108 HUMAN BIOLOGY 



stomach should be humored and given nothing that it di- 

 gests with difficulty ; others believe that it should be gradu- 

 ally trained to digest any nutritious food. Some believe that 

 no animal food should be eaten ; others believe that animal 

 food is as valuable as any. Some believe that all food 

 should be eaten raw, but this would irritate a delicate 

 stomach. It is doubtless best to use no stimulant, either 

 tea or coffee, pepper or alcohol. Some eat fast and drink 

 freely at meals ; it is better to eat slowly and drink very 

 little or none at all while eating, nor soon afterwards. 

 Some eat five meals a day, and between meals if anything 

 that tastes good is offered them ; others eat only two or 

 three meals a day, and never between meals, thus allow- 

 ing the digestive organs time to rest. Some omit break- 

 fast and some omit supper. Some prepare most of the 

 food with grease ; this is a tax upon digestion. Physical 

 workers often believe in eating the peelings and seeds of 

 fruits, and partaking freely of weedy vegetables, such as 

 cabbage, turnip tops, string beans. Mental workers usually 

 try to reject all woody fiber and indigestible pulp from the 

 food before swallowing it. Some eat large quantities of 

 food and digest a small portion ; others eat little but digest 

 nearly all. 



The Power of Adaptation of the Digestive Organs. Of course 

 some habits of eating are better for the health than others, yet the un- 

 desirable ways often bring so little injury that they are not discontinued. 

 This shows that the food tube has great powers of adaptation to dif- 

 ferent conditions. But there are limits to this adaptation ; there is an 

 old saying that what is one man's meat is another maiVs poison. A 

 brain worker cannot follow the same diet as a field hand without work- 

 ing at a disadvantage. An irritable stomach may be injured by coarse 

 food that would furnish only a healthful stimulus to a less sensitive one. 

 A business man who has little leisure at noon should take the heaviest 

 meal after business hours. In general, it may be said that it does not 

 make so much difference what is eaten as how it is eaten, and how 



