The Biology, Physiology and Sociology of Reproduction, Winfield Scott Hall [latest ebook reader txt] 📗

muscles of the rectum will be educated to the point of contracting upon its contents at that time and under those conditions regularly, and this will be a strong factor towards regulating the movements of the bowels.

But the most important thing to consider in this condition is the dietetic regulation of the bowels. There are some foods that tend to constipate while others act as a laxative.

Such foods for example, as contain a considerable portion of tannin, are always constipating. Strong teas have a constipating effect, particularly such as the bitter English Breakfast teas, in which there is a very large proportion of tannin. This large percentage of tannin accounts for the prevalence of constipation among female tea drinkers.

Unripe fruits contain a high percentage of tannin which, in the ripening processes of the fruit, becomes changed into cellulose and sugar. Any fruit that quickly turns brown after a cut surface is exposed to the air and that stains a steel-bladed knife black quickly when the fruit is cut, possesses a high percentage of tannin, and is not in a wholesome condition to eat. Unripe peaches and apples possess this characteristic. These fruits should be eaten only when ripe.

If one's diet contains too small a percentage of cellulose or pulp material, a tendency to constipation will be noticed. It has been found from investigation of this subject that the cellulose or undigested material of the cereals, vegetables and fruits, is an absolute essential to good bowel action. The cellulose makes bulk in the bowels and the simple presence of this bulk of undigested material stimulates the muscular contractions.

If one were to choose for example, a diet of meat, eggs, nuts, corn starch, tapioca, sugar, fats and oils, i.e., diets which will be almost completely digested and absorbed, leaving a very small amount of undigested material in the intestines, the bulk of the material in the intestines would be so small that they would not be stimulated to contract. Therefore this small bulk of material, together with certain excretions from the liver and other organs, would be retained in the bowel and undergo fermentation there. Injurious substances which result from the fermentation would be absorbed, causing what is known as autointoxication, complicated with constipation. If one, however, mixes with the condensed foods named above a good proportion of cereals, fruits and vegetables, all of which possess a considerable percentage of undigestible material, the presence of this undigestible material in the intestines leads to strong peristaltic movements, causing the passage of this material along the intestinal tract to the rectum, which will be periodically evacuated. In such cereal foods as the coarser meals (like oatmeal, various wheat preparations and corn meal), the proportion of bran substance serves as a local stimulation to the intestinal activity. The little bran scales being sharp-cornered and rough, serve as a local irritant or mechanical stimulation.

What has just been said regarding the advisability of eating some coarser cereals must not be taken to mean that white bread is not wholesome. On the other hand, white bread made from the roller process flour is in a high degree nutritious and wholesome, and may well make an important part of any dietary.

It is not hygienic to eat white bread or biscuits hot out of the oven. These hot breads tend to form doughy masses which are almost completely impervious to the digestive juices, and while they are eventually digested, it takes a very much longer time to do so than would be the case with stale bread, which is so readily masticated into a creamy consistency. If one is subjected to conditions where he must either eat hot biscuits or perhaps embarrass a most hospitable hostess, there is only one thing for him to do, i.e., to eat the biscuits.

It is possible, though difficult, to masticate hot bread so perfectly that it is reduced to a smooth, creamy consistency, and no one should ever swallow any bread which has not been so masticated.

Among the fruits, figs, prunes and apples seem to have the most clearly marked laxative effect, though all ripe fruits generally, and especially those that are taken uncooked, have a moderate laxative effect. Belonging to this class of foods is rhubarb which, though not a fruit, is usually served as a fruit either stewed or in puddings or pies. There is no doubt that it exerts its laxative effect better if taken stewed rather than with pastry.

If one then who is annoyed by a tendency to constipation wishes to correct it, a rational change of diet would be, to eat freely of cereals and coarse breads and of various fruits, particularly apples, figs and prunes.

The most effective way to use these laxative fruits is to eat freely of them just before retiring. The apples and figs may be eaten just as they are received from the market. Prunes may be soaked in cold water for twenty-four hours, then taken directly from the cold water and eaten.

If this is not effective a supplementary regime may be adopted that is only in part dietetic, i.e., to rise ONE HOUR BEFORE BREAKFAST, drink two glasses of cold water and take a brisk walk of fifteen to thirty minutes. The cold water has a tonic effect upon the stomach, preparing it for a rapid digestion of the breakfast. It also washes out the accumulation of mucus in the stomach, which may easily equal a pint in volume. This pint of mucous plus the pint of water, making a quart of liquid altogether, pours through the pylorus, and during the rapid walk, works its way rapidly down through the alimentary tract, washing the whole tract and preparing it to receive and rapidly to digest the next meal. This slimy water, having washed out the stomach and small intestine, then passes into the large intestine, moistening and lubricating its contents and causing it to move gradually towards the rectum, where it stimulates a normal free passage of the bowels after breakfast.

Any usual case of constipation will yield to this treatment. Such a treatment is incomparably more rational than the taking of medicines.

d. The Dietetic Control of Sleep.—Most students study evenings. If their heavy meal is a dinner at 5:30 or 6 p.m. they are likely to feel very drowsy by 7:30 or 8 o'clock. This is a perfectly natural experience, all animals manifesting a drowsiness after a heavy meal. If one could lie down and sleep for an hour while his dinner is digesting, he could probably rise at 9 o'clock and put in two or three hours of good hard work. He would find himself at 11 or 12 o'clock so thoroughly awake, however, that he might have difficulty in getting to sleep if he retired at that hour. If, on the other hand, one has his dinner in the middle of the day and a light supper at night, he is able to begin studying within an hour after supper and keep it up until he is ready to retire. In this case also, he is likely to be so wide awake at the time of retiring that he may have difficulty in getting to sleep. In either of these cases, it is altogether proper and advisable to take a light lunch before retiring. A double purpose can be served by this lunch. In the first place, the taking of anything into the stomach that requires digestion tends to deplete the circulation from other organs (brain in this case) to the stomach. In the second place, the food may be so chosen as to exert a definite somnolent effect. Such foods are, celery, lettuce, onions, warm milk. It may not be convenient to get warm milk at midnight, but it would hardly be inconvenient to provide one's self with two or three graham crackers and a stalk of celery. These with a drink of water and a little brisk exercise before an open window ought so far to divert the circulation from the brain as to enable one to fall asleep quickly.

e. The Dietetic Control of the Kidneys and Skin.—The stimulation of excretion through the kidneys and skin may be an exceedingly important thing, particularly if one has just caught a cold and wishes to establish free excretion. The food which has a most clearly marked effect upon both kidneys and skin is the juice of the citrus fruits. These fruits, as they appear in our markets, are lemons, oranges and grape fruit. All of these fruits are in a high degree wholesome as an addition to the dietary. Lemon juice is far more wholesome than vinegar in salads. The juices of lemons and oranges make most refreshing and deliciously cooling drinks in summer, and on occasions where one wishes to get a strong stimulation of the kidneys and skin, he has only to drink large quantities of hot lemonade.

f. The Dietetic Method of Curing a Cold.—A whole quart of hot lemonade may be taken on retiring after one has caught cold. The effect in such a case would be to cause a free sweating and copious urination. Both the action of the kidneys and the skin would tend to carry away from the system the effete materials that have been retained as a result of the cold.

It is hardly necessary to add in this connection that care should be taken that during the sweating or immediately following it, the body should not be exposed to catch more cold. In this method of treating a cold, one should take a strong cathartic such as two or three teaspoonfuls of castor oil, and should remain in bed twenty-four hours. During this twenty-four hours no other food than a little light broth should be taken. This treatment usually completely breaks up a cold and one is able, in two or three days, to make good the loss of the twenty-four hours, during which time he was confined to his room.

This dietetic method of caring for an acute catarrhal cold is incomparably wiser and more economical than to drag around, hoping to "wear out the cold," only to be worn out by it.

2. BATHS.

a. The Bath for Cleanliness.—Little need be said regarding the bath for cleanliness except that it should be taken at least once in a week during the colder portion of the year and perhaps as frequently as once a day during that portion of the year when there is free perspiration.

Where one is bathing for cleanliness he may well use soap and warm water over the whole surface of the body. If he takes this bath just before retiring, it is not necessary to take a cold shower or sponge at the end of the bath. If, however, one takes a warm soap bath in the morning the relaxing effect of the bath upon the skin makes it necessary to take a cold shower or a cold sponge after the warm bath in order to secure the tonic effect upon the skin and fortify one against catching cold.

During the hot weather when one may bathe daily for cleanliness he should guard against an excessive use of soap, as a daily soap bath may have a tendency to remove the oils from the skin so completely as to make the skin rough. With the daily bath for cleanliness it is possible that warm water and soap need not be used more frequently than once or twice a week and that a laving of the whole surface with cold water followed by a vigorous rub down with a coarse towel may serve the double purpose of insuring absolute cleanliness, and at the same time serving as a skin tonic.

In this connection the author would emphasize the importance of insuring absolute cleanliness of the sexual apparatus. In primeval conditions less attention was necessary as these organs were more or