I. From Indigestible Food.
WHEN a small boy strays into an orchard before the fruit is quite ripe, and indulges his appetite without staying to reflect, he is apt to experience an attack of indigestion of the simplest kind. The food he has eaten is not digested, but remains in his stomach like an irritating foreign body. If he is discovered in time, the simplest process is to give him an emetic of salt-and- water or mustard-and-water, and so get rid of it in this way. But if it has already had time to pass into the bowels, other measures will be needed. The symptoms he experiences are sharp pains in the upper part of the body or about the navel, and even cramp and spasms which may go on to general convulsions. Stone fruit before it is ripe will cause the same symptoms.
Those who have reached mature years are generally more discriminating in their diet, but every little while they may forget themselves. Perhaps it is some favourite dish which they know does not agree with them, but which they cannot resist, and then they know what to expect. The symptoms very according to the food that has caused the indigestion. Nuts cause pains in the stomach 1 and chest. Fat food, especially fat pork, causes nausea and vomiting, with moist white tongue. This is frequently accompanied by pains in the body and diarrhoea.
Food may be indigestible under some conditions, and digestible under others. If a person in a state of exhaustion sits down to a hearty meal, even though the food is nothing but what he is used to, he will not be able to digest it. In all such states the very lightest food should be taken until the bodily powers are restored, which usually happens after a sleep. Some people can eat hot meat very well, but not cold meat, and to them cold meat is an indigestible food. The explanation of this is that in cold meat the albuminous and gelatinous parts are set, whereas in hot meat they are fluid, and these are more easily acted on by the digestive juices; moreover, cold meat must become warm in the stomach before it can be digested, and Pains in the chest and intestines, flatulence, and great distress, are the penalty of want of due care of these points.
1 *Throughout this treatise I use the word “stomach” in the anatomical sense, meaning the organ which receives the food as soon as it is swallowed. The stomach lies in the upper part of the abdominal cavity, more on the left side than on the right, which is occupied by the liver. The stomach is protected by the lowest ribs on the left side, and many of the pains arising in the stomach are felt in the chest. In common speech, the “stomach” means the whole of the abdomen, but I do not use it in this sense.* 1
Under the same heading of indigestion from indigestible food must come those cases due to defective teeth. When the teeth are faulty and cannot masticate the food properly before it is swallowed, it reaches the stomach ill-prepared, and sets up indigestion which is apt to become chronic. The remedy in this case is to consult a dentist, and if he cannot put matters right, the food–that is, the solid part of it–will have to be passed through a mincing-machine and so be chewed artificially.
2. From Excessive Indulgence in good Food.
It is just as possible to injure the digestion with good food as with bad, if too much of it is taken. By a process of training, the stomach can become developed out of proportion to the rest of the body, and then large quantities of food can be taken without any active symptoms of indigestion. The stomach becomes to the gourmand what the athlete’s limbs are to him- capable of an amount of exertion beyond the powers of other men. But over-development is not good in any part of the body, be it muscle or be it stomach; and the gourmand pays the penalty before long. His powerful digestion lays up more pabulum than he requires; he grows in bulk without growing in strength, and is one day seized with a fit of gout–he is fortunate if it attacks his toe and not some vital organ, or the stomach itself. Gouty dyspepsia is one of the most troublesome kinds to treat. Gout may be inherited as well as acquired, so it is not always the sufferer’s own fault. There is in cases of gouty dyspepsia much acidity, flatulence, pain, and constipation. 3. From Alcohol.
The man who drinks excessively of beer loses consciousness, and has an acute attack of indigestion and vomiting. The vomiting relieves his stomach, a few hours’ sleep restoring his senses, and after a day’s indisposition he is well. But one who habitually indulges in beer and not necessarily to such excess, will have chronic dyspepsia of a different kind. Alcohol acts on both the primary and the secondary digestion, and the action of beer is to relax all the tissues of the body. The beer-drinker gradually becomes of the “flabby” or “sodden” type, probably pale and rather fat, and his digestion also becomes flabby and slow, and the tongue is large and yellow-coated, and there is much flatulence. Those who live active lives in the open air in the country do not show the effects as soon as those who live in towns and get little exercise.
Wine and spirits act somewhat differently. They do not cause so much puffiness as beer, but they redden the skin more, causing dilatation of the small blood-vessels, especially of the nose. Often there is pallor of the rest of the face, leaving the nose only red. There is in general wasting of the tissues of the body.
One marked symptom of the alcoholic dyspepsia– and this applies to all kinds, whether from beer, wine, or spirits–is sickness in the morning. There is bad appetite at any time, but in the morning, before anything has been taken, there is vomiting, of mucus generally. The tongue is tremulous, and there is a tremor through the body; flatulence and constipation generally accompany this kind.
4. From Tobacco.
The first attempts to smoke are almost always attended with an acute attack of indigestion, deathly nausea, and vomiting. But habitual over-indulgence in tobacco causes dyspepsia of a different kind. In the most aggravated form it is characterised by perpetual sickness; no food can be retained, and at this time, smoking, and even the smell of tobacco, is intolerable. In the less severe cases it takes the form of acidity, heartburn, pain after taking food, sinking sensation at the pit of the stomach, and generally constipation.
5. From Tea.
It would be difficult to say which is the greater cause of indigestion-alcohol or tea. It is true people don’t often get drunk with the cup that “not inebriates” (though there has been one case reported, in which a woman who ate tea suffered from delirium tremens in consequence), but they do often get dyspepsia. In the tea dyspepsia the nervous symptoms predominate. There is more pain at the stomach than sickness or vomiting, the tongue is not so large and flabby as with beer- drinkers, and the subjects of it suffer more from what is called “nerves.” They are always on high tension, easily startled, sleep little, and have no appetite for anything but–tea. They want tea always; it is the only thing that relieves the “sinking” they complain of (itself a consequence of the tea). They suffer much from low spirits.
6. From Cold.
Few things stop digestion so soon as lowering the bodily temperature. A cold bath soon after a meal arrests the process completely, and is very apt to cause dangerous symptoms. A drive in cold air with insufficient wraps will cause symptoms of indigestion, chiefly pains in the stomach, and flatulence. The next meal gives great pain, and it takes some time for the stomach to recover from the injury.
7. From Bad Air.
When many hours of the twenty-four are passed in air that is spent, heated by gas, or polluted by the breath of human beings which cannot escape, it is impossible for the digestion to go on properly. The stomach, as well as the rest of the body, loses its proper vitality; the digestive fluids are not able to transform the food eaten; and, for want of proper oxygen in the blood, the secondary digestion is imperfectly performed. The results are wasting and pain.
8. From Vinegar
Some persons who have a tendency to grow fat take to drinking vinegar, in order to prevent such a dreadful, unbecoming calamity falling upon them. Many have succeeded by this means in bringing about “vinegar-consumption,” and dying of it. Others have gained their object at the price of no worse a disease than ruined digestion. Constant acidity, pain after food, flatulence, flushing of the face, great thinness, are the leading symptoms of vinegar dyspepsia.
9. From Tight-lacing.
Another vanity for which many women have paid dearly is a wasp waist. Wherein the beauty of this anatomical enormity consists it is difficult to discover, and it must be classed along with the foot-deforming custom of the Chinese, and the head flattening of some tribes of North American Indians. The organs of digestion resent it, and show their resentment by painting the nose red, and torturing the offender whenever she attempts to put food into the stomach without leaving it proper room. Constipation is usually one result of this.
