fl« i \>}:lr: >ff ■■ >»;.' V.-. ;'.v; •■: k'.';'x'. fe/!i;e,j; ■•■■, . ' ,, . dv^'1.. - ;„.■*,,.;■• ■< ... fo m-r-y-}} v;v,' V 'v •■:■•;■;■■ ■'■••,•■ Ip#",■'?'■'■,"Ill *'••'■■ m »: i'v.'f'i.y,-r;■-■■:■',;■,'•:'::. - %. ««# ^.::.^'^-.':-..'-.'-;'-:':.-v-. ••=■ «! »>»!VJ,•j^^VOr^.••:'V^:^.V•.?v.<,;.J,,.•.•.■ .'.'.-•,• •.-'•• ■•. ffr w;yf«iC:vK^VO:'';<-,:'''-,:V''.:''.::-'Vv,.-,-.:, .•;•■'.■■,■•",, • '•' i w?#®s?#s»?" *.**w.,-v; ?■•:,-. ■ ft iw»\(fc^t,VvV^:,<;,-.:'.: '"■.''v'.'.'-v-.'- •:. ■'■■■ ••.•■• ■■■■■■"' ra'^.:|,'v?K^;,.v;.;:,^v;;::'V' •■..'■.•;. . ..'• \\\Y,)\\)y mm <^v:,....„ NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE Bethesda, Maryland L A, J w —rr—"^^f /if) * /8BS ■.,'* /W cc Z. ] «i*%. ;.:D m E C T J 0 _ ( V#IGOMTLNG AND PROLONGING tlFEjV TfE INVALID'S ORACLE. CONTAINING PEPTIC PRECEPTS, POINTING OUT AGREEABLE AND EFFECTUAL METHODS TO PREVENT AND RELIEVE INDIGESTION, AND" TO REGULATE AND STRENGTHEN THE ACTION OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS. * ■ BY WM. KITCIIINER, M.D., AUTHOR OF THE " COOK'S ORACLE AND HOUSEKEEPER'S MAN- UAL," ETC., ETC. 4 jfrom tjje Sfrtf) SLonUon Efcitfoit; REVISED AND IMPROVED, BY T. S. BARRETT, LICENTIATE IN MEDICINE AND SURGERY, FELLOW OF THE NEW YORK MEDICAL AMD PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, BtO. \ R A 77k 4?$ N E \V Y t) \VK . ' ^* HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE 1855. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1831, by J. & J. Harper, in the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. Dr. Kitchiner, in the preface to the fifth edition of this work, tells us, that his object is not to offer information to the professors of medicine, but simply to give to the public some hints to assist them in the recovery and improvement of health, and to do this in such terms as will be universally understood. His aim has been to illustrate subjects of vital im- portance to all, in so perspicuous a manner that all may clearly comprehend. The editor of the last London edition, who, it appears, is the son of the author, tells us that " above ten thousand copies of the ' Directions for Invigorating and Prolonging Life' have been sold in England!" and that "it was a source of much gratification to the author, that a work on which he had bestowed so much pains, and to which he had dedicated so large a portion of time, should have met with such encouragement." After this statement of the author's objects, and the great success of the work in England, the editor believes that no apology is necessary for the liberty 4 ADVERTISEMENT. he has taken to introduce Dr. Kitcliiner to the notice of the American reader. He begs leave, however, to state that, before he ventured on this step, he took the precaution to submit the work to the perusal of gentlemen in whose judgment he had confidence. These gentlemen are unani- mously of the opinion that " the work is of the first order, and that it is adapted to general useful- ness ; that it is deserving the approbation of, and will meet with encouragement from the American public." Thus encouraged and fortified by the judgment of the wise, the editor confidently recommends this work to the attention of all who deem life and health gifts worth preserving; and he dedicates it especially to such as are suffering from dyspeptic, nervous, and bilious affections. It is strange, 'tis passing strange, that people in general do not seem to learn the true estimate of health until they feel that it is forsaking them: yet so it is! The poor invalid stands prepared to make any sacrifice, or to incur any expense, for the recovery of that which a little previous care would have secured to him for years! He will have recourse to expensive professional consulta- tions,—he will swallow potion after potion of the most disgusting drugs,—he will quit the scene of his youth and manhood,—will give up the most ADVERTISEMENT. 5 lucrative trade or profession,—and he will forsake the circle of his family and friends, to seek health -.in distant and strange lands ; he will—what is h that he will not do or suffer, in order to prolong his stay on the earth ? It will not be expected that the editor should say much respecting the additions which he has made to this very excellent work. His principal object has been to adapt it to the American public. He flatters himself, however, that what he has done will be considered improvements: and he wishes, in particular, to recommend to the notice of the reader his remarks on bathing—a means of preserving health too much neglected among us. T. S. BARRETT. 28 Bayard-street, New-York, May, 1831 N.B. The numbers (enclosed in parentheses) which fre- quently occur in this work, refer to Dr. Kitchiner's " Cook's Oracle and Housekeeper's Manual;" an edition of which has lately been published by J. & J. Harper, and may be obtained from the principal booksellers throughout the •Jnited States. A 2 CONTENTS. P»gi Art of Invigorating Life.........9 Reducing Corpulence...........44 Sleep...............55 Siesta...............79 Clothes................84 Fire................ 96 Influence of Cold............102 Air.................106 Exercise...............109 Bathing...............114 Wine................127 Peptic Precepts.............141 The Pleasure of making a Will........211 Extracts from Cornaro's Writings.......223 (ndex, alphabetically arranged .......245 THE ART OF INVIGORATING AND PROLONGING LIFE, BY DIET AND REGIMEN. '' The choice and measure of the materials of which our body is com- posed,—and what we take daily by pounds,—is at least of as much im. portance as'what we take seldom, and only by grains and spoonfuls." — Dr. Arbuthnot on Aliment. The author of the following pages had origin- ally an extremely delicate constitution; and at an early period devoted himself to the study of physic, with the hope of learning how to make the most of his small stock of health. The system he adopted succeeded, and he ar- rived at his 48th year in tolerably good health; and this without any uncomfortable abstinence;— his maxim has ever been, " dumvivimus, vivamus." He does not mean the aguish existence of the votary of fashion—whose body is burning from voluptuous intemperance to-day, and freezing in miserable collapse to-morrow—not extravagantly consuming in a day the animal spirits which Na- ture intended for the animation of a week—but keeping the expense of the machinery of life 10 THE ART OF INVIGORATING within the income of health, which the restorative process-can regularly and comfortably supply. This is the grand "arcanum duplicatum" for " living all the days of your life." The art of invigorating the health and improving the strength of man has hitherto only been con sidered for the purpose of training* him for athletic exercises; but I have often thought that a similar plan might be adopted with considerable advantage, to animate and strengthen enfeebled constitutions —prevent gout—reduce corpulency—cure ner- vous and chronic weakness—hypochondriac and bilious disorders, &c.—to increase the enjoyment, as well as prolong the duration, of feeble life—for which medicine, unassisted by diet and regi- men,! affords but very trifling and temporary help. " Think not, ye candidates for health, That aught can gain the wish'd-for prize (Or pill, or portion, power or wealth) But temperance and exercise." * The advantages of the training system are not confined to pedes trians and pugilists alone—they extend to every man ; and were train ing generally introduced instead of medicines, as an expedient for the prevention and cure of diseases, its beneficial consequences would pro- mote his happiness and prolong his life. "Our health, vigour, anc activity must depend upon regimen and exercise; or, in other words, upon the observance of those rules which constitute the theory of the training process." " It has been made a question, whether training produces a lasting, or only a temporary effect on the constitution ? It is undeniable, that if a man be brought to a better condition—if corpulency and the impuri- ties of his body disappear,—and if his wind and strength be improved by any process whatever, his good state of health will continue untii some derangement of his frame shall take place from accidental 01 natural causes. If he shall relapse into intemperance, or neglect the means of preserving his health, either by omitting to take the neces sary exercise, or by indulging in debilitating propensities, he must ex- pect such encroachments to be made in his constitution, as must soon unhinge his system. But if he shall observe a different plan—the bene* ficial effects of the training process will remain until the gradual decay of his natural functions shall, in mature old age, intimate the approacr of his dissolution."—Capt. Barclay on Training. t " To employ the best remedies, while regimen is neglected, is to bui « up on one side, and pull down on the other "—Dr. Todd on Indigestion AND PROLONGING LIFE. il The universal desire of repairing, perfecting, and prolonging life has induced many ingenious men to try innumerable experiments on almost all the products of the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, with the hope of discovering agents that will not merely increase or diminish the force or frequency of the pulse, but, with an ardour as romantic as the search after the philosopher's stone, they have vainly hoped that panaceas might be found possessing the power of curing " all the evils that flesh is heir to." Tfais is evident enough to all who have examined the early pharmacopoeias, which are full of hetero- geneous compounds, the inventions of interested, and the imaginations of ignorant men. A com- pound ceases to be valued merely because it consists of just three, nine, or thirty-nine, or ninety-three odd ingredients ; or a simple, because it is scarce, or is brought two or three thousand miles, or has been in use two or three thousand years. The liberal and enlightened physicians of the last and present century have gradually expunged most of these, and made the science of medicine sufficiently intelligible to those whose business it is to learn it. If medicine be entirely divested of its mystery, its power over the mind, which in most cases forms its main strength, will no longer exist. It was a favourite remark of the celebrated Dr. John Brown,* that " if a student in physic em- ployed seven years in storing his memory with the accepted, but,—unfortunately, in nine cases out * See the 33Sth aphorism in Colton's Lacon. la THE ART OF INVIGORATING of ten,—imaginary powers of medicine, he would, if he did not possess very extraordinary sagacity, lose a much longer time in discovering the multi- form delusions his medical oracles had imposed upon him—before he ascertains" that, with the ex- ception of mercury for the lues, bark for intermit- tents, and sulphur for psora, the materia medica* does not furnish many specifics, and may be al- most reduced to evacuants and stimuli:"—how- ever, these, skilfully administered, afford all the assistance to nature that can be obtained from art! Let not the uninitiated in medical mysteries ima- gine for a moment that the editor desires to de- preciate their importance; but observe, once for all, gentle reader, that the only reasons he has for writing this book are to warn you against the or- dinary causes of disorder, and to teach the easiest and most salutary method of preventing or sub- duing it, and of recovering and preserving health and strength, when, in spite of all your prudence, you are overtaken by sickness, and have no medi- cal friend ready to defend you. * A late foreign writer has given the following flattering definition of physic—" Physic is the art of amusing the patient while Nature cures his disease."—Dr. Paris's Pharmacologic. Dr. Gideon Harvey wrote a very humorous lffmo. 1689, on the Art of curing Diseases by Expectation ; and in page 192 gives us the following prescription forthegout: "In the gout, if the expectation physician presents his patient gratis with the following nostrum, it will not only be well taken, bur. much more veneration will be given to it than if paid for—and to the physi- cian will redound a lasting and diffusive glory and reputation ; viz.— ten links of thread, half yard long, dipped m wax of ten different colours; each to be tied by the patient, if possible, or by his nurse, to each distinct toe-of the feet,'and to be untied every hour or two, and changed to other toes, namely—the red-waxed thread where the green was, the blue where the yellow, e a very complete drunk- ard, assured me I would kill him if I did not allow him ale and brandy; for that the patient had for several years outdone him in irregular living. consented to allow a little. That night he was much better, and next wrning was altogether free 6f fever, delirium, Continuation of former Pursuits. Fruits of his Labour enjoyed. —A glorious Retirement. —An amiable Family. —Universal Respect. Consciousness of a Virtuous Life. Perfection of Earthly Happiness -Preparation for ETERNITY/ » " Preparation for eternity." This is a phrase of very solemn im- port ; and as it is not the privilege of every son of Adam to continue seventy years in this sublunary world, would it not be better for every one to make an early "preparation for eternity ?"—[B."] AND-PROLONGING LIFE. 35 Tire most common cause of dyspeptic disorders, which are so prevalent at the commencement of the third period of life, is an increase of indolence, which induces us to diminish the degree of the ac- tive exercise Ave have been in the habit of taking, without in a corresponding degree diminishing the quantity of our food; on the contrary, people seem to expect the stomach to grow stronger and to work harder as it gets older, and to almost en- tirely support the circulation without the help of exercise. As the activity of our circulation, and the ac- commodating poAvers of the stomach, &c. diminish, in like degree must we lessen the quantity and be careful of the quality of our food—eat oftener and less at a time—or indigestion and the multi- tude of disorders of which it is the fruitful parent, will soon destroy us. The system of Comaro has been oftener quoted than understood ; most people imagine it was one of rigid abstinence and comfortless self-denial,— not at all:—his code of longevity consisted in steadily obeying the suggestions of instinct, eco- nomizing his vitality, living under his income of health, and carefully regulating his temper and cultivating cheerful habits. The folloAving is a compendium of Cornaro's plan, in his oavii words. He tells us, that Avhen fourscore, " I am used to take in all twelve ounces of solid nourishment, such as meat, and the yolk of an ego, &c, and fourteen ounces of drink. I eat bread, soup, new-laid eggs, veal, kid, mutton, par- tridge, pullets, pigeons, &c, and some sea and river fish. 36 THE ART OF INVIGORATING "I made choice of such Avines and meats as agreed Avith my constitution, and declined all other diet; proportioned the quantity thereof to the strength of my stomach, and abridged my food as my years increased. " Every one is the best judge of the food which is most agreeable to his own stomach. " It is next to impossible to judge what is best for another; the constitutions of men are as differ- ent from each other as their complexions. " 1st, Take care of the quality. " 2dly, Of the quantity; so as to eat and drink nothing that offends the stomach, nor any more than you can easily digest. Your experience ought to be your guide in these two principles when you arrive at forty; by that time you ought to know that you are in the midst of your life ; thanks to the goodness of your constitution which has carried you so far. But that when you are arrived at this period, you go down the hill apace, and it is ne- cessary for you to change your course of life, espe- cially with regard to the quantity and quality of your diet; because it is on that the health and length of our days so radically depend. Lastly, if the former part of our lives has been altogether sensual, the latter ought to be rational and regular; order being necessaiy for the preservation of all things, especially the life of man. "Longevity cannot be attained without conti- nence and sobriety."* " At thirty, man suspects himself a fool, Knows it at forty, and reforms his rule." * " Comaro found, that as the powers of his stomach declined with the powers of life in general, it was necessary that he should diminish the quantity of his food; and by so doing, he retained to the last the feelings of health."—Abernethy, Surg. Obs. AND PROLONGING LIFE. 37 By the small quantity of food and great propor- tion of his meat to his drink, this noble Venetian, at the age of forty, freed himself, by the advice of his physicians, from several grievous disorders coiitracted by intemperance, and lived in health of bcdy and great cheerfulness of mind to above a hundred. Briefly, the secret of his longevity seems to have been a gradually increasing temperance "in om- nibus,"' and probably, after a certain time of life, abstinence from the " opus magnum." The source of physical and moral health, hap- piness, and longevity,— " Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, Lie in three words—health, peace, and competence. But health consists in temperance alone; And peace, O virtue, peace is all thy own." Pope. Intensive life can only be purchased at the price of extensive. If you force the heart to gallop as fast during the second as it does during the first stage of life, and continually blow the steady fire of 42 till it blazes as brightly as the flame of 21, it will very soon be burnt out. Those Avho cannot be content to submit to that diminution of action ordained by nature—against which there is no appeal, as it is the absolute covenant, by only the most attentive and imphcit observance of Avhich we can hope to hold our lease of life comfortably—will soon bring to the dimin- ished energy of the second stage of life the paralysis of the third. " Naught treads so silent as the foot of time, Hence we mistake our autumn for our prime. D 38 THE ART OF INVIGORATING 'Tis greatly wise to know, before we're told, The melancholy truth—that we grow old." Dr. Young. " The length of a man's life may be estimated by the number of pulsations which his body has strength to perform. Thus, allowing 70 years for the common age of man, and 60 pulses in a minute for the common measure of pulses in his whole life, would amount to 2,207,520,000; but if by intemperance he forces his blood into a more rapid motion, so as to give 75 pulses in a minute, the same number of pulses would be completed in 56 years ; consequently his life would be reduced 14 years."—See Barry on Digestion. From 40 to 60, a witty French author tells us, is " la belle saison* pour la gourmandise;" for the artificial pleasures of the palate it may be, and the bon vivant shall have his physician's permission to cultivate them, provided he do so merely as the means of- prolonging the vigour of youth and pro- crastinating the approach of age. Restoration may certainly be considerably facili- tated by preparing and dressing food, so as to ren- der it easily soluble ; and if the secret of rejuveni- zation be ever discovered, it will be found in the kitchen. The meridian of life, according to those who train men for athletic exercises, is our 28th year. At this period, five or six years, which make great alterations in persons of other ages, have little effect upon their appearance in this. It is, there- fore, properly called the meridian of life; since * And for culinary operators from 25 to 40. Before the former, they can hardly accumulate sufficient experience; and after the latter they every day lose a portion of .their " bon gout" and activity. AND PROLONGING LIFE. 39 the faculties then continue a considerable time in their highest degree of strength. After the 35th year the elasticity of the animal system imperceptibly diminishes; men have a greater disinclination to motion, and a sense of greater fatigue from exercise ; their senses become less susceptible, and they every hour get the worse for wear, hoAvever self-loAre, assisted by the hair- dresser and tailor, &c, may endeavour to persuade them to the contrary. Digestion and sleep are less perfect. The restorative process more and more fails to keep pace with the consuming process, for to carry on life these tAvo processes must alternately pro- ceed, i. e. secretion and excretion; the one to ex- tract nourishment for the reparation occasioned by action, the other to remove particles which are worn out. The stomach, bowels, and muscles labour for the brain and senses ; the former are the restorers, the latter the consumers of the system. While we are awake, the consuming process proceeds faster than the restoring process ; wnfle we sleep, the consuming process is suspended, and the restoring process proceeds vigorously. Most of the secretions are performed during sleep, and are performed in perfection in the degree that our sleep is perfect. As we advance in age, the body is insufficiently repaired, more easily deranged, and with more dif- ficulty brought into adjustment again, till at length the vital poAver being diminished, and the organs deteriorated, nourishment can neither be received, nor prepared and diffused through the constitution; and consumption so much exceeds renovation, that decay rapidly closes the scene of life. 40 THE ART OF INVIGORATING One may form some idea of the self-consumption of the human body, by reflecting that the pulsation of the heart, and the motion of the blood connected with it, takes place 100,000 times every day; i. e. on an average the pulse* beats 70 times in a minute, multiplied by 60 minutes in an hour, 4200 24 hours in a day. 16800 8400 100800 pulsations in a day. What machine, of the most adamantine material, will not soon be the worse for wear, from such in- cessant vibration ! especially if the mainsprings of it are not preserved in a state of due regulation ! The following table, founded on experience, may serve as a scale of the relative duration of human life: Of a hundred men who are born, 50 die before the 10th year, 20 between the 10th and the 20th, 10 between the 20th and the 30th, * "The pulse in the new-bom infant, while placidly sleeping, is about................140 in a minute Towards the end of the first year -.....124 Towards the end of the second year ..... no Towards the end of the third and fourth years • 96 When the first teeth drop out --.-... 86 At puberty ------------ so At manhood............. 75 At sixty, about -------.....60." BlumenbacKs Physiology. The expectations of life are thus calculated by De Moivre—Subtract the age of the person from 86, half the remainder will be the expectation of that life. AND PROLONGING LIFE. 4] 6 between the 30th and the 40th, 5 between the 40th and the 50th, 3 between the 50th and the 60th ; Therefore, 6 only live to be above the age of 60. Haller, Avho collected the greatest number of instances respecting the age of man, found the rela- tive duration of life to be in the following propor- tion :— Of men who lived from 100 to 110 years, the instances have been — 1000 Of from 110 to 130 — 60 120 to 130 — Hufcland's Art of Prolonging Life. See also Dr. Price on " The Difference of the Duration of Human Life in ToAvns and in Country Villages."—Phil. Trans, vol. Ixv. In London, at least 1 in 201 of the inhabitants die annually. " London has of late years been improving in salubrity: it appears by the bills of mortality, that the annual mortality In 1700 Avas 1 in 25 In 1801 was 1 in 35 In 1810 Avas 1 in 38. " The causes of this superior degree of health consist in the general improvements in the habits of life, particularly Avith regard to ventilation and cleanliness in persons and houses ; greater sobriety, the improved state of medicine, a more ample sup- ply of food, clothing, and fuel, and the better man- agement of children. Human health and longevity are so superior in the present age to that imme- diately preceding, as to afford the chance of nearly one-third more of earthly existence !" Sir Gilbert Blane's Select Dissertations on Medical Science. 4 42 THE ART OF INArIGORATING The generative faculties are the last that nature finishes, and are the first that fail. Economy in the exercise of them, especially before and after the second period of life, is the grand precept for the restoration and accumulation of strength, the pre- servation of health, and the prolongation of life. We are vigorous in proportion to the perfection of the performance of the restorative process, i. e. as we eat heartily and sleep soundly; as our body loses the power of renovating itself, in like ratio fails its faculty of creating; what may be a salu- tary subduction of the superfluous health of the second, during the first or the third period of life, will be a destructive sacrifice of the strength of both the mind and the body. The next organic defect (we perceive too plainly for our self-love to mistake it) is manifested by the eye. To read a small print, you must remove it from the eye further than you have been accus- tomed to do, and place it in a better light. The falsetto voice now begins to fail, and the ear loses some of its quickness ; several extraordi- nary musicians have been able till then, if a hand- ful of the keys of a harpsichord were put down so as to produce the most irrelative combinations, to name each half note without a mistake. When I mentioned this to that excellent organ player, Mr. Charles Wesley, he said, " At the age of twenty 1 could do it, but I can't now." He was then in his 55th year. Miss Cubitt, of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and Mr. T. Cooke, the composer, and leader of the band at Drury Lane Theatre, and Mr Watson, of the Theatre Royal Covent Garden, have ears of this extraordinary degree of perfection. AND PROLONCiING LIFE. 43 About the same time, the palate is no longer contented with being employed as a mere shovel to the stomach, and as it finds its master becomes every day more difficult to please, learns to be a more Avatchful purveyor. After i 0, the strongest people begin to talk about being bilious, or nervous, &tc. &ic. the stomach will no longer do its duty properly, unless the food offered to it is perfectly agreeable to it; when of- fended, indigestion brings with it all that melan- choly depression of the animal spirits, which dis- ables a man from either thinking with precision, or acting with vigour ; during such distressing sus- pension of the restorative process arise those mise- ries of mind and body, which drive fools to drink, and madmen to commit suicide. Without due at- tention to diet, &,c. the third period of life is little better than a chronic disease. As our assimilating poAvers become enfeebled, Ave must endeavour to entertain them with food so prepared as to give them the least trouble, and the most nourishment.* In the proportion that our food is restorative and properly digested our bodies are preserved in health and strength, and all our faculties continue vigor- ous and perfect. If it be unwholesome, ill-prepared, and indi- gestible, the body languishes, and is exhausted even in its youth, and sinks beneath the weight of the painful sensations attendant on a state of decay. Would to heaven that a cook could help our * " In proportion as the powers of the stomach are weak, so ought we to diminish the quantity of our food, and take care that it be as nutritive and as easy of digestion as possible."—Abcrncthy's Surgical Observa- tions 44 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. stomachs as much as an optician can our eyes ! oui existence would then be as much more perfect than it noAv is, as our sight is superior to our other senses. " The vigour of the mind decays Avith that of the body; and not only humour and invention, but even judgment and resolution change and languish Avith ill constitution of body and of health."—Sir William Temple. The following account of the successful reduc- tion of corpulence and improvement of health the author can vouch for being a faithful statement of facts. " It has been said by some that for one fat person in France or Spain, there are a hundred in Eng- land."—Wadd on Corpulence. January 30th, 1821. MY DEAR SIR, In consequence of the conversation I had Avith you upon the advantages I had derived from exer- cise and attention to diet in the reduction, of weight, and your desire that I should communicate as fai as I recollect them, the particulars of my case ; 1 have great pleasure in forwarding to you the fol- lowing statement. I measure in height six feet and half an inch; possess a sound constitution and considerable activity. At the age of thirty I weighed* about 1£ stone; two years afterward I had reached the great weight of 19 stone, in perfect health, always sleeping well and enjoying good appetite and spi- rits; soon after, however, I began to experience the usual attendants on fulness of habit, a disin- * " It is supposed, that a person weighing one hundred and twentj pounds generally contains twenty pounds of tat."—Wadd on Corpu lence. TO REDUCE CORPULENCE. 45 clination to rise in the morning from drowsiness, heaviness about the forehead after I had risen, and disposition to giddiness ; I was also attacked by a complaint in one of my eyes, the symptoms of which it is unnecessary to describe, but it proved to be occasioned by fulness of blood, as it was removed by cupping in the temple. I lost four ounces of blood from the temple; and thinking that the loss of a little more might be advantageous, I had eight ounces taken from the back; and in order to prevent the necessity as far as possible of future bleeding, I resolved to reduce the system by increasing my exercise and diminishing my diet. " It is only among those Avho have the means of obtaining the comforts of life without labour, that excessive corpulency is met with."—Wadd on Corpulence. I therefore took an early opportunity of seeing Mr. Jackson (whose respectability and skill as a teacher of sparring is universally acknowledged), and after some conversation Avith him determined upon acting under his advice. I accordingly commenced sparring, having pro- vided myself Avith flannel dresses which I always used, being extremely careful on changing them to avoid the risk of cold, and I recollect no instance in Avhich I Avas not successful. I also had recourse to riding-schools, riding without stirrups, so as to have the advantage of the most powerful exercise the horse could give; these exercises I took in the morning, in the proportion probably of sparring twice a week and riding three or four times. 46 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. Frequently at night I resumed my exercise,— walking and sometimes running, generally per- forming about five miles an hour till I again pro- duced perspiration; every other opportunity I could resort to of bodily exercise I also availed my- self of. In respect to diet I had accustomed myself to suppers and drinking excellent table-beer in large quantities; and for probably ten years had indulged myself with brandy and Avater after supper: this practice I entirely discontinued, substituting toast and water with my dinner and tea, and a good allowance of toast for supper, always avoiding copious draughts. I left off drinking malt liquor as a habit, and in- deed very seldom drank it at all. I took somewhat less meat at dinner, avoiding pies and puddings as much as possible, but always took three or four glasses of port after dinner. During the time I was under this training I took the opinion of an eminent physician upon the sub- ject, who entirely approved of my plan and re- commended the occasional use of aperient medi- cine, but which I seldom resorted to. The result of all this was a reduction of my weight of upwards of three stone, or about forty- five pounds, in about six or seven months. I found my activity very much increased and my wind ex- cellent, but I think my strength not quite so great, though I did not experience any material reduction of it; my health* was perfect throughout. I then relaxed my system a little, and have up to * " The diminution of the secretion of fat, when in excess, may ba attempted with safety, and has been attended with success."—Wadd. TO REDUCE CORPULENCE. 47 the present time, being a period of ten years, avoided the necessity of bleeding, and have enjoyed an almost uninterrupted continuance of good health, although my weight has gradually increased; sometimes, hoAvever, fluctuating betAveen seven or eight pounds and a stone, according to my means of exercise, always increasing in winter and losing in summer; and at this moment (January 29th, 1821,) I am about a stone more than I ought to be, having ascertained that my best bodily strength is at sixteen stone and a half. When the object is to reduce weight, rest and moderate food will ahvays sufficiently restore the exhaustion arising from exercise; if an additional quantity of food and nourishing liquors be resorted to, the body will in general be restored to the Aveight it Avas before the exercise. I have sometimes lost from ten ounces to a pound in weight by an hour's sparring. If the object be not to reduce the weight, the food may safely be proportioned to the exercise. You will readily perceive that the plan I adopted ought only to be resorted to by persons of sound constitution and of athletic bodily frame ; it would be absurd to lay down a general, rule for the adop- tion of all fat men. I think, Avith all lusty men the drinking of malt liquor of any kind is injurious; meat taken more than once a day is liable to the same objection. I still persevere in the disuse of malt liquors and spirits, and suppers, seldom taking more than four glasses of wine as a habit; although I do not noAv deem it necessary to make myself so far the slave 48 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. of habit as to refuse the pleasures of the table when they offer I am, dear sir, Yours very truly, Mem.—The author begs his fat friends will read the chapter in this work on Exercise. The following are the most interesting facts in Dr. Bryan Robinson's Essay on the Food and Dis- charges of the Human Body. "I am noAv, in May, 1747, in the 68th year of my age. The length of my body is 63 inches : I am of a sanguine but not robust constitution, and am at present neither lean nor fat. In the year 1721 the morning weight of my body without clothes was about 131 avoirdupois pounds, the daily Aveight of my food at a medium was about 85 avoirdupois ounces, and the proportion of my drink to my meat, I judge, was at that time about 2.5 to 1. "At the latter end of May, 1744, my weight Avas above 164 pounds, and the proportion of my drink to my meat was considerably greater than before, and had been so for some time. I Avas then seized with a paralytic disorder, which obliged me to make an alteration in my diet. In order to settle the proportion of my drink to my meat, I considered what others have said concerning this proportion. "According to Sanctorius, though he reckons it a disproportion, the drink to the meat in his time was about 10 to 3 in temperate bodies. TO REDUCE CORPULENCE. 49 * Cornaro's drink to his meat was as - 7 to 6 Mr. Rye's, in winter, as 4 to 3 Dr. Lining's, at a medium - - - 11 to 3 And my drink to my meat - - .- 5 to 2 A mean taken from all these makes the drink to the meat—about - - - 2 to 1 "At the age of 64, by lessening my food, and in- creasing the proportion of my meat to my drink, i. c by lessening my drink about a third part (i. e. to 20 ounces), and my meat about a sixth (i. e. 38 ounces), of Avhat they were in 1721, I have freed myself for these tAvo years past from the returns of a sore throat and diarrhoea, disorders I often had, though they Avere but slight, and never confined me. I have been much more costive than I was before, when I lived more fully and took more exercise, and have greatly, for my age, recovered the para- lytic weakness 1 Avas seized with three years ago. " Hence Ave gather, that good and constant health consists in a just quantity of food ; and a just pro- portion of the meat to the drink : and that to be freed from chronical disorders contracted by intem- serance, the quantity of food ought to be lessened; ind the proportion of the meat to the drink in- creased, more or less, according to the greatness of the disorders. " For breakfast I commonly ate four ounces of bread and butter, and drank half a pound of a very weak infusion of green tea. " For dinner I took two ounces of bread and the rest flesh-meat; beef, mutton, pork, veal, hare, rab- bit, goose, turkey, foAvl tame and Avild, and fish. 411 generally chose the strongest meats as fittest, 6ince they agreed Avell with my stomach: to keep np the power of my body under this great diminu- tion of my food, I "seldom took any garden stuff, 5 50 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. finding that it commonly lessened perspiration and increased my weight. " I drank four ounces of water with my meat. and a pound of claret after I had done eating. A> night I ate nothing, but drank 12 ounces of water with a pipe of tobacco. " There is but one weight, under which a grown body can enjoy uninterrupted health." " That weighl is such as enables the heart to supply the several parts of the body with just qualities of blood." " The weight under Avhich an animal has the greatest strength and activity, which I shall call its athletic weight, is that weight under Avhich the heart, and the proportion of the weight of the heart totheAveight of the body, are greatest: the strength of the muscles is measured by the strength of the heart." " If the weight of the body of an animal be greater than its athletic weight, it may be reduced to that weight by evacuations, dry food, and exercise. These lessen the weight of the body, by wasting its fat, and lessening its liver; and they increase the weight of the heart, by increasing the quantity and motion of the blood. Thus a game cock in ten days is reduced to his athletic weight, and pre- pared for fighting. " If the food, which, with evacuations and exer- cise, reduced the cock to his athletic weight in ten days, be continued any longer, the cock will not have that strength and activity which he had be- fore under his athletic weight; which may be owing to the loss of weight going on after he arrives at his athletic weight. " It is known by experiment, that a cock cannot TO REDUCE CORPULENCE. 51 stand above 21 hours at his athletic weight, and that a cock has changed very much for the Avorse in 12 hours. " When a cock is at the top of his condition, that is, Avhen he is at his athletic weight, his head is of a gloAving red colour, his neck thick, and his thigh thick and firm ; the day after, his complexion is less glowing, his neck thinner, and his thigh softer; and the third day his thigh will be very soft and flaccid." "If the increase of Aveight in a small compass of time rise to above a certain quantity, it will cause disorders. " I can bear the increase of above a pound and a half in one day, and an increase of three or four pounds in six or seven days, without being disor- dered ; but think I should suffer from an increase of five or six pounds in that time. "An increase of Aveight may be carried off by lessening the food, or by increasing the discharges. The discharges may be increased either by exer- cise or by evacuations procured by art. " By lessening the daily quantity of my food to 23 ounces, I have lost 26 ounces; by fasting a whole day, I lost 48 ounces, having gained 27 the day before. " Mr. Rye Avas a strong, well-set, corpulent man, of a sanguine complexion ; by a brisk walk for one hour before breakfast he threAV off, by insensible perspiration, one pound of increased weight; by a Avalk of three hours, he threw off two pounds of increased Aveight. The best Avay to take off an increase of Aveight Avhich threatens a distemper is either by fasting or exercise."—Robinscn on Food and Discharges 52 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. "The mean loss of Aveight by several grown bodies caused by a purging medicine composed of a drachm of jalap and ten grains of calomel, was about 2 J avoirdupois pounds; and the mean quan- tity of liquor drank during the time of purging was about double the loss of weight."—Robinson on the Animal Economy. " I have lost by a spontaneous diarrhoea two pounds in tAventy-four hours; and Mr. Rye lost tAvice that quantity in the same time. "Most chronic diseases arise from too much food and too little exercise; both of which lessen the weight of the heart and the quantity of blood: the first by causing fatness ; the second, by a dimi- nution of the blood's motion. " Hence, when the liver is grown too large by intemperance and inactivity, it may be lessened and brought to a healthful magnitude by temper- ance and exercise. It may be emptied other ways by art; but nothing can prevent its filling again, and consequently secure good and constant health, but an exact diet and exercise. Purging and vomiting may lessen the liver and reduce it to its just magnitude ; but these evacuations cannot pre- vent its increasing again so long as persons live too fully and use too little exercise ; and can only be done by lessening the food and increasing the exercise. " Much sleep, much food, and little exercise are the principal things which make animals groAV fat. If the body on account of age or other infirmities cannot use sufficient exercise, and takes much the same quantity of sleep, its Aveight must be lessened by lessening the food, which may be done by lessen- TO REDUCE CORPULENCE. 53 ing the drink, without making any change in the meat; as I have proved myself by experience."— On the Food and Discharges of Human Bodies, by B. Robinson. Corpulency steals imperceptibly on most people after the age of thirty-five ; but a moderate degree of obesity is desirable, and indicates a healthful action of the digestive functions, which by filling up the hollow in the skin prevents the formation of Avrinkles. The diet of those who are disposed to be too corpulent ought to be as plain and as moderate in quantity as prudence may direct and patience can submit to; in some cases it may be expedient to damp the appetite by eating immediately before dinner of fruits or SAveetmeats, by drinking a glass of sweet Avine, or such other safe means as the experience of the patient may best direct. Dr. Radcliffe's advice of keeping " the eyes open and the mouth shut" contains the whole secret of the cure. Dr. Herrying, in his Essay on Corpulency, says, that " the common home-made Castile soap taken in the quantity of a drachm or two every night for several months is a most effectual and inoffensive remedy for reducing corpulency: he gives us an instance thereof in the case of a physician, Avho at the age of forty-five Avas unable to Avalk a hun- dred yards, and who, by taking every night at bed- time- a quarter of an ounce dissolved in a quarter of a pint of soft water, felt in two or three months so much more active that he persevered in its use for two years, when his bulk Avas reduced two wtiole stone weight, and he could walk a mile with E 2 54 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. pleasure; the medicine operated remarkably by urine without producing any troublesome effect."* * It has been frequently said by a distinguished medical lecturer of our own country, that " the greatest proportion of men eat and drink them- selves to death." Food, no doubt, is frequently a source of disease; but by due attention it may be rendered subservient to the cure of disease, the preservation of health, and the protraction of life. " The good old book" teaches us that herbs and fruit, were the first food of man; and it is the opinion of some, that animal food contributes greatly to the sup- port of " the malevolent and fiercer passions," and that vegetable food is conducive, not only to the health, but also to the morality of man. However this may be, it is certain that the different nations of men are as much distinguished by their articles of diet as by their language and manners. The Esquimaux live on animal food and fish; the an- cient Britons fed on flesh and milk; the modern Italian feeds on macca- roni, and one of his greatest delicacies is the foetus of the goat; the Englishman rejoices in his roast-beef and porter; the Frenchman dines on his frog-pie; the Russian lives on horseflesh and train-oil; the in- habitants of hot climates feed on vegetables, seeds, and roots. And some again are cannibals, eating human flesh ! Too much animal food will produce plethora and over-fulness of the system, and this will soon ter- minate in death. Sedefltary persons, and those who pass to a southern climate, ought to be sparing in the use' of animal food. Excessive use of salted meat will produce scrofula and scurvy, and in children eruptive diseases. The proper remedies are vegetables and acids. On the other hand, a spare vegetable diet will produce debility and emaciation in such as have been accustomed to animal food. Diarrhoea, diabetes, &c. will follow this change of diet. In such cases, the sufferer must have re- course to animal food. Excess in the quantity of food is a fruitful source of disease in children, producing indigestion and other sufferings; and the common practice of stuffing children lays the foundation for disease in future life. For the purposes of health, man ought to eat frequently and but little at a time. Some persons make*- only one meal a day; this must be a very injurious practice. Late suppers must be avoided as unfavourable to health; the teast evil which they can produce is restless nights and unrefreshing sleep; but they are frequently followed by apoplexy and other serious evils. The quantity of food ought to be diminished as life advances, because less exercise is taken by old people. The man of regular and early habits of living is generally healthy through life. Sir I. Newton is said to have lived on vegetable diet while he wrote his great work. As articles of diet, beef and mutton are greatly superior to veal and lamb; when there is plethora, or over-fulness of blood, then the young meats, such as veal and lamb, and the white parts of fowl, are the proper animal food. Roasted and boiled meats are much more easily digested than that which is fried. Beefsteaks, with mustard, and brandy and water, are good fare for Weak persons and dyspeptics. Of fowls the wild is the best, and the brown parts are preferable to the white, because they are more nutritious. Fried meats, fried oysters, and hard boiled eggs are peculiarly injurious to the stomach, being difficult of solution and of digestion. All our aliments ought to be well masticated: our SLEEP. 55 SLEEP. " When tired with vain rotations of the day, Sleep winds us up for the succeeding dawn." Young. Health may be as much injured by interrupted and insufficient sleep as by luxurious indulgence. Valetudinarians, who regularly retire to rest and arise at certain hours, are unable without injurious violence to their feelings to resist the inclination to do so. " Pliant nature more or less demands, As custom forms her; and all sudden change She hates of habit, even from bad to good. If faults in life, or new emergencies From habits* urge you, by long time confirm'd, teeth were given for the purpose of grinding and mixing our food. The mouth maybe considered as the first stomach; the quantity of saliva discharged and mixed with the food at every meal is from four to eight ounces, if proper time be allowed for mastication ; hence those who bolt their food injure the digestive organs, by robbing them of the necessary supply of the secretion which nature has ordained for their assistance. Drinks.—On this subject we may say, iffood hath slain its thousands, then drink has slain its tens of thousands. Gout, phrenitis, jaundice, dropsy, hemorrhages, madness, and their kindred ills, are the legitimate offspring of an intemperate use of alcoholic drinks. Intemperance is a relative term; what may be taken by one person with impunity, will produce plethora and its consequent evils in another. Porter and ale are evidently injurious to some, wine and spirits to others, and even water may be taken to excess; but brandy is the most certainly fatal in its effects. The great quantity of alcohol contained in our wines is what renders them dangerous; perhaps old sherry is the best drink for those who stand in need of the stimulus of wine. Every bottle of wine con- tains from 2i to 3 ounces of pure alcohol. For Coffee and Tea see the notes, pages 22 and 24. He that would en- sure to himself health, reputation, prosperity, and long life, must perse- vere in the use of u-ater as his common beverage.—[B.] * "Nothing is a greater enemy to feeble life than laying aside old habits, or leaving a climate or place to which one has been long accus- tomed. The irritation occasioned by such changes is highly prejudicial. " Even pernicious habits, insalubrious air, «fcc, must be abandoned 56 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. Slow must the change arrive, and stage by stage, Slow as the stealing progress of the year." Armstrong's Art of Preserving Health. How important is it then to cultivate good and convenient habits. Custom will soon render the most rigid rules not only easy but agreeable:— " The strong by bad habits grow weaker, we know; And by good ones the weak will grow stronger also." The poAver of habit soon becomes apparent to any one who will accurately watch it; all our per- ceptions, anxiety, levity, pensiveness, as well as sleep, hunger, &c, invariably return at regular in- tervals and periods, i. e. at the time that they have been usually indulged. Cultivate, therefore, as early as possible the habit of deliberately planning and attentively per- forming, to the utmost of your ability, even the most ordinary actions: independent of the benefit that your judgment will insensibly receive from such practice, you will involuntarily contract a certain ease and elegance in the most difficult. The debilitated require more rest than the robust. Nothing is so restorative to the nerves as sound and uninterrupted sleep, which is the chief source of both bodily and mental strength ; yet how little care is usually taken to secure, the enjoyment ofit!! The studious need a full portion of sleep, which seems to be as necessary nutriment to the brain as food is to the stomach. Our strength and spirits are infinitely more ex- hausted by the exercise of our mental, than by the with great caution, or we shall thereby hasten the end of our patient."— Struve's Asthenology. SLEEP. 57 labour of our corporeal faculties. Let any person try the effect of intense application* for a few hours: he will soon find how much his body is fatigued thereby, although he has not stirred from the chair he sat on.—The Avaste of the vital poAvers occasioned by over-exertion of the mental faculties is almost as debilitating to the corporeal system as a waste of the generative powers. Those who are candidates for health must be as circumspect in the task they set their mind as in the exercise they give to their body. Dr. Armstrong, the poet of health, observes, " 'Tis the great art of life to manage well The restless mind." The grand secret seems to be, to contrive tha*t the exercise of the body and that of the mind may serve as relaxations to each other. After serious occupation and hard study contrive to procure as much cheerful recreation as possible. Over-exertion or anxiety of mind disturbs diges- tion infinitely more than any fatigue of body: the brain demands a much more abundant supply of the animal spirits than is required for the excite- ment of mere legs and arms. To delicate constitutions, is it not seldom diffi- cult, nay, dangerous, to be long seriously studious or laboriously diligent 1 '• 'Tis the sword that wears out the scabbard." Of the two ways of fertilizing the brain—by * " Rousseau was so impressed with the evil effects of excessive mental exertion, that lie praised the custom of the inhabitants of the banks of the river Nornoko, who tied boards on the foreheads of their children, to prevent genius by early compression of the brain."—Jamie- sun on the Human Body. 58 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. sleep or by spirituous stimulus—(for some write best in the morning, others when Avound up with Avine, after dinner or supper)—the former is much less expensive and less injurious to the constitu- tion than either port or brandy, whose aid it is said that some of our best authors have been in- debted to for their most brilliant productions. Calling one day on a literary friend, we found him lounging on a sofa.- On expressing our con- cern to find him indisposed, he said, " No, I was only hatching,—I have been writing till lAvas quite tired; my paper must go to press to-day, so I was taking my usual restorative—a nap; which, if it only lasts five minutes, so refreshes my mind that my p*en goes to work again spontaneously." Is it not better economy of time to go to sleep for half an hour, than to go on noodling all day in a nerveless and semi-superannuated state— if not asleep, certainly not effectively awake for any purpose requiring the energy of either the body or the mind ? " A forty Avinks' nap," in a horizontal posture is the best preparative for any extraordinary exer- tion of either. Those Avho possess and employ the poAvers of the mind most, seldom attain the greatest age :*— * "Those who have lived longest have been persons without either avarice or ambition, enjoying that tranquillity of soul which is the source of the happiness and health of our early days ; and strangers to those torments of mind which usually accompany more advanced years, and by which the body is wasted and consumed."—Code of Health. " In the return made by Dr. Robertson (and published by Sir John Sinclair in the 164th page of the second volume of the Appendix to his Code of Health) from Greenwich Hospital, of 2410 in-pensioners, ninety- six, i. e. about one-twenry-fifth, are beyond eighty; thirteen beyond ninety; and one beyond one hundred. They almost all used tobacco, and the most of them acknowledged the habit of drinking freely. Some of them had no teeth for twenty years, and fourteen only had good ones SLEEP. 59 the envy their talent excites, the disappointment they often meet with in their expectation of receiv- ing the utmost attention and respect (which the world has seldom the gratitude to pay them while they live), keep them in a perpetual state of irrita- tion and disquiet, which frets them prematurely to their grave.* " Fame's a reversion in which men take place, (O late reversion !) at their own decease." Dr. Young. To rest a Avhole day, under great fatigue of either body or mind, is occasionally extremely beneficial. It is impossible to regulate sleep by the hour: Avhen the mind and the body have received all the refreshment which sleep can give, people cannot lie in bed,—till then they should not rise.f One, who was one hundred and thirteen years old, had lost all his teeth upwards of thirty years. " The organ of vision was impaired in about one-half; that of hearing In only one-fifth. This may be accounted for. The eye is a more deli- cate organ than the ear, and the least deterioration of its action is more immediately observed. Of the ninety-six, they almost all had been mar- ried, and four of them after eighty years of age. Only nine were bache- lors. This is a strong argument in favour of matrimony. " The best ages for marriage, all other circumstances being favour- able, are between the eighteenth and twenty-fifth year for females, and between the twenty-fifth and thirty-sixth for males. The body is then in the most complete state to propagate a healty offspring. The ages when the prolific powers begin to cease in both sexes will nearly cor- respond, and the probable expectation of life will be sufficiently long for parents to provide for their children."—Jamikson on tlie Human Body. * " Regular and sufficient sleep serves on the one hand for repairing the lost powers, and on the other for lessening consumption, by lessen- ing vital activity. Hence the lives of people who are exposed to the most debilitating fatigue are prolonged to a considerable age when they enjoy sleep in its fullest extent."—Strlve's Asthenology. T " It is a perfect barbarism to awake any one when sleep, that' balm of hurt minds,' is exerting its benign influence, and the worn body is receiving its most cheering restorative."—Hintsfor the Preservation of Health. 60 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. " Preach not me your musty rules, Ye drones, that mould in idle cell; The heart is wiser than the schools, The senses always reason well." Comus. Our philosophical poet here gives the best prac- tical maxim on the subject for valetudinarians, who, by following his advice, may render their existence, instead of a dull, unvaried round of joyless, useless self-denial, a circle of agreeable sensations; for instance, go not to your bed till you are tired of sitting up*—then remain in a horizontal posture, till you long to change it for a vertical: thus, by a little management, the inevitable affairs of life may be converted into a source of continual en- joyments. All-healing sleep soon neutralizes the corroding caustic of care, and blunts even the barbed arrows of the marbled-hearted fiend, ingratitude. There is no sorrow that is not softened by sleep—after even a feAV moments we awake refreshed, and can reflect on our misfortunes Avith fortitude. When the pulse is almost paralyzed by anxiety, half an hour's repose will cheer the circulation, restore tranquillity to the perturbed spirit, and dissi- pate those heavy clouds of ennui, "The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to." Shakspkare. which sometimes threaten to eclipse the brightest minds and best hearts.—Child of wo, lay thy * " Exercise your body and your mind gently till you are tired, and no longer; sleep till you are refreshed, but no longer; when the bed be- comes irksome, get up, if circumstances permit; when again nature calls for rest, follow her dictates, regardless of the time or hour. In health, custom rules; but when sickness takes the helm, nature will not be controlled."—Fulck on Diet, $-c. SLEEP. 61 head on thy pilloAV (instead of thy mouth to the bottle), and bless me for directing thee to the true source of Lethe—and the sovereign nepenthe for the sorroAvs of human life. Take from man hope and sleep, and he would be the most wretched being in the world. The repose requisite to restore the waste occa- sioned by the action of the day depends on the activity of the habits, and on the health of the in- dividual ; in general it cannot be less than seven, and need not be more than nine hours.* Invalidsf will derive much benefit from indulg- ing in the siesta whenever they feel languid. The more perfect our sleep, the less we re- quire of it: a sailor will tell you, that a seaman can sleep as much in five hours as a landsman can in ten. On the subject of sleep, Sir Gilbert Blane has amused his readers with some interest- ing remarks.—See his Dissertations on Medical Sciences, 1822. " The refreshment of sleep is not in the simple ratio of its duration ; the principal share of this act of restoration being found to take place in the be- ginning of it. If a person be at any time deprived * " In high health seven or eight hours will complete this refresh- ment ; and hence arises the false inference drawn from an observation, probably just, that longlived persons are always early risers; not that early rising makes them longlived, but that people in the highest vigour of health are naturally early risers; because they sleep more soundly, and all that repose can do for them is done in less time than with those who sleep less soundly. A disposition to lie in bed beyond the usual hour generally arises from some derangement of the digestive organs."— Hints for the Preservation of Health. X " If the patient is favoured with sleep, nothing will so soon renovate and restore strengths When the nurse perceives her patient inclined to sleep, let every thing give way, no matter what time it happen. A pa- tient should never be awakened to take medicine; no medicine can be so beneficial as sleep, which is the balm of Gilead of this state of being- and comforts both mind and body beyond any thing."— Good Nurse. F 62 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. of one-half or more of his usual portion of it, the inconvenience experienced is by no means in pro- portion to this privation; and habit will bring per- sons, whose affairs require it, to subsist in health and vigour with a small allowance of sleep. General Pichegru informed me, in the course of my professional attendance on him, that, in the career of his active campaigns, he had for a whole year not more than one hour of sleep at an average in the twenty-four hours. According to my own ex- perience, I find that when I am called out of bed after an hour's sleep or less, I feel a very great difference in my feelings next day from what I have felt when I have had no sleep at all. " The powers of the sensorium seem to be wound up, as it were, at the most rapid rate in the first period of sleep ; and great part of the refresh- ment in the later hours seems more imputable to the simple repose of the organs, than to the recruit- ing power peculiar to sleep. There are some per- sons to whom,more or less sleep has become habitually necessary in the course of the day, particularly after dinner; and they find that a few minutes of it satisfy nature." Whether rising early lengthens life we know not, but are sure that sitting up late shortens it, —and recommend you to rise by eight, and to re- tire to rest by eleven; your feelings will bear out the adage, that " one hour's rest before midnight is worth two after." When old people have been examined Avith a view to ascertain the causes of their longevity, they have uniformly agreed in one thing only,—■ that they all went to bed early, and all rose early. SLEEP. 63 " Early to bed, and early to rise, Will make you healthy, wealthy, and wise." Dr. Franklin published an ingenious essay on the advantages of early rising. He called it " an economical project," and calculated the saving that might be made in the city of Paris, by using sunshine instead of candles, at no less than 4,000,000/. sterling. If the delicate and the nervous, the young, or the old, dine later, or sit up beyond their usual hour, they feel the Avant of artificial aid to raise their spirits to what is no more than the ordinary pitch of those who are in the vigour of their life, and must fly from the festive board, or purchase a few hours of hilarity at the heavy price of head- ache and dyspepsy for many days after ; and a terrible exasperation of any chronic complaint they are afflicted with. When the body and mind are both craving re- pose, to force their action by the spur of spiritu- ous stimulus is the most extravagant waste of the " vis vitae" that fashion ever invented to consume her foolish votaries: for fools they certainly are, Avho mortgage the comfort of a week for the con- vivaility of an hour Avith the certainty of their term of life being speedily foreclosed by gout, palsy, &c. Among the most distressing miseries of this " Elysium of bricks and mortar" may be reckoned, Iioav rarely we enjoy " the SAveets of a slumber unbroke." Sound passes through the thin pasteboard party- walls of modern houses with such unfortunate fa- cility, that it is really an evil of the first magnitude, 64 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. which is by no means counterbalanced by the con- sideration, that they become so heated that they Avill serve for a plate-warmer in the kitchen, and a warming-pan in the bedroom ; for while receiving these calefacient comforts, one can hardly help fan- cying that it is not impossible that what warms our plates and our beds may some day or night roast ourselves !!! In the second floors the party-walls are still thinner, and a sigh, laugh, sneeze, or snore in one house is heard in the next as plainly as that in which it was let off; as we learn from" the following doggerels, by Humphrey Hearquick: " If you sigh, sneeze, or snore, We can hear you next door; Therefore pray be so kind To take care of your wind. If you're doleful or dry, Pray, dear neighbour, don't sigh Nor, your nose- itch to ease, Don't furiously sneeze, Nor sonorously snore, Nor do any thing more That will wake us next door." If you are so unlucky as to have for next-door neighbours fashionable folks who turn night into day, or tidy-ones who delight in the sublime econ- omy of cinder-saving or cobweb-catching, it is in vain to seek repose before they have indulged in the evening's recreation of raking out the fire, and played with the poker till it has made all the red coals black; or after Molidusta has awoke the morn with " the broom, the bonny, bonny broom." A determined dust-hunter or cinder-saver mur- ders its neighbours' sleep Avith as little mercy as Macbeth destroyed Duncan's—and morning and evening, bangs doors, slams up and doAvn the SLEEP. 65 sashes, and rattles window-shutters, till the " earth trembles, and air is aghast!" If all attempts to conciliate a savage who is in this fancy are labour in vain, and the arrange- ment of its fire is equally the occupation of the morning and the amusement of the evening, the preservation of a cinder and the destruction of a cobweb the main business of its existence,—the best advice Ave can give you, gentle reader, is to send it this little book, and beseech it to place the folloAving pages opposite to its optic nerves some morning, after you have diverted it from sleep every half-hour during the preceding night.* Counsellor Scribblefast, a special pleader, who lived on a ground-floor in the Temple, about the time that Sergeant Ponder, who dwelt on the first floor, retired to rest, began to practise his violon- cello, " and his loud voice in thunder spoke." The student above, by Avay of giving him a gentle hint, struck up, " Gently strike the warbling Lyre," and Will Harmony's favourite hornpipes of " Don't Ye," and "Pray be Quiet:" hoAvever, the dolce and pia- nissimo of poor Ponder produced no diminution of the prestissimo and fortissimo of the indefatigable Scribblefast. Ponder prayed " silence in the court," and com- plained in most pathetic terms ; but, alas ! his " lowly suit and plaintive ditty" made not the least impression on him Avho Avas beneath him. He at length procured a set of skittles, and as soon as * The method taken to tame unruly colts, &c. is, to walk them about the whole of the night previous to attempting to break them. Want of sleep speedily subdues the spirit of the wildest and the strength of the strongest creatures, and soon renders the most savage animals tame and tractable. 6 66 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. his musical neighbour had done fiddling, he began con strepito, and bowled aAvay merrily till the morn- ing daAvned. The enraged musician did not wait long after daylight to put in his plea against such proceedings; and received in reply, that such exer- cise had been ordered by a physician, as the pro- perest paregoric, after being disturbed by the thorough bass of the big fiddle below. This soon convinced the tormentor of catgut who dAvelt on the ground-floor that he could not annoy his supe- rior with impunity, and soon produced silence on both sides. People are very unwisely inconsiderate how much it is their own interest to attend to the com- forts of their neighbours: " To love thy neighbour as thyself," our Saviour declared the second com- mandment. " Sic utere tuo, ut alienum non Icedas," is the maxim of our English law. Interrupting one's sleep is as prejudicial to health as any of the nui- sances Blackstone enumerates as actionable. The majority of the dogs, parrots, poultry, pea- cocks, and piano-fortes, &c. in this metropolis are " actionable nuisances !!!"—Henceforth it should not be lawful for any person to presume to keep any of the foregoing offensive things in then house, without a license so to do from all their neigh- bours that live Avithin earshot of them. However inferior in rank and fortune, &c. your next door neighbour may be, there are moments when he may render you the most valuable ser- vice. " The noble lion himself once owed his life to the exertions of a poor little mouse that he had formerly befriended." SLEEP. 67 Those who have not the poAver to please may &eware of offending; the most humble have oppor- tunities to return a kindness or resent an insult. It is madness to wantonly annoy any one ; and those Avho are not ambitious of excelling in " the art of ingeniously tormenting!" their neighbours, will thank us for the following hints. All people are not aware, that such is the effect of echo and vibration that a sound which is hardly audible in the house where it is made may be ex- tremely sonorous in the adjoining one; and that stirring a fire, or moving any furniture on a floor which is not carpeted, sometimes sounds louder in the next house than it does in the room where it is. I have dwelt a little on this subject, because 1 have very frequently heard nervous invalids* com- plain of being grievously disturbed in this manner, and who have at the same time said their next- door neighbours Avere most amiable people, Avho they were sure would not offend a worm intention- ally ; notwithstanding they were not sufficiently ac- quainted to give them any hint of the pain they weie daily giving them, although certain they would be delighted Avith any opportunity of exercising their benevolence. Piano-fortes should never be placed against party-Avails. In stirring the fire, never touch the back or sides of the grate; briefly, not only remember yourself, but explain distinctly to your servants, that anv striking against the floor, especially if not carpeted, or wall, or on a table, &c. makes twice as much *'' The ear is the sense through which most shocks reach the nerves." -Dr. Beddoes on Nervous Diseases. 68 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. noise next-door, as it does in your own house. The ticking of a clock placed on the chimney-piece in one house, if the party-wall is thin, is heard in the adjoining one as loud as in the room where it is. There is plenty of time for the performance of all offensively noisy operations, between ten in the morning and ten at night; during which the indus- trious housewife may indulge her arms in their full swing; and while she polishes her black-leaded grate to the lustre which is so lovely in the eyes of " the tidy," the tattoo her brush strikes up against its sides may be performed without distressing the irritable ears of her nervous neighbours, to whom undisturbed repose is the most vital nourishment. Little sweep-soot-ho is another dreadful dis- turber. The shrill screaming of these poor boys, " making night hideous" (indeed at any time), at five or six o'clock in cold dark Aveather, is a most barbarous custom, and frequently disturbs a whole street before rousing the drowsy sluggard who sent for them; his rowdy-dow Avhen he reaches the top of the chimney, and his progress doAvn again, awake the soundest sleepers, who often wish that instead of the chimney he Avas smiting the scull of the barbarian who set the poor child to work at such an unseasonable hour. The author's feelings are tremblingly alive on this subject: " Finis coronat opus." However soundly he has slept during the early part of the night, if the finishing nap in the morn- "ntt is interrupted from continuing to its natural SLEEI. 69 termination, his whole system is shaken by it, and all that sleep has before done for him is undone in an instant; he gets up distracted and languid,* and the only part of his head that is of any use to him ls the hole between his nose and chin. The firm health of those who live in the country arises not merely from breathing a purer air, but from quiet and regular habits, especially the enjoy ment of plenty of undisturbed repose. This enables them to take exercise, which gives them an appe- tite, and by taking their food at less distant and more equally divided intervals, they receive a more regular supply of that salutary nourishment which is necessary to restore the wear of the system, and support it in a uniform state of excitement, equally exempt from the debilitating languor of inanition and the fretful fever of repletion. Thus, the animal functions are performed with a perfection and regularity which, in the inces- santly irregular habits of a town-life, are continually interrupted: some ridiculous anxiety or other con- sumes the animal spirits, and the important process of restoration is imperfectly performed. Dyspeptic and nervous disorders, and an inferior degree of both extensive and intensive life,f are the * " The Czar Peter the Great in his rapid journeys lay only upon straw; and being accustomed to sleep about an hour after dinner, the emperor rested his head on one of his attendants by way of a pillow. The denchtchick was obliged to wait patiently in this posture, and not make the least motion for fear of waking him ; for he was as good humoured when hehadslept well,as he was gloomy and ill-tempered when his slumbers had been disturbed, or he had been waked unnecessarily be fore the appointed time."—See Stothlin's Anecdotes of Peter the Great. X In Vienna, Berlin, Paris, and London the twentieth or twenty-third person dies annually; while in the country around them the propor- tion is only one in thirty or forty; in remote country villages, from one in forty to one in fifty; the smallest degree of human mortality on record lb one in sixty, 70 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. inevitable consequence, and are the lowest price for (what are called) the pleasures of fashionable society. Dr. Cadogan has told us (very truly) that chronic diseases (and we may add, most of those equivocal disorders which are continually teasing people, but are too insignificant to induce them to institute a medical process to remove them) are caused by indolence, intemperance, and vexation. It is the fashion to refer all these disorders to debility; but debility is no more than the effect of indolence, intemperance, and vexation : the first two are under our own immediate control; and tempe- rance, industry, and activity are the best remedies to prevent or remove the debility which reduces our means of resisting the third. During the summer of life,* i. e. the second pe- riod of it, while we hope that every thing will come right, the heart bounds with vigour, and the vital flame burns too brightly to be much or long sub- dued by vexation. This originally least cause soon becomes the greatest, and in the autumn of our existence, when experience has dissipated the theatric illusion with which hope varnished the expectations of our earlier days, we fear that every thing may go wrong. " The whips and scorns of time, The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, The insolence of Office, and the spurns That patient merit of th' unworthy takes." " When warm with hope, in life's aspiring morn, The tints of fancy every scene adorn, The glowing landscape charms the poet's view, And youth believes the fairy prospect true. But soon experience proves his eye betrayed, And all the picture darkens into shade." Fitzgerald. SLEEP. 71 The insatiable ruling passions* of the second and third periods of life, ambition and avarice,— the loss of our first and best friends, our parents,— regret for the past and anxiety about the future,—• prevent the enjoyment of the present, and are the cause of those nervous and bilious disorders which attack most of us at the commencement of the third period of life: these precursors of " pals) and gout" may generally be traced to " disappoint ments" and " anxiety of mind." "Above all, it is of essential importance to health to preserve the tranquillity of the mind, and not to sink under the disappointments of life to which all, but particularly the old, are frequently exposed. Nothing ought to disturb the mind of an individual who is conscious of having done all the good in his power."—Sinclair. " Nothing hurts more the nervous system, and particularly the concoctive powers, than fear or anxiety."— Whytt. " I shall add to my list, as the eighth deadly sin, that of anxiety of mind; and resolve not to be pining and miserable when I ought to be grateful and happy."—Sir Thomas Barnard. " I have observed more sudden deaths have arisen from disappointments, and these disappoint- ments grounded upon ambitious views, than all other passions put together."—Dr. Nic. Robinson. " Not only excessive labour of the mind is per- nicious to the body, but various mental affections, such as grief, fear, and anxiety are justly enu- * • Youth is devoted to lust; middle age to ambition ; and old age to avarice. With the good, lust becomes virtuous love; ambition, true knowledge ; and avarice, the care of posterity." 72 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. merated among the most powerful causes of chronic weakness. When the mind is alarmed by fear, tormented by hatred and envy, or distressed by grief and anxiety, the nervous energy is diminished, and the Avhole system is sometimes thrown into violent agitations. " The heart either ceases to move with its natural force, or falls into sudden palpitation from the want of those powers which would have given it a firmer motion. Respiration is generally re- tarded ; the stomach is sensibly relaxed, and di- gestion greatly disturbed. Such depressing pas- sions of the mind are often succeeded with a mise- rable degree of chronic weakness. Even the anxiety which arises from the ill-humour and un- kind treatment of others is deeply felt by persons of tender minds, and consequently proves highly injurious to their bodily frames." " The late Dr. Heberden, being asked the cause of the death of a relation of mine, gave this answer: ' Your friend died of what nine out of ten of my patients die of—a broken heart!' This reply made an indelible impression on my feelings. Dr. Heberden's patients were not among the num- ber of the outAvardly Avretched. I could not com- prehend the fact; but year after year revolving it in my mind, and still looking round attentively on every side, I am forced to consider it as too true. " It is not to be understood that the effect always follows the cause immediately; that must depend on the state of health : but a blow given ten years back may as certainly be the cause of death as one received yesterday, though it will require penetra- tion to discover it; and hence other causes are SLEEP. 73 often mistaken for it."—Hints for Recovery of Health. "Anguish of mind has driven thousands to sui- cide ; anguish of body none. " This proves that the health of the mind is of far more consequence than the health of the body; both are deserving of much more attention than either of them receive."—Colton's Lacon. People need not groan about the insanities and absurdities of others ; it is sufficient to suffer for our own, of which most of us have plenty: we ought to endeavour to convert those of others into causes of comfort and consolation instead of fretting about them. If you receive rudeness* in return for civility, and ingratitude for kindness, it may move your pity, but must not excite your anger. Instead of murmuring at Heaven for having created such crazy creatures, be fervently thankful that you are not equally inconsistent and ridiculous; and humbly pray that your own mind may not be afflicted with the like aberrations. " To err is human ; to forgive, divine." Indigestion! is the chief cause of perturhed sleep, and often excites the imaginary presence of that troublesome bedfellow the nightmare. On this subject see Peptic Precepts. Some cannot sleep if they eat any supper, and * " The Romans were of opinion, that ill language and brutal man- ners inflected only on those who were guilty of them; and that a man's reputation was not at all cleared by his cutting the throat of the person who reflected upon it." t " Sleep is sound, sweet, and refreshing, acccrding as the alimentary organs are easv, quiet, and clean."—Chevne. G 74 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. certainly the lighter this meal is the better. Others need not put on their nightcap if they do not first bribe their stomach to good behaviour by a certain quantity of bread and cheese and beer, &c. &c, and go to bed almost immediately after. The interval between even a late six o'clock dinner and a late breakfast at ten (16 hours) is rather too long an interval for an invalid's stomach. It is said that those who take strong food for supper keep the stomach at work all night. As to the wholesomeness of a solid supper per se, Ave do not think it advisable, unless habit has made it indispensable: it is often the most com- fortable meal among the middle ranks of society, who have quite as large a share of health as any. We caution bad sleepers to beware how they indulge in the habit of inviting sleep by taking any of the preparations of opium; they are all injurious to the stomach and inconvenient to the bowels. " The Paregoric Elixir" is the most agreeable anodyne ; I have found that a tea-spoonful in a wine- glass of water just as I lie doAvn in bed generally produces immediate and refreshing sleep, and is especially beneficial when my boAvels have been distressed by diarrhoea. It is also recommended for coughs; and I have given it at night to children in the hooping-cough, in doses of from five to twenty drops in a little water or on a bit of sugar. " Repose by small fatigue is earned ; weariness can snore upon the flint when sloth finds a down pillow hard." There cannot be good digestion without diligent mastication. There cannot be sound sleep without sufficient exercise. BLEEP. 75 The most inoffensive and agreeable anodyne is, to drink some good white wine or mulled wine by way of a supplement to your nightcap.- One glass taken when in bed, just before you say " good- night," is as effective as three if you sit up any time after. Many people if waked during their first sleep are unsettled and irritable all that night, and nervous the folloAving day. The first sleep of persons who eat suppers terminates when the food passes from the stomach. Invalids then awake, and sometimes remain so in a feverish state, the stomach feeling discontented from having nothing to play with. A small crust of bread or a bit of biscuit well chewed, accompanied or not, as experience and instinct will suggest, with a few mouthfuls of mutton or beef broth (No. 564), or toast and water (No. 463*), or single grog* (i. e. one spirit to seven waters), Avill often restore its tranquillity and catch sleep again, which nothing invites so irresistibly as introducing something to the stomach that will entertain it without fatiguing it. We have heard persons say they have been much distressed by an imperative craving for food when they awoke out of their first sleep, and have not got to sleep soundly again after; and when they got up Avere as tired as Avhen they Avent to bed, but without any appetite for breakfast:—such Avill derive great benefit from the foregoing advice. A gruel (No. 572) supper is perhaps the best for the dyspeptic and those who have eaten and drank plentifully at dinner. * " The grog on board a ship is generally one spirit and three waters. This is too strong." 76 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. The bedroom should be in the quietest situation possible, as it were " the temple of silence," and if possible not less than sixteen feet square; the height of this apartment, in which we pass almost half of our time, is inmodernhouses absurdly abridged to increase that of the draAving-room, which is often not occupied once in a week; instead of living in the pleasant part of the house Avhere they might enjoy light and air, people squeeze their family into " a nice snug parlour," "where Apollo cannot spy." We do not recommend either curtains or tester, &c. to the bed, especially during the summer; by the help of these those who might have the benefit of the free circulation of air in a large room very ingeniously contrive to reduce it to a small closet: chimney-boards and window-curtains are also in- admissible in a bedroom; but valetudinarians who are easily Avaked or very susceptible of cold will do wisely to avail themselves of well-made double* windows and doors; these exclude both noise and cold in a much greater degree than per- sons who have not tried them can imagine. When a-bed we should lie almost horizontally; the head excepted, Avhich ought to be a little raised. Nothing is more prejudicial than to lie in bed half-sitting. The body then forms an angle ; circulation is checked and the spine is compressed. By this custom one of the principal ends of sleep, a free and uninterrupted circulation of the blood, is defeated; and in infancy and youth deformity and crookedness are often its consequences. The best bed is a well-stuffed and well-curled * If they are not extremely well made by a superior workman, and of seasoned wood, they are of little or no use SLEEP. 77 horsehair mattress, six inches thick at the head, gradually diminishing to three at the feet, and on this another mattress five or six inches in thick- ness : these should be unpicked and exposed to the air once every year. An elastic horsehair mattress is incomparably the most easy and pleasant as well as the most wholesome bed. The most delicate person, after having passed the night in his bedchamber, may not when he awakes perceive any thing offensive in the' air of his room; but let him shut the door and return to his room after having been in the open air, and before fresh air has been admitted, he will quickly discover how much the freshness of the air in his bedchamber has been deteriorated during the night. Bedrooms should be thoroughly ventilated, by leaving both the window and the door open every day when the weather is not cold or damp—during which the bed should remain unmade, and the clothes be taken off and spread out for an hour, at least, before the bed is made again. In very hot Aveather the temperature becomes considerably cooler every minute after 10 o'clock —between 8 o'clock and 12, the thermometer often falls in sultry Aveather from 10 to 20 degrees. Therefore, those Avho can sit up till 12 o'clock, if till then they keep the Avindows and doors of their room both open, will have the advantage of sleeping in an atmosphere many degrees cooler than those who go to bed at 10: this is extremely important to nervous invalids, Avhom, however ex- tremely they may suffer from heat, Ave cannot ad- G2 78 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. vise to sleep with the smallest part of the AvindoAV open during the night, unless they take care to in- terrupt the current of air by the shutter, and also dropping the curtain before it: a still safer way of obtaining fresh air is, to leave open the window of an adjoining apartment. In such sultry days the siesta will not only be a great support against the heat, but will help you to sit up and enjoy the ad- vantage above stated, A fire in the bedroom is sometimes indispen- sable—-and during half of the year those who* can afford it will do wisely to have one at least once in every week; but not as usually made—it is commonly lighted only just before bedtime, and prevents sleep by the noise it makes, and the unac- customed stimulus of its light. Chimneys frequently smoke when a fire is first lighted, particularly in snowy and frosty weather; and an invalid has to encounter not only the damp and cold of the room, but has his lungs irritated with the sulphureous puffs from the fresh-lighted fire. The fire should be lighted about three or four hours before, and so managed that it may burn en- tirely out half an hour before you go to bed—then the air of the room will be comfortably warm, and certainly more fit to receive an invalid who has been sitting all day in a parlour as hot as an oven, than a damp chamber that is as cold as a well. THE SIESTA. 79 THE SIESTA. The power of position and temperature to pre- vent and alleviate the paroxysms of many chronic disorders have not received the consideration which they deserve ; a little attention to the varia- tions of the pulse will soon point out the effect they produce on the circulation, &c.: extremes of heat and cold, Avith respect to food, drink, and air, are equally to be guarded against. Old and cold stomachs, the gouty, and those whose digestive faculties are feeble, should never have any thing cold* or old put into them, espe- cially in cold weather. Food must take the temperature of our sto- mach (which is probably not less than 120) before digestion can commence. When the stomach is feeble, cold food frequently produces flatulence, palpitation of the heart, &c, and all the other troublesome accompaniments of indigestion. The immediate remedy for these is hot water and the horizontal posture. Dyspeptic invalids Avill find 75 a good tempera- ture for their drink at dinner, and 120 for tea, &c. Persons who are in a state of debility from age, or other causes, will derive much benefit from lying down and seeking repose whenever they feel fa- * " Cold drink is an enemy to concoction, and the parent of crudities.'' -Dr. M Grindall. 80 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. tigued, especially during (the first half-hour at leasl of) the business of digestion, and will receive almost as much refreshment from half an hour's sleep as from half a pint of wine; the exhausted spirits are recruited by this relaxation from bodily and mental exertion, and their sleep during the night not at all diminished by it. The restorative influence of the recumbent pos- ture cannot be imagined; the increased energy it gives to the circulation and to the organs of diges- tion can only be understood by those invalids who have experienced the comforts of it. The siesta is not only advisable, but indispen- sable, to those whose occupations oblige them to keep late hours. Actors especially, whose profession is, of all others, the most fatiguing, and requires both the mind and the body to be in the most intense exer- tion between 10 and 12 o'clock at night, should avail themselves of the siesta, which is the true source of energy—half an hour's horizontal re- freshment is a most beneficial restorative. Good beef-tea* (No. 563), with a little bit of slightly-toasted bread, taken about nine o'clock, is a comforting restorative, which Avill support you * To make beef-tea.—Cut a pound of lean gravy meat into thin slices, put it into a quart and half a pint of cold water, set it over a gentle fire where it will become gradually warm. When the scum rises, catch it, cover the saucepan close, and let it continue boiling for about two hours. Skim the fat off, strain it through a sieve or napkin, skim it again, let it stand ten minutes to settle, and then pour off the clear tea. To make half a pint of beef-tea in five minutes for three halfpence, lee (No. 252), and to make good mutton-broth for nothing, (No. 490) of " The Cook's Oracle." N.B.—An onion and a few grains of black pepper are sometimes added. If the meat is boiled till it is thoroughly tender, mince it, and ound it as directed in (No. 503) of " The Cook's Oracle," and you may ave a dish of potted beef 'for the trouble of making it. THE SIESTA. 81 through exertions that, without such assistance, are exhausting; and you go to bed fatigued, get up fevered, &c. When those Avho speak or sing in public feel nervous, &c, or fear the circulation is below par, and too languid to afford the due excitement, they will do Avisely by taking, half an hour before they fcing, ? longest livers will generally find, that to the very last they used some exercise, as walking a certain distance every day, pursued under proper restrictions ; and sometimes, in such in- stances, it is continued for a considerable time Avith great benefit ; at other times it is properly em- ployed as a preparation for the cold bath. Delicate, weakly, and nervous Avomen, Avho may have suffered from miscarriages and the long train of complaints consequent to such accidents, as sexual Aveakness attended with pain in the back and loins, &c, Avill not be disappointed in their ex- pectations of relief from Avarm bathing. When the warm bath is intended to produce in- creased perspiration, it is best employed in the evening, Avhen the immersion should not exceed ten minutes, and the patient should be removed from the bath to a Avarm bed. When it is not in- tended to produce perspiration, any time from an hour after breakfast till dinner Avill be proper. In these cases the bathing may be protracted to fif- L2 126 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. teen or twenty minutes, according to the feelings of the patient. Gentle exercise in the open air should follow the bathing. Warm bathing is peculiarly adapted for the pur- pose of promoting cleanliness ; and consequently it tends to the prevention and cure of all diseases occa- sioned by nastiness, and the obstruction of the cuti- cular excretions. Early and continued attention to this important part of decency as well as of health Avould tend greatly to diminish the alarming num- ber of infantile deaths in our weekly bills of mor- tality. It is devoutly to be wished that every mother would look well to this important means of prolonging the lives of her beloved children.—[BJ WINE. 127 WINE. "Si bona vina cupis, quinque haec laudantur in illis, Fortia, formosa, et fragrantia, frigida, frixa." Dr. Cogan's Haven of Health. Wine, especially port, is generally twice spoiled before it is considered fit to be drunk!!! The wine-maker spoils it first, by overloading it Avith brandy, to make it keep. The wine-drinker keeps it till time has not only dissipated the superabundant spirit, but even until the acetous fermentation begins to»be evident: this it is the fashion now to call " flavour;" and wine is not liked till it has lost so much of its exhila- rating power, that you may drink a pint of it be- fore receiving that degree of excitement which the Avine-drinker requires to make him happy. We mean a legal pint containing 16 ounces. A pipe of port contains, on the average, 138 gallons, of which three must be allowed for lees, &c. This is enough for Avaste, if the wine has been properly fined, and steadily bottled. A butt of Sherry contains - 130 gallons. Madeira - - - 110 ditto. Hogshead of Claret - - - - 55 ditto. It is convenient for small families to have part of their Avine in pint bottles. That wine is best when the bottle is quite fresh- opened is a fact it is needless to observe : half a pint of wine (»'. e. 8 ounces, i. e. four ordinary wine- 128 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. glasses) is as much as most people (Avho have not spoiled their stomachs by intemperance) require. But here it is proper to observe, that the larger the bottle the better the Avine keeps. In Scotland, where they liberally quaff the fes- tive cup of hospitality, they usually draAV off their wine from the pipe into large bottles holding four or five pints—and the Scotch pint deserves its name of " magnum bonum." The rage for superannuated wine is one of the most ridiculous vulgar errors of modern epicurism —the " bee's Aving," " thick crust* on the bottle," " loss of strength," &c. Avhich wine-fanciers con- sider the beauty of their tawny favourite, " fine old port," are forbidding manifestations of decomposi- tion, and the departure of some of the best quali- ties of the wine. The agef of maturity for exportation from Oporto is said to be the second year after the vintage (prob- ably sometimes not quite so long). Our wine-merchants keep port in wood from two to four years, according to its original strength, &.c.—surely this must be long enough to do all that can be done by keeping it—what crude wine * A thick crust is not always the consequence of the wine having been a very long time in the bottle, but is rather a sign that it was too little time in the cask, or has been kept in a very cold cellar. | " Had the man that first filled the Heidelberg tun been placed as sentinel to see that no other wine was put into it, 1 believe that he would have found it much better at 25 or 30 years old than at 100 or 150, had he lived so long, retained his senses, and been permitted now and then to taste it; a privilege with which the natives are seldom indulged. " To give a great price for wine, and keep it till it begins to perish, is a great pity." I cannot believe that very aged wine, when bordering on acid, is wholesome, though some wine-drinkers seem to prefer it in that state. " Respecting port wine, there is a great fuss made by some about !ts age and the crust on the bottle; as if the age and crust on the bottle constituted the quality of the wine." " Such crusty gentlemen shall not select wine for me."—Young's Epicure. •«.' WINE. 129 it must be to require even this time to meliorate it!—the necessity for Avhich must arise either from some error in the original manufacture,* or a false taste Avhich does not relish it till time has changed its original characteristics. Sound good port is generally in perfection Avhen it has been from three to five years in wood,* and from one to three in bottle. Ordinary port is a very uncleansed, fretful wine ; and Ave have been assured by Avine-merchants of good taste, accurate observation, and extensive ex- perience, that the best port is rather impoverished than improved by being kept in bottle longer than tAvof years, i. e. supposing it to have been pre- viously from tAvo to four years in the cask in this country: observing, that all that the outrageous advocates for " vin passe" really knoAv about it is, that sherry is yelloAV, and port is black, and that if they drink enough of either of them it will make them drunk. AVhite Avines, especially sherry and Madeira, being more perfectly fermented and thoroughly fined before they are bottled, if kept in a cellar of uniform temperature, are not so rapidly deteriorated by age. The temperature of a good cellar is nearly the same throughout the year. Double doors help to * " The prime cost of these wines is in this manner doubled or tripled: and this great additional expense is incurred by those who can afford such luxury, merely in order that they may be reduced in the course of twenty years to the state to which they would probably have been brought in half that time by a more skilful application of the established principles of fermentation."—Dr. Henderson. t" Wines bottled in good order may be fit to drink in six months (especially if bottled in October), but they are not in perfection before twelve. From that to two years they may continue so; but it would be improper to keep them longer."—Edinburgh Encyclo. Britan. 11 130 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE, preserve this. It must be dry, and be kept as clean as possible. The art of preserving Avines is to prevent them from fretting; Avhich is done by keeping them in the same degree of heat, and careful corking,* and in a cellar Avhere they Avill not be agitated by the motion of carriages passing. " If persons wish to preserve the fine flavour of their wines, they ought on no account to permit any bacon, cheese, onions, potatoes, or eider, in their Avine-cellars. For, if there be any disagreeable stench in the cellar, the wine Avill indubitably imbibe it; consequently, in- stead of being fragrant and charming to the nose and palate, it will be extremely disagreeable."—Cornell. That Madeira (if properly matured before) im- proves in quality by being carried to the East Indies and back, by which voyage it loses from 8 to 10 gallons, or to the West, by Avhich about five are wasted,! however these round-about manoeuvres may tickle the fancy of those folks Avho cannot relish any thing that is not far-fetched, dear-bought, and hard to be had, and to Avhom rarity is the * " Cork the bottles very closely with good cork, and lay them on their sides, that the cork may not dry and facilitate the access of the air. For the greater safety, the cork may be covered with a coating of cerement, applied by means of a brush, or the neck of the bottle may be immersed in a mixture of melted wax, rosin, or pitch."—Accum. t A puncheon of brandy, containing 130 gallons, after remaining in cask in a merchant's cellar for three years, lost two gallons in measure and ten gallons in strength. The stronger the spirit the sooner it evapo- rates. The London Dock Company are not answerable for any decrease of quantity in a pipe of wine left under their care, provided it does not exceed one gallon for each year, which it is supposed to waste in that time. " For a long time the Oporto Company's wines were not exported from Portugal until they had remained three years in the cellars of Oporto, during which time they experienced a diminution of one-ninth part."—Di:. Henderson. WINE. 131 k sine quel non" of recommendation, it is one of tliose inconvenient prejudices—from Avhich common sense preserve us! The grand criterion by' Avhich a regular wine- drinker calculate the quality of liquor is the quantity of it which he can swallow without being intoxicated ; according to such a scale, the perpe- tual motion of the ship and the high degree of temperature will certainly improve Madeira,—if making it Aveaker is an improvement. This effect might be produced by the casks being kept for a length of time, in a degree of temperature and state of motion similar to what they Avould experience during such a voyage. The vulgar objection to new wine (by Avhich we mean wine that has been maturing in Avood two years in Portugal, two in England, and in bottle more than twelve months) is, that its exhilarating qualities are too abundant, and intoxicate in too small a dose': those "bons vivants" to whom "the bot- tle's the sun of the table," and Avho are not in the habit of crying to go home to bed Avhile they can see it shining, require wines weaker than those Avhich are usually imported from Spain and Portu- gal. HoAvever, port and sherry may be easily re- duced to the standard desired by the long-sitter; "paululum aceti acetosi" will give the acid gout, " aqua pura" will subdue their spirit " ad libitum," and produce an imitation of the flavour acquired by age, extempore,—and you can thus very easily make fine, fruity, nutritious new wine as light and as old,* and as poor, as you please, and fit + Cornaro complains that old wine was very disagreeable to his sto mach, and new wine very grateful; his dose was fourteen ounces (i. e. seven wine-glasses) per day. 132 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. it exactly to your customer's palate, Avhether " massa drinky for drinky, or drinky for drunky massa." To ameliorate very new or very old wine, mix a bottle of the one with a bottle ofrthe other, or to a bottle of very old port add a glass or two of good new claret—to very neAV, a glass of sherry. It is said to be a common practice Avith Avine- dealers, when they wish to pass off port for two or three years older than it is, to add Avhite wine to it,—and benecarlo, to give consistence and colour to loAv-priced, thin, pale port. Of all our senses, the taste, especially for liquids, is the most sophisticated slave of habit— " de gustibus non est disputandum." " The Russ loves brandy; Dutchman, beer; The Indian, rum most mighty; The Welchman sweet metheglin quaffs, The Irish, aquavitse; The French extol the Orleans grape; The Spaniard tipples sherry ; The English none of these escape, For they with all make merry."—Old Ballad. The astringent matter and alcohol which render port Avine the prop of an Englishman's heart are intolerable to the palate of an Italian or a French- man. But a stomach Avhich has been accustomed to be wound up by the double stimulus of astrin- gents and alcohol" also, will not be content with the latter only, especially if that be in less quan- tity, as it is in the Italian and French Avines; which, therefore, for the generality of Englishmen, are insufficiently excitant. He who has been in the habit of drinking porter at dinner, and port after, will feel uncomfortable with home-brewed ale and claret. WINE. 133 Mr. Accum, the chymist, analyzed for the author some port and sherry of the finest quality; the port* yielded 20 per cent., and the sherry 19.25 per cent, of alcohol of 825 specific gravity— i. e. the strongest spirit of wine that can be drawn, full double the strength of brandy, which seldom has 40 per cent., and common ginf not more than 30 —or 25 per cent, of alcohol. * "Fermented liquors furnish very different proportions of alcohol; and it has been sometimes supposed that it does not pre-exist to the amount in which it is obtained by distillation; but some experiments I made upon the subject in 1811 and 1813, and which are printed in the Phil. Trans., tend to show that it is a real educt, and not formed by the action of heat upon the elements existing in the fermented liquor. The following table exhibits the proportion of alcohol, by measure, existing in one hundred pints of wine."—Branpe's Manual of Chymistry. Hock........14 Claret --......15 Sherry - -......19 Port........20 Madeira ------- 24 per cent, alcohol. " It would save many lives if gin, &c. were not allowed to be sold until reduced to one-third the strength of proof spirit. People do not at first drink from any liking or desire ; but being cold, or faint with hun- ger or fatigue, they find immediate comfort and refreshment from the use of spirits; and as they can purchase a dram with less money than they can cover their back or fill their belly, so they gratify the strongest and least expensive appetite, and insensibly become drunkards. " Ardent spirits are not only eminently destructive to the body, bnt are the most powerful incentives to vice of every kind. Drunkenness engenders all other crimes. Does the robber pause in his trade ? Does the murderer hesitate ? They are presently wound up at the ginshop. Has the seducer tried his arts in vain ? The brothel is more indebted to this source than to all the other lures to seduction."—Hints for the Pre- servation of Health. " Much has lately been said concerning the sale of spirituous liquors in our towns. It would not only greatly diminish the consumption of these liquors, and lessen all its train of evils upon the individual, but also assist the police in the preservation of public order, if this single rule were observed—not to license any houses for their sale situate either on the immediate line of the great thoroughfares, or within a given dis tance of them. AVhat would be the effect, for example, of withdrawing all the licenses now held in the Strand, Fleet-street, and on Ludgate-hill, or within a furlong of either side of those streets ? Does any body believe, that if this were done, one-fourth of the liquor now drunk in thosa streets would find consumers ? Does any body believe, that the nightly disorders now complained of in those streets would continue ? The remedy is entirely in our hands, if we really wish for an alteration." M 134 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. Some people have a notion, that if they go to the docks they can purchase a pipe of wine for twenty pounds less than they must pay to a regular wine- merchant, and, moreover, have it neat as imported ; as if all Avines of the same name were of the same quality. Port varies at Oporto in quality as much as porter does in London,—where it is needless to say how difficult it is to obtain the best beer at any price ; it is quite as difficult to obtain the best port wine at Oporto, Avhere the very superior wine is all bought up at a proportionately high price by the agents for the London wine-merchants. Brandies and Avines vary in quality quite as much as they do in price: not less than tAventy pounds per pipe in the country where they are made. If, instead of previously picking off the putrid, green, or spoiled grapes, they are all thrown into a cistern promiscuously, the wine of course can be sold at a rate more agreeable to the econo- mist; The only way to obtain genuine wholesome liquor is to apply to a respectable wine-merchant, and beg of him to send you the best wine at the regular market price. If you are particular about the quality of what you buy, the less you ask about the price or the measure of it the better. "Ardent spirits fill our churchyards with premature graves and crowd our jails and madhouses."—Dr. Rush. " There are three sorts of drinkers ; one drinks to satisfy nature and to support his body, and requires it as necessary to his being. Another drinks a degree beyond this, and takes a larger dose to exhilarate and cheer his mind, and help him to sleep. These two are lawful drinkers A third drinks neither for the good of the body nor the mind, but to stu- pify and drown both."—Maynwaringe. wine. 135 If you drink Avine, &c. for the purpose it Avas given, as a cordial, to cheer the circulation Avhen it falters from fatigue, age, or profuse evacuations of any kind, or, as St. Paul advises it, " for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities," re- member, that of all the ways of saving, to ran any risk of buying bad Avine is the most ridiculously unwise economy. Pure port is preferable to all the neurotics that all the sons of Esculapius can administer. I wish I could say any thing for the mended or made Avines, which are often sold for it to ignorant and parsimonious purchasers. To ice Avine is a very unprofitable and incon- venient custom, and not only deteriorates its fla- vour, but by rendering it dull in the mouth, peo- ple are induced to drink too much, as they are de- prived of the advantage of knoAving Avhen they have got enough ; for as soon as the wine becomes warm in their stomachs, the dose they have taken merely to exhilarate them, makes them drunk. The true economy of drinking is, to excite as much exhilaration as may be Avith as little wine. We deprecate the custom of sitting for hours after dinner, and keeping the stomach in an inces- sant state of irritation by jsippmg wine; notliing can be more prejudicial to digestion ;* it is much better to mix food and drink, and to take them by alternate mouthfuls. * In our " Peptic Precepts" wc have pointed out the most convenient ways of counteracting the dilapidating effects of excessive vinous irri- gation, which is doubly debilitating when you suffer the fascinations of the festive bowl to seduce you to sacrifice to Bacchus those hours which are due to the drowsy god of night. 136 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. Our " vinum Britannicum"—good home-brewed beer, Avhich has been very deservedly called " liquid bread," is preferable to any other beverage during dinner or supper—or port or sherry diluted with about three or four times their quantity of toast and water (No. 463*): undiluted, these wines are too strong to be drunk during dinner; they act so powerfully on the feelings of the sto- mach that they dull the desire for solid food, by producing the sensation of restoration,—and the system, instead of receiving material to repair and strengthen it, is merely stimulated during the ac- tion of the vinous spirit. " Drinking strong wine destroys hunger."—Hip- pocrates. HoAvever, the dull stimulus of distension is insufficient for some delicate stomachs, Avhich do absolutely require to be screwed up Avith a certain quantity of diffusible stimulus;* without which they cannot proceed effectively to the business of digestion, or any other business. We do not re- commend such, especially if they have passed the meridian of life, to attempt to entirely Avean them- selves of it, but advise them, immediately after dinner, to drink as much as is necessary to excite that degree of action in their system AA'ithout which they are uncomfortable, and then to stop.—See ob- servations on Siesta. * " More or less alcdhol is necessary to support the usual vigour of the greater number of people, even in health; nothing, therefore, can be more injudicious than wholly to deprive them of this support when they are weakened by disease. Dyspeptics who have been accustomed to its use cannot be deprived of it. A very moderate use of wine can hardly be said to be injurious. We see those who use it in this way live as long and enjoy as good health as those who wholly abstain from it."—Dr Philip. WINE. 137 " IU health some just indulgence may engage, And more the sickness of long life,—old age." Now-a-days, babies are brought to table after dinner by children of larger growth, to drink Avine, —which has as bad an effect on their tender, sus- ceptible stomachs as the like quantity of alcohol would produce upon an adult. Wine has been called " the milk of old age," so "milk is the Avine of youth." As Dr. Johnson observed, it is much easier to be abstinent than to be temperate, and no man should habitually take wine as food till he is past 30 years of age* at least;—happy is he Avho preserves this best of cordials in reserve, and only takes it to support his mind and heart when distressed by anxiety and fatigue. That Avhich may be a needful stimulus at 40 or 50 Avill inflame the passions into madness at 20 or 30, and at an earlier period is absolute poison. Among other innumerable advantages which the water-drinker enjoys, remember he saves a consid- erable sum of money per annum ; which the beer and wine-drinker wastes, as much to the detri- ment of his health, as the diminution of his finances : moreover, nothing deteriorates the sense of taste so soon as strong liquors; the water-drinker enjoys an exquisite sensibility of palate, and relish for plain food, that a wine-drinker has no idea of. Some people make it a rule to drink a certain number of glasses of Avine during and after dinner, * " No man in health can need wine till he arrives at 40; he may then begin with two glasses in the day : at 50 he may add two more."—See Trotter oti Drunkenness. M2 138 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. whether they are dry, or languid, or not; this is as ridiculous as it Avould be to swallow a certain num- ber of mutton-chops whether you are hungry or not. The effect produced by Avine is seldom the same, even in the same person, and depends on the state of the animal spirits, whether the stomach be full or empty, &c. The more simply life is supported, and the less stimulus we use, the better. Happy are the young and healthy who are wise enough to be convinced that water is the best drink, and salt the best sauce.* But in invalids past the meridian of life, as much mischief is going on when their pulse hobbles along as if the heart was too tired to carry on the circu- lation, as can possibly be done to the constitution by taking such a cheer-upping cup of wine, beer, &c. as will remove the collapse, and excite the mainspring of life to vibrate with healthful vigour. The following is the editor's plan of taking liquid food at dinner, when he cannot get good beer: he has two wine-glasses of sherry, or one of whiskey,! or brandy (No. 471), and three-fourths of a pint of good toast and water (No. 463) (which when dyspeptic he has warmed to about summer tieat, i. e. 75 of Fahrenheit), and puts a Avine-glass ■of sherry, or half a glass of whiskey, &c. into half a pint of the water, and the other glass of * Water is, generally speaking, the best drink for man; and those who wish to live long, and to see many happy days, must confine them- selves to water as a common drink. This was the beveragie of the im- mortal Locke, who lived to " a good old age." Dr. Rush did not dis- tinguish himself more by his writings against intemperance than by the faithful exemplification of his own precepts.—[B.] X Scotch or Irish whiskey is an infinitely purer spirit than English or Holland gin, which is an uncertain compound of various essential oils, lanzani. " The time which is necessary for finishing the first digestion is va- rious, according to the nature of the food and strength of the constitu- tion. Liquids soon pass through it, and are received into the blood more unaltered; and the more solid the food is, the longer time is required. It appears from several experiments, that common solid food in a healthy person is in the space of six hours entirely discharged from the stom- ach, changed into laudable chyle, and begins to flow into the blood. Lower, assisted by these experiments, shows, that in two hours after the chyle is received into the blood, it is changed into milk, and circu- lates through the vessels in that form; and in two hours more, by the continued force of the heart and vessels acting on it, but particularly those of the lungs, it is changed into serum, which is a perfect animal fluid, and contains all the materials necessary for repairing the solids and fluids of the body."—Barrv oti Digestion. " If the quantity of food be given, its quality will cause a difference in the time of digestion; for instance, slimy and viscid meats are longer in digesting in the stomach than meats of a contrary nature; the flesh of some young animals is not so soon digested as the flesh of the same animals arrived at their full growth; thus veal and Iamb are not so soon digested as beef and mutton. " A man who took a vomit every second night for some months, ob- served, that when he had taken chicken for dinner, he always threw it up undigested, but never threw up any of his food undigested when he made his dinner of beef or mutton."—Bryan Robinson 071 the Food and Discharges of Human Bodies. Beef and mutton seem to give less trouble to the stomach than any kind of poultry. The following is co]ried from Dr. Scudamoreon Gout, being some of the experiments related by Mr. Astley Cooper, in his lecture delivered at the Royal College of burgeons in 1814, which have only been published in Dr. S.'s book, who informs us, they were performed upon dogs, with a view to ascertain the comparative solvent power of the gastric juice upon different articles of food. O J 58 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. The fashion at the present day has introduced a much longer fast (" a windy recreation," as Father Paul assures the lay brother) than even the elas- ticity of robust health can endure, Avithout distress- ing the adjustment of the system, and creating such an over-excited appetite, that the stomach does not feel as if it has had enough till it finds that it has been crammed too much.* The difference between dining half an hour sooner or half an hour later than usual, is that— If you dine sooner, you require less food and less drink to comfortably and perfectly restore you, without any danger of repletion. It you dine later, as nature becomes extremely exhausted, you are in great danger of not only eating too much, but of drinking till you are half- drunk, and being extremely ill all night and next day. Experiment 5. Food. Cheese, Mutton, Pork, Veal, Beef, Beef, Rabbit, Codfish, Animal killed. 4 hours. Experiment 6. Long and nar. 100 parts. Experiment 9. 100 parts. Loss by Digestion 76 Ou 36 15 11 Roast Veal. Do. 100 parts. 2 bourn. 7 Boiled do. ------ —---- ------ SO * " Those who have weak stomachs will be better able to digest their food if they take their meals at regular hours; because they have both the stimulus of the aliment they take, and the periodical habit to assist digestion."—Darwin. "We often tease and disorder our stomachs by fasting for too long a period; and when we have thus brought on what I may call a discon- tented state of the organ, unfitting it for its office, we set to a meal and All it to its utmost, regardless of its powers or its feelings."—Aber. wethv. PEPTIC PRECEPTS. 159 When hunger* calls, obey; nor often wait Till hunger sharpen to corrosive pain; For the keen appetite will feast beyond What nature well can bear." This important truth Ave Avould most strongly press on the consideration of those who attend our courts of law, legislative halls, &c. Many industrious professional men, in order to add a few pounds to their income, in a few years are quite worn out, from their digestive faculties being continually disordered and fretted for Avant of regular supplies of food, and sufficient sleep. An egg boiled in the shell for five minutes, or les tablettes de bouillon (No. 252), and a bit of bread, are a convenient provision against the for- mer; the siesta is the best succedaneum for the latter. The sensation of hunger arises from the gastric juices acting upon the coats of the stomach : hoAv injurious it must be to fast so long, that, by neg- lecting to supply it Avith some alimentary sub- stance Avhich this fluid Avas formed to dissolve, the stomach becomes in danger of being digested itself!!! Those who feel a gnaAving, as they call it, in their stomach should not Avait till the stated hour * of dinner, but eat a little forthwith, that the stom- ach may have something to Avork upon. By too long fasting, Avind accumulates in the stomach, especially of those Avho have passed the meridian of life, and produces a distressing flatu- lence, languor, faintness, giddiness, intermitting pulse, palpitation of the heart, &c. * "A philosopher, being asked what was the best time to dine, answered, For a rich man, when he could get a stomach; for a poor man, when be could get meat." 160 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. If the morning has been occupied by anxiety in business, or the mind or body is fatigued by over-exertion, these symptoms Avill sometimes come on about an hour or two before the usual time of dining: well masticating a bit of biscuit, and letting a strong peppermint lozenge dissolve in the mouth as soon as you feel the first symptoms of flatulence, will often pacify the stomach, and prevent the increase of these complaints. Dr. Whytt, Avhose observations on nervous dis- orders are valuable, inasmuch as they are (like this Avork) the authentic narrative of experience, says, " When my stomach has been Aveak, after I have been indisposed, I have often found myself much better for a glass of claret and a bit of bread an hour or more before dinner,—and I have ordered it in the same way to others, and again in the evening, an hour or more before supper, with advantage." There is no doubt of the propriety of Dr. W.'s prescription; the author's own feelings bear witness to it. When his circulation has been below par, he has often taken a couple of glasses of sherry, or a tumbler of strong ale, an hour or half an hour before dinner, with the best effect. The process of digestion cannot commence until the circulation is sufficient to stimulate the stomach to exert those powers by which the process of digestion is pro- duced. He has often sat doAvn to dinner Avith no idea of eating; but after a glass or two of Avine, his stomach has come with good temper, and hav- ing made an excellent meal, Avhich has digested Avell, he has recovered from a languid indisposition which had lasted the two or three days preceding: PEPTIC PRECEPTS. 161 however, as a constan* practice, nothing can be less advisable. For those who are just recovering from dis- eases which have left them in a state of great de- bility, a glass of wine and a bit of bread, or a cup of good beef tea, are perhaps as good tonics as • any; they not only remove languor, but at the same time furnish nutriment. In cases of convalescence, to prolong a medici- nal course, for the sake of merely still further strengthening, after the natural desire has returned for Avholesome and substantial food, is a practice that appears to me contrary to common sense, although it be not altogether so to ordinary rou- tine. Under such circumstances, " to throw in the bark" is, to those Avho are asking for bread, giving a stone. It is only what nourishes that invigo- rates. " For physic—metaphysic (as a lady wrote to her sick son), all depend upon the inspiration of roast beef. If you Avould do well, you must eat and digest like a ploughman; nay, if you would walk Avell, write well, think Avell," &c. &c.—Dr. Beddoes on Nourishment. " Medicine, as it is usually administered, inter- feres with appetite before a meal, and with diges- tion after it." We have known Aveak stomachs, when kept fasting beyond the time they expected, become so exhausted, they Avould refuse to receive any solid food, until restored to good temper, and Avound up by Avine or other stimulus, as instinct proposed. Feeble persons, Avho are subject to sudden at- tacks of languor, should always travel armed with 13 162 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. a pocket pistol charged with a couple of glasses of white wine, or " veritable eau de vie," a bis- cuit, and some strong peppennint or ginger lozen- ges, or see " Tablettes de Bouillon" (No. 252):— when their stomach is uneasy from emptiness, &c, these crutches will support the circulation, and considerably diminish, and sometimes entirely prevent, the distressing effects which invalids are apt to suffer from too long a fast.* What a contrast there is between the materials of the morning meal A. D. 1550, when Queen Elizabeth's maids of honour began the day with a round of beef, or a red herring, and a flagon of ale,—and in 1828, when the sportsman, and even the day-labourer, breakfast on what cooks call " Chinese soup," i. e. tea ! * " When four hours be past after breakfast, a man may safely taste bis dinner. The most convenient time for dinner is about eleven of the clocke before noone. In 1570, this was the usual time of serving it in the university of Oxford; elsewhere, about rnoone. It commonly consisted of boy led biefe, with pottage, bread, and beere, and no more. The quan- tity of biefe was in value an halfe-penny for each mouth: they supped at five of the clocke in the afternoon."—Cogan's Haven of Health, 1584. Early hours were as genteel in Dr. Cogan's time as late ones are now. " Perhaps none of our old English customs have undergone so tho- rough a change as the hours of rising, taking refreshment, the number of'meals per day, and the time of retiring to rest. " The stately dames of Edward IV.'s court rose with the lark, des- patched their dinnerat eleven o'clock in the forenoon,and shortly after eight were wrapt in slumber. How would these reasonable people (reason- able at least in this respect) be astonished, could they but be witnesses to the present-distribution of time among the children of fashion ! Would they not call the perverse conduct of those who rise at one or two, dine at eight, and retire to bed when the morning is unfolding all its glories, and Nature putting on her most pleasing aspect, absolute insanity V— Warner's Antiq. Cul. " The modern hours of eating have arrived at an excess that is per- fectly ridiculous. Now, what do people get by this ? If they make din- ner their principal meal, and do not wish to pall their appetite by eating before it, they injure their health. Then in winter they have two hours of candlelight before dinner, and in summer they are at table during the pleasantest part of the day; and all this to get a long morning for idle people, to whom one would suppose the shortest morning would seen) too long."—Pve's Sketches. PEPTIC PRECEPTS. 163 Swift has jocosely observed, such is the extent of modern epicurism, that the "world must be en- compassed before a a\ asherwoman can sit down to breakfast," i. e. by a voyage to the East for tea, and to the West for sugar. In the Northumberland household-book for 1512, we are informed that " a thousand pounds was the sum annually expended in housekeeping ;" this maintained 166 persons. Wheat was then 5.?. 8d. per quarter. "The family rose at six in the morning; my lord and my lady had set on their table for break- fast, at seven o'clock in the morning,— A quart of beer, A quart of Avine, Two pieces of salt fish, Half a dozen red herrings, Four Avhite ones, and A dish of sprats !!! " They dined at ten, supped at four in the after- noon, the gates were all shut at nine, and no further ingress or egress permitted." " Time was, a sober Englishman would knock His servants up, and rise by five o'clock." Pope. But noAv, " The gentleman who dines the latest Is in our street esteemed the greatest; But surely,, greater than them all Is he who never dines* at all." • "A wag, on being told it was the fashion to dine later and later every day, said, he supposed it would end at last in not dining till to- morrow." Dr. Paris remarks, " AA'ith regard to the proper period at which in- valids should dine, physicians entertain but one opinion: it should be in the middle of the day, or about two or three o'clock." Perhaps the old- fashioned republican custom of our fathers of dining from twelve to one o'clock is as wise and proper as any other.—[B.] 164 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. DINNERS AT NIGHT AND SUPPERS IN THE MORNING A few Cautionary Hints to Modern Fashionables. " The ancients did delight, forsooth, To sport in allegoric truth; Apollo, as we long have read since, Was god ot music and of med'cines. In prose, Apollo is the sun, And when he has his course begun, The allegory then implies 'Tis time for wise men to arise; For ancient sages all commend The morning as the Muse's friend. But modern wits are seldom able To sift the moral of this fable: But give to sleep's oblivious power The treasures of the morning hour, And leave reluctant, and with pain, With feeble nerve, and muddy brain, Their favourite couches late at noon, And quit them then, perhaps, too soon, Mistaking, by a sun-blind sight, The night for day, and day for night. Quitting their healthful guide Apollo, What fatal follies do they follow ! Dinners at night, and in the morn Suppers, serv'd up as if in scorn Of Nature's wholesome regulations, Both in their viands and potations. Besides, Apollo is M. D., As all mythologists agree, And skill'd in herbs, and all their virtues, As well as Ayton is, or Curtis. No doubt, his excellence would stoop To dictate a receipt for soup, Show as much skill in dressing salad, As in composing of a ballad, 'Twixt health and riot draw a line, And teach us how and when to dine. The stomach, that great organ, soon, If overcharg'd, is out of tune, Blown up with wind that sore annoys The ear with most unhallow'd noise ! Now all these sorrows and diseases A man may fly from if he pleases; For rising early will restore His powers to what they were before, Teach him to dine at Nature's call, And to sup lightly, if at alf; Teach him each morning to preserve The active brain and steady nerve; Provide him with a share of health For the pursuit of fame or wealth; And leave the folly ot night dinners To fools, and dandies, and old sinners !". PEPTIC PRECEPTS. 165 That distressing interruption of the circulation, which is called " nightmare," " globus hystericus," " spasms," " cramp," or " gout," in the stomach, with which feAv Avho have passed the meridian of life* are so fortunate as not to be too well ac- quainted, arises from the same causes, which, in the day produce intermitting pulse, palpitation of the heart, &c. The author, is now in his forty-eighth year,f and has been from his tenth year occasionally afflicted with these disorders; frequently without being able to imagine Avhat has produced them: sometimes he has not been attacked with either of these complaints for many months ; they have then seized him for a week or more, and as unaccount- ably ceased. The nightmare has generally come on about three o'clock in the morning, at the termination of the first, or rather at the commencement of the second sleep : quite as often when he has taken only a liquid or very light supper, as when he has * " It is at the commencement of decline, i". e. about our 40th year, that the stomach begins to require peculiar care and precaution. People who have been subject to indigestions before have them then more frequent and more violent; and those who have never been so afflicted begin to suffer them from slight causes; a want of attention to which too fre- quently leads to the destruction of'the best constitutions, especially of the studious, who neglect to take due exercise. The remedy proposed is ipecacuanha, in a dose that will not occasion any nausea, but enough to excite such an increased action of the vermicular movement of the stomach, that the phlegm may be separated and expelled from that organ. " The effects of it surpassed his most sanguine hopes; by the use of it, not withstanding he had naturally a delicate constitution, he weathered the storms of the Revolution," &c, and lived to be 84. The above is an extract from Dr. Buchan's translation of Mr. Dau- benton's Observations on Indigestion. This treatise brought ipecacu- anha lo7.engcs into fashion, as the most easy and agreeable manner of taking it: they should contain about one-sixth of a grain. t Dr. Kitchiner died February 27, 1827, having scarcely completed his *8th birthday .— IV. U. A". 166 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. eaten some solid food, and gone to bed soon after; and most frequently after he has dined* out: not from the quantity, but the quality of the food and drink he has taken, and the change of the time of taking it. It is occasioned by want of action in the system, and generally preceded and accompanied by a distressing languor (which, if not removed, may proceed to produce palsy or death), caused either by depression of the power of the heart by over- exertion of the body, or anxiety of the mind, ob- struction of the peristaltic motion by an overload of indigestible matter, or interruption of the per- formance of the restorative process. It is not to be prevented by abstinence : during the time that the author was trying the effect of a spare diet he was most frequently afflicted with it. —See obs. on Sleep, &c. It is only to be relieved by stimulants, and in an extreme case by a quickly acting aperient, &c. See following pages. Some persons are peculiarly subject to night- mare when they lie on their back,—others, if on their left side: when the author has any disposi- tion to this malady, it is exasperated if he lies upon his right side, especially during the first part of the night: it is a good custom to lie one half of the night on one side, and the other half on the other. * Delicate people who are accustomed to dine at a certain hour, on certain food, »f distress for help against indigestion, the peris- taltic persuaders (see page 192) are as agreeable and effectual assistance as can be offered; and for delicate constitutions and those that are im- paired by age or intemperance, are a valuable panacea. They derive and deserve their name from the peculiar mildness of their operation.! One or two very gently increase the action of the principal viscera, help them to do their Avork a little faster and enable the stomach to serve with an eject- ment whatever offends it, and move it into the boAvels. Thus indigestion is easily and speedily removed, appetite, restored (the mouths of the absorbing vessels being cleansed), nutrition is facilitated, and * " A constant adherence to one sort of diet may have bad effects on any constitution. Nature has provided a great variety of nourishment for human creatures, and furnished us with appetites to desire and or gans to digest them. " An unerring regularity is almost impracticable, and the swerving from it, when it has grown habitual, dangerous; for every unusual thing in a human body becomes a stimulus, as wine or flesh-meat to one not used to them; therefore, Celsus's rule, with proper moral restrictions, is a good one."—Arbtthnot on Aliment. X A pill is the mildest form of administering medicine, because of its gradual solution in the stomach. The same quantity of the same mate- rial, taken in a fraught, produces a -" Compound powder of kino, one drachm, --- Compound powder of chalk, half an ounce. Mix thoroughly together, and divide into six powders, one of which Is to be taken once or twice a-day in one teaspoonful of brandy, and three table-spoonfuls of water. Tincture of cinnamon (No. 416*) is one of the best cordial tonics ; see also (No. 569) and (Nos. 413 and 15). Strong pepperment lozenges are a very conve- nient portable carminative: as soon as they are dissolved, their influence is felt from the beginning to the end of the alimentary canal; they dissipate flatulence so immediately, that they well deserve the name of vegetable asther; and are recommended to singers and public speakers, as giving effective excitement to the organs of the voice,—as a support against the distressing effects of fasting too long, and to give energy to the stomach be- tween meals. To make forty Peristaltic Persuaders. Take, Turkey rhubarb, finely pulverized, two drachms; Syrup (by weight), one drachm; Oil of carraway, ten drops (minims). Made into pills, each of which will contain three grains of rhubarb PERISTALTIC PERSUADERS. 193 The dose of the persuaders must be adapted to the constitutional peculiarity of the patient: when you wish to accelerate or augment the alvine, ex- oneration, take two, three, or more, according to the effect you desire to produce,—two pills will do as much for one person as five or six will for an- other ; they generally will very regularly perform Avhat you wish to-day, without interfering Avith Avhat you hope will happen to-morrow ;—and are, therefore, as convenient an argument against con- stipation as any avo are acquainted with. The most convenient opportunity to introduce them to the stomach is early in the morning, when it is unoccupied, and has no particular business to attend to, i. e. at least half an hour before breakfast. Physic should never interrupt the stomach, when it is engaged in digesting food: the best time to take it is Avhen you awake out of your first sleep, or as soon as you awake in the morning. Moreover, such is the increased sensibility of some stomachs at that time that half the quantity of me- dicine Avill suffice. From tAvo to four persuaders Avill generally pro- duce one additional motion within twelve hours. They may be taken at any time, by the most deli- cate females,-Avhose constiutions are so often dis- tressed by constipation, and destroyed by the drastic purgatives they take to relieve it. "A knoAvledge Iioav to regulate the alvine evacu- ation, constitutes much of the prophylactic part of medicme; hence, hoAv necessary it is to advise those who either Avish to preserve good health, or are in quest of the lost treasure, to attend to this circumstance,"—Hamilton on purgatiAres. R 194 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. "Hoav much it behooves those Avho have the charge of young people, particularly of the female sex, to impress them Avith the propriety, nay, with the absolute necessity, of attention to the regular state of the bowels ; and to put it in their poAver, by the use of proper means, to guard against con- stipation ; and at the same time to watch over them, lest, through indolence, they neglect a circumstance which, promoting in the gay season of youth the enjoyment of health and happiness, opposes a sure barrier against the inroads of chlorosis, &c, always a distressing, and sometimes a fatal complaint." Therefore, let young people at school, &c. be pro- vided Avith persuaders, and instructed how to take them, if their boAvels become inactive and uneasy; especially when the Aveather changes from very cold to very hot, and vice versa, as it sometimes does in August and September, when cholera, &c. prevail. Their agreeable flavour recommends them as a convenient aperient for children, whose indisposi- tions most frequently arise from obstructions in the bowels. It is not always a very easy task to prevail upon a spoiled child to take physic ; therefore, we have made our pill to taste exactly like gingerbread. For infants too young to swalloAV a pill, pound it, and mix it Avith currant jelly, honey, or treacle. On the first attack of disease, it may generally be disarmed by discharging the contents of the bowels; but as soon as you perceive pain in your head, bowels, back, chest, side, &c. go to bed,* and send for your medical friend. * Old Macklin, that veteran of the stage, who lived to the age of 99, whenever he felt unwell, always went to bed directly, and took nothing but water gruel; and by this regimen was generally speedily relieved Irom every slight indisposition. PERISTALTIC PERSUADERS. 195 " Delay creates danger." In every disorder* the main point is carefully to Avatch and constantly to keep up the activity of the alimentary canal; for want of due attention to this, millions (especially of children) have died of medi- cable disorders!! For bilious or liverf complaints (which are noAv the fashionable names for all those deranged sensa- tions of the abdominal viscera which as often arise from the want as from the excess of bile, and per- haps most frequently from indigestion), and for ex- pelling worms,:); for which it is the fashion to ad- minister mercury § (Avhich, because it is the only * " There are three things which I consider as necessary to the cure of disorder. "1st. That the stomach should thoroughly digest all the food that is put into it. The patient, perceiving the necessity of obtaining this end, be- comes attentive to his diet, and observes the effect which the quantity and quality of his food and medicines have upon his feelings, and the apparent powers of his stomach. " 2dly. That the residue of the food should be daily discharged from the bowels; here, too, the patient, apprized of the design, notes what kind and dose of purgative medicine best effect the intention, and whether it answers better if taken at once or at intervals. " 3dly. That the secretion of bile should be right, both with respect to quantity and quality. In cases wherein the secretion of bile has been for a long time deficient or faulty, I recommend unirritating and unde- bilitqting doses of mercury (?'. e. pil. hydrarg.) to be taken every second or third night, till the stools become of the wet rhubarb colour." " Any kind of brown which dilution will not convert into yellow, 1 should "consider as unhealthy."—Abernkthv's Surg. Obs. X " A popular hypothesis is now very prevalent, which attributes nearly all diseases to a disturbed state of the liver; for which mercurial drugs are lavished almost indiscriminately. The folly of expecting to repel this or any other opinion which is favourable to the natural indo- lence of mankind, is obvious, especially when it is at the same time up- holden by the empirical interests of greedy individuals."—A. Carlisle on Old Age. X " It is a dubious question whether worms, or the violent purgatives which are forced into the human stomach, by the decisive energy of medical logic, to destroy and expel them, have been most destructive to the hum:in species."—Withers on the Abuse of Medicine. $ " Mercury and antimony elaborated into poisons by chymistry (i.e. calomel, emetic tartar, James's powders, &c.) have torn many a stomach 196 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. remedy for one disease, people suppose must be a panacea for every disorder) and other drastic medi- cines, Avhich are awfully uncertain both in their strength and in their operation. Scammony and gamboge disorder the stomach; hellebore occasions great anxiety Avith a sense of suffocation; colocynth and jalap produce colic; aloes affects the rectum; elaterium is felt at the extremities of the arterial system. If, instead of tAvo or three times a week torment- ing your bowels with such corrosive cathartics, cholagogues, hydragogues, phlegmagogues, &c, you take one or two gentle persuaders tAvice or thrice a day, they will excite a gradual and regu- larly increased action of the viscera, restore the tone of the alimentary tube, and speedily and effect- ually cure the disorder without injuring the con- stitution. There is not a more universal or more mis- chievous vulgar error than the notion that physic is efficacious in proportion as it is extremely dis- agreeable to take, and frightfully violent in its operation. Unless a medicine actually produces more dis- tress in the system than the disorder it is adminis- tered to remove—in fact, if the remedy be not worse than the disease, the million have no faith in it, and are not satisfied that they can be perfectly cured if they escape phlebotomy, unless put to extreme into rags, so that it could never bear common food after."—Cadooan on Gout. " In persons who have avoided fermented liquors of every description from their youth up, I have known the liver to become as much indu- rated after the inordinate use of mercurials as in any dram-drinker."— Dr. Beddoes. TONIC TINCTURE. 197 pain, and plentifully supplied Avith black doses and drastic drugs. Many seem to have the best opinion of that doctor Avho most furiously " A'omits, purges, blisters, bleeds, and sweats 'em." To perfectly content them that you have most pro- foundly considered their case, you must to such prescription add a proscription of every thing they appear particularly partial to !!! People Avho in all other respects appear to be very rational, and are apt to try other questions by the rules of common sense, in matters relating to their health surrender their understanding to the fashion of the day; and in the present century, on all occasions take calomel,* as coolly as in the last their grandfathers inundated their poor stomachs with tar-water. TONIC TINCTURE (No. 569) IS Peruvian bark, bruised, half an ounce; CascafTlla bark, Orange peel, bruised, one ounce of each; Brandy, or proof spirit, one pint. Let these ingredients steep for ten days, shaking the bottle every day; let it remain quiet two days, and then decant the clear liquor. Dose ;—one leaspoonful in a wineglass of Avater tAvice a day when you feel languid, i. e. Avhen the stomach is empty, about an hour before dinner, and in the evening. TAventy grains of the poAvder of * " Mercury is the most dangerous of all purges ; it sooner exhausts the irritability and vital power of the intestines than any other metallic oxide except arsenic."—Dr. Trotter oti Nervous Temperament. R2 198 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. bark may be added to it occasionally. If you do not like the trouble of making this, gel Half an ounce of tincture of Peruvian bark, An ounce of tincture of orange peel, And an ounce of tincture of cascarilla. And to this you may add, Two drachms of tinctura ferri muriati. Mix. The dose a teaspoonful in a wineglass of water. To this agreeable aromatic tonic we are under personal obligations for having put our stomach into good temper, and procuring us good appetite and good digestion. In low nervous affections arising from a languid circulation, and Avhen the stomach is in a state of shabby debility from age, intemperance, or other causes, this is a most acceptable restorative. N.B. Tea made with dried and bruised Seville orange-peel (in the same manner as common tea), and drank with milk and sugar, has been taken for breakfast by nervous and dyspeptic persons Avith great benefit. CheAving a bit of orange-peel or a little orange marmalade twice a day when the stomach is empty will be found very grateful and strengthening to it. STOMACHIC TINCTURES Two ounces of cascarilla bark (bruised), or dried orange-peel, or colomba root, infused for a fortnight in a pint of brandy, will give you the tinctures called by those names. Dose ;—one or two teaspoonfuls in a Avineglass of Avater, to be taken in the same way as the tonic tincture. SODA AVATER. 199 TINCTURE OF CINNAMON (No. 416*). This excellent cordial is made by pouring a bottle of genuine cogniac (No. 471) on three ounces of bruised cinnamon (cassia will not do). This cordial restorative was much more in vogue for- merly than it is now; a teaspoonful of it and a lump of sugar in a glass of good sherry or Madeira, with the yolk of an egg beat up in it, was called " balsamum vita." " Cur moriatur homo, qui sumit de cinnamomo ?"—" Cinnamon is verie comfortable to the stomacke and the principall partes of the bodie." " Venlriculum, jecur, lienem, cerebrum, nervosque, juvat et roborat." —" I reckon it a great treasure for a student to have by him in his closet, intake now and then a spoonful."—Cohan's Haven of Health. Obs.—Tavo teaspoonfuls in a Avineglass of water are a present and pleasant remedy in nervous languors and in relaxations of the bowels; in the latter ease five drops of laudanum may be added to each dose. SODA WATER (No. 481). The best way of producing agreeable pneumatic punch, as a learned chymisthas called this refresh- ing refrigerant, is to fill two half-pint tumblers half- full of Avater, stir into one thirty grains of carbonate rtf potash, into the other tAventy-five grains of citric acid, both being previously finely pounded ; when the poAvders are perfectly dissolved pour the con- tents of one tumbler into the other, and sparkling soda Avater is instantaneously produced. 200 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. To make double soda water, use double the quantity of the poAvder. Eight grams of ginger and three drachms of lump sugar added to tAventy-five of citric acid, and rubbed well together in a mortar Avith thirty grains of the carbonate of potash, Avill give you ginger beer. Single soda Avater is a delightful drink in sultry weather, and may be very agreeably flavoured by dissolving a little raspberry or red currant jelly in the Avater (before you add the carbonate of potash to it), or a little tincture of ginger (No. 411), or syrup of ginger (No. 394), or syrup of lemon-peel (No. 393), or infuse a roll of fresh and thin-cut lemon-peel and a bit of sugar in the water, or rub down a few drops of (No. 408) Avith a bit of lump sugar, Avjth or without a little grated ginger;-a glass of sherry or' a table-spoonful of brandy is sometimes added. The addition of a teaspoonful of the tonic tinc- ture (No. 569) will give you a very refreshing stomachic; and ten drops of tinct. ferri muriati put into the water in which you dissolve the citric acid, a fine effervescing chalybeate. The day after a feast, if you feel fevered and heated, you cannot do better than drink a half-pint glass or two of single soda water between breakfast and dinner. Double soda Avater (especially if made with tepid water) is an excellent auxiliary to accelerate the operation of aperient medicine; and if taken in the morning fasting Avill sometimes move the bowels Avithout further assistance. If some good cogniac or essence of ginger (No. 411) be added to it, it is one of the best helps GRUEL. 201 to set the stomach to work and remove the dis- tressing languor Avhich sometimes folloAvs hard drinking. ESSENCE OF GINGER (No. 411). The fragrant aroma of ginger is so extremely volatile, that it evaporates almost as soon as it is pounded; the fine lemon-peel gout flies off pres- ently. If ginger is taken to produce an immediate effect —to Avarm the stomach, dispel flatulence, . .•'•:V'-':w<^W,;i' '.'^'..■>',IU