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Chapter IX: Hunger vs. Appetite.1805
A man acquires an appetite for tobacco in any of its forms; or for liquor,
or for chewing-gum, or for opium, morphine, cocaine, or similar drugs. And
an appetite once acquired becomes, if anything, stronger than that natural
demand for food or drink, for men have been known to die of starvation
because they had spent all of their money for drink or narcotics. Men have
sold their babies’ stockings for drink—have stolen and even murdered in
order to gratify their appetite for narcotics. And yet who would think of
calling this terrible craving of appetite by the name of Hunger? And yet we
continue to speak of, and think of, every craving for something to put into
the stomach as Hunger, while many of these cravings are as much a symptom
of Appetite as is the craving or desire for alcohol or narcotics.
The lower animal has a natural hunger until it is spoiled by contact with man
(or woman) who tempts it with candies and similar articles, miscalled food.
The young child has a natural hunger until it is spoiled in the same way. In
the child, natural hunger is more or less replaced by acquired appetites, the
degree depending largely upon the amount of wealth its parents possess—
the greater the wealth, the greater the acquirement of false appetite. And
as it grows older, it loses all recollection of what real Hunger means. In
fact, people speak of Hunger as a distressing thing, rather than as a natural
instinct. Sometimes men go out camping, and the open air, exercise, and
natural life gives them again a taste of real hunger, and they eat like school
boys and with a relish they have not known for years. They feel “hungry” in
earnest, and eat because they have to, not from mere habit, as they do when
they are home and are overloading their stomachs continually.
We recently read of a party of wealthy people who were shipwrecked
while on a yachting pleasure trip. They were compelled to live on the most
meager fare for about ten days. When rescued they looked the picture of
health—rosy, bright-eyed, and possessed of the precious gift of a good,
natural Hunger. Some of the party had been dyspeptics for years, but the ten
days’ experience with food scarce and at a premium, had completely cured
them of their dyspepsia and other troubles. They had obtained sufficient