Hygiene ot Digestion. 195 



table also makes us more deliberate in eating. " Chatted 

 food is half digested." 



Time of Eating. The American custom of three meals 

 a day seems well adapted to the needs of our people. The 

 best time for the chief meal is near the middle of the day, 

 as is the custom in the country ; for the bodily powers are 

 higher than later in the day. But for city people, and 

 others who are very busy in the middle of the day, it is 

 undoubtedly better to take the chief meal after the rush of 

 the day's work is over, when there is time for a deliberate 

 meal and when the mind is free from business cares. In 

 many homes this is the only time when the whole family 

 can leisurely meet at the table. 



Eating between Meals. The stomach should have time 

 to rest and prepare for the work of digesting another meal. 

 Many find two meals a day sufficient. There are some 

 persons, however, for whom it would be better to have 

 more meals, with less food at a time. Meals should be 

 regular. 



Amount of Food Needed. This varies greatly with the 

 individual, age, the kind and amount of labor, etc., so that 

 no very helpful rule can be given. Each person must find 

 by experience what is best for himself. It is the opinion 

 of many leading physicians that the majority of mankind 

 eat too much. 



Intemperance in Eating. "I have come to the conclu- 

 sion that more than half of the disease which emoitters the 

 middle and latter part of life is due to avoidable errors of 

 diet ; and that more mischief, in the form of actual disease, 

 of impaired vigor, and of shortened life, accrues to civilized 

 man from erroneous habits of eating than from the habitual 



