June 1904

“Use Food and Not Stimulants” The Medical Missionary, 13, 6, pp. 167, 168.

ATJ

ONE of the best definitions ever given of a stimulant is that by Dr. Edmunds, of London: “A stimulant is that which gets force out of a man without putting it into him.” This is precisely what a stimulant is, and that is exactly what it does. The only occasion, therefore, on which it is proper to use a stimulant, is that which is spoken of in the Bible, when it says, “Give strong drink to him that is ready to perish.” If, for instance, a person be about to perish from cold or privation, it is necessary to make a sudden call upon the vital forces, and to rally them to as strong an effort as possible as quickly as possible. At such a time a stimulant of some kind must be used, if life is to be saved, because the vital functions are so prostrated that it is impossible to get force out of the system by putting it into it; therefore, if the force which must be developed in order to recover is to be aroused at all, it must be by something that will get force out of a man without putting it into him, and that is a stimulant.MEDM June 1904, page 167.1

At such times and in such cases only is it proper to use a stimulant upon the human system. At all other times stimulants are only robbers, and the habitual use of them is only the persistent robbery of the human system of its vital forces.MEDM June 1904, page 167.2

On the other hand, food is that which gets force out of a man (or beast) by first putting it into him. He who takes food supplies himself with force; while he who takes a stimulant robs himself of force. In other words, he who takes food, lives and works upon the food; while he who takes a stimulant, lives and works upon his constitution.MEDM June 1904, page 167.3

If you are on a journey, and your horse grows tired, give him a good feed and he will go on as freely as when you started; and by keeping this up he will carry you any number of journeys with no more wear than that which is the natural effect of age. But when he first begins to grow weary you can get him to go on more briskly without feeding him; that is, by application of whip or spur; that is giving him a stimulant. By the use of whip or spur you can get him to make extra exertions, you can get force out of him, but it is force that he cannot give without drawing on his constitution; while by giving him food you also get him to make extra exertions, you get force out of him, but it is force which the food gives him, and he is himself still preserved. By giving him food you get extra wear out of him, but it is only wearing out the food; while by the use of whip or spur you also get extra wear out of him, but it is only by wearing out the horse.MEDM June 1904, page 167.4

It is the same way with men and women. Men in cold weather, starting on a journey, take whisky along; and when the heat from the food which has been eaten, begins to run low, they take whisky, which stirs up the vital functions to greater exertion and causes an expenditure of more heat. But that is only to rob the very constitution of its necessary heat, and so the more to weaken the body in its power of resistance to the cold. Better a thousand times would it be to take food, than whisky or any other stimulant drink—this, too, without any reference to the duty or the question of total abstinence. On the single question of maintaining warmth to the body on a cold day, food is a thousand times better than any stimulating drink. Food will supply additional heat to the body; a stimulant will only the sooner exhaust the already failing heat which the body has. That contrast is equally true between food and stimulants, in the matter of the supply of strength to a man in his daily labor.MEDM June 1904, page 167.5

And in this thing women wear themselves out fully as much as men; in fact, it may fairly be questioned whether they do not do so more than do the men. Because the women, being in the house, are always within easy reach of stimulants, while the men, working out-of-doors, or in the shop, are not so. With the housewife, it is, perhaps, wash-day. There is a large washing to do, besides a workingman’s breakfast, dinner, and supper to get for husband and his hired hands. She soon begins to feel languid and weary, or perhaps a little faint, and goes straightway and gets herself some strong tea or coffee, that strengthens (?) her for a while, and by frequent repetition of it she gets through the work of the day. She would a great deal better eat some good nourishing food, and not touch a drop of tea or coffee or any other stimulant. The food will give her strength—the tea or coffee will rob her of it. By the use of whip or spur she may urge herself through the work of that day, but she is only so much the more unfitted for the work of the following days.MEDM June 1904, page 168.1

No man or woman should attempt to do any amount of work which cannot be done upon the force derived from the food which he eats. The amount of work that can be so done is all-sufficient, and is, in fact, greater than can be done by drawing upon the constitution by the use of tea, coffee, whisky, or any other stimulant.MEDM June 1904, page 168.2

The principle touched upon in this article is a sound one, and if carried out, it cuts up by the roots the use of every stimulant from tea or hashish. We only hope the reader will make the application of the principle.MEDM June 1904, page 168.3

A. J. JONES.