FRUIT AS A FOOD AND MEDICINE. 679 



the liver. Now, the acids and pectones in fruit peculiarly assist 

 the acids of the stomach. Only lately even royalty has been 

 taking lemon juice in tea instead of sugar, and lemon juice has 

 "been prescribed largely by physicians to help weak digestion, 

 simply because these acids exist very abundantly in the lemon. 



Another great action of fruit in the body is its shall I call it 

 antiscorbutic action. It keeps the body in a healthy condition. 

 When out on a long voyage where fruit is scarce how one longs 

 for it ! Those who have been without it for an extended time 

 long for it until even in their dreams they picture the fruit their 

 system so badly needs. The following case will illustrate my 

 meaning : A ship's crew had any amount of fresh meat, new 

 bread, tea, coffee, etc., aboard, but no fruit nor vegetables. As 

 days went by the men grew haggard, breathless, and weak, with 

 violent, tearing rheumatic pains in the joints. Then the gums 

 grew spongy, the blood broke through its veins, and the whole 

 system was demoralized and dying. In short, they were dying of 

 scurvy. A fruit ship passing sent aboard a good supply of 

 oranges and lemons, which were greedily eaten by the sufferers. 

 Mark the the result : though they still went on eating the same 

 food the addition of fruit to their diet made all the difference 

 between life and death. In a few days their gums began to heal, 

 the blood became healthy, natural color came in their faces, and 

 strength came to the limbs so lately racked with pain. This is, 

 perhaps, an extreme illustration, but I am satisfied that in a lesser 

 degree the want of fruit is responsible for much of the illness in 

 the world. When a student I remember sitting beside a leading 

 London surgeon as an unhealthy child was brought in suffering 

 from a scrofulous-looking rash over the face. Turning to us he 

 -exclaimed, " That is a rash from eating lollies." And many times 

 since have I had occasion to remember his teaching, as I have 

 seen it verified. Good fruit clears the blood and prevents this 

 sort of thing. This lemon-juice cure for rheumatism is founded 

 on scientific facts, and having suffered myself from acute gout 

 for the last fifteen years, I have proved over and over again the 

 advantages which are obtained from eating fruit. Garrod, the 

 great London authority on gout, advises his patients to take 

 oranges, lemons, strawberries, grapes, apples, pears, etc. Tardieu, 

 the great French authority, maintains that the salts of potash 

 found so plentifully in fruits are the chief agents in purifying the 

 blood from these rheumatic and gouty poisons. 



Perhaps in our unnatural, civilized society, sluggish action of 

 the bowels and liver is responsible for more actual misery than 

 any other ailment. Headache, indigestion, constipation, haemor- 

 rhoids, and a generally miserable condition, are but too often the 

 experience of the sufferer, and to overcome it about half the drugs 



