Rensselaer Union and Jasper Republican, Volume 8, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 June 1876 — Influence of Food Upon the Intellect. [ARTICLE]

Influence of Food Upon the Intellect.

The influence of diet upon the mental health is a subject of far deeper import* ance than it would usually appear to be considered by people ia general. Judg* ing from appearances, we are inclined to say that there is a widely-spread and pro* found indifference prevailing respecting the matter. There can be but little doubt but that what people eat and drink affects their character* Physiology tells us that the brain and stomach are too intimately connected for there to be any question as to tbe correctness of the assertion. Indeed, the brain is the slave-of the stomach ; and the former utters what the latter dictates.

That such is the design of an all-wise Creator is very evident. Referring to the Mosaic record of the fail of man, we read that when tbe serpent tempted Eve through her palate, he also appealed to the benefits her understanding wonld derive from eating the forbidden fruit. It was “a tree to be desired to make one wise.” How fatally true the story was we know from its result. Ancient classical writers give us very minute accounts of the barbaric magnificence of the banquets of ancient Greece and Rome. The incongruous ingredients of the plait are strangely typical of eccentric atrocities perpetrated by the partakers of such dishes. Thousands of nightingales* tongues entered into the composition of an especially favorite dish of the Roman Emperor who caused the streets of his capital to be illuminated by the burning bodies of the Christian slaves. Looking at matters from the stand point which we have erected, the diet of monarchs ii* the days $f despotic power must have been a matter of no slight importance. What hasty decisions, what bewildering political complications may not have been caused by a fit oflndigestion bn tbe part of the powers that were! It is a well-es-tablished fact that a leg of mutton caused a revolution in the affairs of Europe. Napoleon the Great, just before the battle of Leipzig, insisted upon dining upon boiled mutton, contrary to the advice of h;s cittf iU-cuitine, who seems to have proper ly understood his business, and to have been somewhat of a physician as well as cook. The Emperor's brain resented the liberty taken with his colleague —the stomach—the monarch’sequilibrium was overturned, the battle los*, and a new page opened in history ‘‘ Who drinks beer, thinks beer,” says the time-homxed proverb, and its truth is well exemplified in-the literature ot the Tudor period, when beer was the customary drink. Lt wasxhe ordinary beverage drunk by the virgin Queen herself. The literature ot the era is like the rtrong fluids and, solids which nourished the brains of the writers. It is coarse, pungent and vigorous, full of the Sensuality of thought aad expression which a gross manner of living tends to foster. Yet, withal, what a glorious literature! There were no diUtlanti writers in those days, no second serving up of the thoughts ofothers least adulterated

form. All wm flash and orighml, perfcetly coinciding wHh the mode* of Bring in those meffinval tfane*. Pursuing this train of thought, w naturally glancejat the great writer* of the seventeenth and eighteenth cenlbriesHere we find a notaMt diflerenc* in the style ofliving; a diffe rance which ha* had a mort remarkable influence upon the literary production* of the age. The French Queen of Charles Henrietta Maria, introduced a more refined system of dietary amongst the npper classes) This, taken in connection with th* more habitual use of wine—particularly Port—iwdita influence upon the minds-of the greater thinker* of the time. The style of writing had become more-refined and polished; lacking in the coarseness of the Elizabethan era, whilst preserving its vigor and frwhnraa With the introduction-or tea commenced the age of ephemeral literature. The Tattier and The Spectator were the offsprings of coffee-house chat. They are remembered and quoted now because- they are almost the chief records of the- every-day-life of the period at whichthey were written. With the mixture of foodneome* a mixture of literature most curious to note. Dean Swift was fond of tea, but he was also a lover of stronger fluid* and solid*; and here

we find a key to that strangely constituted mind which could,; pen such grossness an his “ Directions to Servant*;”’ and yet produced that inimitable “Journal to Stella,’* than which a purer and'tanderer piece of writing doe* not exist in the English language. Dn Johnsen was much addicted to the pleasure of the table. He was a huge eater and drtakerbe liked port and did it ample justice, but'tea waa his favorite beverage. His literary productions form a curious and remarkable corroboration ot the fact that feed has a material influence upon character. He labored incessantly at literary work;:yet of all hl* productions not one is left to sustain his reputation, save his dictionary. Such a book must be, necessarily, and to a very considerable extent, a compilation; but he invested the dry details- with so much interest that his work sees superseded the then current “dictionary for the explanation of hard words.” He gathered from all sources, comparing things new and old, the result being a> composition which could only have been attempted—much less successfully accomplished—by a man of such general and generous diet as the great lexicographer notably was. The foregoing is merely a resume of n few facte selected at random from a multiplicity of others. If, then, we take it for granted that diet has hitherto exerted so great an influence on character, is it notan absolute duty upon the part of social reformers- to try and remedy the existing abuses in the modes of preparing food, and especially in the proper combination of viands ? It is the middle and lower classes that suffer most from ignorance in these respects. It is-a common mistake, made by most people, that only the wealthy can have good cookeiy. There never was a greater fallacy. Skill in cooking can be displayed tn the boiling of a leg of mutton ana turnips, te-well a* th« most intricate French concoction. Properly speaking, good cooking consist* in turning scientifically to the fullest account every wholesome article of food, and converting into palatable meals that which ind : fferent or unscientific cooking would render either uneatable or put aside aa useless. The middle and artisan classes are the more to be considered in this food reformation and its effects upon characters, for it is principally from them spring the men whose Industry, intelligence and active genius have been the- mainspring* of advancement in science, art, literature and general civilisation. Mau tana in corpore »ano is the great aim of humanity; and as a properly-nurtured, and well-bal-anced physical frame induces a corresponding habit of mind, surely the attainment of this object is well worthy the attention of ail intelligently thinning being*. —London Hovukeepa.