George M. Beard Eating and Drinking

Annotation

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The two volumes have a mutual dependence, and to a cer tain extent supplement each other. The terms positive and negative food, which I first sug gested a few years since, I have here retained, although they have never been formally presented to the profession. The distinction which they imply between the respective action of ordinary food and stimulants and narcotics, though not complete or satisfactory, is yet convenient and clear, and in the present state of our ignorance of the subject, is per haps about as far as we can go. Strictly speaking, we do not, in the last analysis, know how food of any kind sustains the system. Why it is and how it is that beef and bread.