106 STUDIES IN PHYSIOLOGY 



14. THE HYGIENE OF DIGESTION 



Importance of Subject. "I have come to the conclusion/' 

 says Sir Henry Thompson, a noted English physician, " that 

 more than half the disease which embitters the middle and 

 latter part of life is due to avoidable errors in diet, . . . and 

 that more mischief in the form of actual disease, of impaired 

 vigor, and of shortened life accrues to civilized man ... in 

 England and throughout central Europe from erroneous habits 

 of eating than from the habitual use of alcoholic drink, con- 

 siderable as I know that evil to be." This statement may 

 not be literally true of conditions here in America, but it 

 should at least call our attention to the great importance 

 of the hygiene of digestion. Dyspepsia in its many differ- 

 ent forms, typhoid fever, jaundice, gout, not to mention the 

 more common disorders of colic, cholera morbus, and con- 

 stipation, are but a few of the ills afflicting mankind, all of 

 which might be avoided by eating proper food in a proper 

 manner. 



Hygienic Habits of Eating. One should form the habit, in 

 the first place, of eating slowly and of thoroughly masticat- 

 ing each mouthful of food. The great English statesman 

 Gladstone, who retained his vigor in old age to a remark- 

 able degree, is said to have had the habit of biting each 

 mouthful of food thirty-two times ; for in this way, he said, 

 he gave each tooth a chance to work upon it. If one fol- 

 lowed such a rule, the stomach and other organs of diges- 

 tion would be relieved of work which they are not fitted 

 to perform, and thus one would doubtless escape many an 

 attack of indigestion. 



The process of chewing likewise stimulates the flow of 

 saliva. Saliva not only helps digest food in the mouth, 

 but this juice also, when swallowed with the food, incites 

 the gastric glands to greater activity. At least a half hour 

 should be devoted to the eating of dinner and fifteen to 

 twenty minutes to breakfast and lunch or supper. The 



