350 DIET IN DIFFERENT STAGES O* LIFE. 



consists in giving them too frequent meals, or allowing them to be 

 continually eating, particularly in allowing them sweatmeats and 

 other indigestible articles to be consumed between meals. After 

 two years of age an interval of four hours between meals is rarely 

 more than enough, and to give biscuit, fruit -bread or sweetmeats in 

 the meantime is just subtracting so much from the digestive powers 

 of the stomach which, like every other organ, requires an interval of 

 repose after action. 



And here we may add a very strong protest against the practice 

 of giving, even occasionally, alcoholic stimulants to infants and 

 children. The ignorance which prompts some parents to give their 

 children beer, wine and even spirits is marvelous as it is culpable. 

 Such drinks are quite unnecessary, an immediate injury is innicted 

 on the child, and tastes and habits are formed wnich will prove 

 baneful in after life. In proof that immediate injury is inflicted, 

 the following fact may be cited : An ingenious surgeon tried the 

 following experiment: he gave to two of his children, for a week 

 alternately, to the one a full glass of sherry and to the other a large 

 orange. The effects that followed were sufficient to prove the injur- 

 ious tendency of various liquors. In the one the pulse was quick- 

 ened, the heat increased, tne secretions morbidly altered and the 

 flow of bile diminished ; while the other had every appearance that 

 indicated high health. The same effects followed when the experi 

 ment was reversed, when the orange-girl took wine, and the wine- 

 girl had an orange. The injury cannot be less decided when 

 infants, with their delicate ana susceptible organizations, sip beer 

 and wine. 



Diet in Old Age With the decline of life there is a dimin- 

 ution of the activity of the secretions and of the assimilative func- 

 tions. Disintegrated cell-tissue is but tardily repaired and the muscles 

 become soft, flabby and pale from an insufficient supply of blood ; there 

 is therefore a diminution of physical strength. The nervous func- 

 tions are also only imperfectly performed. Hence it is necessary 

 that there should, be some modifications in the diet when a person 

 has passed middle life. Very old people and those who have lost 

 their teeth are in danger of swallowing food before it has been 

 sufficiently broken up and moistened with saliva thus giving rise 

 to indigestion and imperfect assimilation. 



Indigestible and innutritious articles of diet should therefore 

 be studiously avoided. The items which were harmless in the 

 vigor of life are now harmful, and must be eschewed. Heavy pud- 

 dings and pastry overload the stomach. Meat should be tender and 

 nutritious, with the gravy in it; flesh firmer, of tougher fibre and 

 dried pieces should be left to younger consumers. Still there should 

 be in nesh and vegetable sufficient solidity and tenacity to compel 

 mastication and thus promote the secretion of saliva and gastric 

 juice. Soups and broths are nutritious, but they should not con- 



