Note 67 — Chapter XIV · THE ONE-MEAL SYSTEM.

It by no means follows that the man of all leisure, or the “loafer,” can, because of abundant rest after meals, digest the large quantity of food he may be tempted to swallow. On the contrary, he probably does not digest one-fourth of it. The balance is assuredly retained to work him injury at last. No man really digests, speaking strictly, in excess of the physiological needs of his organism; the fact that one man “carries off,” so to speak, an immense amount of food without apparent or immediate inconvenience, argues simply that he has greater excretory capacity—perhaps was endowed originally with a greater degree of vitality—than another who is constantly troubled though eating less and working more. Persons of the latter class still exceed their normal amount; hence their digestive troubles.