The only practical method of describing dis-ease is by indicating the organs afflicted and the impairment of their functions. Beginning with the stomach, in which, as previously stated, originates probably ninety-one per cent of all human disorders, I will first take up the question of the abnormal action of food caused by overeating. OVEREATING [Sidenote: The resourcefulness of Nature] Fortunately Nature does not demand exactness. She has made wonderful provision for our errors or our lack of precision. If we eat too much now and then she will cast out the excess. If, however, we habitually overeat, she will store away the surplus in the form of useless fat, or she will decompose it; that is, make an effort to volatilize it and cast it out through the pores of the skin. If our diet is unbalanced, Nature has the power to convert one chemical into another--a secret yet unknown to modern science. [Sidenote: Injurious effects of congested waste matter] While the tendency of Nature is to maintain normality by casting the debris out of the body, she demands that we obey the laws of motion and oxidation. If we do not observe these laws, the debris or matter she cannot use will accumulate, and congestion and constipation will take place. The excess of food thus actually clogs the system and generates in the intestines the poisons which cause autointoxication. THE EFFECTS OF OVEREATING The effects of overeating are so far-reaching, and so common among civilized people that a volume might be devoted to this habit and the subject not exhausted. Here, however, I will review only that which is of most importance to the student of dietetics, namely, the causes and a few of the effects of overeating. Overeating is due to three specific causes: 1 Eating several articles of food at the same meal which are incompatible 2 Taking stimulants at meals 3 Eating too many things at the same meal (1) Incompatible foods: When foods are eaten together that are incompatible they usually result in superacidity and sometimes cause a gnawing sensation in the stomach. (2) Stimulants with meals: When one takes stimulants such as beer, liquor or wine with meals, the stomach-cells secrete a deficient amount of hydrochloric acid, causing food to leave the stomach too slowly, thereby allowing fermentation to take place and acid conditions to develop. (3) Too many things at same meal: Too many things eaten at the same meal may exhaust the digestive juices and cause a condition of subacidity (lack of acid), which is true indigestion, or it may cause just the reverse, too much acid, and therefore produce the same result as in taking stimulants with meals. (See "Causes of Superacidity," item 2, p. 420). ABNORMAL APPETITE [Sidenote: The cycle of cause and effect]