PURE AND IMPURE FOODS. 



233 



available, is gathered up and used as fuel 

 and building materials, or is laid by as a 

 reserve supply. Meat contains a large 

 quantity of those substances which furnish 

 force, strength and energy. If they are 

 not used up by the body for such purposes 

 the result is an irritant inert matter, which 

 causes headache of various kinds, rheuma- 

 tism, gout in various forms, biliousness, 

 etc. Nature seeks to get rid of it, princi- 

 pally through the kidneys. If the condi- 

 tion continues these organs may undergo 

 certain structural changes, which constitute 

 a form of Bright's disease. An excess of 

 starchy food will cause a deposit of fat, as 

 a rule, unless one takes sufficient exercise. 

 However, a certain quantity is required to 

 form a well balanced ration. The growing 

 youth and the man who works hard physi- 

 cally need meat, just as an engine needs 

 fuel and water. They travel at high pres- 

 sure. When a man gets along toward 

 middle life, particularly if he is of sedentary 

 occupation, he can not use up the same 

 quantity of meat he did before; conse- 

 quently he is poisoned. He begins to 

 wear out and break down. In other words, 

 the pressure is too high for the old en- 

 gine. It is therefore wise for a man of 30 

 or 40 to decrease the quantity of meat in 

 his diet, particularly red meat. Let him 

 also take time from his money grubbing, 

 before life looks to his bilious vision as 

 yellow as the gold he covets. Let him get 

 the green grass under his feet and the blue 

 sky over his head. Let him take his holi- 

 days in November and spend each day 

 tramping the hills and woods, even if birds 

 are scarce. The. companionship of the 

 dogs, the fresh air, the beauties of nature, 

 and the relaxation and change from the 

 grind of every-day life, will give him 

 healthful, happy days and restful, slum- 

 brous nights. He will take back with him 

 a store of pleasant memories that will 

 sweeten many days to come. 



C. E. Hancock, Yardley, Pa. 



BOULIMIA. 

 I have always believed the hunting stories 

 published in Recreation, and have found 

 little difficulty in permitting an equal cre- 

 dence in the scientific articles. The article 

 "Boulimia," in January Recreation, writ- 

 ten by Dr. James Weir, Jr., was to me 

 an interesting one, and I fully endorse all 

 of the doctor's statements in regard to 

 this subject. To some, however, who may 

 not be so familiar with this topic, his state- 

 ment that "The Indian thinks nothing of 

 disposing of a deer's hind quarter at one 

 sitting," may seem an exaggeration. This, 

 however, is not the case. The doctor 

 doubtless meant just what he wrote, and I 

 take it that in this instance he did not refer 

 to a small, measly fawn, but he meant the 



hind quarter of a 200-pound buck. The In- 

 dian is truly an enormous feeder. On a 

 hunting trip, in company with a friend, I 

 employed an Indian guide, who was par 

 excellence a boulimist. We had no little 

 difficulty in providing necessary food for 

 him. Dr. Weir related his experience with 

 the Latin professor, who daily consumed 

 7 or 8 pounds of grass, wood and coal. 

 Our Indian g-nde would perform even 

 greater feats. In fact, at times, usually 

 just before a storm, we had to restrain him 

 from devouring our baggage and camping 

 outfit. On the last day in camp my com- 

 panion killed a moose. A discussion arose 

 in regard to the weight of the animal. To 

 settle the dispute, the Indian was permitted 

 to devour the entire animal, which he did 

 during the night. We then started for the 

 nearest settlement, and on arriving weighed 

 the guide. His weight was 943 pounds. 



By deducting his usual weight, which 

 was 143 pounds, we ascertained that the 

 weight of the moose killed was not less 

 than 800 pounds. As this expedient was 

 resorted to solely to settle our dispute, it 

 cannot be said to have been a true test of 

 the capacity of the guide. To have made 

 such a test would doubtless have required 

 another moose or 2. It incidentally af- 

 fords, however, I hope, another reliable 

 and authentic example of boulimia, and 

 should disperse all doubts concerning the 

 capacity of an Indian's stomach. 



Jake Koonfat, M. D., Madison, Wis. 



GIVE US BETTER COOKS. 



I have read with pleasure your interest- 

 ing and instructive articles on the pure 

 food question. I have been practising 

 medicine 25 years and think fully half of 

 my patients have been made ill primarily 

 by improper food. Not one woman in 5 

 can cook food properly, especially among 

 farmers' wives, who have a chance for the 

 best of food. Taking the broad ground 

 that any food is impure which is not di- 

 gestible or nutritious or will be injurious 

 to the eater, bad cooking is to blame for 

 90 per cent, of the impure food. No one 

 can eat spoiled meat or butter without 

 knowing it. Few of the food adulterations 

 are really harmful, but what show is there 

 for us when the ladies, "God bless them," 

 with the best of intentions-, feed us eggs as 

 hard as wood, meat fried to a crisp in lard 

 and as nutritious as sole leather, biscuit 

 and pancakes that nitric acid wouldn't 

 dissolve? I wish we could marry all the 

 poor cooks to the game and fish hogs and 

 then make it a penitentiary offense for any 

 other woman to marry until she could 

 cook a good meal. Then game hogs 

 would soon die out and cooking schools 

 would flourish. 



W. P. Hartford, M. D., Cassville, Wis. 



