We know further that impure water and milk, sh.e.l.lfish and certain foods which are contaminated with sewage are capable of giving rise to epidemics of this complaint.
This was shown in Paris in May last, when a plumber carelessly connected a pipe along which Seine water flowed to a drinking-water pipe. The typhoid germ is always present in Seine water and this mistake cost the lives of twenty people.
Dr Freeman, an American doctor, who has studied the habits of the typhoid germ, tells us that it does not survive so well outside the human body as does the tubercle microbe, but it can, nevertheless, do an incalculable amount of mischief when the local authorities are careless about the matter of sewage disposal.
A great deal has been heard of late of what are termed Typhoid Carriers. There are apparently numbers of people who, while they appear to be in good health, yet harbour these germs and are thus liable to infect others with them; and the problem is what to do with them.
The orthodox authorities, as happened in the case cited above, would like to isolate them indefinitely and even to pension them off for life, but this seems to be a hopeless way out of the difficulty.
The remedy seems obvious to me. Let us stop the drugs and serums and use common-sense hygiene of the body instead. This must be patent to anyone who has any knowledge of the subject; but why the authorities do not put it into execution I am at a loss to imagine. Surely the right thing to do is to clear away the impurities in which the typhoid germs live. _By depriving them of the material or soil in which they grow and propagate we should practically starve them out of existence._
Moreover, this seems to me to be a perfectly easy procedure. If this woman were handed over to me for treatment I should at once place her on an antiseptic diet consisting solely of salads, grated roots, fresh fruits, sour b.u.t.termilk and dextrinised cereals. The effect of this diet would be to cleanse and sterilise the entire digestive tract, and thus break up and clear away the soil in which the microbes are living. Supplementary to this cleansing diet other means could be adopted to effect a general purification of the whole body. Thus vapour baths could be used to promote skin action; beverages could be taken morning and night, consisting of distilled water with lemon juice or suitable herbal "teas" to promote free action of the kidneys; and colon-flushing treatment could be used to fully cleanse the colon, or large bowel.
By combined treatment of this rational order, I am convinced that this woman would speedily become freed from her unpleasant visitors and would be enabled to return to her relations without, as it were, a stain upon her character.
H. VALENTINE KNAGGS.
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HEALTHY LIFE RECIPES.
SOUPS.
Many cases of ill-health demand that the meals should be as dry as possible. Having granted this, it will be admitted that there is quite a proper place for soups in ordinary everyday food reform catering.
The chief objection to ordinary soups is that they are made on a basis of meat stock and flavoured with one of various "meat extract"
preparations. Meat stock, meat gravy and meat extract all alike represent the least desirable elements in flesh food, namely, the acids and tissue-wastes of the living animal at the moment of its death--acids and tissue-debris which were on their way to normal excretion via the lymph channels, veins, etc.
It is therefore only common-sense to avoid such soup-bases, especially as the most excellent soups can be made without recourse to any animal product.
The juices of vegetables, being rich in alkaline "salts" and other organic elements, are the natural cleansing agents in a rational diet.
Hence to obtain a maximum _remedial_ effect, vegetable soup should be taken in the form of a clear, unflavoured broth, quite apart from the solid meals, and preferably on retiring. But for the dinner or supper soup, some richness of flavour and creaminess of substance are pleasing and legitimate.
The following recipes explain, first, how to prepare vegetable "stock," and then how to make rich, creamy nourishing soups, on the basis of that "stock." Each recipe will, of course, suggest variations.
HOW TO MAKE VEGETABLE STOCK.
Put any fresh vegetables in season in a large stewpot--being careful not to include _overmuch_ cabbage or other coa.r.s.e green leaves, as these give a rather strong flavour--with a quart or more of water, cover, and simmer gently for at least two hours. The outer leaves discarded when preparing vegetables for the table, the stalks and stems, and the peelings of apples, potatoes, etc., should all be used for stock, care being taken, of course, to cleanse them well first, cutting out any insect-eaten or decayed parts.
ALMOND CREAM SOUP.
Mix two tablespoonfuls of fine wholemeal or good "standard" flour into a smooth paste with a little water, add this to the hot stock (as above), and stir till soup is thickened. Just before serving stir in a tablespoonful of Almond Cream (either "P.R." or Mapleton"s).
_The addition of the almond cream gives the above a nutritive value, apart from the tonic and cleansing elements in the stock._
NOURISHING ARTICHOKE SOUP.
Pare, scrub and cut into small pieces, 1 lb. of artichokes and put immediately into a pan with a pint of water or milk and water. Boil till soft, then rub through a wire sieve, using a wooden spoon. Put back in pan, add a little more water, a little chopped parsley, and a small piece of b.u.t.ter (or nut b.u.t.ter). Bring to the boil, stirring well; stir in a tablespoonful of Pinekernel Cream ("P.R." or Mapleton"s), and serve at once.
LEEK AND CELERY SOUP.
Put four well-cleansed medium-sized leeks (cut up small), the outer parts of a head of celery (chopped), a quart of water and 2 oz.
unpolished j.a.pan rice, into a pan and simmer for two hours. Rub through wire sieve, return to pan, bring to the boil, and serve.
_This soup is not so much nutritive as cleansing and antiseptic._
TASTE OR THEORY?