And then he rushes out of his office to snatch a bit of lunch between two items of business. He may play a game of chess over his lunch, but such a gross waste of time as sitting down for five minutes after his meal is never tolerated until he becomes a martyr to dyspepsia.
But after dinner he does rest, because he has nothing else to do. His business for the day is over, and he digests his meal in peace.
But with the working-classes the case is very different. They have certain hours given to them for their meals, during which time they are not allowed to work, and for such persons it is advisable to dine in the middle of the day.
It would be of little good for us to describe the few advantages and overwhelming abuses of a sumptuous banquet, for, most fortunately for themselves, extremely few of our readers are ever likely to be present at one. Nor would it suit our purpose to describe a one-course dinner, so we will take the chief meal of a well-to-do man of the upper middle-class as the subject of our remarks.
Tomato Soup. Turbot and Lobster Sauce. Mutton Cutlets and Tomatoes. Roast Ribs of Beef. Horse-radish. Spinach. Potatoes. Cabinet Pudding. Caviare on Toast. Coffee.
We will first criticise the dinner as a whole and then dilate separately upon each item.
In the first place the meal is much too long. Dinner should never last more than half an hour, whereas this meal will take a full hour at least.
The second point is a most important one and one which is frequently overlooked, yet it is one of the most important causes of ill-health. It is this. There are six courses in this dinner, and every one of them contains animal food. Every item in the list is a concentrated food, rich in nourishment, and readily digestible. Consequently nearly the whole of what is eaten will get into the blood, and there, being greatly in excess of what is needed, it will irritate the organs by which it must be got rid of.
One word about the drinks. The stomach of man is made to digest solids, and one of the most fertile causes of indigestion is taking excess of fluids with meals. Drinking between meals or when the stomach is empty is not such an important cause of indigestion as is drinking largely with meals, because drinking large quantities dilutes the gastric secretion, which loses its digestive power if freely diluted.
