O. C. GODSMARK, M. D by O. C. GODSMARK

O. C. GODSMARK, M. D

By O. C. GODSMARK

Overeating.

There are few habits, if indeed any, that are so productive of ill health as the one of overeating.

Few also are the victims of this habit who realize or even suspect the true cause of their ailments.

So diversified are the results of taking too much food into the system, that it is impossible to treat the subject fully in one short article. The stomach, as formed by an all-wise Creator, was given certain proportions, or made to receive a definite amount of food, and while it is true that this organ was made elastic and capable of accommodating itself to the different amounts placed within its walls, yet there is a limit beyond which it cannot be stretched without being weakened. While undergoing the strain of undue pressure, the blood supply in the minute glands of the stomach is much reduced. The secretion of the digestive fluids being thus lessened, the process of digestion is so retarded that fermentation frequently sets in, and the whole mass becomes a medium of germ culture, filling the system with its poisons, and clogging the true action of all the organs. For a time the stomach will contract after being thus stretched, that is, will return to its normal condition, empty itself of the remaining mass of decayed food, and be ready for the next meal. But the abused organ can not always withstand such treatment and do its allotted work properly.

California Scenery, No. 8.—This beautiful view represents a portion of the campus of the University of California, and four of the principal buildings, viz., North Hall, Mining Building, Art and Library Building, and South Hall. This University was founded in 1868, and has been a very important factor in the educational development of the Pacific Coast. At Berkeley are its Colleges of Letters and Science; in San Francisco, in the Mark Hopkins Institute, its Department of Art; and its Colleges of Law, Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, and Veterinary Science—these shortly to be housed in the substantial buildings now in process of construction at Sutro Heights. An integral part of the University, also, is the Lick Astronomical Department, at Mount Hamilton. The site at Berkeley, comprising 250 acres of picturesque upland, commands magnificent views of San Francisco Bay and city, the Golden Gate, and the Pacific Ocean. The University’s endowment is capitalized at $8,900,000. It has received private benefactions to the amount of $2,250,000, and has assurance of several millions more, to become available when the Phebe Hearst architectural plans, already well advanced, shall have been matured. In its 26 departments of instruction there are enrolled 2,350 students of both sexes, whose instructors number 120. The college buildings on the campus at Berkeley number 12, and are as follows: North Hall, South Hall, East Hall, Art and Library Building (containing over 70,000 volumes), Chemistry Building, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Building, Agricultural Building, Botany Building, Philosophy Building, Mining and Civil Engineering Building, Students’ Observatory, and Gymnasium. Being a State institution, the tuition is free, except in certain professional departments, and the educational standard is that of the best eastern colleges.

Soon the power of contractility is impaired, the walls become flabby, and we have what is called a dilated stomach. This gives rise to many serious and some even dangerous symptoms, only one or two of which can here be mentioned. The sickening taste in the mouth mornings as of decayed food, does not in the least exaggerate the true condition of the stomach. The putrid mass having undergone decomposition during the night, is a direct poison to be taken up by the blood and carried to all parts of the system, beclouding the brain, weakening the muscles, and either irritating or benumbing the whole nervous system. This is one of the ways in which the extra amount of food becomes a poison to the system in place of giving additional strength.

A good, healthy stomach, properly secreting its normal fluids, is one of the very best safeguards against disease we possess. He who has a perfect digestion, need, with proper precaution, fear little the encroachments of disease. Overeating, eating late suppers, also eating in the morning upon first arising, before the stomach has had time to prepare for its morning meal, all tend to produce this debilitated, oftentimes catarrhal, condition above mentioned, and should be carefully avoided.