REPORTS OP LOCAL SOCIETIES. 343 



THE SEPTEMBER MEETING. 



The society gathered at the home of A. J. Waener of Monterey. By 

 ten o'clock nearly all had arrived ; and this was the season for ripe grapes 

 and Mr. Warner has a fine vineyard — situated on an elevation overlooking 

 the surrounding country for miles, southern exposure, exempt from early 

 and late frosts; a better site for a grapery could not be found in the 

 county. If any one had entertained doubts as to the members of this 

 society being partial to grapes, that doubt vanished — as well as did a large 

 amount of well-riiDened Concords. 



Dinner was announced early, but it was after one o'clock before the 

 third table had finished and were ready for business. President Peet 

 called to order and invited Mr. Warner to open the meeting with a few 

 remarks upon the object of such meetings. This he did, and Mrs. WiLTS 

 H. Williams read a poem. Dr. H. J. Turner of Wayland read the follow- 

 ing paper: 



The subject that was assigned me at your last meeting, "The relation of 

 fruit to health,". I consented to write a paper about to be read at this meet- 

 ing, little thinking of the magnitude of the undertaking and the time and 

 thought it would require to prepare it, or I might have declined; but, in 

 order that the people may have a few ideas or hints presented at this time, 

 for their future reflection and consideration, I have put together these 

 few thoughts. Should I succeed in impressing the fact that fruits have a 

 wonderful tendency to prolong life, I will have done as much as I expected. 



When we take into consideration the length of time fruits have been 

 grown, I wonder if much more can be said to advance or stimulate their 

 use; for some fruits have been cultivated from the earliest historic ages. 

 To say nothing of the garden of Eden and the vineyard which Noah 

 planted after the deluge, we find in the book of Moses evidence that the 

 cultivation of fruits was much practiced in Egypt before the time of the 

 exodus of the Israelites; and among the Babylonians, the Persians, the 

 Chinese, and the inhabitants of India, it can be traced back to the most 

 remote antiquity. The grape, the fig, the melon, and the pomegranate are 

 among the first fruits of which we find any particular notice in history, 

 and their uses are more general today than then. 



During the season of fresh fruits, they should always form a part, and a 

 major part, of the morning meal. If there were any hygienic reason for 

 the custom of eating fruit at the end rather than at the beginning of the 

 meal, we think that the custom would not be so general as it is. Man is a 

 contrary animal (and in that I include women — that is, some women) 

 especially in that which concerns health, and if the rules of hygiene dic- 

 tated fruit or anything else as a first dish, in all human probability it 

 would be the dish with which he would wind up. This we consider one 

 argument, a negative one it is true, to prove that health would be better 

 served with fruit at the beginning than the end of the meal; but there is 

 another and a stronger one. The season of fruits is also the season when 

 the system requires fruit — indeed, it is better without the grosser foods it 

 can take at other times of the year with advantage. If it be admitted, 

 then, that the less of these unrequired foods a man takes the better, it fol- 

 lows that they should come at the end of the repast, if they come at all, 

 because then they would not be so likely to be craved, and consequently 

 less of them would be eaten. But whether eaten at the beginning or 

 the end of the meal, fresh, ripe fruit — when it can be had — is a blessing 



