DIGESTION AND FOOD. 73 



the stomach, and from which no nutriment can be extracted. 

 From diseased appetite or perverse habits, some boys and 

 girls chew India-rubber, pitch, or slate-pencils. I once found 

 almost an entire school in the habit of chewing one or 

 another of these things. These unnatural things disturb and 

 disorder the stomach, and often result in very serious disease. 

 Some of the most inveterate and distressing cases of indiges- 

 tion arose from such beginnings as these. 



153. Although we are not allowed to exceed the wants of 

 the system or the digestive power, in the least degree, with- 

 out suffering, yet the opposite error is equally contrary to 

 the law of life. Nature is very exact in her demands, as 

 well as in her concessions. She will not give health and 

 strength for one morsel more than her requirements; nor 

 will she relax and give unalloyed comfort and* full vigor for 

 one morsel less. A definite quantity of nutriment, varied 

 to suit the varieties of persons, will nourish and strengthen, 

 and entirely meet the wants of each individual. Any smaller 

 quantity will give less strength and power of labor of body 

 and of mind. The strength of the laborer will fall short of 

 its fulness, in proportion to the diminution of his nourish- 

 ment. Whether this diminution be in the quantity or the 

 quality of his food, the result of weakness is the same. 

 Whether it be from a short allowance of good food, or the 

 innutritious quality or the indigestible nature of bad food, 

 which cannot be converted into chyme or chyle, or from 

 whatever cause, less than the ordinary and sufficient quan- 

 tity of nutriment is sent from the digestive organs to the 

 blood-vessels, the final end is that the frame is not fully nour- 

 ished or strengthened. Poor meats, thin soups, and innu- 

 tritious roots, are insufficient for the laboring man ; and it is 

 bad economy to endeavor to support him on such diet. 



154. Even students, and men engaged in sedentary employ- 

 merits, cannot maintain their full health, and their energy and 

 clearness of brain, upon a diet lower than their natural re- 

 quirements. Some students in college, for the sake of econ- 

 omy, endeavor to live upon very little and cheap food. Bui 

 7 



