FRUITS.

In subsisting upon elementary foods, fruits constitute the second most important article of diet. They occupy a most conspicuous place in the needs of the human body.

The succulent class, such as apples, oranges, grapes, peaches, plums, pineapples, and all the juicy berries, possess great germicidal properties, in addition to their value as food. They seem to be designed by nature to destroy pathogenic bacteria in other foods while giving to the body their own nutrition.

It would astonish the average omnivorous Englishman or American to know what magnificent specimens of manhood are built almost entirely from fruits in some of the South Sea Islands. According to the most authentic history of man, fruits were undoubtedly his first and primitive diet. Primitive man was active, nimble and agile. Fruits left no deposits in his veins and arteries to age and stiffen them. Fruits made for him pure blood, and breathing the open air kept it pure. His surplus energy demanded activity which kept the pure blood surging through his veins. Long life, superior power and endurance were the results.

It is a hopeful sign, however, for the future health and longevity of our race that the demand for and consumption of fruits are rapidly increasing.

Each distinct genera of fruit has a specific effect or office to perform in the human body. Oranges, while possessing about the same food value as milk, acts directly upon and stimulates the activity of the liver, while apples are the best remedy known for that “dark brown” taste so often experienced next morning after the course dinner.

The best thing to do with an elegant course dinner late in the evening is to leave it on the table; but insomuch as the appetite is generally our complete master and law giver, we know this will not be done. Therefore, the next best thing to do after such a debauch is to make an entire breakfast of tart apples, thoroughly masticated.

The juice of the pineapple, which contains much hydrochloric acid, is among the best remedies known for diphtheria. When this disease first makes its appearance, if the juice of well-ripened pineapples be given freely to the patient it will not only destroy diphtheria germs, but will stimulate activity of the excretory organs, which is an action always desired in such cases.

The banana will supply the body with all the elements of nourishment that is obtained from cereals. Many cases of chronic stomach disorder have been permanently cured under the direction of the authors by eliminating wholly all cooked cereals and breads of every description and substituting therefor the simple diet of very ripe bananas.

It is believed by many people who are very fond of fruits that bananas do not agree with them. Close observation will show in every instance that this condition is the result of other things with which the fruit is mixed in the stomach and the trouble can be overcome by making an entire meal occasionally on fruits and nuts or fruit alone. The juice of strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and dewberries is very delicious and healthful. When it is pressed out and the refuse discarded there is no better food in the fruit family. But the large amount of seeds these berries contain, which are very hard and entirely insoluble, produces in many people violent irritation of the mucous membranes of the intestinal tract which manifests itself in many harmful ways.

Grape fruit contains many very pronounced and valuable medicinal properties. It is a natural antidote for biliousness when taken naturally, but the practice of eating it with sugar counteracts almost entirely its medicinal value, as the consumption of cane sugar is one of the causes of torpidity of the liver. Therefore, in taking sugar with grape fruit you are working one agency against another. Like nuts, the most desirable feature about fruits is that they are not an article commonly considered necessary to be cooked. Of course, the cook has undertaken in many ways to improve them by the application of his art, but up to date has been unsuccessful, as is evidenced by the fact that nearly all fruits are used in their natural or elementary state.

In living upon uncooked foods we must necessarily depend very largely upon fruits and nuts, but we should exercise judgment, patience and toleration. We must remember that we often suffered for our wrong eating, and accommodating nature may have partially adjusted our bodies to these incorrect habits. Therefore, when correct methods of eating are employed, the wrong must be undone and overcome, and the stomach sometimes rebels against the change. However, the body will adjust itself much quicker to the right than the wrong, and when the adjustment is once made and the natural dietetic law obeyed, perfect health, strength, endurance and vitality are the inevitable results.