The Physiology Of Digestion (1840)

[Amazoniac]

Members that still believe that a reply message containing diagnosis and thank you directed towards haidut doesn't come from his own undercovered lawyer,

Mesozoic literature pt2: The physiology of digestion considered with relation to the principles of dietetics : Combe, Andrew, 1797-1847 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

@pboy @tara @thebigpeatowski

 

[Amazoniac]

"There is no kind of alimentary substance of which it can be said absolutely that it is always proper for the sustenance of man. To be serviceable, the food must be adapted to the age, constitution, state of health, and mode of life of the individual, and, to the climate and season of the year. The same diet which, administered to an adult, is healthful and nutritious, may prove irritating and injurious to a child; and, in like manner, the stimulating animal diet which in winter is highly grateful to the system of a hard-working unexcitable labourer, may prove utterly destructive of health when indulged in during summer by an inactive and excitable female. It becomes, therefore, an object of deep interest to determine the principal causes and states of the system which render modifications of diet necessary."

"The prevalent and pernicious custom of tasking the minds and confining the bodies of children for hours in succession at home and in schools, at a time of life when the growth of the body and the welfare of the system require constant and playful exercise in the open air, and perfect freedom from care and excitement of mind, is the fruitful source of much future bad health, and is eminently calculated to defeat the object aimed at by parents, namely, the mental excellence of the child. The premature exertion of intellect to which it is stimulated by the constant excitement of emulation and vanity, far from strengthening, tends to impair the health and tone of the brain, and of ail the organs depending on it ; and hence we rarely perceive the genius of the school manifesting in future years any of the superiority which attracted attention in early life; but we find him, on the contrary, either sunk below mediocrity, or dragging out a painful existence, the victim of indigestion and melancholy. On the other hand, some of the most distinguished men who ever lived were in childhood remarkable only for health, idleness, and apparent stupidity. The illustrious Newton was, by his own account, an idle and inattentive boy, and "very low in the school," till he reached twelve years of age; and the young Napoleon himself is described as "having good health, and being in other respects like other boys." Adam Clarke was considered " a grievous dunce" when a boy, and was seldom praised by his father except for his ability in rolling large stones, which his robust frame and good health enabled him to do. Shakspeare, Gibbon, Byron, Scott, and Davy, were in like maimer undistinguished for precocious genius, and were fortunately allowed to indulge freely in those wholesome bodily exercises, and that freedom of mind, which contributed so much to their future excellence. The mother of Sheridan, too, long regarded him as "the dullest and most hopeless of her sons.""

"Experience, indeed, amply demonstrates, that precocious and excessive activity of intellect and vivacity of feeling are most powerful impediments to healthy and vigorous digestion, and consequently to a sufficient nutrition. In early life, therefore, when not only health, but future usefulness, depends main-ly on the completeness and vigour with which the system shall proceed towards its full development the preservation of the digestive organs by suitable diet, exercise, and regimen, ought to be a primary object of attention with every sensible parent. Even as regards superiority of mind, the healthy development of the body is of essential importance, as the only sure foundation on which mental excellence can be built; because, so long as mind and body are intimately connected with each other, the former must continue to be affected by every change in the condition of the organization on which it depends. We enjoy acuteness of vision by preserving the eye in high health, and exercising it regularly and moderately; and, in like manner, we can obtain and preserve intellectual power only by preserving the health of the brain, and exercising it in conformity with its natural constitution."

"Like almost every organ of the body, the stomach requires a period of repose after the labour of digestion, and accordingly, in the healthy state, the sensation of appetite never returns till it has been for some time empty. To give food sooner, therefore, is analogous to making a weary traveller walk on without the refreshment of a halt."

"In this respect children are like adults. Give' them something to do and to think about, and they will seek meat only when hungry. But leave them idle and listless, and eating will become their chief subject of contemplation."

 

[Makrosky]

Amazingoniac again... thanks!

It is all really common sense... A thing it's easy to lose from sight once you start Peating. The quotes you posted remind me of traditional chinese medicine or ayurveda, only put in other words.

Thanks for reminding us those important things.

 

[Amazoniac]

Amazingoniac again... thanks!

It is all really common sense... A thing it's easy to lose from sight once you start Peating. The quotes you posted remind me of traditional chinese medicine or ayurveda, only put in other words.

Thanks for reminding us those important things.

It's very easy to understand, there are no technical terms or fancy pathway diagrams. In Ray's writings you can see the same thing, despite the fact that the literature cited below his articles is filled with complexicity, and the real difficulty is to put order on the chaos, to make the complexicity appear simple. Like when you listen to a good musician that makes playing an instrument seem an effortless and graceful task.

 

[Amazoniac]

"After the mercantile disasters of 1825-6, many cases of this kind [of disease] occurred, especially in families whose sensitive feelings induced them to shrink from public observation, and to suffer the severest privations rather than allow their situation to become known. In these cases, the tone of the general health first became reduced, and then local disease was easily excited by any trivial cause."

"In regard to the diet best adapted to different constitutions in mature age, I have already confessed that I have little information to offer."
..the lost art of radical honesty.

"If it be impossible for me to communicate sufficient information to enable each of my readers at once to determine the kind of diet which is likely to suit him best, it will give him at least some satisfaction to know, that, by observing personally what kind of food agrees best with his stomach and constitution, he may soon obtain the necessary information for himself."

"..there are nevertheless some [foods] which ought to be preferred, and others which ought to be avoided, by those whose digestion is impaired. Thus, vegetables are, generally speaking, slower of digestion than animal and farinaceous aliments, and consequently, when digestion is feeble, are liable to remain in the stomach till acetous fermentation takes place, and give rise to acidity and flatulence. Fat and oily meats are nearly in the same predicament, and hence both form unsuitable articles of diet for dyspeptics.
Soups and liquid food are also objectionable, both because they are ill adapted for being properly acted upon by the gastric juice and by the muscular fibres of the stomach, and because they afford insufficient nourishment. From the former cause they frequently impair the digestive functions; and from the latter, they induce diseases of debility which it is difficult to subdue. Daily experience furnishes examples of stomachic disorder from eating soups, especially as preliminary to an otherwise substantial dinner ; and the fatal epidemic which prevailed a few years ago in the Milbank Penitentiary, was distinctly ascertained to have been partly caused by an insufficient and too liquid diet. It is common, indeed, to see heartburn and indigestion of recent origin cured simply by giving up soups and vegetables, and diminishing the quantity of liquid taken at breakfast and tea."

"When vegetables are allowed, great stress is commonly laid upon the necessity of their being thoroughly cooked"

"Plain, well-cooked animal food, not too recently killed, and eaten in moderate quantity, with bread, rice, or roasted potatoes, forms one of the most easily digested meals which can be devised for a weak stomach. Sometimes, however, potato induces acidity and flatulence, and ought not to be used. Venison and most kinds of game are very suitable in the same circumstances."
Throughout the book, by farinaceous vegetables he means starchy ones.

"It is obvious, however, that the grand afflux of blood which takes place towards the stomach and intestines during digestion, cannot occur without a corresponding diminution in the quantity circulating on the surface and in other distant parts of the body, attended, of course, with a diminished power of action in them. Hence, for some time after a full meal, there is an inaptitude for, vigorous thinking and bodily exertion, a depression of respiration, and, in delicate persons, a degree of coldness or chill felt over the whole body."

"If active exertion immediately after a full meal be rendered compulsory by any external cause, such as the presence of danger urging to flight, the aliment often remains for hours in the stomach undigested."

"If we have been engaged in severe and fatiguing bodily exertion, or anxious meditation, just before sitting down to a meal, the blood which was flowing copiously through the vessels of the muscles or the brain to keep up their unusual action, still continues to do so, because a sufficient interval has not elapsed to allow the excitement to subside, and a new distribution to take place towards the organs concerned in digestion. The consequence is, that the stomach does not receive blood enough to carry on its increased action, and furnish gastric juice with sufficient rapidity, or in sufficient quantity, to mix with the whole of the food; and that the nervous energy, already partially exhausted by over-excitement in the remoter organs, is imperfectly supplied to the stomach, the tone and action of which are thus so far impaired as to render it no longer able to carry on digestion with its usual success. Accordingly, when we are fatigued with mental or bodily labour, we are naturally impelled to seek repose before sitting down to table; and if we yield to this instinctive prompting, and refresh ourselves by a rest, we not only enjoy better what we eat, but also digest it with an ease and comfort unattainable by swallowing our food the moment our labour is at an end; and hence the wisdom and advantage of appropriating half an hour to any light occupation, such as dressing, before sitting down to dinner."

"There cannot be a doubt, indeed, that the over-exertion and excitement, or absolute inertness of mind, in which sedentary people are generally immersed, contributes greatly, along with the want of muscular exercise in the open air, to impair the tone of the digestive organs."

"But with literary men, officers of state, dealers in scrip, daring adventurers, and anxious and ambitious projectors of improvements, with these and every other brainworn class of persons, the case is different. Dyspepsy is their torment, and they exhibit deep traces of it in their lean frames and haggard countenances. Yet are they much more select in their diet both as respects quantity, quality, and cooking, than the classes to whom dyspepsy is unknown."

"In denouncing active exertion of mind or body immediately after eating, as inimical to digestion, it is not, meant that we should go to sleep, or indulge in absolute listlessness. A weak constitution may require something like complete repose, but a person in ordinary health may indulge in a leisurely saunter or pleasant conversation, not only without injury but with positive benefit; and perhaps there is no situation in which digestion goes on so favourably, as during the cheerful play of sentiment in the afterdinner small-talk of a well-assorted circle."

 

[Jayfish]

I cant wait to read this!

 

[Amazoniac]

These books make me think how science became a new major religion, and as someone posted recently, the internet is now its current media.

http://www.cartesio-episteme.net/ep8/moody.pdf
"According to Graf, strong models are like crude filters, readily admitting data consistent with the theory and systematically rejecting data inconsistent with the theory. This results in a feedback loop be tween the corrupted and derogated data to the strong model. They reinforce each other. This has been the case for general relativity. It went from an obscure concept from a rising scientist, to the reigning paradigm overnight, dominating thinking in theoretical physics over the past half century. “Strong models corrupt weak men and women.”33 “The desire to conform, is almost as strong as the desire to create.”33 Strong models discourage free and independent thought. Where wealth, power and prestige come into play, they ser ve as club to beat back promising alternatives. General relativity is just such a mode."

 

[Amazoniac]

"Experience proves that a moderate quantity of liquid during a meal is beneficial; and if we drink little at a time, the risk of exceeding the proper limit will be very small."

"Many objections, however, have been made to both tea and coffee as an evening beverage; but most of them seem to me to apply to their undue quantity and strength rather than to their temperate use. When made very strong, or taken in large quantity, especially late in the evening, they not only ruin the stomach, but very seriously derange the health of the brain and nervous system."

"During the night, the chief expenditure of the system—by perspiration, urine, and exhalation from the lungs—is of a fluid nature, and hence there is a marked and general preference of fluids as a part of our first meal. In this country, accordingly, tea, coffee, and chocolate are in almost universal use for breakfast, and no other liquid is required merely as drink. If, from the mode of life or other causes, thirst be excited in the forenoon, no valid objection can be urged against its moderate and reasonable gratification."

"The temperature at which liquids are taken is a matter of perhaps greater consequence than it is usually considered. As regards the teeth, we have already seen that either very cold or very hot substances coming in contact with them are apt to be injurious. As regards the stomach, the same principle holds true; and when we consider the multitude and intricacy of its nervous connections with other vital organs, we cannot be surprised at even sudden death being frequently caused by drinking ice-cold vvater when the body is weakened by profuse perspiration."

"On the occasion alluded to, when a gill of water, at the temperature of 55° Fahr., was received into the empty stomach, in which the thermometer previously indicated a heat of 99°. Dr. Beaumont remarked that it immediately diffused itself over the interior surface, and brought down the temperature to 70°, at which it stood for a few minutes, and then began again to rise very slowly. It was not till thirty minutes had elapsed, and all the water been for some time absorbed, that the mercury regained its former level of 99°."
"Keeping in mind the great depression of temperature caused by swallowing so small a quantity of cold water, and also the ascertained fact that a heat of about 100° is requisite for healthy digestion, we shall have no difficulty in accounting for the frequent injurious consequences arising from considerable quantities of ice-cream being hastily eaten, as they often are, at the end of a substantial dinner."

 

[Rafe]

Reading this makes me warmer than when I take t3.
And then there is the ". . .small talk of a well-assorted circle."

 

[Amazoniac]

"Besides the bowels, there are several other channels by which the waste materials of the body pass out. The most important of these are the skin, the lungs, and the kidneys; and in certain circumstances, where the action of the one is impaired or repressed, the natural alliance subsisting among their respective functions, enables the rest to come to its assistance, and even for a time to supply its place. Thus when, by continued exposure to cold, the exhalation from the skin is much diminished, the blood is thrown in upon the internal organs in larger quantity, and, as a consequence, the urinary secretion and the exhalation from the lungs are. both increased, and full relief to the system is temporarily obtained. During hot weather, on the other hand, when the skin is in high action, and perspiration flowing freely, the urinary secretion is greatly lessened."

"[On movement being required for proper instestinal function] How, indeed, can it be otherwise? If the Creator has so constituted us that the free play of the lungs and muscles is indispensable to proper intestinal action, it is in vain for us to struggle against the arrangement, and expect to substitute beneficially the stimulus of purgatives for that of the natural play of the muscles. Either we must give up our own obstinate adherence to sedentary pursuits and conform to the Divine laws, or we must submit to the punishment inseparable from disobedience, and merely endeavour to mitigate its severity by such partial remedies as lie within our reach."

"Sometimes intestinal inaction proceeds from defective mucous secretion on the surface of the internal coat, caused either by errors in diet, or by local irritation. When costiveness is excited in this way, a mild diluent regimen will generally remove it. It is in such cases that saline medicines, which act by increasing the mucous secretions, are often very useful; while aloetic and other stimulant purgatives increase the evil by aggravating the irritation."

"If a clerk who sits motionless all day in an office, who indulges his appetite, and has no bodily exercise to facilitate respiration and give a natural impetus to the bowels, begins after a time to complain of constipation, it is not difficult to tell what is required for his cure. The first step which a knowledge of the animal functions suggests, is to diminish the quantity of food ; the next, to use such a diet as is calculated to excite the muscular coat of the intestine to healthy activity; the third, to seek the natural aid arising from exercise of the abdominal and respiratory muscles; and the last of all. to have recourse, when necessary, to such medicine as may be required for a time to restore the tone of the bowels, and enable them to act without further assistance The course usually adopted, however, is widely different from that here described. From ignorance of the laws of organization, the patient is not aware of the extent to which he infringes them in his conduct, and consequently rests satisfied with lamenting his hard fate in possessing such a bad constitution, and resorting to strong medicines to force that action which he feels to be essential to health, but which he will not consent lo elicit by the means with which nature has furnished him."

 

[Jayfish]

I have learned more from turn of the century books like Westin A Prices book "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" and Arthur Saxon's "Development of Physical Power" then i have from and current health blog, book or expert.

People really used common sense back then, and knew quite a bit more than we do now about health and how to avoid disease. Its crazy how backwards everything is now.

Thanks again for posting this, im enjoying it immensly. Im remembering a lot of basic concepts i forget to implement. Rule number 1, dont stress the system unnecessarily. Funny that every health fad goes against that rule, cold thermagenics, fasting, stimulants, raw foodism, drinking a gallon of water a day...

 

[Makrosky]

These books make me think how science became a new major religion, and as someone posted recently, the internet is now its current media.

http://www.cartesio-episteme.net/ep8/moody.pdf
"According to Graf, strong models are like crude filters, readily admitting data consistent with the theory and systematically rejecting data inconsistent with the theory. This results in a feedback loop be tween the corrupted and derogated data to the strong model. They reinforce each other. This has been the case for general relativity. It went from an obscure concept from a rising scientist, to the reigning paradigm overnight, dominating thinking in theoretical physics over the past half century. “Strong models corrupt weak men and women.”33 “The desire to conform, is almost as strong as the desire to create.”33 Strong models discourage free and independent thought. Where wealth, power and prestige come into play, they ser ve as club to beat back promising alternatives. General relativity is just such a mode."

Exactly what we do with Ray's theories here. We swallow every single dogma he says without questioning anything, and when someone posts a study that contradicts any of his theories, everybody starts dissecting the study to find every single detail that can hypothesize why the paper is not legit.

 

[Ledo]

"...Yet are they much more select in their diet both as respects quantity, quality, and cooking, than the classes to whom dyspepsy is unknown."

The author threw this in just so members of the raypeatforum knew he was talking to them.

 

[Amazoniac]

Exactly what we do with Ray's theories here. We swallow every single dogma he says without questioning anything, and when someone posts a study that contradicts any of his theories, everybody starts dissecting the study to find every single detail that can hypothesize why the paper is not legit.

Someone created a thread about that some time ago, I can't remember if it was you. I remember Such_ joking about everything on studies being disqualified due to the PUFA composition of the diets used.
Physical activity is definitely overlooked around here, and it's something mentioned often on those old books. Dave thinks that supercentenarians are in general very active as a possible reflect of their health, but if people actually studied schultz work in depth, they would realize that things usually coexist, and they often synergize; there are multiple factors involved and one amplifies the other, instead of a single one that necessarily excludes the rest. So, there you have it, the essence of his work.

@Jayfish
I'm glad it made a difference for you! There are threads that I feel that I'm creating in vain, so it's nice to know that it's not the case here..

 

[Amazoniac]

Complementing that previous post:
"In cases of this description, however, it ought to be observed, it is not the mere constipation which injures the health and requires to be removed. It is in reality to the mode of life which induces it that we ought to direct our attention; for, unless that be amended, all our efforts to preserve the health by merely removing the effect will prove insufficient."

 

[Blossom]

There are threads that I feel that I'm creating in vain, so it's nice to know that it's not the case here..

No not in vain at all. I really enjoy reading the older material. Thank you @Amazoniac.

 

[Amazoniac]

No not in vain at all. I really enjoy reading the older material. Thank you @Amazoniac.

 

[Makrosky]

Someone created a thread about that some time ago, I can't remember if it was you. I remember Such_ joking about everything on studies being disqualified due to the PUFA composition of the diets used.
Physical activity is definitely overlooked around here, and it's something mentioned often on those old books. Dave thinks that supercentenarians are in general very active as a possible reflect of their health, but if people actually studied schultz work in depth, they would realize that things usually coexist, and they often synergize; there are multiple factors involved and one amplifies the other, instead of a single one that necessarily excludes the rest. So, there you have it, the essence of his work.

@Jayfish
I'm glad it made a difference for you! There are threads that I feel that I'm creating in vain, so it's nice to know that it's not the case here..

Far from truth. I'm vey grateful for this paleological work you're doing. You are slowly earning a bust in the forum hall of fame next to pboy, burtlancast, haidut, etc...

 

[lollipop]

No not in vain at all. I really enjoy reading the older material. Thank you @Amazoniac.

 

[Amazoniac]

If I stumble upon more books of that type, I'll post, since people seemed to enjoy.
Thank you for the encouragement, gurus..