DIGESTION AND FOOD. 67 



body and the actions of the mind. We see this, in a remark- 

 able degree, in the glutton, who, after his dinner, can do 

 nothing but digest. He can neither work nor think, because 

 ail the power of body and brain are concentrated in the 

 stomach. There are not many who indulge their appetite to 

 this extent, and suffer so much in consequence. But there 

 are many who err in a lesser degree. They are not gor- 

 mandizers, yet they eat too much, and suffer in weakness 

 precisely in the ratio of their error. 



140. It has been before shown ( 41, p. 26) that rapid 

 eaters consume more than they need or can digest. Yet many 

 eat rapidly, in order to gain in time. They imagine that 

 twenty minutes or half an hour, spent at their table, is a 

 waste of many minutes, which they might employ in business 

 or labor. They masticate little, and swallow* morsel after 

 morsel in quick succession, and soon their stomachs are 

 filled ; and then they hurry back to their employment, in the 

 mistaken confidence that they have gained by this haste, and 

 that they shall accomplish so much the more by thus shorten- 

 ing the time of eating. But they carry with them a load that 

 consumes a portion of their strength, which they might other- 

 wise have devoted to their labor. The farmer and the 

 mechanic the merchant and the student every man who 

 wishes to accomplish the most by the use of his physical or 

 his mental powers will effect his purposes the most suc- 

 cessfully, by eating slowly and cautiously, and giving ample 

 time to the table. It therefore is bad economy to hasten at 

 our meals. 



141. An industrious merchant of Boston, when formerly 

 engaged in business, frequently walked a quarter of a mile, 

 and ate his dinner, and returned to his counting-room in 

 fifteen minutes; and was then pleased that he lost so little 

 time. While at table, he swallowed his food as fast as pos- 

 sible, giving insufficient time to his mouth for mastication, 

 and as little to his stomach to mix the food with the gastric 

 juice; and yet he ate too much, and was oppressed after- 

 wards. He gained in time, but he lost in energy and in 



