Page:Guide to health.djvu/69

 people suffer from wind in the stomach. The root of all these troubles is, to put it plainly, that we have converted our stomach into a latrine, and we carry this latrine about with us. When we consider the matter in a sober light, we cannot help feeling an unmixed contempt for ourselves. If we want to avoid the sin of over-eating, we should take a vow never to have anything to do with feasts of all kinds. Of course, we should feed those who come to us as guests, but only so as not to violate the laws of health. Do we ever think of inviting our friends to clean their teeth with us, or to take a glass of water? Is not eating as strictly a matter of health as these things? Why, then, should we make so much fuss about it? We have become such gluttons by habit that our tongues are ever craving for abnormal sensations. Hence we think it a sacred duty to cram our guests with rich food, and we cherish the hope that they will do likewise for us, when their turn comes! If, an hour after eating, we ask a clean-bodied friend to smell our mouth, and if he should tell us his exact feelings we should have to hide our heads in utter shame! But some people are so shameless that they take purgatives soon after eating, that they might be able to eat still more or they even vomit out what they have eaten in order to sit down again to the feast at once!