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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (June 27, 1901)
8 'Cbe Conservative * there is little wonder that water is ab solutely essential to health. It dissolves and conveys other foods throughout the system ; it assists in removing waste products ; and it also takes a share in regulating the temperature of the body through its evaporation upon the skin. It is not going too far too say that most men and women do not drink enough water to keep the kidneys in a healthy and active condition ; for an adult , eight glasses ( tumblers ) each day is not too much. One word more as to water. It and air are the most valuable foods of man kind , and should be as pure as possible. The former is not safe unless boiled , and typhoid fever is duo , directly or indi rectly , to the neglect of this precau tion. If a stove which has no outlet for the gas produced by the burning process is permitted in a house , the air , a mechan ical mixture consisting chiefly of oxygen and nitrogen , is vitiated by an excess of carbon dioxide , and the health of the inmates is endangered. It may be in convenient to abolish stoves with no outlets ; it may be troublesome to boil all drinking-water. But health will be improved , doctors' and druggists' bills will be reduced , and the undertaker's visit may , perhaps , bo postponed for years by so doing. Muscular Growth. It must not be supposed that our muscles lose substance during work , and consequently waste away. Upon the other hand , they consume nitrogen and grow as a result. The exhaustion of the muscles is due , not so much to chemical waste , as to the accumulation of the waste products of certain foods. The muscles are really the agents whereby so much energy , always derived from food , is converted into actual and ap plied force. If the muscles wasted , as was at one time supposed , the heart's substance would be consumed by its own work within a short time certainly within six weeks. Combination Diet. The natural laws which are necessary for the regulation of life and the preservation of health in the matter of food-taking now demand consideration. For the proper support of the human i i system , a combination of nitrogenous ' and non-nitrogenous foods is essential. The truth of this is proved by the fact that milk , upon which the infant grows rapidly , is a combination of both classes of foods. The egg of the chicken , also , is a combination of nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous foods. But neither milk nor eggs are , by themselves , a suitable diet for adults. Bread , or some substitute of carbohydrate form , must bo added. Anybody who attempts to live for an indefinite period upon the nitrogenous foods alone meat , cheese , fish , etc. invites an attack of some dis- * f ' -L order of the liver or kidneys ; and those who confine their diet to the sugars and starches become weak and sus ceptible to the attack of the microbes which cause consumption ( pthisis ) . A thoroughly satisfactory diet can only be obtained from a combination of animal and vegetable products , because the vegetables , which are nitrogenous beans , peas , lentils , etc. are difficult to digest when eaten in considerable quan tity. The writer has not seen a true vegetarian who appeared to be in a thoroughly good condition of health ; but the so-called vegetarians who , while excluding flesh-foods , consume animal products , such as milk , cheese and eggs , have without doubt , a satisfactory bill- of-fare , from a hygienic point of view. Climate Influences Diet. In regulating the diet of mankind it is found that the food of nations is partly determined by their situation upon the earth's surface. The northern nations are largely animal feeders ; the southern people are , to a great extent , vegetable feeders. Individual experience and taste produce among the units of a na tion special proclivities in the way of diet. But every one who possesses the or dinary power of taking advantage of his environment , and who has , in addition , the average elasticity of constitution , can modify his meals in accordance with his surroundings and his pocket-book. Climate and race , no doubt , have great influence upon the food of any nation ; and such variations as are suggested by intelligent experiment are responsible for permanent alterations of the food of large numbers of people. Food Source of Energy. From our food alone can we obtain the energy required for the discharge of the duties of life. An interesting ques tion consequently arises concerning the difference which varying conditions and amount of labor entail. An adult man in idleness requires to obtain from his food for the support of his body about ovuWs of nitrogenous matter , and ounces of non-nitrogenous per day. If , however , the same adult is to work in the ordinary way , the quantity of nitrogenous matter be must be increased to ty ounces , and the non-nitrogenous to 29 ounces. In the case of active labor , the amount of food needed must be increased to some 6 ounces of nitrog enous , and some 85 ounces of non- nitrogenous matter. Daltou , the celebrated physiologist , who died in 1864 , considered that the quantity of food required by a healthy man , taking ordinary outdoor exercise was : Meat , 16 ounces ; bread , 19 ounces ; fat ( or butter or oil ) , 8 > ounces ; water , 16 ounces. These fig ures merely represent the food for a whole day , compressed , so to speak , into a convenient and easily understood form. Persons in active employment need one- fifth more nitrogenous food and perhaps twice as much fat. Indeed , Dalton's fig ures must be regarded as minimum. Both age and sex have an obvious bearing upon the daily quantity of food which each individual needs. Man , being as a rule the larger and more active per son , requires about one-tenth more food than woman. As a growing body has to be provided with material for the creation of new tissue , it should consume more food , relatively to weight and work , than the adult. An infant under nine months old is unable to digest the starches , and should not be given any of those sub stances. The brain-worker's food ought to bo provided in smaller bulk , in more easily digested form , and in more concentrated shape than that of a man who works with his hands. This subject , how ever , is too technical for discussion here , and enough has been said to show how extensive a field the question of nutri tion occupies. In conclusion , I venture to say that the education of the community in health-laws , and in the science of food- consumption , is the only sound basis for of the all-im the proper regulation - portant work of nourishing the human body in a suitable manner for the duties which it is required to perform. Buffalo , N. Y. , June 21 , 1901. TRADES UNIONS. It has been said that "there is reason in all things , except labor unions. " This is a very broad statement , and its very extravagance invites thought. So gen eral a condemnation of so vast an or ganized system would naturally suggest that there was some just criticism which might be made. The subject is one which deserves more deliberation than the writer has given it , but a general understanding of the principles of economics involved in such social compacts , enables one to form an opinion , at least. Benefits of Organized Labor. Are the advertised benefits of labor unions , actually benefits ? The etymol ogy of the word benefit furnishes the best and most technical definition. To make good. In other words , does union ism moke for the good of those whom it pretends to benefit ? They tell us , first , it raises wages ; second , it protects the working-man ; third , it increases the self-respect of the laborer. If all this bo true , then all-hail the trades-union. If all this be false , then let it be consigned to the ash-heap where many , wrecked , social experiments will keep it company. Are They Benefits ? Referring to the first great , derived benefit , let us put alongside each other these two thoughts : the die- T
