Lectures on dietetics and dyspepsia.

  • Roberts, William, Sir, 1830-1899.
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lectures on dietetics and dyspepsia. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

    21/112 (page 5)
    DIETETIC CUSTOMS. accessible to it, the best adapted for the special wants of its economy. But we know that man, in regard to his bodily functions, is subject to the same laws as govern the life of the lower animals. And we cannot doubt that in the formation of his dietetic habits man is guided by the same kind of instincts as those which guide the rest of the animal creation in the choice of then food. The generalised fodd-customs of mankind are there- fore not to be viewed as random practices adopted to please the palate or to gratify an idle or vicious appetite. These customs must be regarded as the outcome of pro- found instincts, which correspond to important wants of the human economy. They are the fruit of a colossal experience,' accumulated by countless millions of men through successive generations. They have the same weight and significance as other kindred facts of natural history, and are fitted to yield to observation and study lessons of the highest scientific and practical value. In taking dietetic customs as objects of study it is obvious that widely disseminated customs, followed by many races and by vast masses of population, have a deeper and wider significance than customs limited to small communities or to isolated families or individuals. It is also obvious that the practices of the more successful races, and of the easier classes of a nation, are more likely to yield good dietetic models than the practices of backward races, or of the poorer classes. Because the former, owing to their ampler means, have greater freedom of choice, and because also their greater success in the struggle for predominance is primd facie evidence of the beneficial tendency of their food-habits. I need hardly say that dietetic customs which are not the outcome of the free choice of the population, but are the