Reading for Everybody.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2769, 26 March 1910, Page 3 (Supplement)

Reading for Everybody.

TIME TABLE OF TjttE STOMACH.

, Bein'- above all tilings a .practical j people (says “Chambers’ Journal”), we ! set ourselves to discover how to obviate, I as- far as possible, the discomforts which j the sustenance of the body imposes. We recognise that the laws of cause and effect operate with unerring, precision in matters dietarv and we learn by experience what things to avoid and what may be safely assimilated; and if we cannot discover these internal truths .for ourselves there are scientific men at hand who are prepared to instruct us. The- have, compiled tables of comparative digestibility, headed by boiled tripe and {grilled venison-—delicacies which can be. digested-within an hour — and continuing throughout the entire range of edibles consumed by the omniverous human race down to old salted beef, jam, crabs, and alcohol, which are beyond the six hours’ time limit. The perusal of such a- table is instructive and not without interest. It will be seen that cooking affects our food in various ways ; generally speaking, bv softening the texture and producing chemical changes, it renders the food more digestible, hut there are exceptions where cooking prolongs the period of digestion. There are few tilings mere easily digested than a raw whipped egg : but when it- is hard-boiled four hours are necessary for digestion. On the other hand, milk is rendered more digestible by boiling, and a baked apple shares tlie honors with tripe and venison at the head of the list. Bread, the stable food of a vast proportion of the ."Western world, is by no means easilv assimilated in a new state. It is timed" at three and a-lialf hours. There are few people who can tell us that wholemeal and brown bread are more easily digested; and there arc others to warn us that they produce. ■ deleterious effects on the st-omaeh, and are less nourishing in consequence. The preference for one kind of bread oyer another seem to be largely a question . of individual constitution. _ -. Fish, excluding eels and shelffsh, is iW very easily digested when boiled, but y less so when fried. An hour and adialf disposes of the former, three hours of the latter. Both turkeys and geese are easily digested—much more so than the commonplace fowl of the barn-door type Whilst two and a-lialf hours account for the roasted goose or turkey, the “fowl” —even when called by the more euphemistic name of ‘‘chicken” — treated in the same- way will sit heavy upon ns for hours. Beef and mutton stand on much the same markkas regards digestibility —three to three and ,a-lialf hours, according to the cut and mode of preparation, with. warning against old salted beef, as already mentioned. Boasted or grilled, the flesh of .the calf will remain unabsorbed tor five hours, and fat pork for five, and a quarter, though the. latter becomes more- amendable to digestion when salted or smoked.. That “bag of mystery, ’ the sausage lingers between three and a-half and five hours, according to its guaranteed analysis and culinary treatment-. Of vegetables, asparagus and boiled celery are among the. most digestible, requiring only an hour and a-nait for the process. Potatoes and beans take an hour longer, and onions and uncooked salad yet another hour or so. Game- is all classed together, and reckoned at four hours and a-quarter; but pigeon is not mentioned ui the list. There would seem to be conflicting opinions as to the digestibility of this bird. On the- other hand, it is sometimes recommended to invalids as a tas y -mor sol when more favorable diet-is forbidden ; on the other, there is the story of the. wager laid that a man ■ would eat 14 pigeons in as many dajs. .me bet was taken, and- tlie man who was prepared to back his digestion against , the bird began liis diet of one pigeon daily. He- was forced to abandon in a week the accumulation- of undigested pigeon in tlie stomach making it im possible to continue. 4 The perusal of this table of comparaTftivo digestibility gives pause for thought * beyond the scope of its purely material interest. The time-table tor the stomach is an innovation which was unknown to our ancestors, and lias on 3 become necessary owing to the impaired physical condition of tlie race. It ap pears that wo have to pay highly, perhaps too highly for our ultra-civilisa-tion. The development of the mental •facilities and the arts of peace has been accompanied by a steady physical deterioration. In statue we may be supeiior to the knights of the middle ages it is a fact that the' average modern man cannot get. into the armour of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; but it is equally true of the average modern man that lie could not w’eild the great two-handedi swords of his ancestors, n°r support throughout the livelong daj tlie weight of the armour which is too small tor his bulkier limbs, Me have only to look at the teeth of the African savage and compare them with the lamentable stumps of decayed ivory which do duty as grinders in-our- own country to realise the necessity for tables of comparative digestibility, peptonised (' foods, dental surgeons, wholesale druggists, and a- host of modern innovations undreamt ,of by our worthy ancestors, for whom the barber and cliirurgeonperformed al] that was necessary for soundness in tooth and limb. We profess to be appalled at the feats of gluttony recorded of men of gastronomic mark a few generations ago. We read with disgust how this or that man sat clown to a meal of sirloin of beef or a quarter of mutton, and did not rise from the table until it was finished. But is not our disgust tempered with envy ? V,'ho in these dispootic days would 1, dream of such a carnivorous orgy orhope \ to survive it? We blame the “two botW -^i e ” men for many of our bodily discomforts and defects. It is convenient to make scapegoats of our ancestors for the indignity of a bald head or an emblazoned visage; hut we ignore the judgment which -ostcritv will pass upon iis. A toothless and anaemic generation will rise up and condemn us lor our tables of comparative digestibility, our peptonised foods, our digestive tablets, and all the artificial aids, by which we seok to- bolster up our failing constitutions. The fact is that the farther wo depart from nature and the more we lean upon science the more boneless ou-r case becomes Physically. Modern discoveries are rapidly usurping the prerogatives of our bodily functions-. The mom-ad-vanced -men of science are abolishing ?ith the knife those organs of ou.r.ana'tomy which have, become, -.and are be-.

coming atrophied from disuse; they are for simplifying the mechanism of the human body by a process of attrition which, in time, will reduce its internal organism to the level of an oyster’s or a star-fish’s. Meanwhile we are in a transition stage, and our digestive system 110 longer Able to cope with the strenuous fare, of our ancestors, is compelled to fall back upon science for relief. Hence these tables of comparative digestibility.

THE TALKING MEN.

AMUSING DESCRIPTION OF A SOUTH SEA ISLANDS ~ PARLIAMENT.

In a Government report on a visit paid by Mr. Arthur Mahaffy, Assistant for the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, to the Gilbert and Ellice islands, is an amusing description of an island parliament and an instructive note on the effect of civilisation on the native.

In former days the Gilbert Islanders were a particularly quarrelsome race, ami a. state of war existed almost permanently upon most of the largor islands of the group. These conditions are not completely changed. The islands are kept in the most perfect order, trees are continually being planted, land reclaimed, and the wants of tlio natives are administered to by every posible means. Extreme poverty is almost unknown; every man is secure in his possession of his pieces of land, and is protected from aggression of his more powerful neighbors. Taxation is confined to a graduated land, tax, which forms a burden in no case too heavy to be easily borne, rx cel lent housing accommodation lias been provided, the villages are kept in admirable, order, and t-ho roads are scrupulously clean. Hospitals have been established on all the lands. Contract with civilisation, owing to the establishment at their doors of the great labor centre of Ocean Island, has led to considerable modifications in the tastes and habits of the natives, and has caused a rapid decline of their simple arts and crafts . “The old Spartan simplicity of their standard of living,” says Mr. Mahaffy, “which was maintained upon the almost exclusive diet of cocoanuts, pandanus, and fish, has vanished before the cultivated taste which demands rice, meat, sugar, and biscuits, and which is inclined to scorn the food of a former generation. “Clothes of shocking shape and of atrocious color have almost replaced the picturesque kilt of leaves or fine woven mat, and in their canoes; now no longer laboriously sewn together of small and narrow cocoanut planks, but constructed of American or Australian timbers, the really beautiful mat Gail has given place to a canvas substitute which is made on a sewing-machine purchased at Ocean Island.” The. islanders, however, still consume about seven cocoanuts nor head daily. SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT.

Describing the system of government which has been maintained ever since the proclamation of the Protectorate, Mr. Mahaffy states that in islands where there is a hereditary high chief he is usually recognised, and ho com- ' monlv sits as president of the “Bowi,” or island parliament. Tlie next official of importance is the magistrate, who is 'usually picked as the most intelligent native whose services can bo securedHe. is. assisted by tlie. “scribe.” The other native Government officials are a chief policeman, village police (usually, one or two for each- village), a gaoler, a wardress, and a hospital orderly, who takes charge .of the native patients in the island hospital, and dispenses t-ho /“There remain the unpaid members of the native Parliament, who arc, for the most part, content to remain unpaid when the fact is explained to them' that in England membership of Parliament was formerly held so great an- honor that payment was never thought of. These are the Kaubure, ‘Advisers’ c-r ■‘Thinking-men.’ , “I.n former days they were usually chosen from among the older natives, and were a somewhat argumentative body, although they were loyal enough once they were’ convinced. The Kail-? bn re are now recruited from among the younger- men,'who may be supposed to he more progressive and less dilatory, but are certainly less interesting, and ’have less authority among the people. ... “It is, I fancy, a rare thing for any of tlie modern Kaubure to differ from the opinion of any European Government officer. Such ‘Village Hampdens were not unknown in former years, and could generally bo trusted to give good reasons fox* any view which they held. “The- assembly, or‘ Bowi,’ meets at regular intervals, generally once a month, at the principal village; and discusses the various matters connectwith the island. The extreme monotony of the lives of the natives would seem prima facie to preclude the possibility of many topics for discussion, but the Gilbert Islander is probably because he has little else to do, the most wonderful talker in all the- South Seas “It is well for these orators that there always remains the eternal land problem which can be discussed. In fclic.se narrow islands (which are of c-oral, their highest points not more than 20tt above high-water mark), with their dense populations, the- various land biddings have been devided and subdivided in a most extraordinary way. Idle- land registers, which are now regularly kept,-.show thousands of small holdings, each termed a ‘piece’ of land, which may be any size from a few yards square to a couple of aoreis.

TERRIBLE TRAIN DISASTER.

FALL INTO FROZEN RIVER COSTS MANY LIVES. Late on Friday, January 21 a terrible railway disaster occurred forty miles west of Sudbury, Ontario, to a Canadian Pacific express, in which it is believed sixty-three people lost their lives, and seventy were injured, several fatally. To the horrors of the wreck itself were added the ghastly terrors of death by drowning or by fire, for while part of the train plunged into the frozen Spanish River, some of the debris caught fire, and travellers pinned in the wreckage were burned before rescuers could reach them. The accident was one of the most shocking that has been chronicled in recent years. Tlie train left Sudbury with two hundred passengers, and rushed down on tlie bridge spanning tlie Spanish River at forty -miles an hour. There were seven cars, including a mail and baggage section, a tourist ear —which is practically a third-class sleeper—a secondclass car, a first-class dining saloon, and a Pullman car.

As the bridge was being crossed the second-class car suddenly jumped the track, presumably because of a broken rail, and smashing into the side rails of the bridge was cat in two. Half of this car, the tourist ear ; and the first-class dining saloon, swung clear of the bridge and fell with a crash upon-' the ice, which immediately broke and let the wreckage through into the river beneath. FIGHT FOR LIFE. • Many were I 'thus drowned, after a frantic fight for life. Some escaped from the windows, only to find that the car had slid under the ice, -which was a foot thick, -and they were in an Arctic prison, with death advancing on tlie-m n s steadily as the water filled the submerged compartments. The ceiling of the dining car was partially under water, but from that section several rescues were effected by an heroic attendant. At the time of the accident the seats were almost all occupied by diners, and when they were thrown into the river there was considerable panic till the attendant, Reynolds, dominated them all, and exhorted them to cling to the hatracks and chandeliers till lie saw what could be dene to effect an escape. He then dived out of the window of the car, and called for tlie passengers to arrange themselves so that the car listed to the water. Thus aided, he managed to gain the roof, and to draw several passengers through a ventilator to safety. The car showing signs of sliding further under the ice, he was begged to get ashore; but lie stayed where he was, and broke a hole in the roof, through which he drew others before the lurching ear made further rescues impossible. Though he was badly injured, Reynolds insisted on returning to his family the following night. Meanwhile, the other half of the severed car, that had not been submerged, caught fire, and all the injured in it were burned to death, with no hope of succour.

The survivors from other cars went almost crazy at the hopelessness of their situation, for all they hail at hand was snow, and their efforts to -put out the flames with that wore not successful. Only the baggage section and the jnail car remained safe on the track, but even they were derailed. The Pullman car was thrown to the foot of the embankment, but escaped the river. The chef and tlio waiters in the dining car were trapped in their little coop-like department, but all were rescued, although severely scalded and cut, and they are now in hospital. DIVERS AT WORK. It was hours before relief messages could be sent to Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury,' and elsewhere, and horn's more before adequate relief supplies, accompanied by doctors, nurses, divers, and break-down gangs, arrived. Meanwhile many of the survivors were iii a bad state of exhaustion, for their wet clothes were frozen stiff on their bodies. Divers were at once set to work to render aid to any -who -might still be alive in the partially submerged cars. Only the ventilators above the water, -and the rescue work was most difficult. f ;