Baroness Emmuska Orczy [Full name] - "The Elusive Pimpernel"

P. G. Wodehouse - "The Head of Kay's"

Henryk Sienkiewicz - "Quo Vadis A Narrative of the Time of Nero"

James Legge - "THE CHINESE CLASSICS (PROLEGOMENA)"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: The American Woman\'s Home

C >> Catherine E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe >> The American Woman\'s Home




Students who need food with little carbon, and women who live in the
house, should always seek coarse bread, fruits, and lean meats, and
avoid butter, oils, sugar, and molasses, and articles containing them.

Many students and women using little exercise in the open air, grow
thin and weak, because the vital powers are exhausted in throwing off
excess of food, especially of the carbonaceous. The liver is especially
taxed in such cases, being unable to remove all the excess of
carbonaceous matter from, the blood, and thus "biliousness" ensues,
particularly on the approach of warm weather, when the air brings less
oxygen than in cold.

It is found, by experiment, that the supply of gastric juice, furnished
from the blood by the arteries of the stomach, is proportioned, not
to the amount of food put into the stomach, but to the wants of the
body; so that it is possible to put much more into the stomach than
can be digested. To guide and regulate in this matter, the sensation
called _hunger_ is provided. In a healthy state of the body, as
soon as the blood has lost its nutritive supplies, the craving of
hunger is felt, and then, if the food is suitable, and is taken in the
proper manner, this sensation ceases as soon as the stomach has received
enough to supply the wants of the system. But our benevolent Creator,
in this, as in our other duties, has connected enjoyment with the
operation needful to sustain our bodies. In addition to the allaying
of hunger, the gratification of the palate is secured by the immense
variety of food, some articles of which are far more agreeable than
others.

This arrangement of Providence, designed for our happiness, has become,
either through ignorance, or want of self-control, the chief cause of
the many diseases and suffering which afflict those classes who have
the means of seeking a variety to gratify the palate. If mankind had
only one article of food, and only water to drink, though they would
have less enjoyment in eating, they would never be tempted to put any
more into the stomach than the calls of hunger require. But the customs
of society, which present an incessant change, and a great variety of
food, with those various condiments which stimulate appetite, lead
almost every person very frequently to eat merely to gratify the palate,
after the stomach has been abundantly supplied, so that hunger has
ceased.

When too great a supply of food is put into the stomach, the gastric
juice dissolves only that portion which the wants of the system demand.
Most of the remainder is ejected, in an unprepared state; the absorbents
take portions of it into the system; and all the various functions of
the body, which depend on the ministries of the blood, are thus
gradually and imperceptibly injured. Very often, intemperance in eating
produces immediate results, such as colic, headaches, pains of
indigestion, and vertigo.

But the more general result is a gradual undermining of all parts of
the human frame; this imperceptibly shortening life, by so weakening
the constitution, that it is ready to yield, at every point, to any
uncommon risk or exposure. Thousands and thousands are parsing out of
the world, from diseases occasioned by exposures which a healthy
constitution could meet without any danger. It is owing to these
considerations, that it becomes the duty of every woman, who has the
responsibility of providing food for a family, to avoid a variety of
tempting dishes. It is a much safer rule, to have only one kind of
healthy food, for each meal, than the too abundant variety which is
often met at the tables of almost all classes in this country. When
there is to be any variety of dishes, they ought not to be successive,
but so arranged as to give the opportunity of selection. How often is
it the case, that persons, by the appearance of a favorite article,
are tempted to eat merely to gratify the palate, when the stomach is
already adequately supplied. All such intemperance wears on the
constitution, and shortens life. It not infrequently happens that
excess in eating produces a morbid appetite, which must constantly be
denied.

But the organization of the digestive organs demands, not only that
food should be taken in proper quantities, but that it be taken at
proper times.

[Illustration: Fig. 56.]

Fig. 56 shows one important feature of the digestive organs relating
to this point. The part marked LM shows the muscles of the inner coat
of the stomach, which run in one direction, and CM shows the muscles
of the outer coat, running in another direction.

As soon as the food enters the stomach, the muscles are excited by the
nerves, and the _peristaltic motion_ commences. This is a powerful
and constant exercise of the muscles of the stomach, which continues
until the process of digestion is complete. During this time the blood
is withdrawn from other parts of the system, to supply the demands of
the stomach, which is laboring hard with all its muscles. When this
motion ceases, and the digested food has gradually passed out, nature
requires that the stomach should have a period of repose. And if another
meal be eaten immediately after one is digested, the stomach is set
to work again before it has had time to rest, and before a sufficient
supply of gastric juice is provided.

The general rule, then, is, that three hours be given to the stomach
for labor, and two for rest; and in obedience to this, five hours, at
least, ought to elapse between every two regular meals. In cases where
exercise produces a flow of perspiration, more food is needed to supply
the loss; and strong laboring men may safely eat as often as they feel
the want of food. So, young and healthy children, who gambol and
exercise ranch and whose bodies grow fast, may have a more frequent
supply of food. But, as a general rule, meals should be five hours
apart, and eating between meals avoided. There is nothing more unsafe,
and wearing to the constitution, than a habit of eating at any time
merely to gratify the palate. When a tempting article is presented,
every person should exercise sufficient self-denial to wait till the
proper time for eating arrives. Children, as well as grown persons,
are often injured by eating between their regular meals, thus weakening
the stomach by not affording it any time for rest.

In deciding as to _quantity_ of food, there is one great difficulty
to be met by a large portion of the community. The exercise of every
part of the body is necessary to its health and perfection. The bones,
the muscles, the nerves, the organs of digestion and respiration, and
the skin, all demand exercise, in order properly to perform their
functions. When the muscles of the body are called into action, all
the blood-vessels entwined among them are frequently compressed. As
the veins have valves so contrived that the blood can not run back,
this compression hastens it forward toward the heart; which is
immediately put in quicker motion, to send it into the lungs; and they,
also, are thus stimulated to more rapid action, which is the cause of
that panting which active exercise always occasions. The blood thus
courses with greater celerity through the body, and sooner loses its
nourishing properties. Then the stomach issues its mandate of hunger,
and a new supply of food must be furnished.

Thus it appears, as a general rule, that the quantity of food actually
needed by the body depends on the amount of muscular exercise taken.
A laboring man, in the open fields, probably throws off from his skin
and lungs a much larger amount than a person of sedentary pursuits.
In consequence of this, he demands a greater amount of food and drink.

Those persons who keep their bodies in a state of health by sufficient
exercise can always be guided by the calls of hunger. They can eat
when they feel hungry, and stop when hunger ceases; and thus they will
calculate exactly right. But the difficulty is, that a large part of
the community, especially women, are so inactive in their habits that
they seldom feel the calls of hunger. They habitually eat, merely to
gratify the palate. This produces such a state of the system that they
lose the guide which Nature has provided. They are not called to eat
by hunger, nor admonished, by its cessation, when to stop. In
consequence of this, such persons eat what pleases the palate, till
they feel no more inclination for the article. It is probable that
three fourths of the women in the wealthier circles sit down to each
meal without any feeling of hunger, and eat merely on account of the
gratification thus afforded them. Such persons find their appetite to
depend almost solely upon the kind of food on the table. This is not
the case with those who take the exercise which Nature demands. They
approach their meals in such a state that almost any kind of food is
acceptable.

The question then arises, How are persons, who have lost the guide
which Nature has provided, to determine as to the proper amount of
food they shall take?

The best method is for several days to take their ordinary exercise
and eat only one or two articles of simple food, such as bread and
milk, or bread and butter with cooked fruit, or lean meat with bread
and vegetables, and at the same time eat less than the appetite demands.
Then on the following two days, take just enough to satisfy the
appetite, and on the third day notice the quantity which satisfies.
After this, decide before eating that only this amount of simple food
shall be taken.

Persons who have a strong constitution, and take much exercise, may
eat almost any thing with apparent impunity; but young children who
are forming their constitutions, and persons who are delicate, and who
take but little exercise, are very dependent for health on a proper
selection of food.

It is found that there are some kinds of food which afford nutriment
to the blood, and do not produce any other effect on the system. There
are other kinds, which are not only nourishing, but _stimulating_,
so that they quicken the functions of the organs on which they operate.
The condiments used in cookery, such as pepper, mustard, and spices,
are of this nature. There are certain states of the system when these
stimulants may be beneficial; such cases can only be pointed out by
medical men.

Persons in perfect health, and especially young children, never receive
any benefit from such kind of food; and just in proportion as condiments
operate to quicken the labors of the internal organs, they tend to
wear down their powers. A person who thus keeps the body working under
an unnatural excitement, _live faster_ than Nature designed, and
the constitution is worn out just so much the sooner. A woman,
therefore, should provide dishes for her family which are free from
these stimulating condiments.

It is also found, by experience, that the lean part of animal food is
more stimulating than vegetable. This is the reason why, in cases of
fevers or inflammations, medical men forbid the use of meat. A person
who lives chiefly on animal food is under a higher degree of stimulus
than if his food was chiefly composed of vegetable substances. His
blood will flow faster, and all the functions of his body will be
quickened. This makes it important to secure a proper proportion of
animal and vegetable diet. Some medical men suppose that an exclusively
vegetable diet is proved, by the experience of many individuals, to
be fully sufficient to nourish the body; and bring, as evidence, the
fact that some of the strongest and most robust men in the world are
those who are trained, from infancy, exclusively on vegetable food.
From this they infer that life will be shortened just in proportion
as the diet is changed to more stimulating articles; and that, all
other things being equal, children will have a better chance of health
and long life if they are brought up solely on vegetable food.

But, though this is not the common opinion of medical men, they all
agree that, in America, far too large a portion of the diet consists
of animal food. As a nation, the Americans are proverbial for the gross
and luxurious diet with which they load their tables; and there can
be no doubt that the general health of the nation would be increased
by a change in our customs in this respect. To take meat but once a
day, and this in small quantities, compared with the common practice,
is a rule, the observance of which would probably greatly reduce the
amount of fevers, eruptions, headaches, bilious attacks, and the many
other ailments which are produced or aggravated by too gross a diet.

The celebrated Roman physician, Baglivi, (who, from practicing
extensively among Roman Catholics, had ample opportunities to observe,)
mentions that, in Italy, an unusual number of people recover their
health in the forty days of Lent, in consequence of the lower diet
which is required as a religious duty. An American physician remarks,
"For every reeling drunkard that disgraces our country, it contains
one hundred gluttons--persons, I mean, who eat to excess, and suffer
in consequence." Another distinguished physician says, "I believe that
every stomach, not actually impaired by organic disease, will perform
its functions, if it receives reasonable attention; and when we perceive
the manner in which diet is generally conducted, both in regard to
_quantity_ and _variety_ of articles of food and drink, which are mixed
up in one heterogeneous mass--instead of being astonished at the
prevalence of indigestion, our wonder must rather be that, in such
circumstances, any stomach is capable of digesting at all."

In regard to articles which are the most easily digested, only general
rules can be given. Tender meats are digested more readily than those
which are tough, or than many kinds of vegetable food. The farinaceous
articles, such as rice, flour, corn, potatoes, and the like, are the
most nutritious, and most easily digested. The popular notion, that
meat is more nourishing than bread, is a great mistake. Good bread
contains more nourishment than butcher's meat. The meat is more
_stimulating_, and for this reason is more readily digested.

A perfectly healthy stomach can digest almost any healthful food; but
when the digestive powers are weak, every stomach has its peculiarities,
and what is good for one is hurtful to another. In such cases,
experiment alone can decide which are the most digestible articles of
food. A person whose food troubles him must deduct one article after
another, till he learns, by experience, which is the best for digestion.
Much evil has been done, by assuming that the powers of one stomach
are to be made the rule in regulating every other.

The most unhealthful kinds of food are those which, are made so by bad
cooking; such as sour and heavy bread, cakes, pie-crust, and other
dishes consisting of fat mixed and cooked with flour. Rancid butter
and high-seasoned food are equally unwholesome. The fewer mixtures
there are in cooking, the more healthful is the food likely to be.

There is one caution as to the _mode_ of eating which seems peculiarly
needful to Americans. It is indispensable to good digestion, that food
be well chewed and taken slowly. It needs to be thoroughly chewed and
mixed with saliva, in order to prepare it for the action of the gastric
juice, which, by the peristaltic motion, will be thus brought into
contact with every one of the minute portions.

It has been found that a solid lump of food requires much more time
and labor of the stomach for digestion than divided substances. It has
also been found, that as each bolus, or mouthful, enters the stomach,
the latter closes, until the portion received has had some time to
move around and combine with the gastric juice, and that the orifice
of the stomach resists the entrance of any more till this is
accomplished. But, if the eater persists in swallowing fast, the stomach
yields; the food is then poured in more rapidly than the organ can
perform its duty of preparative digestion; and evil results are sooner
or later developed. This exhibits the folly of those hasty meals, so
common to travelers and to men of business, and shows why children
should be taught to eat slowly.

After taking a full meal, it is very important to health that no great
bodily or mental exertion be made till the labor of the stomach is
over. Intense mental effort draws the blood to the head, and muscular
exertions draw it to the muscles; and in consequence of this, the
stomach loses the supply which it requires when performing its office.
When the blood with its stimulating effects is thus withdrawn from the
stomach, the adequate supply of gastric juice is not afforded, and
indigestion is the result. The heaviness which follows a full meal is
the indication which Nature gives of the need of quiet. When the meal
is moderate, a sufficient quantity of gastric juice is exuded in an
hour, or an hour and a half; after which, labor of body and mind may
safely be resumed.

When undigested food remains in the stomach, and is at last thrown out
into the bowels, it proves an irritating substance, producing an
inflamed state in the lining of the stomach and other organs.

It is found that the stomach has the power of gradually accommodating
indigestive powers to the food it habitually receives. Thus, animals
which live on vegetables can gradually become accustomed to animal
food; and the reverse is equally true. Thus, too, the human stomach
can eventually accomplish the digestion of some kinds of food, which,
at first, were indigestible.

But any changes of this sort should be gradual; as those which are
sudden are trying to the powers of the stomach, by furnishing matter
for which its gastric juice is not prepared.

Extremes of heat or cold are injurious to the process of digestion.
Taking hot food or drink, habitually, tends to debilitate all the
organs thus needlessly excited. In using cold substances, it is found
that a certain degree of warmth in the stomach is indispensable to
their digestion; so that, when the gastric juice is cooled below this
temperature, it ceases to act. Indulging in large quantities of cold
drinks, or eating ice-creams, after a meal, tends to reduce the
temperature of the stomach, and thus to stop digestion. This shows the
folly of those refreshments, in convivial meetings, where the guests
are tempted to load the stomach with a variety such as would require
the stomach of a stout farmer to digest; and then to wind up with ice-
creams, thus lessening whatever ability might otherwise have existed
to digest the heavy load. The fittest temperature for drinks, if taken
when the food is in the digesting process, is blood heat. Cool drinks,
and even ice, can be safely taken at other times, if not in excessive
quantity. When the thirst is excessive, or the body weakened by fatigue,
or when in a state of perspiration, large quantities of cold drinks
are injurious.

Fluids taken into the stomach are not subject to the slow process of
digestion, but are immediately absorbed and carried into the blood.
This is the reason why liquid nourishment, more speedily than solid
food, restores from exhaustion. The minute vessels of the stomach
absorb its fluids, which are carried into the blood, just as the minute
extremities of the arteries open upon the inner surface of the stomach,
and there exude the gastric juice from the blood.

When food is chiefly liquid, (soup, for example,) the fluid part is
rapidly absorbed. The solid parts remain, to be acted on by the gastric
juice. In the case of St. Martin, [Footnote: The individual here
referred to--Alexis St. Martin--was a young Canadian, eighteen years
of age, of a good constitution and robust health, who, in 1822, was
accidentally wounded by the discharge of a musket which: carried away
a part of the ribs, lacerated one of two lobes of the lungs, and
perforated the stomach, making a large aperture, which never closed;
and which enabled Dr. Beaumont (a surgeon of the American army,
stationed at Michilimackanac, under whose care the patient was placed)
to witness all the processes of digestion and other functions of the
body for several years.] in fifty minutes after taking soup, the fluids
were absorbed, and the remainder was even thicker than is usual after
eating solid food. This is the reason why soups are deemed bad for
weak stomachs; as this residuum is more difficult of digestion than
ordinary food.

Highly-concentrated food, having much nourishment in a small bulk, is
not favorable to digestion, because it can not be properly acted on
by the muscular contractions of the stomach, and is not so minutely
divided as to enable the gastric juice to act properly. This is the
reason why a certain _bulk_ of food is needful to good digestion;
and why those people who live on whale-oil and other highly nourishing
food, in cold climates, mix vegetables and even sawdust with it to
make it more acceptable and digestible. So in civilized lands, fruits
and vegetables are mixed with more highly concentrated nourishment.
For this reason also, soups, jellies, and arrow-root should have bread
or crackers mixed with them. This affords another reason why coarse
bread, of unbolted wheat, so often proves beneficial. Where, from
inactive habits or other causes, the bowels become constipated and
sluggish, this kind of food proves the appropriate remedy.

One fact on this subject is worthy of notice. In England, under the
administration of William Pitt, for two years or more there was such
a scarcity of wheat that, to make it hold out longer, Parliament passed
a law that the army should have all their bread made of unbolted flour.
The result was, that the health of the soldiers improved so much as
to be a subject of surprise to themselves, the officers, and the
physicians. These last came out publicly and declared that the soldiers
never before were so robust and healthy; and that disease had nearly
disappeared from the army. The civic physicians joined and pronounced
it the healthiest bread; and for a time schools, families, and public
institutions used it almost exclusively. Even the nobility, convinced
by these facts, adopted it for their common diet, and the fashion
continued a long time after the scarcity ceased, until more luxurious
habits resumed their sway.

We thus see why children should not have cakes and candies allowed
them between meals. Besides being largely carbonaceous, these are
highly concentrated nourishments, and should be eaten with more bulky
and less nourishing substances. The most indigestible of all kinds of
food are fatty and oily substances, if heated. It is on this account
that pie-crust and articles boiled and fried in fat or butter are
deemed not so healthful as other food.

The following, then, may be put down as the causes of a debilitated
constitution from the misuse of food. Eating _too much,_ eating _too
often,_ eating _too fast,_ eating food and condiments that are _too
stimulating,_ eating food that is _too warm_ or _too cold,_ eating food
that is _highly concentrated,_ without a proper admixture of less
nourishing matter, and eating hot food that is _difficult of digestion._




X.

HEALTHFUL DRINKS.


There is no direction in which a woman more needs both scientific
knowledge and moral force than in using her influence to control her
family in regard to stimulating beverages.

It is a point fully established by experience that the full development
of the human body and the vigorous exercise of all its functions can
be secured without the use of stimulating drinks. It is, therefore,
perfectly safe to bring up children never to use them, no hazard being
incurred by such a course.

It is also found by experience that there are two evils incurred by
the use of stimulating drinks. The first is, their positive effect on
the human system. Their peculiarity consists in so exciting the nervous
system that all the functions of the body are accelerated, and the
fluids are caused to move quicker than at their natural speed. This
increased motion of the animal fluids always produces an agreeable
effect on the mind. The intellect is invigorated, the imagination is
excited, the spirits are enlivened; and these effects are so agreeable
that all mankind, after having once experienced them, feel a great
desire for their repetition.

But this temporary invigoration of the system is always followed by
a diminution of the powers of the stimulated organs; so that, though
in all cases this reaction may not be perceptible, it is invariably
the result. It may be set down as the unchangeable rule of physiology,
that stimulating drinks deduct from the powers of the constitution in
exactly the proportion in which they operate to produce temporary
invigoration.

The second evil is the temptation which always attends the use of
stimulants. Their effect on the system is so agreeable, and the evils
resulting are so imperceptible and distant, that there is a constant
tendency to increase such excitement both in frequency and power. And
the more the system is thus reduced in strength, the more craving is
the desire for that which imparts a temporary invigoration. This process
of increasing debility and increasing craving for the stimulus that
removes it, often goes to such an extreme that the passion is perfectly
uncontrollable, and mind and body perish under this baleful habit.