Show THE OGDEN STANDARD EXAMINER— SUNDAY MORNING OCTOBER 18 1936 hid 5m A in Vly rAm ft inn 'inn S3 Oj i 7V LJ “u f ! I) £k — li j t i!m£ ksn& I A V 'Hi Ills msds Mr A A V p'-- rf A mN U v n if u w w II n r 'iJigW ! (lifer V i ' ( a JU' ft A n (t ' ! -- II I ti n si if o i r v ft II rV ' 5- - "C (I StV A Uj fTl How many of Poe's tales of mystery and imagination were due to indigestion and how many to alcohol?” r 1 7 : S f) tit f v 'x' Ar V Genius has an odd affinity for gastric disorders observes this scientist and people like Darwin and Poe might have 7 A I I done far different work if they could only have enjoyed their meals properly j m N EX1 time that you suffer gastric disorders and a consequent blight on your spirits consider what a few growling stomachs may have done to the great minds of history Did the pillaging conquerors for instance war for glory and possession or did their chronic indigestions drive them on to savage acts? Did the philosophers and preachers of the past spread pessimism because they believed man doomed or was dyspepsia at the seat of their dark forebodings? And finally were the writers of those days genuine in genius or were their troubled stomachs agitating their intellects? Just drop yourself back for a moment to those times when our forebears suffered ulcers gas heartburn pain nausea cardialgia and a host of other stomach troubles without benefit of soda a good doctor or the myriad quick-reliprescriptions that mark our modern life today I Vv Dr Todd war moved to investigate the stomach's role In human history by the daily sight of stuffed and somnolent students In his classes at 8:30 a m and 1:30 p m ef Admittedly says Dr T Wingate Todd professor of anatomy at Western Reserve University it must have been most of the time anyway a sour existence Up until 1250 A D for instance there appears to have been nothAnd after that for many centuries the ing to ease our distressed ancestors best to be had was a good rousing round of sneezing “At least we have it from Vincent of Beauvais in 1250” Dr Todd recalls “that cinnamon and pepper were the proper medicine to alleviate the distress common after each meal" It would be interesting the doctor believes to follow these irritable people of long ago who relieved their pent-u- p feelings and fulfilled their wild imaginings by indulging in spice wars to obtain those condiments so necessary for the comfort of their overworn stomachs For most of our ancestors obviously lived a martyrdom of the stomach and because they were distressed their minds were affected accordingly Hence it is interesting today in the light of modern disclosures about this vital organ to speculate just how much both science and literature and even civilization in general owe to the more famous stomach aches of the ages I and Bernard Shaw lunched at the home of Joseph Conrad one day Mrs Conrad recalls that Wells lunched on a slice of dry bread and a glass of quinine water while Shaw had a cup of cocoa and a dry biscuit H G Wells N CO you ask Dr Todd they owe a great deal As a leading research expert in Western Reserve University’s medical school Dr Todd delved into this speculation 1 1 years ago with a view to ascertainingthe role of the stomach in human progress Since then he has watched every conceivable type of stomach eccentricity He has spied on hundreds of them under all conditions He has diagnosed and charted alimentary behavior and he’ll tell you that this faithful organ has had more to do with civilization than this world dreams of From Homer down to Hoover Dr Todd discovered this modest member of the viscera has changed men’s lives As a consequence k More than any has changed human events other organ it controls our social relationships' In that new biography of Joseph Conrad written by his incredibly patient wife Dr Todd points out there is a record of a visit by H G Wells' Mrs ConWells and Bernard Shaw rad remembers had a headache and would eat nothing but a slice of dry bread washed down by a glass of quinine water while Mr Shaw made his meal off a cup of cocoa and a dry X-ray- ed biscuit “Genius like an army” lays the professor iiniiiDiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiM “There is no doubt at ail of Dr Johnson's OWEVER far you carry the argument one thing is certain according ta the professor Some folk sparkle with win about the dinner table when others at the same meal drop off into somnolence and one mkn’s meat is another’s poison ‘Logically enough it was the rows of slouching student vests in Dr Todd'i classrooms that first impelled him to investigate the role of the “in Benedick’s case of the indebt- edness of both science and literature to indigestion “Then there is the case ot After the inGeorge Crabbe imitable Crabbe had experienced stomach in human progress “At 8:30 in the mornings and 1:30 in the afternoons” he dryly recalls “it was evident to the discerning and sympathetic teacher that all Their spirits was not well with the charges doubtless were willing but the flesh was very a fainting spell in 1790 a certain Dr Club was called who chronic indigestion with which often goes a‘ brilliance of imagery and creative thought “travels on its stomach but what a stomach I “Take for more classic example the case of His attack of nervous deSamuel Johnson in 1766 was certainly ol gastric oripression At any rate Boswell's Life abounds in gin references to the influence of the stomach which was constantly and acutely bringing itself to the doctor’s attention “A dinner lubricates business Boswell reminds us And Mrs Thrale observed that a ‘man seldom thinks with more earnestness of There is no doubt anything than his dinner ‘saw through the case with great "'Let “Did Francis Thompson much for the effect of one famous and rebellious stomach on civilization History is replete with the contributions of the stomach-ach- e to human progress “Benedick’s' ‘quick wit and queasy stomach reminds us of another” DrTTodd points out -- TF gence write ’The Hound of Heaven’ under the influence of opium or was it really dyspepsia which ‘set the winds of inspiration blowing? - Could Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner really be due to indulgence of the stomach or was it actually the point of a keen and orderly imagina ion?’ at all of Johnson’s chronic indiwith which often goes gestion briljiance of imagery and creative thought" ated by his chronic indigestion? Would Conrad have written his stories had the facts of his experience not been sharpened and amplified by his nervous dyspep sia? And how many of Poe’s tales of mystery and imagination were due to indigestion and how many to It is so easy to alcohol? ascribe to a drug the very talents which were in fact merely disordered by indul- judgment’ the digestive organs bear the whole blame: you must take opiates ordered the physician “And historians may be right that morphia was responsible for Crabbe’s inspiration" contends Dr Todd '“but it seems far more reasonable to me to link Crabbe’s genius with his constitution than with a poppy” Dr Todd can carry the point on indefinite" ly for you: “Would Darwin have framed the theory oi evolution had it not been for the imagery 1938 by Every Week Magazine) cre-(Copyr- lfbt f weak" ' Accordingly the doctor and Miss Wilhel-min- e Kuenzel senior instructor in anatomy resorted to a novel experiment —the study of the 800 stomachs behind those yests of the medical students “We did not care particularly" explains the ls university scientist "about the stomach ol nor even ol the stomach ol the sick We were content ty lea’ve the elaboration ol the first principles to the physiologists “Our intention in the main was fixed on what goes on in the secret recesses behind the rows ol vests confronting us with more or less bombast early every morning and early every afternoon through eight months of the year” ani--ma- DV mixing with the students food a tub- -' stance opaque to the y and without influence on gastric activity— barium sulphate —Dr Todd and his assistant were able to find out just what did take place in those “secret recesses” They were able to study the move- ments of the stomach its moods and eccentricities This is what they found: mm EE X-ra- r EE ’ ' 'T ' - - That stomachs expand and step up Aeir gas- - ' trie activity or vice versa depending on the mental state of the individual A That in disquiet stomachs the outlet or py-- 7 ’ lorus remains closed for a time after the food is swallowed whereas it should normally open J in two minutes That the prolonged closure of this opening in turn upsets the mental equilibrium and disturbs the body "Clearly we had established" said Dr Todd “that the stomach is an organ unusually Mental stress susceptible to emotional states of any character incipient ' illness most any- thing can affect it but regardless the pylorus ' closes Examination time particularly produced stomach trouble for out students “Hence the unwfsdom of eating much bef&e hurrying to catch a tram attend a board meet- ing where trouble is brewing or when feeling ill or physically exhausted” - Some who do suffer pam others drowsiness mental inefficiency and day dreams Still others may lose their tempers Regardless of the re-action the point remains that the' stomach will d not be And il k is being a it fights back In the end organ it may dislocate mechanisms ol the body touch the mind or cast depression into the spirit And there is where its influence on the times A comes in Disregarded down through the ages EE this noble organ has rebelled in the individual EE Even shading his disposition and his actions EE as far back as the third century the Egyptians Atheneus an Egyp- glimpsed this vital truth E tian ol great learning wrote that “every inves- EE tigation which is guided by principles of nature fixes its ultimate aim entirely on gratifying the EE ' ‘ J r rough-handle- self-respecti- ng stomach” ' “And today” reaffirms Dr Todd “the con- - ditions ol our daily life formulate fot us did we but know it the limitations of our dietary and the artistry of its application The stomach We must remember must not be mishandled is well characterized the organ ol social that it ! adjustment " “In it are reflected as from it flow the j EL EE rT EE EE EE EE EE E EE E EE EE EE EE : E E EE ‘ EE so- - ' ’z efal blights or blessings of tbs time ' :io 'I © V ? i |