It is a matter of great importance that their diet, clothing and
habits be regulated by certain laws, which will, to a great extent,
reduce the dangers to which they are exposed in the discharge of
their duties.
DIET.
Man is less uniform in his diet, and suffers more in consequence
of it, than any other animal. All other animals are directed by
instinct to select only those substances which are best adapted
to their wants. Man is endowed with reason to enable him, by the
exercise of thought and reflection, to make his choice of food. He
should, therefore, select his daily food with as much forethought
and care as he would select the materials for his dwelling. He should
consider, not what will gratify his taste, but what will build up
and strengthen his bodily structure, and secure most perfectly the
highest and most permanent enjoyment of all his faculties.
The kind of food which each individual should select is by no means
uniform; the climate, the season of the year, the occupation,
the temperament, the age, the habits of life, and various other
circumstances which might be mentioned, demand modifications of diet.
MODIFICATIONS OF AGE.
The constituent elements of the body are not found in the same
relative proportions at different periods of life, or in different
individuals of the same age. In middle life the muscular system
predominates, and the body is remarkable for the compactness of its
fibres, its strength, and its power of endurance.
In the child there is an excess of fluids, which renders the body
more plump and round and the form beautiful, though more frail and
delicate than at a later period. In advanced age, the soft tissues
become greatly diminished, and the form wrinkled and wasted.
CLIMATE.
The inhabitants of cold climates require those articles of food
which produce the largest amount of animal heat, such as oil,
tallow and fat meats, which contain from sixty-six to eighty per
cent. of carbon. The natives of the arctic regions consume enormous
quantities of fat and oil, and seem to relish them as great luxuries;
the inhabitants of tropical regions subsist mainly on rice, fruits,
vegetables and lean meats. It would be impossible to live in
Greenland on the plaintain and rice of the Hindoo, or in Hindostan on
the seal fat and whale oil of the Greenlander.
In temperate climates we require different kinds of food at different
seasons of the year. In winter we consume larger quantities of fat
meat and carbonaceous food, and in summer more fruit and vegetables.
Were we to indulge in the summer in the same diet which we might
find highly conducive to health in the winter, the system would
soon become burdened with an excess of carbonaceous matter, and
induce congestion and inflammatory diseases. It is therefore highly
important that each person should possess some knowledge of the
properties of different articles of diet, and select from time to
time those which he may think most suitable to his own organization.
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