual nature.” He but performed a Christian duty. 
 
248 
 
 DR. EVERETT’S HEALTH FRAGMENTS. 
 
 After many years as lecturer and practitioner, em- 
 bracing a large acquaintance among teachers, students, 
 clergymen, and business men generally, I have a pain- 
 ful conviction that many more than three-fourths of 
 the American youth suffer from the terrible habit of 
 sexual abuse. Dr. Workman, in a report of the To- 
 ronto Lunatic Asylum, says, “ There is one cause of 
 a physical form, but which I almost dread to mention, 
 which appears peopling our asylum with a loathsome, 
 abject, and hopeless multitude of inmates. * * The 
 result has been frightful. I hesitate to state the pro- 
 portion in which — I feel fully assured or morally 
 certain — secret vice is present. * * In hardly any 
 
 instance is it found that parents have any suspicion 
 of its existence when they place the victims in the 
 asylum.'” 
 
 I have never talked with a wise superintendent of 
 an asylum, school or college, that did not recognize 
 secret vice as a source of countless failures and ruined 
 youth. Its victims are generally the clearest intel- 
 lects from the best families. The boys of a lower or 
 coarser nervous texture are less likely to become its 
 slaves ; and parents, too pure and proud to become 
 suspicious of their child, see him grow pale and waste, 
 while the less gifted boy has passed the shoals of 
 youth safely. 
 
 § 172. Spermatorrhoea. 
 
 This means involuntary loss of seminal fluid. It 
 may occur as nocturnal emissions, discharges with 
 urine or at stool, or a drooling from the penis, with 
 signs of occasional moisture. 
 
SPERMATORRHOEA. 
 
 249 
 
 Causes. Inflammation of the reproductive organs 
 from private disease, masturbation, sexual excess, and 
 a hereditary sensitiveness or excitability of the pri- 
 vate parts. The results of a sexually vicious life are 
 visited on the children as well as on the parents who 
 indulged them. From a careful professional observa- 
 tion, I am convinced that few children of a lecherous 
 or over-sexual parentage are free from super-sexual 
 sensations. This may show itself in infancy, when 
 only the strictest care will prevent the formation of 
 secret habits of vice. 
 
 Physicians widely differ as to its prevalence, some 
 claiming that it does not exist, that there is no such 
 disease. Others, better informed, admit its preva- 
 lence, but they think it is greatly exaggerated as to 
 its prevalence and severity of symptoms. Still an- 
 other class treat all forms of nervous exhaustion 
 under the title of spermatorrhoea. 
 
 The second class are nearest the truth ; but even 
 they have overlooked a most important feature of the 
 subject. The name is liable to mislead. A loss of 
 seed is often not present, and therefore does not be- 
 long to the case, while there is in all these cases 
 derangement of the reproductive apparatus which 
 claims serious attention. In the latter case many 
 physicians stumble. The patient is convinced of a 
 weakness which the physician says does not exist, 
 and he is forced to accept the services of another 
 who admits the sexual disease, though he may mis- 
 name or mistreat it. 
 
 The conditions referred to may be explained under 
 the following title : 
 
250 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 § 173. Sexual Weakness, with Excess and Waste of Semen, or 
 Deficiency of the Semen. 
 
 Where excess and involuntary waste of seed exist, 
 the term spermatorrhoea applies. Here, however, the 
 difficulty is not simply waste of seed, but a set of 
 low nervous conditions, brought on by causes long 
 since past. With involuntary waste is generally 
 present a lack of quality of semen, depending upon 
 the debilitated condition of the nervous system, and 
 particularly of that part distributed to the repro- 
 ductive organs. The desired object is not simply to 
 save the seed “ manufactured,” but to improve the 
 strength of the parts , so the seed produced shall be 
 such as the system requires. To secure good seed and 
 Jceep it is the whole object of the remedial effort. 
 
 Deficiency of Semen. In cases where there is no 
 involuntary waste there is always a pre-sexual his- 
 tory to confirm the patient in his sexual anxieties. 
 Physicians are very liable to suppose the patient has 
 been imposed upon by some quack, or by his own 
 fears ; but the fact is, the victim is nearer the truth 
 than the doctor. The former knows the history of 
 private disease or secret vice which preceded his pres- 
 ent symptoms of debility. The indulgence, emissions, 
 “ wet dreams,” and gradually lessening discharges, 
 until they have disappeared altogether, while the 
 self-consciousness, despondency, wasting memory and 
 other symptoms have as gradually increased. For 
 many years and during an extensive general practice 
 I have carefully considered this class of cases, and I 
 am strong in my convictions that the sins and suffer- 
 ings of sexuality are not half told , and that the true 
 
IS VIRILITY A BURDEN OR A WEAKNESS? 251 
 
 physician has more to learn than has hitherto been 
 taught concerning this subject. 
 
 When we consider, as stated elsewhere, the support 
 to the nervous system provided through the absorp- 
 tion of healthy semen ; when we compare the entire 
 horse with the gelding, and .see how the former is 
 toned, tempered and strengthened by the product of 
 his testes, in which alone he differs from the gelding, 
 we need not wonder at the weakness or worthlessness 
 of a mind or body prostrated by marital excess or 
 secret vice. The man is much like the castrated 
 horse, and grows anxious when he is compared with 
 his former self. He has watched the departing 
 freshness of his face, and knows his mind is robbed 
 of its royalty. His features have grown haggard, his 
 eye glazed, his hand disgustingly clammy, his venery 
 spasmodic, irritable, incomplete, his hopes gone, his 
 business capacity diminished. Do you wonder he is 
 .willing to believe the fault lies with his reproductive 
 organs ? It is not these alone ; but there is a debility 
 that should not exist, and it is folly to fight the facts, 
 his history, and his faith. 
 
 § 174. Is Virility a Burden or a Weakness? 
 
 The testes are a bundle of vessels which possess an 
 immense secreting surface. Here is selected from 
 the blood a fluid inhabited by spermatozoa, which 
 manifest much activity, and attest the vital exellence 
 of the semen. This fluid is carried to the seminal 
 vesicles , situated in the lower and back part of the 
 bladder, from which it is absorbed for super-vitaliz- 
 ing purposes, or ejected into the urethra, and thence 
 
252 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 lost to the system. Its involuntary loss is always un- 
 natural. A healthy man may experience such a loss; 
 but indigestion, dreams, or voluptuous mental pos- 
 tures will explain it, and these are accidental. The 
 experience of Sir Isaac Newton, as well as observa- 
 tions of healthy male ani- 
 mals among horses and 
 cattle, illustrate the correct 
 view of seminal disposition- 
 In this important depart- 
 ment, surely man is not less 
 protected in his healthy con- 
 dition than the beast ? 
 
 Even the pure-minded 
 Acton is led to a plaintive 
 admission of the sufferings 
 of healthy young men, who 
 are determined to be conti- 
 nent at whatever expense, 
 and thus innocently, as a 
 man of science, he indorses 
 the maudlin sexual senti- 
 
 Epididymis; E. Globus Minor; F. Uete meu t S 0 f Midielet, wllO de- 
 Testis ; G. Mediastinum ; H. Vasa 7 
 
 Eecta ; I. Tunica Vaginalis ; K. Vasa dared the male to be a 
 Efferentia; L. Globus Major; M. Tunica _ , 
 
 Albuginea. “ jierce animal. 
 
 Entire horses are quiet and easily managed, until 
 their continence is debauched ; then they become 
 wild until sexually satiated. So young men, by an 
 inherited super-sexual inclination, or by means of 
 obscene thoughts or literature, or unchaste practices, 
 may meet sexual temptations difficult to resist ; 
 but a young man of chaste parentage, and a per- 
 
 VERTICAL SECTION OP THE TESTES. 
 
 A. Vas Deferens ; B. Spermatic Ar- 
 tery; C. Vas Aberrans; D. Body of 
 
IS VIRILITY A BURDEN OR A WEAKNESS ? 253 
 
 fectly pure life, will have no difficulty in controlling 
 his sex nature until it may be lawfully exercised. 
 
 Even in married life this super-sexual apology 
 largely obtains among pure men, and those who 
 would not knowingly do a wrong, insist upon sexual 
 congress, when to consummate it causes sacrifice of 
 inclination and health on the part of their com- 
 panions. The rea- 
 son is explained by 
 an overfullness of 
 the seminal vesicles 
 behind the bladder, 
 as indicated by ac- 
 companying cut, and 
 consequent uneasi- 
 ness. It is called 
 seminal plethora ; 
 and the sexual de- 
 sire thus provoked, 
 as well as the ex- 
 perience of relief 
 after coition only 
 
 proves, as Acton justly observes, the fact of past 
 indiscretions. These conditions exist in an almost 
 insane degree among the Cubans, and a friend of 
 the writer, who has lived among; and studied that 
 strange people for years, says : “Masturbation, sexual 
 precocity, sexual indulgence, and impotency at about 
 thirty characterize the lives of most male Cubans.” 
 Abnormal conditions of the reproductive organs are 
 so common that we must hesitate ere we declare a 
 sexual law from inclination or experience. 
 
254 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 Very frequent desire, rapid, or frequent, or de- 
 layed, or unsatisfactory orgasms are evidence of un- 
 natural conditions. Emissions after a week or a 
 month of continence are unnatural. Venery is at no 
 time essential to health , and in all debilitated con- 
 ditions should be exercised with the greatest care. 
 Men of large brains, or a preponderance of the 
 nervous temperament, must hoard their sex power as 
 the miser does his gold. At the head of all the 
 virtues stands continence. Lose it and others are 
 liable to slip away unnoticed. 
 
 § 175. How Sexual Debility may be Succesfully Treated. 
 
 1. Where its predisposition is strong from un- 
 chaste parentage, the earliest attention to cleanliness, 
 hip bathing, an unstimulating diet, and avoidance 
 of impure practices and literature, should be care- 
 fully and continually enjoined. 
 
 2. Masturbation , where it has not been long prac- 
 ticed, and when not accompanied by “ wet dreams,” 
 an utter abandonment of the habit, with frequent 
 cool hip-baths and other washing of the parts, will 
 be sufficient. 
 
 3. Debility with emissions. These may be limited 
 as to time and quantity, or frequent and profuse. 
 Encourage muscular exercise, even to weariness. 
 Partake of a generous, nourishing, and unstimulating 
 diet. Avoid tobacco, coffee, and liquors of all de- 
 scriptions. Always retire with an empty stomach. 
 Sleep on the side, and get out of bed as soon as you 
 awake in the morning. Take three to six cool hip- 
 
HOW SEXUAL DEBILITY MAY BE TREATED. 255 
 
 baths per week before retiring. You will probably 
 need constructive medical tonics, and local treatment 
 of an astringent character; but the latter cannot be 
 a part of self-treatment, and your general conditions 
 must be known by the physician who prescribes be- 
 fore he can meet the demands of the case. 
 
 4. Sexual debility , with drooling , scanty , or no 
 emissions. These are still more difficult. The parts 
 have not only lost the power to retain, but to create 
 the seed. It is not simply spermatorrhoea, but a de- 
 vitalized functional condition, which must be over- 
 come, or ill health permanently endured. The rules 
 adapted to self-treatment under No. 3 apply with 
 increased force here. In all these cases sexual ex- 
 citement, from whatever cause, is to be carefully 
 avoided. The constructive medical treatment re- 
 quired in all these cases I cannot give. Inefficient 
 treatment discourages the patient, and does him no 
 good. From years of experience, I am satisfied that 4 
 these cases are perfectly amenable to judicious treat- 
 ment, but that they require a care, skill, and knowl- 
 edge which cannot be imparted to or carried out by 
 the patient himself. The writer has cheerfully placed 
 the hygienic or water-cure treatment for these de- 
 bilities before his reader in that part of this section 
 marked No. 3 ; but he is well aware that the worser 
 cases of sexual debility are never treated successfully 
 without more than mere hygiene. Much more might 
 be told, but I have long passed the limit of pages 
 allotted to me in this volume. The attention of the 
 reader is invited to a volume I hope to find time to 
 write on these topics ere I grow much older, or to 
 
256 
 
 dr. everett’s health fragments. 
 
 my public lectures during the winter months. If a 
 tithe of the good purposes which I have tried to 
 plant in preceding pages take root with the reader, 
 I may safely retire here and now. 
 
DR. EVERETT’S INHALER, 
 
 for the treatment of all diseases of Throat and Lungs. 
 
 The attention of Druggists, Physicians, and 
 Invalids is specially invited to the above Inhaler 
 for treatment of all diseases of Throat and Lungs ; 
 and also to the Fountain Syringe, represented in 
 “ Health Fragments,” page 171. 
 
 No treatment for Catarrh, Throat ail, Bronchitis, 
 Consumption, or Asthma, is complete without the 
 equivalent of one or both of these instruments. 
 
 The profession or trade can be supplied with 
 them upon liberal terms. 
 
 Address, 
 
 GEO. H. EVEBETT, M.D., 
 
 P. O. Box, 1812, 
 
 New York City. 
 
To the Public : 
 
 This book was not written to advertise or 
 secure practice. Each subject is treated -whole- 
 somely and with a desire to benefit the reader. 
 If you have read three pages you must see they 
 were written to benefit you, and not to attract 
 your attention to a specialty or a nostrum. 
 
 Yet there are those who would like to see me 
 after reading this book. I shall be happy to advise 
 you. My office hours are from 10 a. m. to 2 p. m. 
 
 From October until May, I shall be engaged in 
 lecturing in the principal cities. If not convenient 
 for you to see me at my office, I may assist you 
 by correspondence. If you apply by letter, state 
 name. age, sex. occupation, digestion, condition of 
 nose, throat, chest, and such other symptoms as 
 seem important. If a fuller statement is required, 
 I will send you a series of questions to answer, 
 after which I can tell you what is best for you 
 to do. Enclose stamp if you expect a reply. 
 
 Geo. H. Evekett, M. D., 
 
 P. O. Box, 1812, 
 
 Xew York City. 
 
PART II 
 
 EMBRACING 
 
 DRESS, HEREDITY, CHILD-TRAINING, KITCHEN 
 AND DINING-ROOM ETHICS. 
 
 “We are strongest in spontaneous moods, and by contenting ourselves with 
 obedience, we become divine.” 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
PART II. 
 
 
 0*1 
 
 H / 
 
 * C V J 
 
 V 
 
 / <\Y> 
 
 l'- m ^ , o> 
 
 \ y ^ ° V ' 
 
 >#* 
 
 Vv-' 
 
 •?« A°' * 
 
 2 . 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 :f6^)3 
 
 DRESS. 
 
 >KE dress of women as now arranged, is 
 more productive of uterine disease than all 
 other causes combined. 
 
 To a sympathetic beholder the very sight of 
 a woman, in her ordinary street-dress, is fa- 
 tiguing. The long, heavily - trimmed skirt, 
 the long waist tightly belted, the peculiar de- 
 formity of lack which is seen in more than 
 three-quarters of the corseted women and girls 
 found in our streets and houses, country or 
 city, are sources of anguish to any human being, who through 
 reason or imagination can see below the surface of things. 
 
 Most women experience the disastrous results of our ordi- 
 nary dress, but are unequal to finding a door of escape from 
 them. 
 
 It is proposed to briefly state three principles, which, if at- 
 tended to, will eventually lead us “into green pastures and 
 beside still waters.” 
 
 2. The three corner-stones upon which must “ hang 
 all the law and the prophets ” in respect of the dress question, 
 are : 
 
 First. Every ounce of clothing must, literally, hang from the 
 shoulders. 
 
 Second. The waist must be so large that upon taking a deep 
 
o 
 
 STEPS TOWARD A TRITE LIFE. 
 
 inspiration the fingers may be easily passed between the dress 
 
 and person at the belt, directly 
 below the armpit. 
 
 Third. The clothing must be 
 so equally distributed that the 
 tops of the shoulders and chest, 
 the arms to the wrists, and the 
 part from the knee to the heel 
 may be clad as warmly as the 
 rest of the body. 
 
 These principles, ingeniously 
 embodied in practice, give an 
 enviable freedom of movement 
 and ease of carriage that can 
 never be approached by the 
 movements of a body swathed 
 and hampered by a mass of 
 clothing about the loins. 
 
 3. The best Material for Underclothing is, un- 
 doubtedly, a combination of woolen and canton flannel 
 garments. Canton flannel (the heavy unbleached English 
 quality), has advantages in the way of washing, which com- 
 mend it over all other fabrics, for underwear. The chief objec- 
 tions to wool flannel are its unwashableness and its ugliness. 
 
 However, for the comfort of the over-fastidious, it may be 
 said, the last of the chief objections is obviated in the plan re- 
 commended by the writer, since it is entirely hidden by the 
 oversuit of canton flannel. 
 
 4. How many Undergarments should he worn 
 in Cold Weather? — It is necessary to ask and answer 
 this question, lest the facts in the case be misunderstood. 
 
 From the 1st of November until the 1st of May, three suits 
 OF THE “ COMBINATION - GARMENTS ” should be loom. 
 
 First. A full suit of wool flannel from neck to heels and 
 wrists. 
 
 Second. A full suit of heavy, unbleached English canton 
 flannel, entii’elv covering the suit of wool flannel, or first suit. 
 
 Fig. 1. 
 
SHALL DRAWERS BE CLOSED OYER THE BODY ? 3 
 
 Third. Alight suit of pretty muslin extending to knee and 
 wrist, as indicated by Fig. No. 2. If over all these a lady de- 
 sires to adorn herself by an exquisite chemise, which buttons in 
 front from top to bottom, there is no objection to her doing so. 
 She will be neither warmer nor colder by the addition. 
 
 5. The Chemise is simply an ornamental garment, and 
 may be put on or off according to the taste of the wearer. Its 
 weight is no objection, coming as it does from the shoulders, 
 while its not ungraceful drapery may reconcile the wearer to 
 underlying flannel and common sense. 
 
 Nature often leaves traces of pre-barbaric states, as it were, 
 to remind us of advancement. May not the chemise be regarded 
 as the vanishing point of a savage’s blanket, in all its stages of 
 arm-holes, gathering-string, Roman toga, etc. ? 
 
 6. Shall Drawers he closed over the Dody ? — 
 Drawers should be closed over the body and below the knee. 
 The sense of protection and modesty which the wearers of the 
 “combination” style of underclothing (see Fig. 2) imparts, 
 might be fairly reckoned as therapeutic, if, as a recent scientist 
 argues, a wholesome moral state reacts beneficially upon the 
 physical state. 
 
 From long observation, and from a frequent comparison of 
 views among cultivated women, the writer is convinced that 
 the female body should be robed with perfect personal security. 
 Colds from standing in draughts of air, and various unavoidable 
 exposures, are thereby obviated. There is no scientific basis 
 for the sentimental considerations which induce some male and 
 female physicians to commend open undergarments for women, 
 while there is every reason suggested by comfort and delicacy 
 for insisting that undergarments must be closed. 
 
 I know of no more pitiable object than a woman draped in 
 “ curtain drawers,” flying skirts, and flimsy gaiters, battling 
 with a raw March wind! I have often had the instinctive feel- 
 ing that I would like to clasp the ruffled and disturbed drapery 
 closely about its wearer’s knees, lest the cold wind should touch 
 her shrinking body. 
 
 But with alternate layers of the neatly-fashioned wool and 
 
4 
 
 STEPS TOWARD A TliUE LIFE. 
 
 Pig. 2. 
 
 * Patterns for Mrs. Everett’s “ Combination Garments,” with full 
 descriptive cuts, and directions, by which an ordinary seamstress can put 
 them together, without difficulty, will be sent to any address, on receipt 
 of one dollar. Address, Susan Everett, M. D., 
 
 P. O. Box, 1812, New York City. 
 
WHAT KIND OF SKIRTS SHOULD BE WORN. 
 
 5 
 
 canton flannel armor extending beneath, the hose to boot-heel, 
 and beneath the muslin outside “ Combination Garment ” 
 (see Fig. 2), to neck and wrists, a lady may fairly defy the 
 elements upon the coldest winter day. And with the addition 
 of long-legged rubber boots, herself or daughters may safely 
 enjoy their “ constitutional ” walk upon the sloppiest day. 
 
 7. What kind of Skirts should be Worn? — It 
 
 is first needful to state what kind of skirts should not be 
 worn. 
 
 No balmoral, felt, flannel, or quilted shirt should he worn. 
 Balmoral and felt are too heayy for those who prize sound backs, 
 sides, and an undisturbed uterus. 
 
 Flannel skirts are not needed. In the style of clothing here 
 recommended it has been my 
 object to avoid shirts just so 
 far as practicable. The warm, 
 close-fitting “ combination 
 garments ” will be found to 
 do away with the old-fash- 
 ioned “ flannel petticoats ” 
 which, unfortunately, our 
 mothers clung to so tena- 
 ciously, and for the wear- 
 ing of which, buttoned 
 tightly over kidneys and 
 bowels, many of us, to-day, 
 are suffering. As for a quilt- 
 ed skirt, I confess to an 
 immediate lowering of re- 
 spect for a woman who wears 
 one. Its liable, and I may 
 add probable uncleanliness 
 after the first two months 
 of wear, are sufficient to con- suspenders and skirt attached. 
 
 sign it to oblivion. What shall be said, then, of its condition 
 after being worn twelve months ! Let a lady try to wear a 
 white skirt, without washing, for six or twelve months, and 
 
 Fig. 3. 
 
6 
 
 STEPS TOWARD A TRUE LIFE. 
 
 note its condition, before she invests in one of Stewart’s quilted 
 skirts. Too often the indescribable , insufferable, if not diaboli- 
 cal odors which so often salute the sensitive nostril, come from 
 clothing too long worn. 
 
 So we condemn the quilted skirt because of its inevitable 
 uncleanliness, though its weight and heat about the loins would- 
 otherwise, be a sufficient objection. 
 
 A skirt made of washable material is the best. It should be gored 
 at the top, and supported by suspenders, or buttoned to a waist. 
 
 Each lady should make it a study to avoid skirts as far as it - 
 is practicable to do so. One stiffened white underskirt, with 
 the customary dress skirt and overdress, are sufficient for appear- 
 ance and comfort. 
 
 8. Corsets an unmitigated evil. — If tight, they 
 compress the ribs and thereby force the abdominal and pelvic 
 
 viscera into abnormal posi- 
 tions ; if loose, they still 
 injure by their stiffness, 
 and their consequent un- 
 happy effect upon the great 
 muscles of the back, sides 
 and abdomen. A corseted 
 waist is not unlike a splin- 
 tered arm in one respect. 
 The muscles beneath the 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 corsets and splints are 
 alike made weak and 
 powerless. All shrewd 
 physicians know too 
 w r ell that weak sides 
 and abdominal mus- 
 cles, mean, ere long, 
 prolapsed bowels and 
 uterus. No genuinely 
 intelligent, conscien- 
 tious woman will tol- 
 erate corsets upon 
 herself or daughters. 
 
 Fig. 5. 
 
HOW UNDERCLOTHING SHOULD BE SUSPENDED. < 
 
 9. About ( farters . — Every system for suspending hose 
 from the belt or shoulders has proved a failure. The weight 
 of such skirts as women are compelled to wear are sufficient 
 for an ordinary pair of shoulders, without the added nuisance 
 of holding in place drooping stocking-legs! 
 
 With the “ Combination garments garters are not called 
 for. The hose is mostly supported by being drawn over the 
 neatly-fitting drawers of the undergarments. The further 
 support required may be Fig g 
 
 found in a safety-pin at the r 
 outside of the limb below 
 the knee. 
 
 Should these means 
 prove insufficient for chil- 
 dren, the stocking should 
 be seamed (by hand, after 
 the old fashion of our 
 mothers), for six inches 
 above the knees. This me- 
 thod will secure for the 
 next generation handsome- 
 ly formed legs and warm 
 feet. 
 
 For adults it is better 
 to rely upon the safety-pin 
 below the knee, as that will 
 prove satisfactory if the 
 garments are properly ad- 
 justed. See Eig. 2. A WAIST TO which setets MAT be buttoned. 
 
 10. Uotv Underclothing should be suspen ded . — 
 
 The Combination garments are all made from the shoulders, 
 and thus each garment is its own suspension. 
 
 All underskirts should be buttoned to neat white suspend- 
 ers, which cross high in the back and pass over the shoulder 
 to the belt, as in Fig. 3. If suspenders are not desired, a 
 pretty waist may be substituted. The reader is referred to 
 Fig. 6 for a representation of the waist and skirt buttoned 
 thereto. 
 
STEPS TOWARD A TRUE LIFE. 
 
 The dress skirt should alivays be sewed to a well-fitted lin- 
 ing. Dressmakers who send from their workrooms heavy skirts 
 sewed to belts, do not consider the comfort, convenience or 
 health of their patrons. What is more distressing, if not hu- 
 miliating, than to see a fashionable skirt, weighing four pounds, 
 dragging by a belt to the loins of a feeble woman, who twice 
 each week must needs present herself to a physician for the 
 purpose of going through some mysterious manipulations in 
 the way of replacing her disarranged organs, etc. 
 
 11. Shall a woman wear Pads, Belts, or Bus- 
 tles ? — If the padding consist of light wire shapes fitted by 
 hand to the bust, and of a convex form, no harm can come 
 from their use. Belts are bad. Their habitual use will even- 
 rig. 7. tually derange 
 
 liver, stomach, 
 and spleen ; 
 while they 
 must lessen 
 respiratory 
 power. 
 
 All bustles 
 except wire or 
 hoops are to be 
 avoided. The 
 latter attached 
 to a suspender 
 is really an ad- 
 vantage, in that it raises the skirts from the back which, other- 
 wise, would become overheated from the numerous folds in the 
 outside skirts. In short, belts, bustles, and pads may be worn 
 when they do not cripple movements, spoil form, or superin- 
 duce heat. 
 
 AN UNBELTED WAIST. 
 
 A BELTED WAIST. 
 
 12. The Old System of Woman’s Dress Com- 
 pared with the New.— In the old or ordinary style of 
 woman’s dress, scarcely anything is more conspicuous than 
 the lack of common sense shown in the arranging and getting 
 together a suit or set of clothing, or than the multiplicity of 
 
THE OLD SYSTEM OE WOMEN’S DRESS. 9 
 
 garments put on, and the many motions a woman must of 
 necessity make, while going through the process of dressing. 
 Every movement of the hand requires nervous power for its 
 performance. When, by a flight of the imagination, one calcu- 
 lates the thousands and thousands of unnecessary dressing 
 movements a woman must make during ten years of her life, 
 is it any wonder that nineteen-twentieths of the women of to- 
 day have exhausted nervous systems ? 
 
 A lady, with muffled groan, narrated to me, not tong since, 
 a single morning’s dressing of herself. 
 
 After adjusting nearly one pound of solid braided hair on the 
 top of her head, which was held in place by about thirty hair 
 pins, and adorned by a couple of bows and heavy-topped comb, 
 she took a few long breaths while she reconnoitered the debris 
 of last night’s discarded habiliments, and speculated as to how 
 she could quickest appropriate them. 
 
 First, she drew on her knit drawers, next clasped her corset 
 about her, then came in order a knit shirt, chemise, stockings, 
 garters, muslin drawers, two flannel underskirts, hoops, bus- 
 tle, two more skirts, pads, corset cover, dress skirt, overskirt, 
 basque, belt (and ornaments attached thereto), cuffs, bracelets, 
 rings, collar, neck-tie, pin, earrings, watch and chain, various 
 black necklaces and ornaments. 
 
 This lady y r as a church member, attended prayer-meetings 
 regularly, and was “ benevolent.” 
 
 This dress process must be gone through with three hundred 
 and sixty-five and a quarter times per year, to say nothing 
 of the three hundred and sixty-five and a quarter afternoons 
 that she must dress for, or of the every other dressing that 
 must be performed ! Where is the use of talking about open- 
 ing up avenues of labor for women, while these stupendous 
 daily dressings must be gone through with ? It seems to me 
 it were a mercy to her to close up aveuues of labor, lest with 
 all that even ordinai’y dress calls for, she may be in danger of 
 working herself to death ! 
 
 Let us for a moment analyze this woman’s dress, which, by- 
 the-by, is a fair sample, corresponding to which the average 
 woman adorns herself. First, she has but two thicknesses of 
 
10 
 
 STEPS TOWARD A TREE LIFE. 
 
 covering over her leg, from the knee to the ankle; second, but 
 three thin covers over the arm, and over the top of the chest ; 
 while about the waist, where one needs far less than about the 
 ankle or arm, she has two drawer bands, four underskirt bands, 
 two bauds for hoop and bustle, two bands for skirt and over- 
 skirt (and these bands, as all women know, except hoop and 
 bustle, are made of two thicknesses of fabric), to say nothing 
 of the two thicknesses that form the Corset, the knit flannel 
 waist, the chemise, basque, and belt, in all making twenty-four 
 layers of cloth around the waist — to say nothing of all the 
 gathers in the various skirts ! As an antidote to this picture, 
 I ask my reader to again study the beautiful and economical 
 arrangement of clothing in Fig. 2, which is herein presented, 
 then judge for herself, which system she will choose — that 
 which exhausts and enfeebles her frame, or that which shields 
 and ennobles it ? 
 
 13. Dressing for the Feet . — The man who can clothe 
 a foot handsomely is more than a mechanic ; he is an artist. 
 I have met but few, and they were geniuses. 
 
 Corns and enlarged joints embrace most of the local maladies 
 of the feet. The first are caused by tight-fitting boots and 
 shoes, and are cured by frequently soaking the feet in wartn 
 water, until the thickened cuticle becomes soft, and a continued 
 use of a loose and well-fitting boot. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 HEREDITARY GENIUS. 
 
 IIEN Gallon wrote “ Hereditary 
 Genius” he forgot his mother, and the 
 mother of each great mind that he used to 
 enrich his pages. He could see the son in a 
 sire ; hut the patient, prayerful, untiring 
 mother, who raised the seedling, and watered 
 and pruned, and finally bent the twig, passed 
 from his remembrance. 
 
 The history of men as mothers have made 
 them, is yet to be written. Given a child or 
 man, with the u pauper vice of lying,” it will not be difficult 
 to find some ignoble, undeveloped human creature who has 
 mothered it or him. 
 
 A woman will bear children of a quality corresponding to 
 her age and moral development. 
 
 15. What a mother has can she yive to her off- 
 spring — not more. — Has she age, experience, maturity? 
 Is she strong through suffering ; wise from observation ; of 
 flinty honesty, from long-trained convictions; enthusiastic 
 through the possession of an exalted faith ; has she “ walked 
 with God ” for twenty years ? Then her son may be a Samuel, 
 or even more. She has the material whereof heroes are made. 
 
 Is she young, ardent, inexperienced, filled with impulse, 
 hope, ambition, courage? Yet, her child will be born without 
 that which time would have given the mother. He will not 
 be born great. His mother had only youth, and could not 
 give the nobler qualities which come only with maturity. 
 
 What a mother has can she give to her offspring — not 
 more. 
 
12 
 
 STEPS TOWARD A TRUE LIFE. 
 
 An example, as given by Macaulay, is James I. of England, 
 and 'VI. of Scotland, “the offspring of Mary Queen of Scots, 
 and the handsome, inconstant, base, unmanly Darnley.” 
 Mary was twenty-three, Darnley nineteen years of age. King 
 James exhibited all the youthful follies of both parents until 
 his court became a byword for fickleness and dishonor. 
 
 The Duke of Reichstadt, son of Napoleon I., by his second 
 wife, Maria Louise, is an instance of the product of an unde- 
 veloped mother, of strong propensities and weak intellect, un- 
 accompanied by moral sentiments. Not that the children of 
 a young mother are necessarily weak morally, but that having 
 only the impulses of a girl she is less liable to transmit the 
 nobler qualities. 
 
 10. That which dominates in the mother be- 
 comes the leading- characteristic of the being conceived. 
 Vivacity, ardor, immaturity, characterize the sixteen, eighteen, 
 and twenty year old mother, and so her children. These 
 qualities may also characterize the mature woman who assumes 
 motherhood ; but, with them come discipline, wisdom, the 
 sway of the spiritual elements, combined with a profound sense 
 of responsibility to Grod for the making or marring of a human 
 soul. From the latter we get a consecrated nobility for the 
 new being which cannot come from sources less precious. 
 
 The biographers of gifted men, though often reticent respect- 
 ing maternal transmission, do now and then disclose important 
 proofs, showing that the older the mother is, other things 
 being equal, the richer are her bequests through offspring. 
 
 17. It seems strange that Bible Headers and 
 
 physiologists have not discovered that the influential men of 
 the Hebrew nation sprang almost exclusively from the loins of 
 mature or aged women. 
 
 When G-od makes a patriarch He summons a woman, not a 
 girl ! Sarah had long since arrived at the years of understand- 
 ing when she fondled Tsaac; Jacob and Esau were the children 
 of adult age. And who can forget that Syriau grandmother at 
 Pa'dan Aram, taking leave of her daughter Rebekah, while she 
 
nature’s laws are simple. 
 
 13 
 
 uttered that prophetic injunction, “Be thou the mother of 
 thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of 
 those which hate them.” 
 
 Jacob was of choice as well as mature stock. We almost 
 feel the far-off spirit of that heroic grandmother, and the near- 
 by sweetness of the gentle father in his involuntary exclama- 
 tion, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not; this 
 is none other but the house of God : and this is the gate of 
 Heaven!” 1 Who can tell what confluent ancestral streams 
 unite to produce the seemingly accidental greatness of men 
 that now and then bursts forth upon the world ! 
 
 18. Nature’s Laws are Simple : but, when known, 
 explain with clearness the most complicated appearances. 
 
 Further on, Ave find Reuben. “Unstable as water” was 
 Leah’s first-born, while J udah, the “ lion’s Avhelp, from whom 
 the sceptre shall not depart,” Avas her fourth son. Joseph, “a 
 fruitful bough, whose branches run over the wall,” Avas almost 
 a child of old age. Moses and Aaron Avere later born chil- 
 dren — Moses the youngest. David was the eighth son. Solo- 
 mon Avas the child of maturity, with a “loose screw” in his 
 immediate origin ; hence his Avorldly wisdom and his spiritual 
 poverty. In his misdemeanors Ave see a stupendous illustration 
 of befouled motherhood, of intellect without morality. His 
 glory Avas a sham! Never Avas there a more perfect expression 
 of the Avorthlessness of human life, unillumed by the divine 
 element, than Solomon’s meditations in Ecclesiastes! Farther 
 down appears the beloved Timothy. Paul’s words, as usual, 
 are pregnant with suggestion, Avhere he says, “When I call to 
 remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt 
 first in thy gradmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice ; and I 
 am persuaded in thee also.” 
 
 It will be instructive just here to remember another grand- 
 mother, that Ave may further realize how important is the 
 mother line in ancestry. Julia is not like unto Jacob’s Syrian 
 ancestress, Avho looms forth in the domestic drama at Padan 
 Aram, nor yet resembles the faithful Lois of Timothy. She 
 was “a Avoman of dissolute conduct, libidinous passions, and 
 
14 
 
 STEPS TOWARD A TRUE LIFE. 
 
 abandoned infamy.” Her most prominent child was Caligula, 
 who wished the Roman people had but one neck, that he might 
 at one blow destroy the whole race. Grandmother Julia’s 
 grandson (borne by the violent- tempered Agrippina) was Nero, 
 in whom savage cruelty seems to have fruited! History fur- 
 nishes no parallel to this human monster, who descended from 
 the infamous Roman Julia. 
 
 19. “ Look upon this Picture then upon that 
 
 — From Grandmother Lois and Julia to Timothy and Nero ! 
 
 Henry IV. was the most beloved of all French rulers. He 
 was also the beloved grandchild of Margaret of Navarre and 
 Henry D’Albret. 
 
 Lord Bacon, probably possessing the most powerful mind 
 that has yet appeared upon the earth, except Moses and Aris- 
 totle, exemplifies the intellectual worth, culture, and maturity 
 of both father and mother. 
 
 Anne, the mother of Francis Bacon, was educated like a man. 
 Her father, Sir Anthony Cook, gave her, at night, the lessons 
 he had given the prince (to whom he ivas tutor, under Edward 
 VI.) during the day. Anne Cook became “ distinguished as a 
 linguist and theologian.” “ She corresponded in Greek with 
 Bishop Jewel, and translated his Apologia, from Latin, so cor- 
 rectly that neither he nor Archbishop Parker could suggest a 
 single alteration. She also translated a series of sermons from 
 the Tuscan of Bernardo Ochino.” “ Her parental care of her 
 two sons, Anthony and Francis (mark Francis, the most noted, 
 was also the youngest ), two of the most extraordinary men of 
 her time, or, indeed, of any time, is possibly the best test of her 
 powers.” This was deeply felt by Francis, who, in his will, 
 says, “For my burial, I desire that it may be in St. Michael’s 
 church, near St. Alban’s — there was my mother buried.” 
 
 In Birch’s Memoirs of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, may be 
 seen “ the extraordinary vigilance used by Lady Anne in super- 
 intending the conduct of her sons long after they were adults.’’ 
 “Sir Nicholas Bacon,” continues Macauley, “was no ordinary 
 man; but the fame of the father was thrown into shade by that 
 of his son.” “ Sir Nicholas Bacon,” says Lloyd, “ was a man 
 
TWO HISTOKICAL FAMILIES. 
 
 15 
 
 full of wit and wisdom. He had the deepest reach of any man 
 at the council-table ; the knottiest head to pierce into difficul- 
 ties ; the most comprehensive judgment to surmount the merits 
 of a case ; the strongest memory to recollect all the circum- 
 stances at one view ; the greatest patience to debate and con- 
 sider, and the clearest reason to urge anything that came in his 
 way in the courts of Chancery. His favor was eminent with 
 his Queen, and his alliance strong with her statesmen. He was 
 Lord Keeper of the Great Seal in the time of Elizabeth. He 
 was, in a word, father of his country and of Sir Francis Bacon.” 
 It would seem that with -so gifted a mau, great qualities 
 would have been transmitted to offspring irrespective of the 
 quality of the mother. Let us see what biography says : 
 
 “By Sir Nicholas Bacon’s first marriage he had six children! 
 Those and the mother who bore them passed into oblivion, 
 leaving no trace except the record — ‘They were!’ Had Sir 
 Nicholas possessed a less ‘knotty head’ in his selection of a 
 second wife, and done as most Amei'icans do, wedded a girl, 
 young enough to be his daughter, doubtless another ‘They 
 were ’ might have been recorded for his progeny. Fortunately 
 he wedded Anne Cook, who was between thirty and forty years 
 of age, and the two most .extraordinary men of England were 
 the issue of this union.” 
 
 20. Milton, upon the other hand, married fool- 
 ishly. Though great as a poet, he was in his domestic relations 
 harsh and intolerant. From some constitutional or educa- 
 tional deficiency, Milton held low views of women. He did 
 not respect women. As a consequence, he made three matri- 
 monial mistakes, and was the victim of three divorces. He 
 unluckily married uncultivated, stupid women, and his fine 
 genius was lost to his offspring, because united to women of 
 low temperament. His sole surviving descendant is to-day 
 keeping a petty grocer’s shop ! 
 
 21. Two Historical Families in our own country, 
 the Edwardses and Wesleys, have had maternal founders. 
 
 “ Mrs. Edwards, the mother, who received a superior education 
 in Boston, was tall, dignified, and commanding in her appear- 
 
16 
 
 STEPS TOWARD A TRUE LIFE. 
 
 ance; affable and gentle in manner; possessed of remarkable 
 judgment, of extensive information, of great piety and excel- 
 lence of character, while she was domestic to the last degree ” (as 
 all symmetrically and artistically organized men and women are). 
 Mrs. Edwards was regarded by her contemporaries “as sur- 
 passing her gifted husband in native vigor of understanding.” 
 Jonathan Edwards was the choicest blossom of this union of 
 Nature’s aristocrats. So powerful was his oratory, that in his 
 sermon “ On the Doom of Sinners,” “ the solemnity and feel- 
 ings of the audience deepened at length into such insupporta- 
 ble agony” that the people cried aloud for mercy. 
 
 The mother of the Wesleys, Susannah Annesley, bore nineteen 
 children, and yet found time “to bestow elaborate care upon 
 the moral training of her three talented sons.” There is a deep 
 and well-founded reason for the Methodist church allowing- 
 women “to speak in meeting.” John Wesley founded the 
 Methodist church, and Susannah Annesley founded John 
 Wesley ! 
 
 22. Pitt, Fox, and Burke were all youngest 
 sons. The mothers of Sir William Jones, Cuvier, and Fene- 
 lon were in the meridian of life at the birth of their distin- 
 guished children. Washington came in his mother’s maturity, 
 and “ was strikingly like her in face, mien, and mental poise.” 
 Dr. Samuel Johnson’s mother was over forty years at his birth. 
 Benjamin Franklin was the eighth child, Benjamin West the 
 tenth, and Dr. Doddridge the twentieth child of their respective 
 mothers. 
 
 Napoleon I. came of a young and Eery Corsican, inured to 
 scenes of camp and council. 
 
 Goethe was born of a young mother, gifted intellectually, 
 but whose moral sense was developed late, if at all. Who can 
 say how different his life would have been if his mother had 
 been more a woman and less a girl. Then we should have had 
 no Faust to corrupt our youth ; and Goethe’s own life would 
 not have been befouled by loose gallantries, which cause his 
 friends to blush while they apologize for him. Who must not 
 remember Hannah and her child of prayer, Samuel ? 
 
CHILDREN OF PRAYER. 
 
 17 
 
 23. Children of Prayer , even if not 1 Yaza- 
 • rites , corns to this world peculiarly freighted with spiritual 
 power. Our own Samuel J. Mills, originator of the American 
 Foreign Missionary movement, was given to the Lord by his 
 mother, as truly as was that other Samuel by Hannah. 
 
 Upon the contrary, Hagar, with painful truth, represents 
 that unfortunate class of women who blacken the souls of their 
 offspring by indulgence in unholy passions, and demonstrates 
 what unhappy, desolate motherhood can do in marring human 
 creatures. Ishmael’s brooding passions furnish a mournful 
 contrast to the loveliness of Isaac’s character, as the latter ex- 
 claims, “ My father, behold the fire and the wood ; but where 
 is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 
 
 Nor does Hagar’s influence stop with Ishmael, if the Arab 
 Syed Ahmed can make true his rendering of various biblical 
 prophecies — among others, Gen. xvii. 20, and Isaiah xxi. 7. 
 Syed Ahmed, with some show of plausibility, makes Hagar the 
 mother of Mahomet, or rather her son the father of Mahomet 
 and his followers. Accordingly, we have fifty million Moslem 
 Ishmaels, in addition to the thousands of Ishmaels in our own 
 land, whose hands are against every man, etc. In view of these 
 facts, it seems very certain that the lion and lamb won’t lie 
 down together yet awhile! 
 
 Nor will the world be righted until the mother-power is set 
 to work less wastefully and more wisely. 
 
 Next to God, woman has most to do in improving the race! 
 
 24. Unfortunately, when Man has written of 
 hereditary genius he has seen only men, until the common 
 reader might believe the fathers all Jupiters, and their sons, 
 Pallas-like, sprung from their heads ; but when men reckon 
 children without their mothers, they forget to count their host. 
 
 Some wise man has suggested that to improve offspring the 
 prospective mother have about her beautiful pictures and 
 statues, so that she may by some mysterious, psychological 
 photography transfer the mental impressions to the soul of the 
 unborn child. This plan may be very well, and doubtless is, 
 when nothing better presents itself. 
 
 '2 
 
18 
 
 STEPS TOWARD A TRUE LIFE. 
 
 25. I can think of nothing better in the “ stat- 
 ue ” line for the coming mother to admire than a husband 
 who is beloved, honored, and trusted to the heart’s coi’e. His 
 very footfall, as she awaits in expectancy his coming, will limn 
 his characteristics upon the unborn child: the tones of his 
 voice, the touch of his hand, will send ecstasy through the 
 sensitive organism of the mother, which shall tone and beautify 
 the soul of the unborn as the sunlight stains the petal of the 
 flower. 
 
 20. In Biographical History no one thing is 
 more striking than that the women as mothers, who, other 
 things being equal, have been most beautiful spiritually, most 
 susceptible to divine influences, who, in other words, have lived 
 most with God, have most power for ennobling offspring. 
 
 Before Samson was born, his father, Manoah, plead the paren- 
 tal cause by demanding of the angel, “ How shall we order the 
 child, and how shall we do unto him?” If Manoah’s were 
 the prayer of all fathers and mothers to-day, we could afford to 
 wait for the millennium. 
 
 27. The Nicodemuses of the World may parley and 
 doubt, but there is a spiritual illumination, a mystical affilia- 
 tion with divinity, a Pentecostal day, which the Quakers have 
 got hold of, and which “ holiness ” meetings are discussing, 
 that deepens, broadens, heightens, and intensifies human life 
 to many times its original capacity. Women, as mothers, can 
 only demonstrate their full power by coming into this higher 
 realm of existence. When husbands will give them companion- 
 ship in this seraphic world of spiritual might, we shall see the 
 human blossom in its perfection — but not until then. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 HOME EDUCATION OF CHILDBEH. 
 
 EXT to (food ante-natal conditions a 
 
 judicious home education will do more to rid 
 this earth of vice than all other things and in- 
 fluences combined. 
 
 One can predict, at a glance, the moral bias 
 of men and women by the manner in which 
 they take hold of the minutiae of domestic de- 
 tails. Integrity in the details of life is equiva- 
 lent to a certificate of character ! Shiftlessness, 
 looseness, unconscientious endeavor here, means 
 baseness of heart and purpose. 
 
 29. One grand principle in child culture should be 
 observed from early babyhood, namely, never do a thing for a 
 child that it can do for itself. Second, oblige the child to 
 work, to accomplish a given amount of labor each day of its 
 life. Not long since I heard a philosopher remark, that “ the 
 crying curse of to-day is detestation of labor. The common 
 desire to get a livelihood without work leads to idleness and 
 crime.” 
 
 A third principle should be to teach a child reliableness and 
 exactness. It is needful to place the foundation of character 
 deep down in childhood or babyhood, if it is to stand the after 
 storms and battles that may come. I would like to see a child 
 so soundly reared that he would expect a thunderbolt to fall 
 about his head if he disobeyed father or mother. 
 
 30. I believe the actual moral bias of a boy or girl 
 is determined before it is eight years old. If he will tamper 
 with truth at that age he will never quite forget the trick in 
 
20 
 
 STEPS TOWARD A TRUE LIFE. 
 
 later years. If he cannot be trusted to execute a little com- 
 mission by the time he is eight years old, I would give little 
 for his trustworthiness later in life. 
 
 The child is emphatically father to the man and mother to 
 the woman. All the plays, all the work of the first eight years 
 of a child’s life should have a moral bearing. McDonald’s 
 story of the stern old Scotch grandmother, who compelled her 
 grandson to return the pennies given him, because he had not 
 earned them, should be conned o’er and o’er by the morally 
 shiftless mothers of this generation. That such rectitude of 
 conduct can be enforced, and the most exquisite gentleness be 
 maintained, both by educator and educated, is demonstrated 
 by kindergartens. 
 
 31. The Kindergarten method of instruction 
 
 should precede all book training. Mothers themselves should 
 understand kindergarten principles, and begin the education 
 of the child the first week of its life. Who can compute the 
 tremendous advantage that would accrue to the human creature 
 could all its earliest powers be directed in such a manner that 
 it need unlearn nothing in later life, and that it be directed in 
 such a way that all its young enthusiasms could be utilized to 
 the development of its body and soul ! Half of life goes in 
 striving to unlearn actions and their effects, that should never 
 have been learned. Human power could be quadrupled by an 
 economic use of every faculty God has given us. 
 
 32. Work is a great means of development.— 
 Boys should be taught all manner of work about house and 
 garden, even plain sewing and knitting will often keep them 
 from mischief, as well as teach them a little handicraft that 
 will serve them later in life. Some of the most heroic men I 
 have ever known helped their mothers in domestic details dur- 
 ing boyhood. Girls should be taught dish-washing, bed-mak- 
 ing, sweeping and dusting, from their fifth year of age; while 
 sewing and knitting should be commenced two years earlier. 
 The honestest and brightest women I have known could hardly 
 remember when they learned to sew. A mother cannot com- 
 mence these homely duties too early for the welfare of her 
 
MANNERS. 
 
 21 
 
 little ones. One of the banes of to-day is that nine-tenths of 
 all girls, rich and poor, under fourteen years of age, know not 
 the use of the needle. If a thorough and exquisite use of the 
 needle does not help along women’s rights it certainly is a safe- 
 guard to virtue. I even believe it will aid so-called women’s 
 rights, viewed in their true light. 
 
 33. 3Ien are drifting too much out of the sphere of 
 domesticity, and they are taking with them their wives and 
 daughters to the uncertain wastes of hotels and boarding- 
 houses. 
 
 The children of the wealthy are among the most unfortu- 
 nate children we have, since they are reared to no certain 
 vocation, and with no definite purpose. A young lady should 
 hesitate a long time before she consents to marry a man who 
 has been reared in a boarding-house, a hotel, or in a rich 
 family. Nine to one, in either case, he will prove a blight to 
 her life. 
 
 34. Manners. — The study of mere books is a small item 
 in the education of a human being. 
 
 The ancient Persians considered the attainment of two things 
 sufficient for a hero. These two items were to speak the truth 
 and shoot with the bow. With these hardy truth-speaking and 
 bow-shooting Persians, Cyrus made a renown that has lasted 
 from the time of the prophet Isaiah to the present. 
 
 Next to truthfulness, for a boy or girl, should be placed 
 modesty. Genuine modesty is directly allied to nobility. Its 
 inculcation must begin with babyhood itself; hence the best 
 child must be reared by a mother, noble in soul and cultured 
 in mind, and not by an ignorant nurse recently imported from 
 the slums of Europe ! 
 
 Modesty modifies every act and phase of life by its unspeak- 
 able charm, while immodesty sullies every thought and look by 
 its stolid effrontery. One of the portentous signs of the times 
 is the conspicuous lack of modesty which is betrayed by men, 
 women, boys, girls, and even children, in looks, words, and 
 acts. 
 
22 
 
 STEPS TOWARD A TRUE LIFE. 
 
 The brazen freedom manifested between the sexes at the 
 present day, to the clean-minded observer, is simply immodesty, 
 without the semblance of a blush remaining. Few things 
 astonish one more than the indelicate (if not actually love) let- 
 ters that pass from female parishioner to pastor, woman to man, 
 boy to girl, and vice versa, and all, while, mayhap, only casual 
 relations of acquaintanceship exist between them. In the good 
 old days of Quaker training, we believed it a crime to indite to 
 a man, unless under the solemn vow of betrothal, a line that 
 could be construed into even a tender sentiment. I think the 
 mothers of to-day have no idea to what a criminal extent this 
 indelicate, immodest, voluptuous, I may say sensual, style of 
 epistolary traffic is carried on. A girl cannot write a pseudo- 
 passionate epistle to a man without losing a flavor that the 
 honest woman cannot dispense with. 
 
 35. True Politeness is so much a thing of the soul 
 that I should sooner recommend the “Sermon on the Mount” 
 for a text-book than Lord Chesterfield’s Letters. It is so 
 blended with perfect obedience, truthfulness, modesty, and a 
 certain sensibility of temperament, that I look for it only 
 among the children of genuine Christian people. It is, in fact, 
 the result of a harmony of these high qualities. The time to 
 lay its corner-stone is in earliest childhood, if not late infancy. 
 
 36. Physical Culture. — Artificial methods for body 
 culture I have very little faith in. They are only a poor make- 
 shift, when natural, wholesome, spontaneous child-life cannot 
 be had. Nurses, and all their unnatural complications, are 
 simply a subtle, and, as yet, by parents, feebly comprehended 
 curse to the fresh-souled child. 
 
 What a child, male or female, needs is to be let loose out of 
 doors, with chilcjren of its own age for companions ; and for 
 playthings, a dog, cart, boat, ball, kite, sled, mud-pies (in their 
 season), with trees to climb, an old shed or barn to hie to in 
 rainy weather, while over, and unobtrusively guiding and en- 
 couraging all, should be ‘the cheerful-faced and wise-hearted 
 father and mother, who are ready, with instant sympathy, for 
 each childish joy and sorrow. With such facilities for a vigor- 
 
CniLDBEN’S DKESS. 
 
 23 
 
 ous life, a child will outlive consumption, scrofula, weak legs 
 puny arms, and bad dispositions. 
 
 A few restrictions should be laid upon the child, or it will 
 not profit to the full by these advantages : 
 
 First. Its daily modicum of work must be done before play. 
 
 Second. Its meals must never be omitted for amusement. 
 
 Third. It must not be allowed to rush from the play-spell to 
 the table, but rest a half-hour before dinner and supper. Many 
 a child is made a life-long dyspeptic by immethodical and 
 hurried eating. 
 
 37. Children’s Dress. — I have observed that over- 
 dressed children are rarely robust in body or natural in man- 
 ner. As a rule, cotton garments are objectionable. Wool 
 fabrics for pants, dresses, coats, and sacks should be used for all 
 seasons, except a few weeks in midsummer. 
 
 The legs, knees, arms, and shoulders of children of both 
 sexes should be scrupulously covered, winter and summer, 
 unless in the latter they are happily allowed to run barefooted 
 for a term of ten or twelve weeks. Fortunately persons of 
 wealth, provided they possess culture, are striving to subject 
 their children to those conditions of life, irrespective of foolish 
 notions of dress and appearance, which will ultimately bring 
 them most body and soul power. The parents of Henry IY. 
 of France placed their son for some years among the peasantry, 
 where he shared their labors, and was fed largely upon a diet of 
 bread and milk. He became noted for his personal beauty. 
 No doubt his early days of out-of-door life and bread and milk 
 had much to do with it. . 
 
 I know of an intelligent Englishman who has placed his son 
 among farmers, that he may learn how to do homely work and 
 practice self-denial. All over this country men and women 
 are commencing to realize that six feet altitude and 180 avoir- 
 dupois for their sou is a better start among men than the 
 bankstocks of the deplorable specimens of precocity and in- 
 efficiency that disgrace too many families of wealth. 
 
 38. Ch ildren should not only he plainly and 
 substantially dressed, but they should be taught to 
 
24 
 
 STEPS TOWARD A TRITE LIFE. 
 
 take care of themselves and their clothes. Each child should 
 have given it a drawer in a bureau, or a small trunk, where its 
 clothes are kept, and he should be expected to keep said drawer 
 or trunk in perfect order. Bonnets and hats, coats and sacks, 
 should be carefully hung up at a stated spot by the wearers of 
 each. Boots and shoes should be kept clean and black by their 
 individual owners. And just so far as practicable the rents 
 and holes in wearing apparel should be mended by the makers 
 of them. This habit in both sexes should be commenced in the 
 early morning of life. I know of nothing that so induces 
 steadiness and gentle obedience in children as an attention to 
 these details of life. Life is made up, in the main, of such 
 minute details that he who is derelict therein becomes a crea- 
 ture of inharmonies. 
 
 I know of few sights so unlovely as a child unchastened by 
 restraint, roughened by boisterous companionship, and careless 
 of all persons, places and things save the gratification of his 
 selfish wants. One need not expect high breeding or lovely 
 characters to evolve from such unpromising boy or girl child- 
 hood. 
 
 39. Religious training for Children. — I cannot 
 close this chapter without alluding to religious training in 
 children. Unchristian parents furnish sorry instructors for 
 children. One must feel that which lie would inculcate. 
 While it may be unwise to attempt to teach doctrines to chil- 
 dren, it is never too early to instill into their fresh souls a trust 
 in divine power, and an implicit faith in God as a personal 
 friend ; and that all that is noble and good in us finds instant 
 response from this celestial source. With these premises granted, 
 the child should then be taught in the good old Quaker way, 
 that simply doing right in every act and thought, with no 
 struggle for fervid experience, is all that is required. How 
 rich is the harvest of life to one thus inspired and taught ! 
 
 For the encouragement of mothers, I must relate one little 
 item concerning John Ruskin. His mother literally compelled 
 her son to read the Bible through from Genesis to Revelation 
 once each year. Late in life her son confesses that aside from 
 
RELIGIOUS TRAINING FOR CHILDREN. 
 
 25 
 
 his getting a splendid knowledge of the Bible, in consequence 
 of his mother’s requirement, he acquired a punctuality and 
 method that had been of unspeakable value to him. 
 
 I do not comprehend the objections usually brought against 
 indiscriminate reading of the Bible. I cannot comprehend 
 how a clean-thoughted person can other than drink in heroism 
 and inspiration — even if deadened to spiritual enlivenment — 
 from the grand panorama of that biblical army of men and 
 women, mighty in body, heart and spirit! 
 
 Then, I would read, with the children, the Bible, and believe 
 that with their hearts and imaginations they would drink in 
 the truth, poetry, and transcendant humanity that crowd and 
 scintillate its pages. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 “SEX IN EDUCATION.” 
 
 CZY Eden’s first days there was no conscious- 
 ness of sex ; and the innocent, artless meandering 
 of the two first lovers, beguiled only by the birds, 
 the stars, and the unstudied chain that fettered 
 the twain, is the first love story in Jewish litera- 
 ture. 
 
 How different now ! This age and generation 
 are bedaubed and beslimed by sex. There is sex 
 in politics, sex in labor, sex in the pulpit, sex in 
 church -membership, sex in schools, sex in conver- 
 sation, sex in exercise, sex in dress, sex in everything from 
 the cradle to the grave. Yea, even the marble slab tells us 
 she was a relict of him, as was his snuff-box or spectacle-case. 
 
 41. In a respectable farming district in New 
 
 England, the neighbors were all on the qui vive one September 
 Monday morning because a new schoolhouse, and a new teacher 
 who had recently graduated at Harvard, were the topic of con- 
 versation. The announcement was made at previous Sabbath 
 meeting that the teacher had arrived, and the school was to 
 begin immediately. The “ tinkle ” of the pretty bell caused 
 an instant hush, and the children anxiously waited for the first 
 words from their new teacher, who was to be called “professor.” 
 He was about twenty-eight, and of a pale, spare, little-legged, 
 small-armed, round-shouldered, thin-lipped sort, brow large 
 and pale, eyes small and bright, voice somewhat effeminate and 
 affected, and the absence of jewelry and carefully-worn clothing 
 left the impression that he had worked hard and denied him- 
 self much to acquire a thorough education. 
 
 Then he told those little birds with outstretched bills how he 
 
A RESPECTABLE FARMING DISTRICT. 
 
 27 
 
 had come to work for them, and wanted to learn to love them 
 all, that he might teach them more. He drew pictures of their 
 after-life until the boys grew big, and their breaths grew hot as 
 they unconsciously panted for the task which should lift them 
 to the mountain-peak of fame and usefulness. For the girls 
 he pictured only the enjoyments of a quiet home and its name- 
 less common duties; but fame, and honor, .and recognition, 
 and culture, and power, were not for them. The professor told 
 them that Dr. Clackenboss had lectured to the Harvard students 
 and told them that girls, by virtue of their sex, were unfitted 
 to cope with boys in study ; that if they did, they would fail 
 in health ; that nature made them “ superior creatures,” and 
 they wei’e not fitted to travel those paths where the lion’s whelp 
 goeth not and the eye of vulture never sees; but that girls 
 might serve God by waiting on man, by attending to his linen, 
 and preparing nice dinners, and taking care of the children, 
 and, finally, making a model Christian home. 
 
 The regret one feels with the first thought of having been 
 born a girl is only more than compensated by the grander 
 thought of our inheritance of womanhood. Womanhood ! 
 The exotic of all the ages ! pale, suffering, patient, wronged 
 womanhood ! When will thy thongs be cut, that thou mayest 
 again walk and talk with thy Father, God, and not feel thy 
 prayer stifled through its clumsier expression by thy self- 
 constituted keeper and master ? 
 
 The enlightened American womanhood of to-day does not 
 ask to vote, or work, or trade horses. Its one prayer is for 
 emancipation. Think of it, ye gods! Lucretia Mott, Mary 
 Livermore, Lydia M. Child, Mrs. Oakes Smith, and others of 
 their ilk, subjected to the critical castigation of a brainless 
 tape- measurer, or that of some irresponsible, beardless scribbler 
 in some impersonalized journal. Do you wonder that the com- 
 mon phase of man’s regard for woman is received as a poor com- 
 pensation for her reserved rights held within his greedy clutch ? 
 
 Man knows but little of the tyranny of sex which pervades 
 Christendom. Let him, in imagination, change places with 
 the most favored woman, and he will no longer wonder why he 
 never heard a man express a wish to be a woman. 
 
28 
 
 STEPS TOWARD A TRUE LIFE. 
 
 42. 3Idbel Jones sat and listened. Mabel had great big 
 eyes, and they always seemed full of tears, though she seldom 
 wept. Her father, Squire Jones, used to keep an underground 
 Railway Station, and Wendell Phillips and Lucretia Mott used 
 to visit him, and Mabel often heard them and her parents talk 
 of schools, and religion, and government, and the Fugitive 
 Slave Laxo, and She had been encouraged by her wise mother 
 to believe that one day she might help to make some things a 
 little better than they were. 
 
 On that Monday morning Mabel had carried an armful of 
 books to the new schoolhouse. She was fifteen, and she hoped 
 to learn so much, and help her brother, who was not as bright 
 as she; but now the new teacher had told her that girls could 
 not do much in this world, and that they did not amount to 
 much any way. Mabel had always thought otherwise, and 
 she was a wise girl. She looked around at the girls and women 
 she knew, and they verified what the professor had said. Then 
 she thought the professor was very wise, for he was from Har- 
 vard. And he told them of the great Dr. Clackenboss, who 
 knew all about girls, and how God had made them, and what 
 He made them for ; and surely the great Dr. Clackenboss must 
 be right, for he lectured at Harvard. 
 
 When the school* was dismissed big-eyed Mabel went home; 
 and her books were heavier than they were when she carried 
 them to school in the morning, and the birds sang to her as 
 she walked along. Mabel could not eat any supper, for there 
 was a “lump in her throat.” When Mabel went to bed, she 
 did not cry ; but the lump was in her throat all the same. 
 
 During the night Mabel tried to sleep, but as soon as she 
 would shut her eyes, the new teacher would .come, and she 
 heard him say so plain, “Mabel Jones, Mabel Jones, you have 
 been very* silly. Why did you bring those books to school ? 
 Did you not know, Mabel, that girls were so organized that to 
 study hard and learn much, will ruin their health ? Only half 
 the time can you study, Mabel. You are weak ; you are a girl ; 
 half the time between now and twenty you will be unfit for 
 study. Mabel Jones, I am sorry for you ; but you are only a 
 girl , — and girls can’t study with boys; the great Dr. Clacken- 
 
COME HERE, MABEL JONES. 
 
 29 
 
 boss said so ; and it must be so. I am sorry, Mabel, very. I 
 think the Lord must have forgotten something when you were 
 gotten up, Mabel.” 
 
 And so Mabel slept with the lump in her throat all night, 
 and in the morning she told her mother, and her great big eyes 
 were filled with tears. God help thee, Mabel ! Thou'lt need 
 Him again as now. I see thee in the rugged path of after years, 
 and ever and anon go down on thy knees and ask Him to guide 
 thee when doctors are filling thy ears with lies, and false teach- 
 ers are leading thee to idleness or shame ! 
 
 43. Come here, Mabel Jones, and let me talk to 
 you. Save your tears until the time comes when you will need 
 them more. You are a bright girl and I love you. and wish 
 the world were full of such as you. Your new teacher is a 
 good man, but he does not know much. He has been to school 
 and heard professors talk; but he knows very little of the 
 world. Take your books back to school ; study them and help 
 your brother, if he cannot keep up with you. Never listen to 
 anybody who tells you that you cannot be a grand and useful 
 woman. I know this Dr. Clackenboss. He is like all other 
 men doctors who try to teach cultured women more about 
 women than they themselves know. Men never seem sillier 
 than when they try to tell a woman how she does or ought to feel. 
 
 All students should be careful to preserve their health. Do 
 you see your new teacher? He is misshapen, old and half worn 
 out, though only a full grown boy in years. You must do 
 better ; study physiology. Be wise in dressing, in bathing, in 
 your exercise, in diet, in study, in everything. Then your 
 health will not fail, nor will you fail. More than three-fourths 
 of boys and girls lose their health while securing an education ; 
 not because they are boys, nor because they are girls ; but be- 
 cause they have disregarded the laws of health. Place your 
 standard high and wisely, and bravely strive to attain it ; and, 
 trust me, my dear girl, God will bless you in your work. In 
 the darkest hours remember your commission, make most of 
 your every talent ; and always be comforted by the assurance 
 that in the eyes of heaven womanhood is worth as much as 
 manhood, and is not more liable to faint by the way. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 COURTESY BETWEEN HUSBANDS AND WIVES. 
 
 F marriage is not a sacrament in 
 the technical sense , it, certainly, must be 
 made so through experience, before the parties 
 to it reap its full meed of blessing. In a word, 
 marriage is either sacredness or baseness ! 
 
 “ If life is one hundred,” says a witty woman, 
 “even the worst marriage counts fifty.” Set- 
 ting aside the delights of mere love and sym- 
 pathy, springing from a rational marriage, and 
 the consequent growth therefrom, there is yet 
 a view of it too little considered, viz., the development of char- 
 acter which must come from the study of a human being to 
 whom the wife or husband continually adapts her or himself, 
 the constant “'give and take” of opportunities and drawbacks, 
 the incessant play of judgment (even between the most loving 
 pair) in adaptation of each to each, the subtle play of soul upon 
 soul, are of unspeakable value in the development of power, 
 nobility, and, let us hope, of spiritual bloom. I believe, setting 
 aside adultery and the worst cases of drunkenness and insanity, 
 almost any marriage, which has been honestly contracted, can 
 be made endurable by him or her who wills it. 
 
 In nearly every case of dissolved marriage, it will be found 
 that the qualities of character which rendered marriage num- 
 ber one a disfigurement upon society, will also render marriage 
 number two or three, a like misfortune. The philosophic 
 method is, not to get rid of the marriage, but of the qualities 
 of heart and soul that mar it! 
 
 45. Gossiping Infidelity of Husbands and 
 Wives. — There is a disgraceful and common fashion nowa- 
 
POLITENESS BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE. 31 
 
 days for wives and husbands to narrate the drawbacks of each 
 other to their respective friends, while, at the same time, they 
 bemoan their personal trials and tribulations. This has always 
 seemed to me a species of cowardly infidelity to a husband or 
 wife which should meet with sharp reproof. It does not matter 
 so much how a human being suffers, as that he or she hides 
 such suffering from view. At the present day it too often hap- 
 pens that a woman will pour her wifely woes into the ears of 
 another man — that, to a dignified mind, is the last contempti- 
 ble act a silly woman is capable of! I trust the next book on 
 manners will proclaim upon its title-page that the climax of 
 indecency is to parade social troubles .1 before the public eye, or 
 private ear. It is better to burst with a domestic sorrow than 
 to tell of it! In the former case there would be hope of going 
 white and clean to God; in the latter, your best friend will 
 ultimately disrespect if not despise you. 
 
 46, Politeness between husband and wife , — 
 Common sense would teach us that persons who are most 
 vitally and intricately associated, should need to use the 
 choicest methods for rendering such asssociation agreeable and 
 harmonious. Since even the superficial forms of politeness 
 seem to throw a roseate hue over the little unharmonies of life, 
 it would strike one that a husband and wife should be scrupu- 
 lously careful of the personal bearing of each other, lest either 
 be guilty of wounding feeling by word or manner. There are 
 so many ways in which a wife or husband may unknowingly 
 trespass upon the domain of each other, that it seems only the 
 most vulgarly stolid should willfully mar and darken the life of 
 the other. 
 
 There are innumerable times and seasons when by a gentle 
 act, or word, or even loolc, a husband may win his wife’s un- 
 speakable gratitude ; and, may there not be times when a wife 
 may thus win a husband’s ? 
 
 True success in life is so much a subjective thing, so much a 
 thing of absolute character, that life seems a sad failure, indeed, 
 ■when one has hot evolved harmonies in his own home rela- 
 tions. Excessive politeness in public can never satisfy the 
 
32 
 
 STEPS TOWARD A TRUE LIFE. 
 
 ideal loving wife or husband. Somehow we feel through 
 artifices and shams, and our souls, at last, touch the reality. 
 Only that gentle breeding that cannot be hid in society, and 
 yet penetrates to even the bedchamber, can charm like a per- 
 fume, or a rapturous .strain of music, the inequalities of life. 
 This kind of politeness is so difficult of attainment, that one 
 who is hampered by temper, hatred and pride, may think the 
 task too hard, or that the prize, a good wife or husband, is not 
 worth the toil. However, a husband or wife is only a tithe of 
 the reward in this case, happily ; the actual reward is a subju- 
 gation of hateful characteristics , and the birth of the heroic and 
 god-like qualities. 
 
 47. When I teas a girl and at school, Wendell 
 
 Phillips addressed us, and dwelt upon the desirableness of 
 meeting difficulties, and the strength of spirit that came from 
 surmounting them. My heart burned within me at his words, 
 and I longed to meet a difficulty. I could hardly sit still and 
 wait until one should come ; I thought I would like to do 
 nothing but overcome difficulties the rest of my life. I did not 
 know then what I have learned since, that the worst diffi- 
 culties I could ever meet were even at that moment intrenched 
 within my own soul ! Thus it is with the young man and 
 woman. They chafe and fret for actual life to open wide its 
 doors, that their feet may find the broad way to success and 
 happiness ; and when the storm-king appears in their matri- 
 monial heaven, what poltroons they are! 
 
 48. In theory they know that a trouble, courage- 
 ously and conscientiously borne to the end, is an education ; 
 and yet how few but will ignominiously refuse to bear the bur- 
 dens that come with marriage ! 
 
 I do not believe it is possible to secure a genuinely happy 
 marriage unless the parties to it not only respect and love each 
 other, but that they actually possess genuine Christian prin- 
 ciples. That humility and teachableness of spirit which the 
 sincere Christian possesses is magical in the transforming and 
 beautifying the turbulent qualities of an undisciplined hus- 
 
TROUBLE AN EDUCATION. 
 
 33 
 
 band and wife. I think not half enough is said of the power 
 of the graces in beautifying the hearts, dispositions, and even 
 faces of persons. Sermons are full of the fact that attainment 
 of Christianity is a fee simple for heaven ; but of its exceeding 
 loveliness in every-day life, too little is said. Christianity is 
 worth working for if only for its BEAUTY-imparting power. I 
 shall never forget the gracious presence of that heavenly 
 Quaker woman, Louisa Frost, of Central New York. She was 
 eighty-three years old at the time I saw her ; and yet no youth- 
 ful girl or woman ever impressed me as being so beautiful as 
 this white- skinned, clear -eyed, gentle - voiced woman, who 
 seemed almost as familiar with God as she was with the 
 numerous guests who besought admittance to her chamber. 
 
 Marriage must be the makeshift that it too often is until 
 men and women enter it with better purposes. 
 
 3 
 
I 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 infs upon Kitchen and Dining- 
 room. — There are fete things that so con- 
 spicuously determine the quality of the mind 
 and heart of a housekeeper as that tattooed 
 quarter of the house denominated kitchen. 
 Here the mistress of a house unconsciously 
 betrays whatever of the artistic, conscientious, 
 practical, or capable faculties she may pos- 
 sess. The kitchen is a far truer index of the 
 spirit of the house than the parlor. The plea 
 that “servants rule” is no excuse for kitchen mismanagement. 
 It is but a plea for the incapacity and the undisciplined heart 
 and mind of the wife, mother and mistress. Servants don’t 
 rule in the houses of any save badly organized or badly trained 
 women. 
 
 50. What the Kitchen should be. — The kitchen 
 should be not only light and airy, but it should be sunny 
 morning and evening. It should be lighted by at least four 
 windows, which can be easily opened top and bottom. Dark 
 kitchens are not only unhealthy for its occupants, but food in 
 them must of necessity be less nicely cared for, because of the 
 lack of light. Mustiness or mouldiness, that offense to nostrils, 
 taste, and good health, is common in kitchens to which the 
 sun’s rays do not commonly penetrate. 
 
 A light, sunny kitchen is almost sure to be sweet, wholesome, 
 and cheerful. The walls of a kitchen should either be painted 
 or papered in light colors, the windows be relieved by easily- 
 moved shades, and the floor should not he carpeted, but painted 
 and varnished twice each year. No one who has not tried it 
 can realize the sense of cleanness that comes from a well-painted. 
 
KITCHEN CLOSETS. 
 
 35 
 
 well- varnished kitchen floor ! By a properly adjusted flue over 
 the stove or range, all odors can be at once conveyed to the 
 chimney- top, and thus the adjoining rooms and hall- ways be 
 relieved of unhealthy, unbeautiful, not to say disgusting odors. 
 
 51. Laundry work should he done in a little out- 
 side room which is always needful for various work that does 
 not legitimately belong to the kitchen proper. In that room 
 the tubs should be permanently set and arranged, with faucets 
 for escape of water. Lifting of tubs has done untold mischief 
 to the lumbar and uterine muscles of women. It is a needless 
 and wasteful use of strength, which all women should protest 
 against. In these days, when every prairie farmer in Nebraska 
 or Dacotab uses all expensive machinery invented by the wits 
 of men, and propelled .by the muscles of horses, for saving his 
 back, legs and hands, women should see to it that they waste 
 not an ounce of nerve power through muscular taxation, that 
 can be obviated by a little inexpensive machinery. 
 
 52. Kitchen Conveniences. — A kitchen should be a 
 sort of convenient machine, that can be worked with little 
 friction. 
 
 The cooking-stove or range should embraoe the latest im- 
 provements, even if it be renewed as often as a farmer renews 
 his hay-rake. I must repeat, lest my reader gather not the 
 whole emphasis that my words are meant to convey, see to it 
 that the stove or range be labor-saving, and thoroughly con- 
 venient. Every woman knows that a stove with a feeble 
 draught, one that won’t hold the fire, one that requires contin- 
 ual lifting of utensils, an oven that burns on top, or that won’t 
 bake on the bottom, doubles labor and nervous exhaustion for 
 herself and servant. 
 
 53. Kitchen Closets. — Never tolerate a dark kitchen 
 closet or unfinished corners. The shelves should be covered 
 with light, if not white paint, and there should be abundance 
 of drawers for linen, knives, and spoons, also an abundance of 
 hooks for hanging whatever can be hung. Architects are be- 
 hind the spirit of the times in their arrangement of houses and 
 
36 
 
 STEPS TOWARD A TRUE LIRE. 
 
 house economies. Whereas everything about a kitchen and 
 its environs should be arranged with a view to the least lifting, 
 the fewest handstrokes and footsteps, architects contrive every- 
 thing for the most wasteful outlay of strength. And so untold 
 tons of woman’s strength goes for nothing. 
 
 Just here a wise, intelligent, and mechanically ingenious 
 husband (men without deft hands, nimble brains, and sympa- 
 thizing hearts make poor husbands), can wonderfully supple- 
 ment a woman of tact. It would not be too much to say that 
 he can even save power to his wife that shall ultimately go over 
 to his coming children, by contriving ways for saving her 
 strength in the kitchen. Sure I am that hundreds of women, 
 both East and West, are wasting power in their badly-arranged 
 kitchens and dining-rooms that otherwise would have gone to 
 the invigoration of their offspring. 
 
 54. There should lie an adjunct to every kitchen in 
 the form of a labor-saving machine. It consists of a small room, 
 or very large pantry, about nine or ten feet long b,y six or eight 
 feet wide. In it should be one large window, that opens top 
 and bottom. 
 
 Upon one side should be a neatly-made sink, with hot and 
 cold water, if in a city, or if in the country, pumps for hard 
 and soft water. Under the sink should be every conceivable 
 convenience for pots and kettles. Over the sink, high enough 
 to be out of the way, should be a couple of shelves, five feet 
 long, for holding tinware, etc. Upon the second side of the 
 room, at the right hand of the sink as one faces it, should be 
 five deep, easily-opened compartments, for coarse and fine flour, 
 oats, corn, and rye meal. Above these chests should be a broad 
 dresser, surmounted by a couple of excellent closets for the 
 accommodation of ordinary victuals. The third side should be 
 filled with wide, open shelves from the top of the room to 
 within three feet of the floor, while the remaining three feet 
 should be filled with nine easily-moved drawers, arranged three 
 in a row. These can be used for table linen, etc., etc. Upon 
 the fourth side, the superficies of which is lessened by the door 
 to the room, should be a drop-leaf table, for bread, cake, and 
 
THE DINING-ROOM. 
 
 37 
 
 pastry work. Above this table should be three narrow shelves, 
 for boxes, nicely labeled with name of contents, such as (for 
 those who use them) coffee, tea, cocoa, spices of all kinds, and 
 firkins for several graded of sugar. The ceiling, walls, shelves, 
 and floor should be painted and varnished. 
 
 I need scarcely add that the most scrupulous neatness should 
 pertain to everything about persons and things belonging to 
 the kitchen. 
 
 55. Servants — the fewer of them the better. 
 Sons and daughters actually need the discipline of the work 
 that servants are often hired to do. 
 
 A servant girl should be treated as a Christian woman would 
 treat a Christian woman. It has often been a matter of 
 astonishment to me that woman, so choice of her own daugh- 
 ter, should so badly lodge the daughter of some other woman, 
 as she too often does her servant girl. 
 
 I consider it the peculiar duty of a housekeeper to see per- 
 sonally that the servant girl, who is companion to her children, 
 shall keep her person, wardrobe, and sleeping apartment, at 
 least, neat and clean, and that she shall appear morning and 
 evening at Bible-reading and prayers, if such are had in the 
 household. A servant who is too wicked to consent to this is 
 too wicked to live among children. 
 
 50. The Dining-room. — A great man has said, “the 
 dinner-party is the highest expression of civilization.” 
 
 To prepare food in a scientific and exquisite manner, and to 
 partake of it under satisfactory circumstances, is a matter that 
 requires all the judgment, common sense, and artistic ability 
 one human being is likely to possess. 
 
 A dining-room, if possible, should be an East room. It 
 should be numerously windowed, well ventilated, and clean. 
 
 For adornment, I should prefer pictures of mountains and 
 sea views to the stereotyped fruit and game pieces that one has 
 long since wearied of. 
 
 The temperature should never suggest chilliness. An air of 
 inhospitality is imparted when one must muffle in breakfast 
 shawls or overcoats, or submit to a miniature ague fit. 
 
38 
 
 STEPS TOWARD A TRUE LIFE. 
 
 »> !) o Perfect 'method ((bout all eati/ny processes 
 should be had. Meals should come with punctuality. 
 
 Leisure at table is agreeable as wholesome, while clouded 
 brows, stern lips, and uncordial tones are as hateful as under- 
 bred. What earthly tableau is more warming to every social 
 instinct than a cozy breakfast in a sunny room, with lire upon 
 the hearth, and a table surrounded by host, hostess, children, 
 and guests, full of cheer, humor, and appetite! Neglect no 
 formality because } T ou are alone. Be as much to each other as 
 you are to strangers. Your wife will not less appreciate your 
 Wit or your smile because she is the only recipient. Your hus- 
 band will not less appreciate full courses, and those distinctly 
 separated by well-swept table linen, than he would if others 
 shared the honor with him. 
 
 S8. Always x>reside at your own table . — Never 
 yield to another, unless you would take a second place in the 
 household. If means are limited, teach your sons and daugh- 
 ters to wait upon the table in turns. It will allow greater 
 freedom for conversation, and will yield a wholesome discipline 
 to the one serving, which will not be lost in after years. 
 
 St). Do not burden your table or your strenyth 
 
 by furnishing a great variety at one meal. Few dishes, well 
 cooked and served, are most grateful, from all points o„f view. 
 Do not have certain oft-repeated dishes upon certain set days. 
 The eye, mind, and stomach alike are pleased with novelty. 
 An exquisite muffin at breakfast, when the taste has revolted 
 at the stereotyped “ bread and butter ” regimen, is an item to be 
 duly thankful for. Let everything about the room and table 
 suggest freshness. 
 
 Bread should be evenly and thinly cut, and laid upon the 
 plate as though it had been handled by tender and considerate 
 fingers. Butter should be hard, and carefully laid in the 
 middle of the plate; the small milk-pitcher perfectly clean, 
 and of exquisite form, and sugar-bowl to match. An artistic 
 housekeeper will always see that cups and saucers are small, of 
 beautiful form and texture, and that teaspoons are of solid 
 
WITHOUT METHOD ALL LIFE IS WORRY. 
 
 39 
 
 silver. Beverages served in faultless china and silver acquire 
 an added delicacy of flavor. One cup thus served will satisfy 
 body and soul as a dozen cups will not if served in ware thick 
 enough for a wash-bowl, accompanied by a tarnished spoon. 
 
 GO. Without method all life is a shiftless 
 worry. — Everything should be planned ahead. Lincoln’s 
 advice to not cross a" bridge till you come to it, will not prove 
 sound in the household. All domestic bridges have to be 
 crossed by the artistic housekeeper, in imagination, before 
 the family get to them. At night have all in readiness for 
 to-morrow’s breakfast, if not to-morrow’s dinner. 
 
 In the good time coming, when the domestic is to form the 
 highest expression of life, as it surely must do if human beings 
 are to reach their best development, husbands will su}Jplement 
 wives far more efficiently and cordially than they do now. 
 Then, when “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,” 
 domestic machinery will move with a “ Te Deum,” and not, as 
 now, with a sigh ! Then will come harmony and content- 
 ment. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 TJVTS upon Bathing. — No bath should 
 
 be taken when the body is fatigued. No bath 
 should be taken immediately after or before a 
 meal. If practicable, the bath should be taken 
 when the body is at its maximum of vigor. 
 
 For ordinary life, the most convenient time 
 for a bath is upon rising or retiring. A bath 
 upon going to bed is conducive to sleep. 
 Simply washing the skin with clear water is 
 not sufficient for cleanliness. .Soap should be 
 freely used. Even with soap and water, the skin often remains 
 Unclean, as is proved by the rolls of debris that can be rubbed 
 from it after a vapor bath. 
 
 The bath should be taken in a well-heated room, and should 
 ever be followed by a sensation of comfort, otherwise more harm 
 than good has been done. 
 
 If the person be delicate to atmospheric impressions, take 
 the bath very quickly, and do not wet the whole body at once. 
 For a general bath the water may be of temperature that is 
 agreeable to the bather. 
 
 02. Foot Baths are invaluable, and maybe taken several 
 times per week, with advantage by all persons. Well persons 
 may continue them from fifteen to thirty minutes in water as 
 cool as can be borne. Rub dry with towel and hand, and p>are 
 the nails carefully. This practice keeps the feet nice, and rids 
 them of corns. 
 
 63. flip, or Sitz-Bath . — The sitz-bath may be taken 
 in a common-sized wash-tub, or sitz-bath tub, with so much 
 water as nearly to fill the tub when the person sits down. The 
 person should remove all his clothing, and be well wrapped 
 
YAPOE OR TURKISH BATHS. 
 
 41 
 
 over the shoulders with a comfortable. Many times it is desira- 
 ble to take a warm foot-bath while a sitz-bath is taken. In this 
 case, the feet should be dipped into the cool water when taken 
 out of the warm bath. A cool, wet cloth should be worn on 
 the head. This bath is continued from five to ninety minutes, 
 to meet conditions ; though the more usual time is from fif- 
 teen to thirty minutes. 
 
 The sitz-bath is invaluable in a host of ailments — uterine, 
 biliary, etc., etc. 
 
 The average temperage is 90° cooled to 85° just before leav- 
 ing the tub. 
 
 64. In acute ailments it must be remembered that the 
 higher the fever the higher should be the temperature of the 
 water for bathing. 
 
 65. Vapor or Turkish Bath. — This is the prince 
 of remedial baths, specially adapted to rheumatism, colds, fevers, 
 inflammations, “biliousness,” and skin diseases. It consists of 
 enveloping the body in a temperature warmer than the blood. 
 The Turkish or Russian bath and the old Thompsonian sweat 
 are equivalents. Another and simpler meaus : Seat the un- 
 dressed patient on a wood-bottom chair, under which burn 
 alcohol in a lamp with three wicks, each the size of your 
 thumb, and having a cap for extinguishing one or more 
 burners, as the patient requires. He in the meantime is 
 draped from the neck downwards with blankets and com- 
 fortables. When the patient has sweat thoroughly, he should 
 be washed with cool salted water, and be careful that he does 
 not take cold afterwards. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 § 66. COOKERY. 
 
 HERE are so many works upon cookery that 
 it were not needful, even if I had an inclination, 
 to furnish copious details upon cookery. Be- 
 lieving that the most of my readers are already 
 versed in common routine cookery, I shall not 
 waste words in reiterating that which can be 
 learned from manuals close at hand. 
 
 My main purpose in touching upon the trite 
 question of cookery is to furnish a bird’s-eye 
 view of the whole ground, in all its complexity 
 and puzzlement, while I dot here and there the true principles 
 that must guide the housekeeper in preparing food for her fam- 
 ily. All work that one can systematize and grasp at once in a 
 large way seems half accomplished. I cannot spend time to ex- 
 plain the preparation of many dishes, nor do I expect the novice 
 to take the few formulae that I am’ to give and produce perfect 
 results at the first trial. Practice and good judgment alone will 
 produce the wholesome cook. An educated woman can always 
 with the same practice make a better cook than the uneducated. 
 “Brains” tell as conspicuously in the kitchen as in the parlor. 
 
 The literary man, to accomplish the most, is compelled to 
 use all the intellectual “ go carts ” that he can lay tongue, hand 
 or pen to. The accomplished kitchen queen must do something 
 similar. She must not waste strength in crude efforts or 
 unnecessary movements. The strength that was used by our 
 grandmothers in beating eggs with an iron spoon might have 
 been crystallized in the form of better nervous systems for their 
 grandchildren, had our grandfathers bought egg-beaters for said 
 grandmothers ! So, get all the help that is furnished by apple- 
 peelers and corers, potato-peelers and slicers, skeleton egg- 
 boilers, clothes-wringers, sprinklers, carpet-sweepers, and the 
 
FRUIT. 
 
 43 
 
 rest of the labor-saving contrivances. Don’t lift a foot or finger 
 that can be obviated by a machine. At first this may seem 
 selfish, but in a term of decades it will be proved to be rarest 
 wisdom. Sentimental self-immolation and sentimental self- 
 sacrifice are only suicide. No computation can produce the 
 sum of the subtle, far-reaching influences of a gifted, discip- 
 lined woman in domestic matters. 
 
 FRUIT. 
 
 Fruit. Our native fruits, when ripe and sound, are nutritious, and 
 very wholesome food ; but they should be used as food exclusively, and 
 eaten at the table as part of the meal. 
 
 Apples. Wash and polish with a clean towel, and pile in a china fruit- 
 basket, with an eye to agreeable variety of color, and place in a con- 
 spicuous part of the table. 
 
 Peaches and Pears. Pick out the finest, handling as little as may 
 be, and pile upon a salver or flat dish. A pretty dish of fruit is an open 
 silver basket, wide at the top, heaped with rich red peaches and yellow 
 Bartlett pears. Send around powdered sugar with the fruit, as many like 
 to dip peaches and pears in it after paring and quartering them. It is 
 almost an insult to a luscious peach to sugar it. 
 
 Baked Apples . Put the apples into shallow pans, pour in a very 
 little water, and bake in a slow oven. Sweet apples should be baked slowly 
 and until thoroughly done. They are easily digested and fattening. 
 Should be eaten without sugar and with cream ; for children, with bread 
 and milk. 
 
 Another. Pare rich, sour apples and extract the cores ; set them in a 
 shallow pan, and fill the holes from which the cores were taken with 
 sugar, and bake slowly till soft. 
 
 Apple-Sauce. Slice or quarter tart apples, and stew and sweeten 
 without stirring, so that the sauce may not have the appearance of mush, 
 but may be inviting to the eye. Display it upon the table in a handsome 
 glass dish. Apples may be served in various other forms that will sug- 
 gest themselves to the ingenious mind. They are our best fruit, and 
 should be used lavishly by children and all who are adopting a remedial 
 course of living. 
 
 All fruits should be cooked in a porcelain-lined kettle. 
 
 CRANBERRY SAUCE. 
 
 Pick over the cranberries carefully, add a tablespoonful or 
 so of water, sweeten to taste ; simmer slowly until the berry 
 
44 
 
 STEPS TOWARD A TRUE LIFE. 
 
 cracks open and becomes thoroughly saturated with the sugar. 
 When properly done the berries are little broken and have a 
 deep rich color. Serve with fowl and all other meats in place 
 of pickles. Cranberries are an antiseptic, and are far too little 
 used. 
 
 Dried fruits should be cooked with exquisite care. 
 
 BREAD. 
 
 Flour should be fresh. Buy little at a time, lest it become 
 musty. It should be perfectly protected from dust and all pos- 
 sible suggestion of untidiness. The flour should always be 
 freshly sifted for bread and all other cookery. The bread bowl 
 should be clean j and the bread should be kneaded upon it, 
 and not upon a suspicious-looking table. It is a nice thing to 
 make a batch of excellent bread. Very nice judgment is re- 
 quired to decide the auspicious moment when the sponge is at 
 its best stage for moulding, and the degree of acidity that re- 
 quires the soda corrective, or rather the exact management 
 which would avoid such corrective. 
 
 Bro wn Bread of some kind should appear upon the table 
 at each meal. It can be made so delicious that white bread 
 will seem insipid beside it. If brown bread becomes a drug in 
 the family, one may be sure that the cook has failed to make a 
 good article. 
 
 Brown Bread. To three pints of water put a handful of hops, and 
 boil them half an hour ; put into your yeast pot or jar six tablespoon fuls 
 of flour and one teaspoonful of salt ; set your jar near the kettle, and dip 
 the hop tea into the jar through a sieve or colander. When you have 
 strained enough to wet all the flour, stir it well, and then strain upon it 
 the rest of the hop water. The mixture should be about the consistency 
 of hatter for griddle-cakes. When it is cool, not cold, stir in a gill of good 
 yeast ; set it in a warm place ; do not cover it close. When fermented, 
 put it in a cool place, and cover close. This is the yeast from which we 
 set our white bread at evening. The next morning we take a good hand- 
 ful of the dough, put it in a large yellow howl, and add a teaspoonful of 
 salt, a half cup of molasses, a pint of lukewarm water, and enough Gra- 
 ham flour, making a dough softer than for white bread ; set it to rise and 
 bake. We do not knead this bread. This makes two loaves. Brown 
 bread is not improved by sugar. 
 
 Mrs. N.’s Brown Bread. Three cups freshly ground Indian meal, 
 
DR. JENKINS GRAHAM CRACKERS. 
 
 45 
 
 two cups unbolted rye meal, half a cup sour milk, three cups sweet milk, 
 two-thirds cup molasses, one teaspoonful salt, two of soda. Steam in 
 a covered vessel six hours ; water is not to cease boiling during the time. 
 This bread may be eaten warm. After it is a day old, it may be sliced, 
 laid in pans and heated, to be eaten with butter or milk. It is delicious. 
 (The lady who furnished the above recipe is the mother of six children, 
 nearly fifty years of age, has her own teeth, and has not an observable 
 gray hair, though it is like a raven’s wing in hue. She is a Yankee 
 woman, and has eaten rye and Indian bread from birth.) 
 
 ANOTHER. 
 
 Hr own Bread . The sweetest bread ever made. Take three pints of 
 coarse yellow corn meal, scald it with three pints and a half of boiling 
 water, add two pints of coarse rye meal after the corn has cooled. Knead 
 thoroughly with the hands. Take it out into a stoneware crock, or pot, 
 which is a little larger at the top. The quantity here given will take a 
 vessel which holds five or six quarts. Place it immediately in the oven 
 after smoothing over the top with a spoon frequently dipped in cold, 
 water. Cover with a stone or iron plate, and have but little heat in the 
 oven. It should take three hours to begin to bake, then bake slowly four 
 hours. Leave the loaf in until the oven cools off, if it is several hours, 
 longer. It should be. dark-colored, light, and firm, with a good, soft crust.. 
 A round-bottomed iron kettle will do to bake in. Try it. 
 
 Brown flour, or wheat meal, should be made from the best winter 
 wheat. 
 
 If the following recipes prove a failure, it will be because the wheat is 
 poor or the oven be not hot enough when the bread is placed in it. 
 
 No. 1 . Gems. Into cold water stir Graham. flour sufficient to make a 
 batter a trifle thicker than that used for ordinary griddle-cakes. Bake 
 from one-half to three quarters of an hour in a hot oven in small tin patty- 
 pans two inches square and three-fourths of an inch deep. 
 
 No. 2. Stir Graham flour into soft cold water, making a batter a trifle 
 thicker than for griddle-cakes. The exact proportions cannot be given, 
 as flour will swell more at some times than at others. Drop from a spoon 
 into the cups of the bread pans, which are already heated, and bake in a 
 hot oven. Take them from the pan as soon as they are done and arrange 
 them on plates, taking care that no weight rests upon them to make them 
 heavy. 
 
 No. 3 is same as No. 2, save using milk instead of water, and the addi- 
 tion of one or two eggs beaten to a froth. The batter for No. 3 should 
 be made thinner than No. 2. 
 
 Dr. J enkins’ Graham, Crackers. Procure the whitest and clean- 
 est wheat (Canada wheat is best), have the crackers made by a baker. Mix 
 with nothing but pure, soft water, and thoroughly reduce the mass in a 
 
46 
 
 STEPS TOWARD A TRUE LIFE. 
 
 baker’s break, as for making other crackers. Have them rolled very thin, 
 no more than half as thick as soda crackers, cut in the form and size of 
 soda crackers, and bake quickly until a pale yellow. These will keep 
 six months if placed in a dry, cool, sweet store-room. They are fresher 
 and more tender to place them in a hot oven a few moments before bring- 
 ing them to the table. The use of Graham crackers, made as above, will 
 whiten the teeth. 
 
 Nonpareil Corn Bread . Two heaping cups of Indian meal; one 
 cup of Hour ; three eggs ; two-and-a-lialf cups milk ; one tablespoonful 
 butter ; two tablespoonfuls white sugar ; one teaspoonful soda ; two tea- 
 spoonfuls cream-tartar; one teaspoonful salt. Beat the eggs very thor- 
 oughly — whites and yolks separately — melt the butter, sift the cream- 
 tartar and soda into the meal and flour while yet dry, and stir this in at 
 the last. Theu beat the whole furiously. Bake quickly and steadily in 
 a buttered mould. Less than half an hour will usually suffice. In cut- 
 ting com bread hold the knife perpendicularly and cut toward you. 
 
 Another. One pint sour milk; one egg ; one teaspoonful soda ; one 
 teaspoonful salt ; four teaspoonfuls white sugar. Bake instantly, and eat 
 warm. 
 
 It is a positive delight to be able to make elegant biscuit, as 
 well as an accomplishment that one cannot afford to be with- 
 out. 
 
 Risen Biscuit. One quart, milk; three-fourths cup butter; three-fourths 
 cup yeast ; two tablespoonfuls white sugar ; one teaspoonful salt ; flour to 
 make a soft dough. Mix over night, warming the milk slightly and 
 melting the lard or butter. In the morning, roll out into a sheet three- 
 quarters of an inch in thickness; cut into round cakes, set these closely 
 together in a pan, let them rise for twenty minutes, and bake twenty 
 minutes. These delightful biscuits are even better if the above ingre- 
 dients be set with half as much flour, in the form of a thin sponge, and 
 the rest of the flour be worked in five hours later. Let this rise five 
 hours more, and proceed as already directed. This is the best plan if the 
 biscuit are intended for tea. 
 
 Airs. E.’s Soda Biscuit. One quart flour; two heaping table- 
 spoonfuls of butter ; two cups sweet — if you can get it — new milk ; one 
 teaspoonful of soda ; two teaspoonfuls cream-tartar ; one saltspoonful of 
 salt. Rub the soda and cream-tartar into the flour, and sift all together 
 before they are wet ; then put in the salt ; next the butter, rubbed into 
 the prepared flour quickly and lightly ; lastly, pour in the milk. Work 
 out the dough rapidly, kneading with as few strokes as possible, since 
 handling injures the biscuit. If properly prepared the dough will have 
 a rough surface, and the biscuit be flaky. The dough should also be 
 
CRACKED WHEAT. 
 
 47 
 
 very soft. If the flour stiffen it too much, add more milk. Roll out 
 lightly, cut into cakes at least half an inch thick, and hake in a quick 
 oven. The biscuit thus made are marvels of lightness and sweetness. 
 
 Graham Biscuit, Three cups Graham flour , one cup white ; three 
 cups milk ; two tablespoonfuls butter ; one heaping tablespoonful white 
 sugar; one saltspoonfulof salt ; one teaspoonful soda ; two teaspoonfuls 
 cream-tartar. Mix and bake as you do the white soda-biscuit (Mrs. 
 E — - — ’s). They are good cold as well as hot. 
 
 Graham Muffins. Three cups Graham flour ; one cup white flour ; 
 one quart of milk ; three-fourths cup yeast ; one tablespoonful lard or 
 butter ; one teaspoonful salt ; two tablespoonfuls sugar. Set to rise over 
 night, and bake in muffin-rings twenty minutes in a quick oven. Eat 
 hot. 
 
 No. Jo Graham Mush. Stir slowly into fast boiling water, sprinkle 
 from the hand sufficient Graham flour to make a thin pudding. Let it 
 boil five or ten minutes, and it is done. If set away from the fire a few 
 minutes before taking up, it will cleave readily from the kettle, leaving 
 it more easily to be washed. Very much depends on the manner of mak- 
 ing ; as from the same materials a most delicate dish may be made, or 
 one not fit to eat. Add salt to suit the taste. 
 
 No. 2. Graham Mash. Mix part of the flour for the pudding into a 
 smooth, thin batter with cold water, which pour into boiling water, taking 
 care that so small a quantity is poured in as shall not stop the boiling ; a 
 part may be put in first, and when it boils up again put in the remainder. 
 Continue this process until the mush is of sufficient thickness. Salt to 
 taste. 
 
 Oatmeal Mush. Made the same as No. 2 Graham mush. After it 
 has been boiled and stirred fifteen minutes, cover and set it where it will 
 slowly simmer for one hour. Serve hot. This is an excellent article for 
 infants and young children — much better than the farina, which is so 
 extensively employed. 
 
 Indian meal Mush. White and yellow corn meal are made into the 
 well-known mush called hasty pudding. Either kind is equally agree- 
 able to most persons. It should be stirred very gradually into boiling 
 water, so as to prevent lumping ; it should be cooked from one to two 
 hours. Salt to suit taste. Very few people outside of New England 
 appreciate the fact that corn meal requires long cooking. 
 
 Cracked Wheat. A very good food for well persons who like it, but 
 not so easily digested by weak stomachs. Take clean, plump winter 
 wheat, or if this is not to be had, the best that can be obtained. In five 
 quarts of boiling water stir one quart of the grain and boil moderately 
 for four or five hours ; stir occasionally to prevent burning. It is better 
 to cook in a double boiler, so as to run no risk of burning it. 
 
48 
 
 STEPS TOWARD A TRUE LIFE. 
 
 Oatmeal Porridge. Take two or three handfuls of meal, mixed, 
 coarse and fine, in proportion of one-third latter to two of the former. 
 Mix in a basin of cold water, and pour into a pan containing about a quart 
 of boiling water, adding a small portion of salt. Set on the fire, and keep 
 Stirring, adding from time to time small doses of meal until it boils, and 
 has acquired a proper consistency, which may be known by its glutinous 
 state, as it drops from the spoon. Let it simmer ten minutes, then pour 
 into common dinner plates. Spoon out portions and float in new milk, 
 adding sugar to taste. Delicious to think or sleep on. 
 
 Buckwheat Cakes. One quart of buckwheat flour and half a pint 
 of Graham meal. Mix with lukewarm water into a batter, stir in a tea- 
 cupful of good yeast sponge, or a half cent’s worth of baker’s yeast ; mix 
 in an earthen or stone vessel, and set over night in a warm place to rise. 
 If the temperature and yeast have been just right, the batter will be 
 light and sweet, and not need soda. It should be considered a mistake 
 when the ferment needs neutralizing, and care taken to set cooler or cor- 
 rect the yeast. Buckwheat cakes in winter are not objectionable, occa- 
 sionally. Use beef drippings for the griddle. 
 
 Buckwheat Cakes. One quart buckwheat flour ; four tablespoon- 
 fuls yeast; one teaspoonful salt ; one handful Indian meal; two table- 
 spoonfuls molasses — not syrup ; warm water enough to make a thin bat- 
 ter. Beat very well, and set to rise in a warm place. If the batter is in 
 the least sour in the morning, stir in a very little soda, dissolved in hot 
 water. Mix in an earthen crock, and leave some in the bottom each 
 morning — a cupful or so — to serve as sponge for the next night, instead 
 of getting fresh yeast. In cold weather this plan can be successfully pur- 
 sued for a week or ten days without setting a new supply. Of course 
 you add the usual quantity of flour, etc., every night, and beat up well. 
 Do not make your cakes too small. Buckwheats should be of generous 
 size. Some put two-thirds buckwheat and one-third oatmeal, omitting 
 the Indian. 
 
 PIES. 
 
 Use pies rarely. Let the crust be made of the best butter, 
 or of cream slightly sour. 
 
 The easiest crust to make, and an excellent one, is composed 
 of flour wet in cream, in such proportions as one chooses or 
 can afford — the more cream the richer. Sour cream needs a 
 little soda. When once accustomed to these simple shorten- 
 ings, the grosser preparations of crust with lard are, to say the 
 least, quite distasteful. 
 
 Among the common pies are apple, berry, custard and pump- 
 
CAKE. 
 
 49 
 
 kin. The apples should be of the best quality, and very tart 
 for the best results. The berries' fresh and perfect. House- 
 keepers make a mistake in using poor articles for cooking. A 
 little that is good is better than much that is poor. 
 
 Martha’s Pumpkin Pie. Select a pumpkin which has a deep, rich 
 color, and firm, close texture. Out in small pieces, add a few spoonfuls 
 of water, cover close and stew until it is dry and very brown — almost 
 scorched. Near the last, frequently stir to prevent burning to bottom 
 of kettle. Pass it through a coarse sieve while it is yet hot. 
 
 Allow two eggs to a moderate-sized pie ; thin with new milk ; add 
 white sugar, salt, and spice to taste — the less of the latter the better. 
 
 Pies are usually made abominable by over-sweetening, and by spice 
 and lard. 
 
 Custard Pies . Allow four eggs to a pie, beaten to a froth, new milk, 
 white sugar, a pinch of salt, no spice, a cream crust, and immediate 
 baking. All pies, save pumpkin and mince, should be eaten as soon as 
 they are cool. 
 
 PUDDINGS, 
 
 with their brandy, wine and butter sauces, are favorable to 
 doctors’ bills, if not intemperance. They should always be 
 taken with conscientious discrimination. 
 
 Baked Indian Pudding. Eight tablespoonfuls of Indian meal, 
 stirred into three pints of scalding milk. Be careful to scald the meal 
 without letting it boil. Add one pint cold milk, one small teacup of molas- 
 ses, a- little salt. Bake slowly four or six hours. If cooked just right, a 
 jelly-like whey will be found in it, and the pudding will have a rich 
 golden brown tint. Stoned raisins may be added to this pudding if 
 agreeable. 
 
 Mrs, Witt’s Pudding. Line a quart tin dish, two and a half inches 
 deep, with a crust made of slightly sour cream, a pinch of soda and 
 Graham flour, then fill with elegant canned plums, cover with a crust, 
 bake about an hour, or until it is done, and serve with thick cream and 
 powdered sugar. 
 
 One can eat Mrs. Witt’s pudding with a clear conscience, 
 which is a comfort not often experienced in the pudding de- 
 partment. 
 
 CAKE 
 
 is so objectionable that T append hut one recipe for it, and 
 that is so difficult to make, that I trust few of my readers will 
 find time to experiment with it. However, sponge-cake is the 
 least objectionable of cake. 
 
 4 
 
50 
 
 STEPS TOWARD A TRUE LIFE. 
 
 Mrs. Mfs Sponge Cake. Twelve eggs, the weight of the eggs in 
 sugar, half their weight in flour,- one lemon, juice and rind. 
 
 Beat yolks and whites very light, the sugar into the former when they 
 are smooth and stiff ; nest, the j uice and grated peel of the lemon, then 
 the flour ; lastly, the beaten whites, very lightly. 
 
 The lady who furnished this recipe was celebrated among her acquaint 
 ances for her beautiful and delicious sponge-cake. 
 
 SOUPS. 
 
 The chief fault with soups as they usually appear upon the 
 table is their poorness, their lack of genuine flavor, their lack 
 ol body; They usually appear to be highly seasoned niuddy- 
 looking water, with a bit of vegetable or sprigs of some green 
 herb sailing around in them. Nor does the experiment of 
 tasting the liquid always disprove the appearance. 
 
 Soups require many hours for preparation. Meat is the 
 basis of most soups, and their excellence depends largely upon 
 the presence of the juices of the meat. The juices of meat can- 
 not be extracted, except after much soaking and long exposure 
 to heat ; hence the necessity of time in making soups. 
 
 Beef Soup. The stock (or base of the soup) must be prepared the day 
 before it is needed. The beef, bones, marrow and all, must be placed in 
 cold water in a close vessel, and heated gradually. Do not boil at all, 
 only simmer it for six or eight hours. The meat will be worthless, since 
 its juices are all abstracted, so should not be used for mince pies or hash. 
 Remove all scraps of bone, etc., and add such vegetables as are pre- 
 ferred — not too many of them however. Boil them until done, and strain 
 through a colander and season to taste — a little salt is sufficient. Pepper 
 and the like only add so much harm to an otherwise valuable compound. 
 
 Tomato Soup is simple beef soup, flavored by tomatoes. 
 
 Bean Soup. Let the beans soak over night. Early in the morning 
 drain them, and add fresh water in abundance. Place them in a closely 
 covered kettle and simmer eight hours. Pass the whole through a fine 
 colander, salt, scald once more, and just before removing the soup from 
 the kettle, add some new milk, fresh cream, or. in the absence of either, 
 a bit of butter. This soup is improved by warming over from day to day. 
 It is good for men in every employment, for weak women and delicate 
 children. It is the queen of soups. 
 
 FISH. 
 
 Fish should be broiled or baked, if one would secure its most 
 
VEGETABLES. 
 
 51 
 
 delicious flavor. The halibut (save the head) is an exception 
 to this rule. Fish should be fresh rather than salt. 
 
 MEAT. 
 
 Tough meat is a reflection upon the skill of a housekeeper. 
 Beef that is too tough to broil or roast should be stewed care- 
 fully, when, by seasoning and .nice gravy, it furnishes a health- 
 ful and delicious dish. The commoner varieties of beef may be 
 thus made available. 
 
 Steaks should be cut an inch thick and broiled, not f ried. 
 
 Pressed Beef. Take six or eight pounds of fat beef, slightly corned, 
 boil slowly, but thoroughly, until the meat drops from the bones. 
 Remove to a deep yellow dish of sufficient size, and press it, draining off 
 the water from time to time. Let the pressure remain until morning, and 
 you have a delicious mass of tender beef in good shape for slicing. 
 
 Gravies. The objection to gravies is mostly without foundation. 
 Gravies should be made of the juices of meats, nicely thickened with flour. 
 Exquisite gravies require a skill for their production that the common 
 cook rarely possesses. The old-fashioned turkey gravy, made from 
 perfectly cooked “giblets” and juice of the turkey, is a luxury that 
 modern housewifery rarely exhibits. 
 
 Poached Eggs. The best way is to drop them into a shallow pan of 
 hot water, taking care not to break the yolk in dropping from the shell. 
 As soon as the white is cooked enough to hold together, take them up, 
 laying them side by side on a platter. 
 
 Boiled Eggs. Put them in the shell in boiling water, allowing them 
 to remain three minutes if they are preferred rare done, and five minutes 
 to cook the yolk. 
 
 Another Way. Put them into boiling water and let them remain, 
 without boiling, seven minutes ; or they may be put into cold water over 
 the fire, and when it first boils they are done. The whole egg is thus 
 cooked more evenly through than when allowed to boil. 
 
 Fried Eggs. Drop an egg from the shell into each of the separate 
 cups of the bread pans, previously heated and rubbed smooth with a 
 small quantity of fresh butter. Let them remain over heat until the 
 white is cooked, and then, without turning, remove them with a broad- 
 bladed knife to a platter to serve. Salt each egg. 
 
 Eggs thus fried are far more delicate than when fried in the ordinary 
 way. Do not allow the whites to cook too much. 
 
 VEGETABLES. 
 
 The chief point to be kept in view in cooking vegetables is 
 
52 
 
 STEPS TOWAED A TRUE LIFE. 
 
 to cook them thoroughly. Potatoes, corn, beans and peas rarely 
 get the precise amount of cooking that good digestion calls for. 
 A potato, that is soggy, solid, or not perfectly soft, should be 
 rejected as unfit to eat. 
 
 Potatoes fried to a crisp in hog’s lard are an abomination 
 that should never pass between human lips. 
 
 Most vegetables are inferior food that one is better off with- 
 out. Potatoes are among the best of this class of edibles. 
 Beans are the exception to this rule. 
 
 Lima Leans. They are prepared by abundant cooking-, salt, cream, 
 or butter, and are a valuable substitute for much of the vegetable trash 
 that finds its way to our tables. 
 
 Mrs. N.’s LaJcecl Leans . Parboil one quart of dry, best quality of 
 beans (the dark-colored beans are the richest) until the skins crack when 
 taken from the water with a spoon, and slightly blown by the mouth. 
 Rinse in a couple of waters. 
 
 To them add one pound of very fat -best cut of beef, and sufficient salt 
 (beans should be salted during the cooking process, and not at table, 
 otherwise they taste “ flat”). Bake in a'tightly-covered stone pot twelve 
 hours. They may be put in the oven early Saturday morning and baked 
 all day, loft in over night, and baked until breakfast is ready Sunday 
 morning. See that they have plenty of water. Bake in a .moderate oven 
 If properly done, they will have a golden-brown tint, even if they were 
 milk-white when put to baking. I never saw any but a Yankee woman 
 who could cook beans that tasted right or digested well. The skill 
 needed to bake beans is like the idiom of a language, it must bo bred in 
 the girl, or its finer shades of meaning cannot be appreciated. 
 

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