u (\slst Q.^M*i^jL,j>'&^ SURGEON GENERAL'S OFFICE | Sectionj f~%^$.*r~tj*^f*^ J&-.S s No nun. I *lA"< ■ ■ o-.vf*!* • '.-Cwrio .'■ • THE ART OF INVIGORATING AND PROLONGING BY FOOD, CLOTHES, AIR, EXERCISE, WINE, SLEEP, &c. AND PEPTIC PRECEPTS, . POINTING OUT AGREEABLE A.\D EFFECTUAL METHODS TO PREVENT AND RELIEVE AND TO REGULATE AXD STRE.XGTIILW THE ACTION OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS. Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re. J J TO WHICH IS ADDED THE PLEASURE OF MAKING A WILL. Finis coronat opus. 7'77- AUTHOR OF "THE COOK'S ORACLE^ be. c\r FROM THE THIRD LONDON EDITION. LEXINGTON, KY. PRINTED BY W. W. WORSLEY. TO THE NERVOUS AND BILIOUS, THE FOLLOWING ''£ mm m,w: %®m* ON TBt ART OF MANAGING THOSE TEMPERAMENTS.. IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. From the Edinburgh Review, "But lest any one should suffer by an in- cautious indulgence in the good things dis- played in the "Cook's Oracle," the author has published a separate work under the ti- tle of Peptic Precepts, in which the prevail- ing symptoms of Indigestion are carefully no- ticed, and the most effectual antidotes pre- scribed." THE ART OF INVIGORATING AND PROLONGING 1111 BT uThe choice and measure of the materials of which our Body is composed, and what we take daily by Pourtds, is at least of as much importance as what we take seldom, and only by Grains and Spoonfuls."—Dr. Arbuthnot on Aliment, pref. p. iii. THE Editor of the following pages had originally an extremely delicate Constitution;—and at an early period devoted himself to the study of Physic, with a hope—of learning how to make the most of his small stock of health. The system he adopted, succeeded, and he is arrived at his forty-third year, in tolerable good health; and this without any uncomfortable abstinence:—his maxim has ever been, "dum Fivimus. Fivamus." He does not mean the Aguish existence of the votary of Fashion—whose body is burning from voluptuous in- temperance to-day, and freezing in miserable collapse to- morrow—not extravagantly consuming in a Day, the ani- mal spirits which Nature intended for the animation of a Week—but keeping the expense of the machinery of Life within the income of Health,—which the Constitution can regularly and comfortably supply. This is the grand "arcanum duplicatum" for "Living all the days of your Lifeo' The art of invigorating the Health, and improving the Strength of Man, has hitherto only been considered for the purpose of training* him for Athletic Exercises—but I *The advantages of the training system are not confined to pe- destrians and pugilists alone, they extend to every man: and were • A 2 iHE .ART OF INVIGORATINu have often thought that a similar plan might be adopted with considerable advantage, to animate and strengthen enfeebled Constitutions—prevent gout—reduce corpulen- cy—cure Nervous and Chronic Weakness—Hypochron- diac and Bilious Disorders, &c.—to increase the enjoyment and prolong the duration of Feeble Life—for which Med- icine, unassisted by Diet and Regimen,—affords but very trifling and temporary help. The universal desire of repairing, perfecting, and pro- longing Life, has induced many ingenious men to try innu- merable 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 Philosophers Stone, they have vainly hoped, that Panaceas might be found possessing the power of curing "all the evils that flesh is heir to." This is evident enough to all who have examined the early Pharmacopoeias, which are full of heterogeneous compounds, the inventions of interested, and the imagina- tions of ignorant men. The liberal and enlightened Physicians of the last and present century have gradually expunged most of these, training generally introduced instead of medicines, as an expedient for the prevention and cure of diseases, its beneficial consequences would promote his happiness and prolong hislife. "Our Health, Vi- gor, and activity, must depend upon regimen and exercise ; or, in o- ther words, upon the observance of those rules which constitute the theory of the training process."—CArx. Barclay on training -p. 239. "It has been made a question, whether Training produces a last- ing, or only a temporary effect on the constitution1? It is undeni- able, that if a man be brought to a better condition; if corpulen- cy,and the impurities of his body disappear; and if his wind and strength be improved by any process whatever,- his good state of health will continue until some derangement of his frame shall take place from accidental or natural causes. If he shall relapse into intemperance, or neglect the means of preserving his health, either by omitting to take the necessary exercise or by indulging in debilitating propensities, he must expect such encroachments to be made on his constitution, as must soon unhinge his system. But if he shall observe a different plan—the beneficial effects of the training process will remain until the gradual decay of his natur- al functions shall, in mature old age, intimate the approach of his dissolution.,-—Capt. Barclay on Training, p. 240. AND PROLONGING LIFE. 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 favorite remark of the celebrated Dr. John Brown*, that '-if a student in Physic employed seven years in storing his memory with the accepted, but,—un- fortunately., in nine cases out of ten,—imaginary powers of Medicine, he would, if he did not possess very extra- ordinary sagacity, lose a much longer time in discovering the multiform delusions his medical oracles had imposed upon him—before he ascertains that, with the exception of Mercury for the Lues,—Bark for Intermittents,—and Sulphur for Psora—the Materia Medica does not furnish many Specifics—and may be almost reduced to Evacuants and Stimuli:"*—However, these,skilfully administered, af- ford all the assistance to Nature, that can be obtained from Art! Let not the uninitiated in medical Mysteries imagine for a moment, that the Editor desires to depreciate their im- portance—but observe once for all—that he has only one reason for writing this book—which is, to warn you a- gainst the ordinary causes of Disorder—and to teach you the easiest and most salutary method of preventing or subduing it, and of recovering and preserving Health and Strength, when in spite of all your prudence, you are over- taken by sickness, and have no Medical Friend ready to defend you. Experience has so' long proved the actual importance of Training—that Pugilists will not willingly engage with- out such preparation. The principal rules for which are,—to go to Bed early— to Rise early—to take as much Exercise as you can in the open air, without fatigue—to Eat and Drink moderately of plain nourishing Food—and especially,—to keep the Mind diverted,! and in as easy and cheerful a state as pos- sible. » *See the 338th aphorism in Coulto_n\s Lacon. 1820. 5th Edi- tion. +"Eesides his usual or regular F.xcrei c, a person under training ought to employ himself in the intervals, in every kind of exer- 4 THE ART OF INVIGORATING Somewhat such a system is followed at the fashionable watering places—and great wou\i be the improvement of Health that would result from it,—if it was not continual- ly counteracted, by visits to the Ball Room* and the Card Table. A residence in the country will avail little, if you car- ry with you there, the irregular habits, and late hours of fashionable Life. Do not expect much benefit from mere change of Air— the purest breezes of the country will produce very lit- tle effect, unless accompanied by plenty of regular Exer- cise^—Temperance—and above all, Tranquillity of Mind.— See Obs. on "Air" and "Exercise." The following is a brief sketch of the usual Method of Training Persons for Athletic Exercises. The Alimentary Canal! is cleansed by an Emetic and then two or three Purgatives.—See Index. tion which tends to activity, such as cricket, bowls, throwing quoits, &c. that during the whole day, both body and mind may be constantly occupied."—Capt. Barclay on Training p. 231. "The nature of the disposition of the person training should al- so be known, that every cause of irritation may be avoided; for, as it requires great patience and perseverance to undergo training, every expedient to soothe and encourage the mind should be ad- opted"—Capt. Barclay on Training, p. 237. *Forty years ago Balls, &c. used to begin in the evening, i. e. at seven, and end at night, i. e. twelve; now it is extremely un- genteel to begin before Midnight or finish till the Morning. f"The Studious the Contemplative, the Valetudinary, and those of weak nerves—if they aim at Health and Long Life, must make Exercise in a good air, a part of their Religion."—Cheyne on Long Life, p. 98. "Whenever circumstances would permit, I have recommended patients to take as much exercise as they could, short of produ- cing fatigue;_ to live much in the open air; and, if possible, not to suffer their minds to be agitated by anxiety or fatigued by exer- tion."—p. 90 "I do not allow the state of the weather to be urged as an ob- jection to the prosecution of measures so essential to Health, since it is in the power of every one to protect themselves from cold by clothing, and the exercise may be taken in a chamber with the windows thrown open, by actively walking backwards and for- wards, as sailors do on ship board."—p. 93. See Abernethy's Surgical Observations, 1#17. ^One of the invariable consequences of training is to increase the solidity, and diminish the frequency of the alvine exoneration, and prolonging life. ■a They are directed to eat Beef and Mutton* rather un- der than over done, and without either Seasoning or Sauce —Broils (No 94,) are preferred to either Roasts (No. 19.1 or Boils—and stale Bread or Biscuit. Neither Veal, Lamb, Pork, Fish, Milk, Butter, Cheese, Puddings, Pastry or Vegetables, are allowed. Beef and Mutton only (fresh, not salted) are ordered; but we believe this restriction is seldom entirely submitted to. Nothing tends more to renovate the Constitution, than a temporary retirement to the Country. The necessity of breathing a pure Air, and the strictest temperance, are uniformly and absolutely insisted upon by all Trainers; the striking advantages resulting therefrom, we have heard as universally acknowledged by those who have been trained. Mild Homc-brezved Ale is recommended for drink, about three pints per day, taken with breakfast and dinner, and a little at supper: not in large draughts, but by mouthfuls, alternately with your food. Stale Beer often disturbs delicate Bowels; if your Palate warns you that Malt Liquor is inclined to be hard, neutral- ize it with a little Carbonate of Potash; that good sound Beer, which is neither nauseous from its newness, nor nox- ious from its staleness, is in unison with the animating diet of Animal Food, which we are recommending as the most effective antidote to debility, kc. experience has sufficient- ly proved. There can be no doubt, that the combination of the tonic power of the Hop, and the nourishment of the Malt, is much more invigorating than any simple vinous spirit; but the difficulty of obtaining it good, ready brew- ed, and the trouble of brewing is so great, that happy are those who are contented with Good Toast and Water (No. 4G3*), as a diluent to solid food, and a few glasses of wine as a finishing "Bonne Bouchc^ and persons become costive as they improve in condition:—it this disposition takes place to an inconvenient degree,—See Pep- tic Precepts, Index. *"Animal food being composed of the mo=t nutricious parts of the food on which the animal lived, and having been already diges- ted by the proper organs of an animal, requires only solution and mixture; whereas vegetable food must be converted into a sub- stance of an animal nature by the proper action of our own vis- cera, and consequently requires more labour of the stomach, and athcr digestive organs."—Burton in the .Yon-Naturals, p. f21 L 6 the art of invigorating Those who do not like Beer, are allowed Wine and Wa■' ter—Red wine is preferred to white, and not more than half a pint, (i. e. eight ounces,) or four common sized wine glasses, after Dinner; none after Supper, nor any spirits, however diluted. Eight hours sleep are necessary; but this is generally1 left to the previous habits of the person; those who take active Exercise, require adequate rest. Breakfast* upon meat at eight o'clock—Dinner at two—Supper is not advised, but they may have a little bit of cold meat about eight o'clock, and take a walk after be- tween it and ten, when they go to bed. The time requisite to screw a man up to his fullest strength, depends upon his previous habits and age. In the vigor of life, between 20 and 35, a month or two is generally suf- ficient : more or less, according as he is older, and his pre- vious habits have been in opposition to the above system. By this mode of proceeding for two or three months, the constitution of the human frame is greatly improved, and the courage proportionably increased; a person who was breathless, and panting on the least exertion, and had a certain share of those nervous and bilious com- plaints, which are occasionally the companions of all who reside in great Cities, becomes enabled to run with ease and fleetness. *Tlie,l following was the food taken by Capt. Barclay in his most extraordinary walk of 1000 miles in 1000 successive hours, June I, 1809. "He Breakfasted after returning from his walk, at five in the morning. He ate a roasted Fowl, and drank a pint of strong Ale, and then took two cups of Tea with bread and butter. "Pie Lunched at twelve: the one day on Beef Stakes, and the other on Mutton Chops, of which he ate a considerable quantity. "He Dined at six, either on Roast Beef or Mutton Chops. His drink was Porter, and two or three glasses of wine. "He Supped at eleren on a cold fowl. He ate such vegetables as were in season; and the quantity of animal food he took daily. was from five to six pounds."—See Pedestrianism, p. 6. "His style of Walking is to bend forward the body, and to throw its weight on the knees. His step is short, and his feet are raised only a few inches from the ground. Any person who will try this plan, will find that his pace will be quickened, at the same time he will walk with more ease to himself, and be better able to endure the fatigue of a long journey than by walking in a posture per- fectly erect} which throws too much of the weight of the body on the ancle-joints. He always uses thick-soled shoes, and Lamb's wool stockings. It is a good rule to shift the stockings frequently during the performance of a long distance; but it is indispensably requisite to have shoes with thick soles, and so large, that all un- necessary pressure on the feet may be avoided."—p. '208. AND PROLONGING LIFE. / The Restorative Process having proceeded with health- ful regularity, every part of the Constitution is effectively invigorated; a man feels so conscious of the actual aug- mentation of all his powers, both bodily and mental, that he will undertake with alacrity, a task which before he shrunk from encountering. The clearness of the gomplexion is considered the best criterion of a man's being in good condition; to which we add the appearance of the Under-Lip, which is plump and rosy, in proportion to the healthy plethora of the constitu- tion: this is a much more certain symptom of vigorous health than any indication you can form from the appearance of the tongue, or the Pulse, which is another very uncer- tain and deceiving Index; the strength and frequency of wh-ieh, not only varies in different persons, but in the same person in different circumstances and positions; in some ir- ritable constitutions the vibration of the heart varies almost as often as it beats; when we walk, stand, sit. or lie down; early in the morning, late in the evening, elated with good news, depressed by bad, &c. when the stomach is empty, after taking food, after a full meal of nutritive food, after a spare one of Maigre materials. Moreover, it is impossi- ble to ascertain the degree of deviation from health by feeling a pulse, unless we are well acquainted with the peculiarity of it, when the patient is in health. The editor has now arrived at the most difficult part of his work, and needs all the assistance that training can give, to excite him to proceed with any hope of develop- ing the subject with that perspicuity and effect, which it deserves, and he desires to give it. The Food, Clothes, Fire, Air, Exercise, Sleep, Wine, Sec. which maybe most advisable for invigorating the health oof one individual, maybe by no means the best adapted to produce a like good effect with another; at the time of life most people arrive at, before they think about these things, they are often become the slaves of habits which have grown with their growth, and strengthened with their strength; and the utmost that can be done after our 40th year, is to endeavour "\ cry gradually to correct them. We caution those who aie past the meridian (See Index) of life, to beware of suddenly abandoning established customs, (especially of diminishing the warmth of their dothing. or the nutritive quality of what they eat and 8 the art of invigorating drink,) which by long usage, often become as indispensa ble, as a niathematical Valetudinarian reckoned his flannel waistcoat was: "in the ratio that my body would be un- comfortable without my skin—would my skin be, without my Flannel Waistcoat?'' We recommend those who are in search of health and strength, to read the remarks which are classed under the titles Wine, Siesta, Clothes,"Air," "Fire," Sleep, Pep- tic Precepts, &c. With the greatest deference, we submit the following sketch, to be variously modified by the medical adviser, according to the season of the year, the age, constitution, and previous habits of the patient, the purpose it is inten- ded to accomplish, or the disorder it is intended to pre- vent or cure. The first thing to be done, is to put the principal Visce- ra into a condition to absorb the pabulum vitae, we put in- to the stomach; as much depends on the state of the or- gans of digestion* as on the quality of our diet: there- fore commence with taking early in the morning, fasting, about half an hour before breakfast, about two drams of Epsom Salts (i. e. as much as will move the bowels twice, not more,) in half a pint of warm water.—See Index. The following day, go into a Tepid Bath, heated to a- bout 95 degrees of Fahrenheit. The third day, take another dose of salts, keeping to a light diet of fish, broths, &c (Nos. 490, 563, 564, and 572.) During the next week, take the Tonic Tincture, as di- rected in (No. 569.) See Index. Thus far, any person may proceed without any difficulty, and great benefit will be derived therefrom, if he cannot pursue the following part of the system: Rise early; if the weather permits, amuse yourself with exercise in the open air for some time before Breakfast, the material for which, I leave entirely to the previous habit of the individual. Such is the sensibility of the stomach, when recruited by a good night's rest, that of all alterations in diet, it will be most disappointed at any change of this meal, either of the time it is taken, or of the quantity, or quality of it; *"Accordicg to the force of the Chylopoetic Organs, a lar"—Arbuthnot on Aliment, p. 24. AND PROLONGING LIFE. !) *o much so, that the functions of a delicate stomach will be frequently deranged throughout the whole day after. The Breakfast 1 recommend, is Good Milk Gruel, (No. 572,) see Index, or Beef Tea (No. 563,) see Index, or Portable Beef Tea (No. 252;) a pint of the latter may be made for two-pence halfpenny, as easily as a basin of Gruel. The interval between Breakfast &nd.clevcn o'clock, is the best time for intellectual business, then exercise again till about twelve, when probably the appetite will be cra- ving for a Luncheon, which may consist of a bit of roast- ed poultry, a basin of good beef tea, or eggs poached, (No. 546,) or boiled in the shell, (547.) Fish plainly dres- sed, (No. 144, or 145, &c.) or a Sandwich, (No. 504,) stale bread, and haif a pint of good home-brewed beer, or toast and water, (No. 463*,) see Index, with about one- fourth or one third part of its measure of Wine, of which Port is preferred. The solidity of the Luncheon should be proportionate to the time it is intended to enable you to wait for your dinner, and the activity of the exercise you take in the meantime. Take exercise and amusement as much as is convenient in the open air again, till past four, then rest, and prepare for Dinner at five, which should be confined to one dish, of roasted beef, (No 19.) or mutton, (No. 2.3.) five days in the week, boiled meat one, and roasted poultry one, with a portion of sufficiently boiled ripe.vegetables; mashed potatoes are preferred, see (No. 106,) and the otiier four- teen ways of dressing this useful root. The same restrictions from other articles of food,* as we have already mentioned in the plan for training: i. e. if the person trained, has not arrived at that time of life, when habit has become so strong, that to deprive him of those accustomed indigencies, &.C. by which his 'health *Nothing comes to perfection under a stated period of growth ; and till it attains this, it will, of course, afford inferior nutriment. Beef and mutton are much easier of digestion, and more nutri- cious, than veal or lamb. If the flesh of mutton and lamb, beef and yeal, are compared, they will be found of a different texture, tho two young meats of a more stringy indivisible nature than the oth- ers, which makes them harder of digestion."—Domestic Manage- ment, 12mo. 1613. p. 164; B IU THE ART OF INVIGORATING has hitherto been supported, Avould be as barbarous, as to take away crutches from the lame. Drink at dinner, a pint of home-brewed beer, or toast and water (No. 463*) with one-third or one-fourth part wine, and a few glasses of wine after—the less, the bet- ter; but take as much as custom has made necessary to excite that degree of circulation in your system, without which, you are uncomfortable. Read Obs. on "Wine." , After Dinner sit quiet for a couple of hours; the Se- mi-Siesta is a pleasant position, i. e.the feet on a stool a- bout eight inches high, or if your exercise has fatigued you, lie down, and indulge in horizontal refreshment:* this you may sometimes do with advantage before dinner, if you have taken more exercise than usual, and you feel tired: when the body is fatigued, the stomach, by sympa- thy, will, in proportion, be incapable of doing its business of digestion. At Seven, a little tea or warmed milk, with a very lit- tle rum, a bit of sugar and a little nutmeg in it, after which, exercise and amusement again, if convenient in ihe open air. For Supper, a biscuit or a sandwich, (No. 504.) or a bit of cold fowl, kc; and a glass of be#er, or wine, and toast and water (No. 463*,) and occasionally (No. 572,) i. e. as light a supper as possible; the sooner after ten you retire to rest, the better. For those who dine very late, the best supper is gruel (No. 572,) or a little bread and cheese, or pounded cheese, (No, 542,) and a glass of beer; but if you have had an early or Ban Yan Dinner, or instinct suggests that the ex- haustion, from extraordinary exertion, requires more res- torative materials, furnish your stomach with a chop or a chicken, &.c. or some of the easy digestible and nutritive materials referred to in the Index, under the article Food for Feeble Stomachs; and as much diffusible stimulus as will animate the circulation, and ensure the influence of "Na- ture's sweet restorer, Balmy Sleep," the soundness of which, depends entirely on the stomach being in good tem- *UA 40 Winks .Nap," in a horizontal posture, is the most revi- ving preparative for any great exertion of either the mind or body; to which it is as proper an On dure as it is a Finn!?.—See Siesta, Index. (■•• AND PROLONGING LIFE. 1 1 per, and the heart supporting the circulation with saluta- ry vigor. See the Art of Sleeping.—Index. For the diet to be confined to beef and mutton, is a suf- ficient abridgment of the amusement of the moiith; it is a barbarous mortification, to insist on these being always cooked the same way,* and we advise an occasional in- dulgence in the whole range of plain cookery, from (No. 1) to (No. 98.) Broils, (No. 94,) are ordered in the plan for training, probably because the most convenieut manner of obtain- ing the desired portion hot, (Food is then most easy of di- gestion; before the process of digestion can commence, it mast take the temperature of the stomach, which, when in a languid state, has no superfluous heat to spare;) but as the lean part is often scorched and dried, and the fat becomes emp3'reumatic, from being in immediate contact with tho fire, a slice of well roasted ribs, (No. 20,) or si^-loin of beef (No. 19,) or a leg. neck, loin, or saddle of mutton (No. 2.3, or 26, or 31.) must be infinitely more succulent and nutritive; whether this be rather over, or under-done, the previous habits of the eater must determine; the me- dium between over and under-dressing, is in general most agreeable, and certainly most wholesome. That Meat which is considerably under-done, contains more nutriment than that which is oi;er-done, is true enough; that which is not done at all, contains a great deal more; but in the ratio that it is Ran-J so it is unfor- tunately difficult of digestion, as Spallanzani, (see Index) has proved by actual and satisfactory experiments. Our food must be done, either by our Cook, or by our Stomach, before digestion can take place; (see 1st page of Obs. on Siesta;) surely no man in his senses, would willingly be so wanting in consideration of the comfort, ^"Few persons, even in the best health, can, without disgust, bear to be confined to a peculiar food, or way of living, for any length of time, (which is a strong argument that a variety of food is natural to mankind;) and if so, the debilitated stomachs of Vale- tudinarians cannot be expected to be less fastidious.—"Falconer, on Diet, p. 8." t"It appears from my experiments, that boiled and roasted, and even putrid meat, is easier of digestion than raw."—See J. Hun ter on the Animal Economy, p. 220. 12 THE ART OF INVIGORATING ke. of his stomach, as to give it the needless trouble Continuation of former Pursuits. Fruits of his Labour enjoyed. A glorious Retirement. An amiable Family. Universal Respect. Conscious of a Virtuous Life. > Perfection of Earthly Hajrpiness. .j Preparation for ETERNITY. 18 THE ART OF INVIGORATING The most common cause of Dyspeptic Disorders, which are so prevalent at the commencement of the third peri- od of life, is an increasing indolence, inducing us to di- minish the degree of the active exercise we 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 grows older, and to almost entirely support the circulation without the help of exercise. As the activity of our existence, and the accommodating powers 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 multitude of disorders of which it is the fruitful pa- rent, will soon destroy us. The system of Cornaro has been oftener quoted, than understood; m6st people imagine, it was one of rigid ab- stinence and comfortless self-denial, but this was not the case: his code of longevity consisted in steadily obeying the suggestions of instinct, and economizing his vitality, and living under his income of health, carefully regula- ting his temper, and cultivating cheerful habits. The following is a Compendium of his plan, in his own words: He tells us that when fourecore "I am used to take in all twelve ounces of solid nourish- ment, such as meat, and the yolk of an egg, &c. and four- teen ounces of drink: I eat bread, soup, new-laid eggs, veal, kidj mutton, partridge, pullets, pigeons, &c. and some sea and river fish. "I made choice of such wines and meats as agreed with my constitution, and declined all other diet, and propor- tioned 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 different from each other as their complexions."— p. 36. "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 ea- sily digest: your experience ought to be your guide in and prolonging life. 19 these two principles when you arrive at Forty: by that time you ought to know that you are in the midst of life.; thanks to the goodness of your constitution which has car- ried you so far; but that when you are arrived at this pe- riod, you go down the hill apace, and it is necessary for you to change }rour course of life, especially with regard to the quantity and quality of your diet, because it is on that, the health and length of our days do radically depend. Lastly; if the former part of our lives has been altogeth- er sensual, the latter ought to be rational and regular; or- der being necessary for the preservation of all things, es- pecially, the life of man. Longevity cannot be attained without continence and sobriety*." "At thirty, man suspects himself a fool, Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan." By the small quantity of food, and great proportion 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 contracted by intemper- ance, and lived in health of body, and great cheerfulness of mind, to above an hundred.—Briefly, the secret of his longevity seems to have been, a gradual increasing tem- perance "in omnibus," and probably after a certain time of life, abstinence from the "opus magnum." The source of physical and moral health, happiness, 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, oh Virtue! Peace is all thy own."—Pope. Intensive life, can only be purchased at the price of ex- tensive. If you force the heart to gallop as fist during the.se- cond, as it does during the first stage of life, and make the steady fire of 42, to blaze as brightly as the flame of 21. it will very soon be burnt out. *"Cornaro found that as the powers of his stomach declined with the powers of life in general, that it was necessary that*he should diminish the quantity of his food ; arid by so doiru,, he retained to tho last the feelings of health."—Abernethy's Surg. Obs. p. 71. 2U THE ART OF INVIGORATING Those who cannot be content to submit to that diminu- tion of action ordained by nature, against which there if- no appeal, as it is the absolute covenant, by the most atten- tive and implicit observance of which, we can only hope to hoid our lease of life comfortably; will soon bring to the diminished energy of the second stage of life, the paraly- sis of the third. From 40 to 60, a witty French author tells us, is "La belle saisOri* pour la Gourmandise; for the artificial plea- suits of the palate, it may be, and the Bon Fivant culti- vates them as the means of prolonging the vigour of youth, and procrastinating the approach of age. Restoration may certainly be considerably facilitated by preparing and dressing food so as to render it easily sol- uble; if the secret of Rejuvenization be ever discovered, it will be found in the kitchen. Very soon after we pass the meridian of life, (which ac- cording to those who train men for athletic exercises, and to Dr. Jameson,! is our 2Cth, and to Dr. Cheyne, about our 35tn year,) the elasticity of the animal system imper- ceptibly diminishes, our senses become less susceptible, and are every hour getting the worse for wear, however self- Jove, assisted by your hair-dresser, and taylor, &c. may endeavour to persuade you to the contrary. Digestion and sleep are less perfect; the restorative process more and more fails to keep pace with the consu- ming process, the body is insufficiently repaired, more ea- sily deranged, and with more difficulty brought into ad- justment again; till at length the vital power being dimin- ished, and the Organs deteriorated, nourishment can nei- ther be received, nor prepared and diffused through the constitution; and consumption so much exceeds renova- tion, that decay rapidly closes the scene of life. One may form some idea of the self-consumption of the human body, by reflecting that the pulsation of the heart, *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 Hon gout" and ac- tivity. tSee his' sensible essay on the changes of the human bodv at different ages. 8vo. 1811.—p.. 89. J ANB PROLONGING LIFE. 21 and the motion of the blood connected withit takes place 100,000 times every day, i. e. on an average the pulse* beats 70 time sin a minute, multiplied by 60 minutes in an hour, 4200 24 hours in a day,, 16800 8400 108000 pulsations in a day. What machine, of the most adamantine material, will not soon be the worse' for wear, from such incessant vi- bration, especially if the main-springs of it are not pre- served in a state of due regulation. The generative faculties, which are the last that nature finishes, are the first that iail. Economy in the exercise of them, especially before and after the second period of life, is the grand precept for the restoration and accumu- lation of strength, the preservation 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 los- es the power of renovating itself, in like ratio, fails its fac- ulty of creating; what may be a salutary subducticn of the superfluous health of the second, during the third pe- riod of life, will be a destructive sacrifice of the strength of both the mind and the body. See also the 9th chapter of the first edition of Willich on diet. 8vo. 1799. The next organical defect, (we perceive too plainly for *"The pulse in a new born infant, while placidly sleeping, is a- bout ---........... 140 in a minute. Towards the end of the first year - - - - 124 Towards the end of the second year - - - 110 Towards the end of the third and fourth years 96 When the first teeth drop out ----- 8G At puberty.........-- 80 At manhood ----'-'------ 75 At sixty, about ---------- 60 Blumenhach's Physiology, p. 40. The expectations of life arc thus calculated by De Moivrp, Subtract the age of the person from 86, half the remainder will bt remove it from the eye further than you have been accustomed 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 extraordinary musi- cians have been able till then, if a handful of the keys-of a Harpsichord were put down so as to produce the most ir- relative combinations, to name each half note without a mistake. When I mentioned this to that excellent or- gan player, Mr. Charles Wesley, he said, "at the age of twenty, I could do it myself, but I can't now." He was then in his 55th year. About the same time, the palate is no longer contented with being emplo}red as a mere shovel to the stomach, and it finds its master becomes every day more difficult to please, learns to be a more watchful purveyor. After 40, the strongest people begin to talk about being bilious or nervous, &,c. &c. and the stomach will no longer do its duty properly, unless the food offered to it is per- fectly agreeable to it; when offended, indigestion brings with it, all that melancholy depression of the animal spir- its, which'disables a man from either thinking with precis- ion or acting with vigour, during the distressing suspen- sion of the icstorative process, arise all those miseries of mind and body, which drives fools to get drunk, and make madmen commit suicide; without due attention to diet, &c. the third period of life is little better than a chronic disease. As cur assimilating powers become enfeebled, we must endeavour to entertain them with a food so prepared, as to give them the least trouble, and the most nourishment.! In the proportion that cur food is restorative and pro- perly digested, our bodies are preserved in health and strength, and all our faculties continue virgorous and per- fect. ^ *Sec the history of a case of spectacles, &c. in page 61 of Dr. Kitchiner's Practical Observations on Telescopes, Oitera Glasses. &c—Third Edition. ■fin proportion the powers of the stomach are weak, so ought ,.vc to diminish the quantity of our food, and take care that it be as nutritive and as easy of digestion as possible.;"—Ahlrnethy'9 Swgical Observations, p. 67, ' AND PROLONGING LIFE. 23 if it is unwholesome, ill prepared, and indigestible, the "body languishes, and is exhausted even in its youth; its strength and faculties daily decrease, and it sinks beneath the weight of the painful sensations attendant on a state of decay. Would to Heaven that a cook could help our stomachs, as much as an optician can our eyes: our existence would be as much more perfect than it now is, as our sight is su- perior to our Other sensos. "The vigour of the mind decays with that of the body, and not only humour and invention, but even judgment and resolution, change and languish, with ill constitution of body and of health."—Sir William Temple. The following account of the successful reduction of CORPULENCE AND IMPROVEMENT OF HEALTH, the EditOl can vouch for being a faithful statement of facts. 30th January, 1821. My Dear Sir, In consequence of the conversation I had with you, up- on the advantages I had derived from exercise and atten- tion to diet in the reduction of weight, mid your desire that I should communicate as far as I recollect them, the particulars of my case; I have great pleasure in forward- ing to you the following 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 18 stone; two year6 after- wards I had reached the great weight of 19 stone, in perj feet health, alwajs sleeping well and enjoying good appe- tite and spirits; soon after, however, I began to expe- rience the usual attendants on fullness of habit, a disincli- nation to rise in the morning from drowsiness, a heavi- ness about the forehead after I had risen, and a disposition to giddiness; I was also attacked by a complaint in one of my eyes, the symptoms of which it is unnecessary to des- cribe, 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 neces-ity as far as possible, of future bleeding, I resolved to reduce the system, by increasing my exercise and dimin- ishing my diet. 24 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. 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 con- versation with him, determined upon acting under his ad- vice. I accordingly commenced sparring, having provided my- self with flannel dresses, which I always used, being ex- tremely careful on changing them to avoid the risk of cold, and I recollect no instance in which I was not suc- cessful. I also had recourse to riding schools, riding without stirrups, so as to have the advantage of the most power- ful 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. Frequently at night I resumed my exercise, walking and sometimes running, generally performing about five miles an hour, till 1 again produced perspiration; every other opportunity I could resort to of bodily exercise 1 al- so availed myself 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 water after supper: this practice I entirely discon- tinued, substituting toast and water with my dinner, tea. and a good allowance of toast'for supper, always avoiding copious draughts. I left off drinking malt liquor as a habit, and indeed, 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 subject, who en- tirely approved of my plan, and recommended the occa- sional use of aperient medicine, but which I seldom resor- ted 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 in- creased, and my wind excellent, but, I think, my strength not quite so great, though I did not experience any mate- rial reduction of it: my health was perfect throughout. I then relaxed my system a little, and have up to tho TO REDUCE GORPULENCE. 2£ present time, being a period of ten years, avoided the ne- cessity of bleeding, and have enjoyed an almost uninter- rupted continuance of good health, although my weight has gradually increased; sometimes, however, fluctuating between 7 or 8 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 T 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 always sufficiently restore the exhaustion arising from exercise; if an additional quantity of food and nourishing liquors be resorted to, the body will in gener- al be restored to the weight it was 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 re- duced with the weight, the food may safely be proportion- ed to the exercise You will readily perceive, that the plan I adopted, ought only to be revolted to by persons of sound constitu- tion and of athletic bodily frame. It would be absurd to lay down a general rule for the adoption of all fat men. I think, with 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 dis- use of malt liquors and spirits, and suppers, seldom taking more than four glasses of wine as a habit, although I do not now deem it necessary to make myself so far the slave of habit, as to refuse the pleasures of the table when they offer. I am dear sir, yours, very truly, The following are the most interesting facts in Dr. Bry- an Robinson's Essay on the food and discharges of the hu- man body, 8vo. 1748, which has become scarce. /'I am now, 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 bo- dy without clothes was about 131 avoirdupois pounds; the daily weight of my food at a medium was abont 85 avoir C.2 TH-E ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. dupois 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 was 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 was 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, J considered what others have said concerning this propor- tion. "According to Sanctorious, though he reckons it a dis- proportion, the drink to the meat in his time, was about 10 to 3 in temperate bodies. 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.....II 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 B. Hoeinson on Food and Discharges, p. 34. "At the age of 64, lessening my food, and increasing the proportion of my meat to my drink, i. e. by lessening my drink about a third part (i. e. to 20 ounces) and my meat about a sixth, (i. e. 38 ounces) of what they were in 1821, 1 have freed myself for these two years past from the re- turn of a sore-throat and diarrhoea, disorders 1 often had, though they were but slight, and never confined me. 1 have been much more costive than 1 was before, when 1 lived more fully, and took more exercise, and have greatly for my age, recovered the paralytic weakness I was seized with three years ago. "Hence we gather that good anil constant health con- sists in a just quantity of food; and a just proportion of the meat to the drink: and that to be freed from chroni- cal disorders contracted by intemperance, the quantity of food ought to be lessened; and the proportion of the meat to the drink increased, more or less according to the greatness of the disorders, p. 61, "j commonly ate four ounces of bread and butter, and drank half a pound of a very weak infusion of green tea for breakfast. For dinner I took two ounces of bread and the rest flesh-meat, beef, mutton, pork, veal, hare. rabbit, goose, turkey, fowl, tame and wild, and fish. 1 generally chose the strongest moats a? Attest, since they TO REDUCE CORPULENCE. 27 agreed well with my stomach, to keep up the power of my body under this great diminution of my food; I seldom took any garden stuff, 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.. At night I ate nothing, but drank 12 ounces of water with a pipe of Tobacco, p. 63. "There is but one weight, under which a grown body can enjoy the best and most uninterrupted health, p. 91. That weight is such as enables the heart to supply the sev- eral parts of the body with just quantities of blood, page 100. The weight underwhich an animal has the greatest strength and activity, which I shall call its athletic weight, is that weight under which the heart and the proportion of the weight of the heart to the weight of the body are greatest: the strength of the muscles is measured by the strength of the heart, p. 117. "It 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 liv- er; and they increase the weight of the heart by increas- ing the quantitjr and motion of the blood. Thus a game cock in ten days is reduced to its athletic weight, and pre- pared for fighting. . "If the food, which with evacuations and exercise, re- duced the cock to his athletic weight in ten days, be con- tinued any longer, the cock will not have that strength and activity which he had before under his athletic weight: which may be owing to the loss of weight going on after he arrives at his athletic weight. "It is know by experiment, that a cock cannot stand a- bove 24 hours at his athletic weight, and that a cock has changed very much for the worse in 12 hours. "When a cock is at the top of his condition, that is, when he is at his athletic weight, his head is of a glowing red colour, his neck thick, and his thigh thick and firm; the day after his complexion is less glowing, his neck thin- ner and his thigh softer; and the third day his thigh will be very soft and flaccid, p. 119. "If the increase of weight in a small compass of time. rise to above a certain quantity it will cause disorders IQ THE ART OF INVIGORATINO LIFE. "lean bear an 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 disordered : but think I should suffer from an increase of five or six pounds in that time. "An increase of weight may be carried off by lessen- ing the food, or by increasing the discharges. The dis- charges may be increased either by exercise, or by evacu- ations procured by art. "By lessening the daily quantity of my food to 23 oun- ces, I have lost 26 ounces; by fasting a whole day, I lost 48 ounces, having gained 27 the day before. "Mr. Rye was a strong, weil set, corpulent man, of a sanguine complexion; by a brisk walk for one hour before breakfast he threw off, by insensible perspiration, one pound of increased weight; by a walk of three hours, he threw off two pounds of increased weight. The best way to take off an increase of weight which threatens a dis- temper, is either by fasting or exercise, p. 84. "The mean loss of weight by several grown bodies caused by a purging medicine composed of a drachm of Jalap and ten grains of Calomel, was about 2 3-4 avoirdu- pois pounds; and the mean quantity of liquor, drank dur- ing the time of purging, was about double the loss of weight.—Robinson on the animal economy, p. 458. "I have lost, by a spontaneous Diarrhoea, two pounds in twenty-four hours; and Mr. Rye lost twice that quantity in the same time."—On the food and discharges of human bodies, by B. Robinson, p. 84. "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 fat- ness; the second by a diminution of the blood's motion. "Hence, whe6 the liver is grown too large by intem- perance and inactivity, it may be lessened and brought to a healthful magnitude by temperance and exercise. It may be emptied other ways by art; but nothing can pre- vent 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 prevent 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 th' '"'it- '.'■■ SLEEP. ■ 29 piincipal things which make animals grow fat. If the body, on account of age or other infirmities cannot use ■■> sufficient exercise, and takes much the same quantity of sleep, its weight must be lessened by lessening the food, which may be done by lessening the drink, without mak- ing any change in the meat; as I have proved myself by experience."—p. 90. On this subject, see also, Dr. Stark on Diet, and Sanc- torius1 Medicina Statica. Dr. Heming on Corpulency. Mr. Wadd on Corpulency. Dr. Arbuthnot on Aliment. SLEEP. -'W!»©i»-*lr«>d wi:!i vain rot«,tinns 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*(\, Slow must the change arrive, and stage by stage, Slow as the stealing progre=s of the year." Armstrong's Art of Preserving Health. How important it is, then, to cultivate good and conven- ient 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." * "Nothing is a greater enemy to a feeble life, than laying aside old habits, or leaving a climate, or place, to which one has been long accustomed: the irritation occasioned by such changes is highly prejudicial. ''Even pernicious habits, insalubrious air, &c. must be abandon- ed with great caution, or we shall thereby hasten the end of uf\\ pMtient"—Stride's Asthenohgy, p. 898. ,>U THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. The debilitated require much more rest than the robust; nothing is so restorative to the nerves, as sound and unin- terrupted sleep, which is the chief source of both bodily and mental strength. 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 exhausted by the exercise of our mental, than by the 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 theroby, although he has not stirred from the chair he sat on. Those who are candidates for health, must be as circum- spect in the task they set their mind, as in the exercise «hey give to their body. Dr. Armstrong, the poet of health, observes, '-'■'" is the greet-art of life to manage well The restless mind." The grand secret seems to be, to contrive that the exer- cise of the body, and that of the mind may serve as relax- ations to each other. Over exertion or anxiety of mind, disturbs digestion in- finitely more than any fatigue of body: the brain demands a much more abundant supply of the animal spirits than is required for the excitement of mere legs and arms. '"Tis the sword that wears out the scabbard,"' Of the two ways of fertilizing the brain, by sleep, or by spirituous stimulus, (for some write best in the morning, others when wound up with wine, after dinner or supper:) the former is much less expensive, and less injurious to the constitution than either Port or brandy, whose aid it • is said that some of our best authors have been indebted to, for their most brilliant productions. Calling one day on a literary friend, we found him re- clining on a sofa; on expressing our concern to find him indisposed, he said, "No, I was only hatchinq, I have been writing till I was quite tired, my paper must go to press to day, so I was taking my usual restorative—^ Map—which if it only lasts five minutes, so refreshes my mind, that mv pen goes to work again spontaneously," SLEEP. 31 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 asTeep, certainly not ef- fectively awake, for any purpose requiring the energy of either the body or the mind. "A Forty Winks .Actp," in a horizontal posture, is the best preparative for any extraordinary exertion of either. Those who possess and employ the powers of the. mind most, seldom attain the greatest age:* See Brunard de VHygiene des gens de Lctires, Paris, 8vo. 1819: the envy their talent excites; the disappointment they often meet with in their expectations of" receiving the utmost atten- tion and respect, (which the world has seldom the grati- tude to pay them while they live,) keep them in a perpet- *"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 hotly is wasted and con- sumed."— Code of Health, vol. i. p. GO—f.J, kc. "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-p'i-oners, ninety-six, i. c. about one-twenty-fifth are be- yond eidity ; thirteen beyond ninety, and one beyond one hun- dred. They almost all used Tobacco, and most of them acknowl- edged the habit of drinking freely. Some of thr-m had no teeth for twenty years, and fourteen only had good ones; one who was one hundred and thirteen years old, had lost all his teeth upward; of thirty years. The ortran 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 delicate organ than-the ear, and the least deterioration of its action is more immediately observed. Of the ninety-six almost all had been married, and four of them after eighty years of age; only nine were bachelors; 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 bo- dy is then in the most complete state to propagate a healthy off- spring; the a<;cs when the prolific powers begin to cease in both sexes will nearly correspond ; and the probable expectation of life m ill be sufficiently long, for parents to provide for their children." Jame80N on the Human Body, p. 336. Oil> THE ART ©F INVIGORATING LIFL. ual state of irritation and disquiet, which frets them pre maturely to their grave.* fTo rest a whole day, under great fatigue of either body or mind, is occasionally extremely beneficial; it is impos- sible to regulate sleep by the hour; when the mind and the body have received all the refreshment which sleep can give, people cannot lie in bed, and till then they should notarise.! "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 practical maxim on the subject for Valetudinarians, who, by following his advice, may render their existence, instead of a dull un- varied round of joyless, useless self-denial, a circle of agree- able sensation; for instance, go not to your bed till you are tired of sitting up, then remain in an horizontal posture, till you long to change it for a vertical: thus, by a little management, the inevitable business of life may be con- verted into a source of continual enjoyment. All-healing sleep soon neutralizes the corroding caustic of care, and blunts even the barbed arrows of the marble- hearted fiend, Ingratitude. When the pulse is almost paralysed by anxiety, half an hour's repose, will cheer the circulation, restore tranquil- lity to the perturbed spirit, and dissipate those heavy clouds of Ennui, which some times threaten to eclipse the brightest minds, and best hearts. Child of wo, lay thy head on thy pillow, (instead of thy mouth to the bottle,) and bless me for directing thee to the true source of lethe, and most sovereign Nepenthe for the sorows of human life. * "Regular and sufficient sleep, serves on the one hand, for re- pairing the lost powers, and on the other, for lessening consump- tion., by lessening vital activity. Hence the lives of people <\ no are exposed to the most debilitating fatigue, are nrolonge.l to a considerable age, when they enjoy sleep in its fullest extent,"— Struve's Asthenology, 8vo. 1801, p. 199. 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."—Hints f:, the preservation of h tali h. 12mo, ►"' sleep. 33 The time requisite to restore the waste occasioned by the action of the day, depends on the activity of the hab- its, and on the health of the individual; in general it can- not be less than seven, and need not be more than nine hours.* Invalids will derive much benefit from indulging in the Siesta whenever they feel languid. A sailor will tell you, that a seaman can sleep as much ui five hours, as a landsman can in ten. Whether rising very early lengthens life we know not, but think that sitting up very late shortens it, and recom- mend you to rise by eight, and retire 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 with a view to ascertain the causes of their longevity, they have uniform- ty agreed in one thing only, that they all went to bed ear- hj, and rose early. 'fEarly to bed, and early to rise, Will make you healthy, wealthy and wise." Dr. Franklin published an ingenious essay on fhe ad- vantage of early rising. He called it "An Economical Project;'' and calculated, that the saving that might be made in the city of Paris, by using sunshine instead of can- dles, at no less than £4,000,000 sterling. If the delicate, and the nervous, the very young, or the very old, sit up beyond their usual hour, they'feel the want of artificial aid, to raise their spirits to what is no more than the ordinary pitch of those who are in the vig- our of their life; and must fly from the festive board, or purchase a few hours of hilarity at the heavy price of head-ach and dispepsia for many days after; and a terri- * In high health seven or eight hours will complete this refresh- ment, and hence arises the false inference drawn from an observa- tion probably just, that long-lived persons are always early risers • not that early rising makes them long-lived, 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 l>-.> time, than with those who sleep less soundly. A disposition to he in bed beyond the usual hour, generally arises from some derangement of the digestive organs.— Hints for the preservation of health, p. 3?. * D 34 THE ART OF PROLONGING LIFT. ble exasperation of any chronic complaint they are af- flicted with. When the body and mind are both craving repose, to force their action, by the spur of spirituous stimulus, is the most extravagant Avaste of the "Vis Vitje," that fashion ever invented to consume her foolish votaries, for fools they certainly are who mortgage the comfort of a A\eek. for the conviviality of an hour, with the certainty of their (erm of life being speedily foreclosed by gout, palsey, &c. Among the most distressing miseries of this "Elysium of Bricks and Mortar," may be reckoned how rarely we enjoy "the sweets of slumber unbroke." Sound passes through the thin party walls of modern bouses, [which of the first rate, at the fire place, are on- ly four inches in thickness;) with most unfortunate facility; this is really an evil of the first magnitude, if you are so unlucky as to have for next door neighbours, fashiona- ble folks who turn night into day, or such as delight in the sublime economy of cinder-saving or cobAvcb catch- ing; it is in vain to seek repose before the former has in- dulged in the evening's recreation of raking out the fire, and has played with the poker till it lias made all the red coals black; or, after Molidusta, the tidy one, has awoke ihc morn, with "the broom, the bonny, bonny broom." A determined dusthutiter or cindersaver, murders its neighbours sleep, with as little mercy, as Macbeth did Malcolm's, and bangs doors, and rattles window shutters. till the "earth trembles, and air is aghast!" All attempts to conciliate a savage who is in this fancy. will be labour in vain; the arrangement of its fire* is equally the occupation of the morning, and the amuse- ment of the evening; the preservation of a cinder, and the destruction of a cobweb, are the' main business of its existence: the best advice we can give you, gentle read- er, is to send it this little, book, and beseech it to place the following pages opposite to its optic nerves some morning, after you have diverted it from sleep every half hour du- ring the preceding night.j ' *Tl:c best fire-feeder is a pair of stcak-tong<. i The method taken to tame unruly colts, &c. is to walk them a- bont the whole of the night previous to attempting to break them: SLEEP. oij Counsellor Scribblefast, a special pleader, who lived on a ground floor in the Temple, about the time that Ser geant Ponder who dAvelt on the first floor, retired to rest, began to practise his Violoncello, "and his loud voice in thunder spoke.'''' The student above, by way of giving him a gentle hint, struck up "Gently strike the Warbling Lyre,'1' and Will. Harmony's favorite Hornpipes' of "Doni Fe," and "Pray be Qi/iei." hoAvever the dolce and pianis- simo of poor Ponder produced no diminution orthe^res- tissimo and fortissimo of the indefatigable Scribblefast. Ponder, prayed "silence in the court," and complain- ed in most pathetic terms, but, alas! his ••lowly suit and plaintive ditty" made not the least impression on him A\ho was beneath him. He at length procured a set of sket- tles, and as soon as bis musical neighbour had done fid- dliug, be began consirepilo, and bawled away merrily till the morning dawned. The enraged musician did not wait long after day light to put in bis plea against such pro- ceedings, and received in reply, that such exercise had been ordered by a physician, as the properest paregoric, after being disturbed by the thorough bass of the big fid- dle below; this soon convinced the tormentor of catgut, who dwelt on the ground-floor, that he could not annoy his superior with impunity, and produced silence on both sides. People are very umvisely inconsiderate hoAv much it is their OAvn interest to attend to the comforts of their neigh- bours, for which we have a divine command "to love our neighbour as ourself" "Sic Mere tuo, ut alienum non laz- das;'' is- the maxim of our English law. Interrupting ones sleep is as prejudicial to health, as any of the nuisan- ces Blackstone enumerates as actionable. The majority of the dogs, parrots, piano-fortes, &c. in this metropolis, are actionable nuisances 11! However inferior in rank and fortune, &r your next door neighbour may be, there are moments v. he s be may render you. the most valuable service. "A lion owed his life to the exertions of a mouse." Those who have not the power to please, should have want of deep speedily subdues the spirit of the wildest, and the atrength of the strongest creatures, and render?, savage animals f ■■.iec and tractable, 3b' the art ©f invigorating f.n e. the disoretion not to offend; the most humble nny have opp..-r;'rijtics {.< return a kindness, or resent an insult. It is madness to nantorij atomy any one. There i^ p'entv of time {. -ibc pe I'--ma.ice of all of- (ensiveU uois-\ upprotieu? botvAtvn H) in t.»-e mornmg and 10 at n'o-ht, during --de1) t'e industrious bonnet.ie.d may indu po hm aire- in Ceir S'o. sno g. and Avhile -me polish- es her black leo.ded grate to the lustre whhh is so lovely in the eyes of "the tidy;* the Tat-Too her bnisn strikes up against iis s»do; ma} ;v performed a» 'omit distressing the eors of her nervcu- neighbours,to whom undisturbed re- pcre is the most vi>\if nourishment. Little Swe

dy dow when he -reaches the top of the chimney, and his progress down again, awa- ken the soundest sleepers, who often wish, thai, instead of the chimney, be was smiting the skull of the barbarian who set the poor child to Avork at such an unreasonable hour. The editor's feelings are trembling 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 morning is interrupted from continuing to its natural termination, his whole'sys- tem is shook 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, is the hole between the 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 enjoyment of plenty of u» disturbed repose; this enables them to take exercise, which give them an appetite, and by taking their food at less dis- tant 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 an uniform state of excitement, equally exempt from the languor of inanition, and the fever of repletion SLEEP, 37 Thus, the animal functions are performed with a per- fection and regularity. the tranquillity of which, in the incessantly irregular habits of a tOAvn-life, is continually interrupted; some ridiculous anxiety or other consumes the animal spirits, and the important process of restora- tion is imperfectly performed. Dyspeptic and nervous disorders, and an inferior degree of both extensive and intensive life* are the inevitable consequence, and are the lowest price for (what is called) the pleasures of fashionable society. Dr. Cadogan has told us (very truly) that chronic dis- eases, (and Ave may add, most of those equivocal disorders, which are continually teasing people, but are too insignif- icant to induce them to institute a medical process to re move 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, intem- perance, and vexation; the two first are under our OAvn immediate control, and temperance, industry, and activi- ty, are the best remedies to prevent or remove the debili- ty which reduces our means of resisting the third. During the summer of lifej i. e. the second period of it, (see page 14,) while we hope that every thing may come right, the heart bounds with vigour, and the vital flame burns too brightly to be much, or long subdued by vexa- tion. 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 *In Vienna, Berlin, Paris, and London, the twentieth or twenty third person dies annually; while, in the country around them. the proportion is only one in thirty or forty; in remote country village-, from one in forty to one in fifty; the smallest degree of human mortality on record is one in sixty. t"When warm with hope, in life's aspiring morn, The tints of fancy every scene adorn, The glowing landscape charms the poet's vieAV, And youth believes the fairy prospect true; But soon, experience proves his eye betray'd, And all the picture darkens into shade."—Fitzgerald. Ueaulifidhj set to music by Shield, and printed ie his Canto. J32 38 Tfir. ART OF INVIGORATING LIJS1 the expectations of our earlier days, we begin to fear that c , c; y thing will go Avrong. 9 "The whij s nnd scorns of time, The oppressor's wiom;-, the proud man's contumely. The pangs of despis'd love, the low's delay, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes." The insatiable ruling passion of the second and third pe riods of life; ambition and avarice, the loss of our first and best friends, our parents, regret for the past, and anx- iety about the future, prevent the enjoyment of the pre- sent, and are the cause of those nervous anil bilious disor- ders which attack most of us at the commencement of the third period of life; these precursors of palsy and gout, may generally be traced to disappointment and anxiety of mind;* and people need not groan about the insanities and absurdities of others, it is surely quite sufficient to suf- fer for our own, of which most of us have plenty; avc ought to endeavour to convert those of others, into caus- es of comfort and consolation, instead of fretting about Ihein; if you receive rudeness in return for civility, and ingratitude for kindness, it may move your pity, but should never excite your anger; instead of murmuring at Heav- en for having created such crazy creatures! be fervently *"Above all, it is of essential importance to health, to preserve the tranquillity of the mind, and not to fie.k under the disappoint- ments of life, to which all, but particularly the old, are frequent- ly exposed. "Nothing ought to disturb the mind of an individual who is con- scious of having done all the good in his power."—Sinclair's Code of Health, p. 459. "Nothing hurts more the nervous system, and particularly the eoncoctive powers, than fear, grief, or anxiety."—Whytt on Nerves, p. 349. "I shall add to my list, as the eighth deadly sin, that of ajv > jkty or mind; and resolve not to be pining and miserable, when J ought to be grateful and happy."—Sir Thomas Bernard, Bt. 51 the Comforts of Old Age, p. 135. "Anguish of mind has driven thousands to suicide; anguish of body, none. "This proves that the health of the mind is of far more conse- nuence to our happiness than the health of the body; both are deserving of much more attention than either of them receive."— Colton's Lw. IG20. p. iMO. SLUE P. 39 thankful that you are not equally inconsistent and ridicu- lous, and pray, that #our owa mind, may not be afflicted with the like aberrations. Indigestion,* is the chief cause of perturbed sleep, and often excites the imaginary presence of that troublesome bedfellow the nightmare. On this subject see Peptic Pre cepts, (Index.) Some cannot sleep if they eat any supper, and certain- ly the lighter this meal is, the better. Others, need not put on their night cap, if they do not fir-t bribe their stomachs to good behaviour by a certain quantity of bread and cheese and beer, &c. he. and go to bed almost immediately after. As to the Avholesomeness of a solid supper, per se, we do not think it advisable, but habit may have made it indis- pensable, and- we know it is often the most comfortable meal among the middle ranks of society, Avho have as large a share of health has any. We caution bad sleepers to beware how they indulge in the habit of exciting sleep, by taking any of the prepara- tions of Opium, they are all injurious to the stomach, and often inconvenient in their effects upon the boAvels: "Repose by small fatigue is earned, and weariness can snore upon the flint, when ne3ty sloth, finds a down pil- low hard." As there can be no good digestion Avithout diligent mas- tication, so there can be no sound sleep Avithout sufficient exercise, The most inoffensive and agreeable anodyne is to drink some good white wine, or mulled Avine, by Avay of a sup- plement to your night cap. One glass, taken Avhen in bed, immediately before lying doAvn, is as effective as two or three if you sit up any time after.—See Tewahdiddle, No. 467.) / Many people, if awoke during their first sleep, are un- settled all that night, and uncomfortable and nervous the following day. The first sleep of those Avho eat suppers. commonly terminate* when the food pas-es from the stom- ach. Invalids then awake, and sometimes remain so, in *"Sleep is sound, sweet and refreshing, according as the aliment- ary organs are easy, quiet, and c'.can.'"—Cheyne on Long Lift. p. 79. 40 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. a feverish state, the stomach feeling discontented from being unoccupied, and having nothing to play with; a small crust of bread, or a bit of biscuit well chewed, ac- companied or not, as experience and instinct will sug- gest, with a few mouthsful of mutton or beef broth (No. 564,) or toast and water (No. 463,)* or single grog,* (i. e. one brandy to nine waters,) will often restore its tranquil- lity, and catch sleep again, which nothing invites so irre- sistibly, as introducing something to the stomach, that will entertain it, without fatiguing it. We* have heard persons say they have been much dis- tressed by an intemperate craving for food when they a- woke out of their first sleep, and have not got to sleep soundly again after, and risen in the morning as tired as when they Avent to bed at night, but Avithout any appetite for breakfast; such will derive great benefit from the foregoing advice. \ A broth (No. 564,) or gruel (No. 572) supper, is perhaps the best for the dyspeptic, and those who have eaten and drank plentifully at dinner. The bed roOm should be in the quietest situation possi- ble, as it were "The Temple of Silence;'' and, if possible, not less than 16 feet square: the height of this apartment, in which we pass almost half our time, is in modern houses absurdly abridged, to increase that of the drawing room, Avhich is often not occupied once a month: instead of liv- ing in the pleasant part of the house, where they might enjoy light and air, how often do we find people squeezing themselves into "a nice snug parlour," where Apollo can- not spy. We do not recommend either curtainsor 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 re- duce it to a small closet: Chimney-boards and window- curtains are also inadmissible in a bed room; but valetu- dinarians who are easily awoke, or very susceptible of cold, will do wisely to avail themselves of well made *"The grog on board a ship is generally one spirit and three Ava- ters, this is too strong.—See the Hon. Jchn Cochrane's Seaman's Guide>Qvo. 4797, p. 37. sleep, 41 double* windows and doors, these exclude both noise and cold in a very considerable degree. The best bed is a well stuffed arid Avell curled horsehair mattress, six inches thick at the head, gradually diminish- ing to three at feet, on this another mattress five or six inches in thickness: these should be unpicked and expos- ed to the air, once every year. An elastic horsehair mat- tress, is incomparably the most pleasant, as well as the most wholesome bed. Bed rooms should be thoroughly veutilated by leaving both the Avindow and the door open etery day when the weather is not cold or damp, during Avhich the bed 9hould 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 weather, the temperature becomes considera- bly cooler every minute after ten o'clock; between eight o'clock and twelve, the thermometer often falls in sultry weather, from ten to twenty degrees, and those who'can sit up till twelve o'clock will have the advantage of sleep- ing in an atmosphere many degrees cooler, than those Avho go to bed at ten: this is extremely important to nerv- ous invalids, who however extremely .they may suffer from heat, we cannot advise to sleep Avith the smallest part of the window open during the night; in such sultry days* the Siesta (see page 42,) Avill not only be a gi'eaf support against the heat, but will help you to sit up vo enjoy the advantage above stated. A fire in the bed room, is sometimes indispensable, but not as usually made; it is commonly lighted only just be- fore bedtime, and prevents sleep by the noise it makes, and the unaccustomed 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 sulphoreous puffs from the fresh lighted fire. A fire should be lighted about three or four hours be- fore, and so managed that it may burn entirely 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 *If they are not extremely well made, by a superior workman, and ef seasoned wood, they arc of little or no W.. 12 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. 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, THE poAver of position and temperature to alleviate tho paroxysms of many chronic disorders, has not received the consideration it deserves; a little attention to the va- riation of the pulse, Avill soon point out the effect they produce on the circulation, &c. extremes of heat and cold, with respect to food, drink, and air, are equally to be guar- ded against. Old and cold stomachs, the gouty, and those whose di- gestive faculties are feeble, should never have any thing cold* or old put into them, especially in cold Aveather, Food must take the. temperature of our stomachs, (which is probably not less than 120,) before digestion can com- mence. When the stomach is feeble, cold food frequently pro- duces flatulence, palpitation of the heart, &c. and all the other troublesome accompaniments of indigestion. The immediate remedy for these is hot brandy es,ml. water, and the horizontal posture. Dyspeptic invalids Avill find 75 a good temperature for their drink at dinner, and 120 for tea, &c. Persons Avho are in a state of debility..from age, or oth er causes, will derive much benefit from lying down, and seeking repose wheneAer they feel fatigued, especially during (the first half-hour at least of) the business of di- gestion, and will receive almost as much refreshment from half an hour's sleep, as from half a pint of wine. The restorative influence of the recumbent posture, cannot *"Cold drink is an enemy to concoction, and the parent of cru- Jitjes,"—-Essay onJVarm Beer, Cvo. p. 15. THE SIESTA/ 43 be conceived; the increased energy it gives to the circu- lation, and to the organs of digestion, can only be under- stood by those invalids who have experienced the com- forts of it. Tu. fiesta is not only advisable, but indispensable to those Avhose occupations oblige them to keep late hours. Actors especially, whose profession is. of all others. ihe most fatiguing, and requires both the mind and the body to be in the most intense exertion betAveen 10 and 12 o'clock at night, should avail themselves of the siesta, AAhich is the true source of energy; half an hour's re- pose in the horizontal posture, is a most beneficial res- torative. Good beef tea* (No. 5C3,) with a little bit of slightly toasted bread taken about nine o'clock, is a comfortable restorative, which veill support you through exertions that. Avithout such assistance, are exhausting, and you go to bed lVugued, and get up fevered. Lc. When performers feel nervous, &c. and fear the circula- tion is below par, and too languid to afford the due excite- ment, half an hour before they sing, &c. they will do wise- ly, to wind up their system, with a little -Balsamum Fitce," See -PErTrc Precepts," or tune their throats to the pitch of healthy vibration with a small glass of Johnson'-,! "White Cnracoa" see (No. 474) and Index, a glass of vine, or other stimulus. To 'Mvct your whistle," is occasionally, as absolutely *Tomake'BEEr tea.—Cut a pound of lean gra\-y meat into thin sJices, put it into a quart and a half a pint of cold water, set it over a eentle fire where it will become siedually warm, when the scum rises catch it, cov-r the sauce-nan close, and let it contin- ue boiling for about two hour?. Skim the fat off, strain it through a sieve or napkin, skim it again ; let it stand ten minutes to settle, a^.then pour off the clear tea. To v*- 'e half a pint of beef tea in five minutes for three half- pence, sve (No. 202,) and to make eood mutton broth for nothing, (No. 4'i>.) of the third edition of the "Co'.ffs, Oracle." N. B. An onion, and a few grains of black pepper are some- times added. If the meat is boded till it is thoroughly tender, leitice it, and pound it as directed in (No. 503) of the Cook's Or.a cll, and you have a dish of potted beef for the trouble of mak- ing it. •i Brandy and Liqueur Merchant, No. 2, Colonnade, Pall Mall. 44 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. necessary, as uto rosin the bow of a violin." See "ob- servations on vocal music," prefixed to the opera of Ivanhoe. Actors and Singers, are continually assailed by a va-i riety of circumstances extremely unfavourable to health, especially from sitting up late at night, to counteract which, we recommend the Siesta, and plenty of exercise in a pure air. When they feel nervous, bilious, Sac. i. e. that their whole system is so deranged by fatigue and anxiety, that they cannot proceed effectively and comfortably, they must give their throats two or three day's rest, cleanse the alimentary canal with peristaltic persuaders, see Index, and corroborate the organs of digestion with the tonic tincture (No. 569,) see Index. Strong Peppermint Lozenges, made by Smith, Fell Street, Wood Street, Cheap Side, are very convenient portable carminatives: as soon as they are dissolved, their influence is felt from the beginning to the end of the ali- mentary canal; they dissipate flatulence so immediately that they well deserve the name of Fegetable Ether; and are recommended to singers and public speakers, as giv- ing effective excitement to the organs of voice; as a support against the distressing effects of fasting too long, and to give energy to the stomach betAveen meals. The power of the voice depends upon the vigorous state of the circulation supplying the organs of voice, with energy to execute the intentions of the singer or speaker; without which, the most accurate ear and experienced throat, will sometimes fail in producing the exact quality and quantity of tone they intend. That the voice is sometimes too flat or too sharp, kc. is not a matter of astonishment, to those who really under- stand how arduous a task singers have sometimes to per- form ; it would only be wonderful if it was not: how is the throat exempt from those collapses which occasionally • render imperfect the action of every other fibre and func- tion of our body? The dyspeptic, who tries the effect of recumbency after eating, will soou be convinced that Tristram Shandy was right enough when he said, that "both pain, and pleasure, are best supported in an horizontal posture." THE SIESTA. 45 uIf after dinner the poppies of repletion shed their in- fluence .on thy eyelids, indulge thou kind nature's hint." "A quiet slumber in a comfortable warm room, favoureth the operation of digestion, and thou shalt rise refreshed, and ready for the amusements of the evening." The semi-siesta is a pleasant position, (i. e. putingup the feet on a stool about eight inches high;) but catching a nap in a chair is advisable only as a substitute Avhen the horizontal posture is not convenient; Avhen you can, lie down on a sofa, loosen all ligatures, and give }'Our bowels fair play. These opinions,-which are the results of personal ex- perience, are exactly in unison Avith those of the folloAv- ing medical professors. "From eating comes sleep, from sleep digestion."' Sanc- torious, Sec. iv. Aph. 59. "Perhaps one of the uses of sleep, and of the horizon- tal posture during that period, may be to facilitate the in- troduction of chyle into the blood."—Cruickshank on the Absorbents, p. 95. "The brute creation invariably lie down and enjoy a state of rest, the moment their stomachs are filled. Peo- ple who are feeble, digest their dinner best, if they lie down and sleep as most animals do, when their stomachs are full."—Daravin's Zoonomia, vol. iv. p. 137. "Dr. Haravood, professor of anatomy at Cambridge, took tAvo pointers who were equally hungry, and fed them equally well; one he suffered to folloAV the promptings of instinct, curled himself round till he was comfortable, and went to sleep, as animals generally do after eating; the other was kept for about two hours in constant exercise. On his return home, the two dogs were killed. In the stomach of the one Avho had been quiet and asleep, a'i the food, was digested; jn the stomach of the other, that pro- cess was hardly begun." "Quiet of body- and mind for two hours after dinner, is certainly useful to the studious, the delicate and the in- valid."—Adair on Diet, p. 44. "After dinner, rest for three hours."—Abernethy's Surgical Obs. 8vo. . 1817, p. 53.. "After dinner sit a while."1—English Proverb. ■ 'If you have a strong propensity to sleep after dinner, K 46 the art of invigorating life. indulge it, the process of digestion goes on much better during sleep, and I have always found an irresistible pro- pensity to it, whenever dyspeptic symptoms Avere consid- erable.—Waller on Incubus, 1816, p. 109. "Aged men, and weak bodies, a short sleep after din- ner doth help to nourish."—Lord Bacon's Nat. Hist. Cent. 1. 57. CLO T II E & OF all the customs of clothing, the most extremely ab- surd is the usual arrangement of bed clothes, which in or- der as the chambermaid fancies to make the bed look pret- ty in the day time, are left long at the head, that they may cover the pillows; when they are turned down. You have an .intolerable load on your lungs, and that part of the bod)' which is most exposed during the day, is smoth- ered at night, with double the quantity of clothes that any ether part has. Sleep is prevented by an unpleasant degree of either heat or cold; and in this ever-varying climate, where of- ten "in one monstrous day all seasons mix," delicate ther- mometries! persons will derive much comfort from keep- ing a counterpane in reserve for an additional covering in very cold weather: when some extra clothing is as needful by night, as a great coat is by day. A gentleman who has a mind to carry the adjustment of his clothes to a nicety, may have the shelves of his ward- robe numbered 30, 40, 50, 60, &c. and according to the degree of ccld pointed to by his Fahrenheit,* he may wear a corresponding defence against it: This mode of adjust- ''Thermometers intended to give the temperature of rooms, should be so placed as to be equally removed from the radient heat of the fire, and from currents of air .from the door. Out of door* they should be in a northern situation, sheltered ecm sunshine, or rellectedheal, &c. CLOTHES. 4i ing dress according to the vicissitudes of the weather, &c. is as rational as the ordinary practice of regulating it by the almanack or the fashion, which in this uncertain cli- mate and capricious age, will as often lead us wrong, as right. Leave off your Avinter clothes late in the spring; put them on early in the autumn. By wearing your winter clothes during the first half dozen warm days, you^get some fine perspirations, which are highly salutary in re- moving obstructions on the cutaneous pores, &c. Delicate and dyspeptic persons are often distressed by changing their dress, which must be as uniform as possible, in thickness, in quality, and in form, especially (flannel, or indeed) Avhatever is Avorn next to the skin. The change of a thick waistcoat for a thin one, or a long for a shorter one; not putting on winter garments soon enough, or leaving them off too soon, will often ex- cite a violent disorder in the lungs, or bowels, &c. and ex- asperate any constitutional complaint. Those who wear flannel waistcoats, are recommended to have their new ones about the middle of November, with sleeves to them coming doAvn to the wrist; the short- ening these sleeves in the warm weather, is as effective an antidote against extreme heat, as lengthening them, and closing the cuff of the coat, is against intense cold. Our coat* should be made so large, that Avhen buttoned, we may be as easy as when it is unbuttoned, so that Avith- out any unpleasant increase of pressure on the chest, &c. we can wear it closely buttoned up to the chin; the pow- er of doing this is a convenient provision against the sud- den alternations from heat to cold; buttoning up this out- er garment, will protect the delicate from many mis- chiefs which 60 often arise in this inconstant climate from *The following observettions on clothing, are copied, from the life of John Stewart, the%avellor, printed for Egerton, 1813, p. 9. "I clothed myself at all times very warm, and by buttoning and unbuttoning, 1 could accommodate to the sudden change of cli- mate and season, and preserve thereby the equilibre of the secre- tions and excrements on which health and life depends; for cloth- ing forms a factitious heat, as a substitute to the muscular heat. declining with age or sickness; on which action of heat vitality and all the other functions of vital organism depend." 48 The art op Invigorating tm<£. the Avant of such a defence; and the additional warmth it produces will often cure slight colds, &c. Another way of accumulating caloric, is to have 4avo set:- of button holes to the cuff of the coat, (especially of your great coat,) one of which will bring it quite close round the Avrist. When the circulation is languid, and yoiir feet are cold, wear worsted stockings, have your shoes well warmed, and when you take them from the fire, put your slippers* tc it, that they may be warm and comfortable for you on your return home. In wet weather wear shoes with double upper-leathers, two thin leathers will keep you much drier than one thick one, and are more pliable j the courrier's dubbing is the best nourisher of leather, and renders it as soft as satin, and impervious to Avater. The mean temperature of England is about 50 degrees ef Fahrenheit, it sometimes rises 25 degrees above this, in the height of summer, fails about as much below, in the depth of aa inter, and in summer frequently varies from 20 to 30 degrees between mid-day and mid-night. The restoration, and the preservation of health, especially of those who have passed their fortieth year, depends upon minute and unremitting attentions to food, clothes, exer- cise, &c. which taken singly may appear trifling, but com- bined are of infinite importance. "If you are careful of it, glass will last as long as iron.'''' By a regular observance of a few salutary precepts, a del- icate constitution will last as long, and afford its proprie- tor as many amusements, as a strong body, whose mind takes but little care of it. Invalids are advised to put on a great coat when they go out, and the temperature of the external air is not high- er than 40. Some susceptible constitutions require this additional clothing when the thermometer falls below 50; especially at the commencement of cold Aveather. A great coat must be kept in a room Avhere there is a fire: if it has been hung up in a cold damp hall, as it often is, it will contribute about as much to your calorifi- cation, as if you wrapped a wet blanket about you. *The best slippers are a pair of old shoes; the worst, those of plai- ted cloth, which make the feet tender, and are hotter covering for .them in the house, than you give them when you go out. CLOTHES. 4*' Clothes should be warm enough to defend us from cold,*' and largej enough to let every movement be made Avith as much ease when they are on, as when they are off. Those whose employments are sedentary, especially hard students, Avho often neglect taking suficient exerciser suffer extremely from the pressure of tight waistbarids, garters, &e. Avhich are the cause of many of the mischiefs that arise from long sitting, during which they should be loosened. Braces have been generally considered a great im- provement on modern dress, because they render the pres- sure of the waistband unnecessary, which Avhen extreme- ly close is certainly prejudicial; but we have always- thought they have produced more inconvenience than they have removed, for if the inferior viscera get there- by more freedom of action, the superior suffer for it, and, moreover, ruptures are much more frequent; the girdle which formerly prevented them being removed, and, in- *"Only fools and beggars suffer from cold, the latter not being able to procure sufficient clothes, the former not having the sense to wear them.—Boekhaa v e. tNarrow sleeves are a very great check on the muscular exer- cise of the arms; the waistcoat, in its present fashionable form, may be very properly termed a strait one. The waistcoat should be long enough to cover the breeches tAvo or three inches all round. The wrists and knees, but more especially the latter, are braced with ligature-, or tight buttoning; and the legs, which require the utmost freedom of motion, are secured into leathern cases or boots, though the wearer perhans is never mounted on horse-back. To complete the whole, as the head is confined by a tight hat, but rarely suited to its natural shape, so in regard to shoes, the shape^ of the foot and the easy expansion of the toes arc never consult- ed; but the shape regulated by the fashion oftheday, however tight and uncomfortable."—Sinclair's Code of Health^th Edi- tion, p. 357. ^"Those who do not take a sufficient quantity of exercise, soon suffer from a number of disorders, want of appetite, want of sleep, flatulence, &c. Lc. ob-truction, relaxation of the bowels, and all the diversified symptoms of nervous complaints. Men of letters suffer much, and from neglecting to take exercise, are of- ten the most unhealthy of human beings; even that temperance by which many of them .are distinguished, is no effectual remedy a- gainst the mischiefs of a sedentary lifer which can only be coun« traded by a proper quantity of exercise and air." i» THE ART €>F INVIGORATING LIF1 stead of that useful and partial horizontal pressure, in spite m toe elastic springs which have been attached to the bra- ces, the whole body is grievously oppressed by the verti- clc bands. The best material for breeches, is the elastic worsted stocking stuff. Tight stays and braces, obstruct the circulation of the Mood. &c. are the cause of many chronic complaints, and rdten create organic diseases.* FIRE. AS we advance in age, the force of the circulation be- ing lessened, the warmth of our clothes and our coverings at night should be gradually increased. "After the age of 35, it may be better to exceed, rather than be deficient in clothing."—Adair's Cautions, p. 390. Cold often kills the infirm and the aged, and is the prox- imate cause of most palsies; it is extremely desirable that bed and sitting rooms for winter occupations, should have a southern aspect; when the thermometer is below 30, tiie proper place for people beyond 60, is their own lire .side: many of the disorders and deaths of persons at this period of life, originate from irregularity in diet, Temperature, &c. by dining out, and frisking about, join- ing in Christmas gambols, &c. in cold weather. The art of making a room comfortably warm, does not consist merely in making a very large fire in it; but de- *Stays and stiff jackets are most pernicious; they disfigure the beautiful and upright shape of a Avoman, and injure the breast and bowels; obstruct the breathing and digestion; hurt the breast and nipides so much that many mothers have been prevented by their use from suckling their children; many hence get cancers and at last lose both health and life; for they render Che delivery of wo- men very difficult and dangerous both to mother and child."— From Dr. Faust's Catechism of Health, 12mo. p. 39, Edinburgh, FIRE, 51 pends as much on the keeping of cold air out, this is best done by double windows, (see pages 40 and 41,) and dou- ble doors: at least take care that your sashes fit close, that the beads of the window frames are tight, stop the aper- ture between the skirting boards and the floor with putty, and list the doors. We suppose it almost needless to say that every room in the house should be thoroughly ventilated* by a cur- rent of fresh air, at least once every day, when the weath- er is not very damp, or cold. By making a lire accord- ingly, this may be done almost every day in the year. If you leave the door open for five minutes, it will let in more cold air than your fire can make warm in fifteen; therefore, initiate your domestics in these first principles of the economy of caloric, and when the weather is cold, caution them to keep doors shut. A regular temperature may be preserved by a simple contrivance attached to a thermometer, which will open an aperture to admit the external air, when the apart- ment is heated above the degree de-ired, (i. e. about 60 for common constitutions,) and exclude it when it falls be- Ioav it. A room which is in constant occupation all day, may be occasionally pumped by moving the door backward and forward for several minutes. We do not advise invalids to indulge themselve, in heat- ing their rooms to a higher temperature! than from 60 to 65 Those who haA e resided the best part of their life in warm climates, will like the latter best. While we re- commend the aged and infirm to be kept comfortably warm, they must at the same time cautiously avoid excess of heat. *"Stagnant air becomes corrupted in the same manner as stag- nant water; opening windoAVS and making currents Of air, are the best means of purifying it."—Struvk's Astkenology, p. 348. f'The natural heat of the human body is 98 of Fahrenheit's thermometer; any temperature applied to it lower than 98, gives a sensation of cold, but if the temperature applied is not below 62, the sensation of cold will not continue long, but be soon changed to a sensation of heat, and in this climate, air, &c. applied to the living man, does not diminish the temperature of his bodv, unless the temperature of it be below 62; if it is above that it increases it."—Cullen's First Lines, vol. i. p. 130. 52 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE When the thermometer, tells them that the exter- nal air is under 60, whether it be in July, or in January, those who are susceptible of cold, must tell their servants to keep a small fire, especially if the weather be at the same time damp. Those who, from caprice,1 or parsimony, instead of o- beying this comfortable and salutary precept, sit shiver- ing and murmuring, and refuse to employ the coal-mer- chant, as a substitute for the sun, may soon spend in phys- ic more than they have saved in fuel. By raising the temperature of my room to about 65, taking a full dose of Epsom Salts, and broth diet, and re- tiring to rest an hour sooner than usual, I have often very speedily got rid of colds, &c. The following plan of lighting and managing afire, has been attended with great comfort and convenience to my- self, (particularly at the beginning and the end of the Avinter, when a very small fire is sufficient,) and I think considerable saving of coals. Fill your grate wiih fresh coals quite up to the upper bar but one, then lay in your faggot of wood in the usual manner, rather collected in a mass, than scattered, that a body of concentrated heat may be produced as soon as possible; over the faggot place the cinders of the prece- ding day, piled up as high as the grate will admit, and placed loosely in rather large fragments, in order that the ' draft may be free; a bit or two of fresh coal may be ad- ded to the cinders when once they are lighted, but no small coal must be thrOAvn on at first, for the reason above stated: when all is prepared, light the wood, Avhen the cinders become in a short time thoroughly ignited, the gas rising from the coals below, which will now be effected by the heat, will take fire as it passes through them, leav- ing a very small portion of smoke to go up the chimney. The advantage of this mode of lighting a fire is, that small coal is better suited to the purpose than large, ex- cept a few pieces in front to keep the small from falling out of the grate, it may be kept in reserve, to be put on afterwards if wanted. 1 have frequently known my fire lighted at 8 o^clock in the morning, continue burning till 11 at night without any thing being done to it: when appa- rently quite out, on being stirred, you have in a few min- Ain. o;5 utfts a glowing fire: it will sometimes be necessity to loos- en, or stir slightly the upper part of the fire if it hegins to cake, but the loAver part must not be touched, other wise it will burn away too soon. AIR. MANY invalids are hurried into their graves,, by tht- indiscreet kindness of their friends forcing them from the comforts of home, for the sake of air more abounding with- oxygen, i, e. the vivifying part of the atmosphere: that great benefit is received from what is called change of air is'true enough, it is seldom considered that there is also a change m most of the other circumstances of the. patient; many, of infinitely more importance, than that which derives all the credit of the cure. For instance, if aperson living in a confined part of the city, neglecting exercise, harrassed all day by the anxie- ties of business, and sitting up late at night, kc. be remo-. ved to the tranquillity of rural scenes, which invite him. to be almost constantly taking exercise in the open air. and retiring to rest at an early hour; and, thus, instead of being surrounded by irritations unfavourable to health, enjoying all the "jucunda obliva vitce'1'' Avhich are favour- able to it; such a change will often do wonders, and suffi- ciently account for the miraculous cures attributed to change of air. Chemical philosophers assert indeed, that, a-gallon of the unsavory gas from garlick bilk, gives as high a pro- portion of oxygen, as the like quantity of the ethereal ele- ment of primrose hill: this seems incredible, and mud a- rise either from the imperfection of the Eudiometer giv- ing erroneous results, or from the air being impregnated with matter unfriendly to health, which the instruments employed to anabze it, have not the poAver of denoting-. let any one tread tbQ mazes of a crowded city, and walk 54 THE ART OF INVICORATIISO LIFE. for the same space of time in a pleasant country, the ani- mal spirits will soon testify, Avhich is the most exhilara- ting. However, people certainly do live long, and enjoy health, in situations apparently very unfavourable to an- imal life. Our omniscient Creator has given to our lungs, the same faculty of extracting nutriment from various kinds of air, as the stomach has from various kinds of aliment: the poor man who feeds on the coarsest food, is supported by it in as sound health, as the rich man who fares sumptu- ously every day. Well then, in nine cases out of ten to change the atmos- phere Ave have been long accustomed to, is as unadvisable as a change in the food Ave have been used to, unless other circumstances make it so, than the mere change of place. The opulent invalid ivho has been long indulged Avith a home arranged to his humour, must beAvare (especially during any exacerbation of his infirmity) of leaving it; it would be almost as desperate a procedure as to eject an oyster from his shells, EXERCISE. -By ceaseless action all that is subsists, Constant rotation of the unwearied wheel That nature rides upon, maintains her health, Her beauty, her fertility. She dreads an instant's pausev And lives but Avhile she moves."—Cowper's Task. "The wise, for health on exercise depend; God never made his work for man to mend." THE more luxuriously you live, the more exercise* you require, the "Bon Fivang9 may depend upon the truth of *"The cordials, volatiles, bracers, strengthened, Sec. given by common practitioners, may keep up an increased circulation for a few hours, but their action soon subsides. Tlie circulation of the blood can only be properly carried on through ■he medium of exercise or labour.—See page 18. <\o ■ cannot come up to nature in this most salutary of all her op- EXERCISfc. 55 the advice which Sir Charles Scarborough gave to the Dutches of Portsmouth, " You must eat less, or take more exercise,f or take physic, or be sick." N Exercise is the grand poAver to promote the circulation through the capillary vessels, by Avhich the constitution is preserved from obstructions, appetite increased, and diges- tion improved in all its stages; the due distribution of nourishment, invigorates the nervous system, gives firm ness and elasticity to the muscles, and strength to every part of the system. Exercise, to have its full effect must be continued till Ave feel a sensible degree of perspiration, (Avhich is the pan- acea for the prevention of corpulence.) see page 23; and should, at least once a-day proceed to the borders of fa- tigue, but never pass them, or we shall be weakened in stead of strengthened. Health depends upon perpetual secretion and .absorp tion, and exercise only can produce this. erations. That sprightly vigour, and alacrity of health, which Ave enjoy in an active course of life; that ze-t in appetite, and refreshment after eating, Avhich sated luxury seeks in vain from art, is owing wholly to new blood made every day from fresh food, prepared and distributed by the joint action of all the parts of tho oody.— Cadogax.ob Gout:i p. 34. •(■'•There, is no rule more essential to those Avho are advanced in life, than never to give way to a remission of exercise. By de- grees the demand for exercise may shrink, in ex In me old a»e, to little more than a bare quit-rent; but that quit-rent must be paid, since life is held by the tenure. "Whoever examines the accounts„ handed doAvn to us of the longest livers, will generally file!, tjjat to the very last they used some exercise, as walking a certaiu distance every day, &c. This is mentioned as something surprising in them, considering their great age; whereas the truth is, that their living to such an age without some such exercise, would have been the wonder. Exer- cise keeps ou" obstructions, Avhich are the principal'sources of .dis- eases, and ultimately of death. Motion then is the tenure of life ; and old people who humour or indulge an inclination to sloth am! inactivity, (which is too apt to grow upon them on the least en- couragement,) act as unwisely as the poor traveller, who bewilder- ed in trackless snow, and surprised by a chilling frost, instead of resisting the temptation to sleep, suffers it to steal upon him, though he know-, that, by its fatal blandishments, he can ncer expect to wake again, but mu;t inevitably perish." —Institutes <■( Health, p. 24. 66 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LlFt \fter exercise, .take care to get cool gradually; when your head perspires, rub it, and your face, &c. dry Avith a cloth: this is better for the hair than the best "bear's grease," and will beautify the complexion beyond "La Cos- metique Royale;'' or all the red and white Olympian deAv that Avas ever imported. One of the most important precepts for the preserva- tion of health, is to take care of the skin* In '.inter, the surface of the body, the feet, &c. should be Avashed twice or thrice a week, with water of the tem- perature of about 98, and wiped every day with a Avet towel; a tepid bath of the like temperature once a fort- night will also conduce much to both health and comfort. Some advise that the surface of the body be wiped every morning with a Avet sponge, and rubbed dry after, with not too fine a cloth. WINE. :,Le V in est l'un des produits de la nature les plus difficile n juger et a bien choisir: et les plus habiles gourmets sont sou- vent mis en dufaut."—Manuel du Sommelier, Paris, l&17,p. I. WINE, especially Port, is generally twice spoiled be- fore it is considered fit to be drank!!'. The wine maker spoils it first, by over-loading it with brandy to make it keep. The wine-drinker keeps it till time has not only dissipa- ted the superabuudant spirit, but even until the acetous fer- *"The most ignorant person knows, that proper care of the skin is indispensably necessary for the well-being of horses, kc. "The groom often denies himself rest, that he may dress and curry his horses sufficiently; it is, therefore, Avonderful that the en- lightened people of these days should neglect the care of their own skin so much, that I think I may, without exaggeration, as- sert, that among the greater part of'men, the pores of the skin, are half closed and unfit for usef>—From page 23 > of Huffland's. Art of prolonging Life,—which persons of all ages may persuc with much advcintae'e mentation begins to be evident; this, it is the taste noAv to call "Flavour," and wine is not liked, till it has lost so much of its exhilarating poAver, that you may drink half a pint of it, before receiving that degree of excitement, which the wine-drinker requires to make him happy. We mean a legal pint containing 16 ounces. The measure of a bottle of wine ought to be as de- finitive, as that of a roT of porter: is it not astonishing that the legislature have not ordered a standard and. stamped quart, for the Avine-merchant, as they have a pot for the publican ? This would be equally as desirable to the respectable wine-merchant, as to the public. It would protect the former against the injurious compe- tition of those who at present, by vending Avine in bot- tles of inferior dimension, impose on the unweary purchas- er under pretence of selling at a lower than the market price. The purchaser of a dozen bottles of wine expects to receive three gallons of wine. Proportion of the wine gallon, according to the last London Pharmacopoeia: Gallon. Pints. Fluid Ounces. Drachms. Minims or Drops. 1 —.8 ---- 128 ---- 1024 ---- 61,440 There are 3:2 ounces in a legal wine quart. Multiply by 12 quarts in three gallons. 384 ounces in ditto. Measure the number of ounces your bottle holds, divide ii84 by it and the quotient A\ill give you the number of such bottles re- quired to contain three gallons of AArine. Some bottles do not contain more than 26 ounce-. 26)384(14 bottles, 1 pint and a quarter. 26 124 > 104 20 0r' Multiply 25, i. c. the number of ounces By 12 your bottles will contain. 312 the number of ounces contained in your dozen bolt! .-;, Avhich Ought to hold 384 the number of ounces'irj I ebOraei 312 three gallons.- ■'; THE .Uif OF iNVlGORA ! I\G LIJ'K. Divide by the number) 32)72(2 quarts and half a j e : simr! ■>f ounces in a quart) 64 of measure. S ounces. So, instead of three gallons, you have only two gai- U :is, one quart, and a pint end a half The quantity a"bottle will contain, ma}' easily be accurate- ly ascertained, by I.vne's graduated glass measure, which holds half a pint, and divided into ounces, kc. it is a con- vx.nieni vessel to mix grog in. A pipe of Port contains, on-the average, 138 gallon*. f Avhich three musj. be alloAved 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, j 10 dp. Hogsheads of Charet, 55 do. It is convenient for small families to have part of their wine in pint bottles. * That Avine is much best when quite fresh opened, is'a fact it is needless to observe; half a pint of Avine, (i. c. 8 ounces, i. e. 4 ordinary wire-glasses) is as much as most people (who have not spoiled their stomachs by intemper- ance) require. The rage for superannuated wine, is one 6f the most ulicvhnis vulgar errors of modern ejricurism; "the bee's v.ineo"' "liook crust* on the bottle,'' "loss of strength, kc." Avhich wine-fanciers consider the beauty of their lawny favorite, "fine old Fori;" air forbidding manifestations of decomposition, and the departure of some of the best qualities of the Avine. The agej -of maturity for exportation from Oporto, is / *A thick crust is not always Use consequence of the Avine haviug been very long time in the bottle, but is rather a -i'.;a that it was too little lime in the cask, or has been kept in a very cold cedar. t"Had the man that first filled the Ileidcl burgh Tun, been pla- ced as sentinel to sec d at no other wine Avas put into it, I believe that he would have found it much better at 2o or I::0 years old, than at S00 or 150, had he lived so long, retained, his senses, and been permitted now and then to ta.it..- it; a privilege Avith which the na- tives are seldom indulged. '■To give % great price for v.ine, and keep it till it belies to per- ish, i.; a great pity." 1 cannot belicAe that vc-y aged (vine, uh >: avine. 5:) said to be the second year after the viufage, (probably sometimes not quite so long.) Our Avine-merchants keep it in Avood from tAvo to six years longer, according to its original strength, kc. surely "this must be long enough to do all that can be done In keeping it; what crude wine it must be to require even this time to ameliorate it; the necessity for Avhich, must arise either from some error in the original manufacture, or a false taste, which docs not relish it, till time has chan- ged its original characteristics. Ordinary Port \- a very uncleansed, fretful Avine, and ex- perienced judges have assured us. that the best port is rath- er impoverished than improved, by being kept in bottle longer than two* years, ?'. e. supposing if to have been previous:v from tAvo to four years in the cask in this coun- try, observing, that all that the outrageous advocates for "vin passe," really knoAV about it, is, that Sherry is yellow. and Port is black, and that if they drink enough of eithe. of them, it will make them drunk. White Wine, especially Sherry and Madeira, being more perfectly fermented, and thoroughly lined before they are bottled, if kept in a cellar of uniform tempera- ture, are not so rapidly deteriorated by age. The temperature of a good cellar is nearly the same throughout the year. Double doors help to preserve this. It must be dry, and be kept clean as possible. The art of preserving wines, is to keep them from fros- ting, which is done by keeping them in tho same degree of heat, and careful corking.f "If persons wish to pre- 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 its 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."—Youisc: 's Epicure, 8vo. 1815, p. 23, 28, &c. *"Wines bottled in good order, may be fit to drink in si.\ months, (especially if bottled in October,) but they are not in per- fection before twelve. From that to tAvO years they may continue so: but it would be improper to keep them longer."—Edinburgh Encyclop. Brilan. vol. xviii. p. 72, Article Wine. t"Cork the bottles very closely with good cork, and lay them •>n their side, thatthe cork may not dry and facilitate tho nee--- b'O the art or pvigora". inc. life. «l serve the fine flavour of their wines, they ought on no ac- count to permit any bacon, cheese, onions, potatoes, or ci+ der, in their wine-cellars. Or, if there be any disagree- able stench in the cellar, the wine will indubitably imbibe it; consequently instead of being fragrant and charming to the nose and palate, it will be extremely disagreeable." Carnell on Wine making, 8vo. 1814, p. li'4. Sec also Manuel du Sommelier.par A. Jullien, Paris, 1817. That Madeira (if properly matured before) improves in quality by being carried to the East Indies and back, by Avhich voyage it loses from 8 to 10 gallons, or to the West, by Avhich about 5 are wasted,* however these round a- bout 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 whom rarity is the "sine qua «ion" of recommendation, it is one of those inconvenient prejudices, from which common sense preserve us! The vulgar objection to new wine, (by which Ave mean ivine that has been maturing in Avood two years in Portu- gal, two in England, and in bottle more than twelve months,) is, that its exhilarating qualities are too abun- dant, and intoxicate in too small a dose, those "Bon Fi- vants" to whom "the bottle, the sun of the table," and who are not in the habit of crying to go home to bed while they can see it shining, require Avines weaker than those which are usually imported from Spain and Portugal; hoAvever Port and Sherry may be easily reduced to the standard desired by the long sitter, "paululum aceti ace- tosi;'' will give the acid gout, "equa puroC will subdue their spirit "ad libitum;'1 and produce an imitation of the 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 imixture of melted wax, rosin, or pitch."—Accum on making Wine, 1820, p. 40. *A puncheon of brandy containing 130 gallons, after re. maining 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 evaporates. The London Dock Company are not answerable for any de- crease of quantity in a pipe of wine left under their care, pro- Aided it does not exceed one gallon for each year, Avhioh it is su;»- posed to Avaste in that time. WINE. 61 flavour acquired by age, extempore, and you can thus very easily make fine fruit}' nutritious neAv wine, as light, and as old,* and as poor, as you please, and fit it exactly to your customer's palate, whether "Massa drinky for drinky, or drinky for drunky Massa."1 To ameliorate very 7iew, or very old wine—mix a bottle of the one with a-bottle of the other, or to a bottle of ve- ry old Port add a glass or iavo of good new Claret, to very new, a glass of Sherry. Of all our senses, the taste, especially for liquids, is the most sophisticated slave of habit, "De gustibus, non est disputandumy The astringent matter, and Alcohol, which render Port Wini; the prop of an Englishman's heart, are intolerable to the palate of an Italian, or Frenchman. But a stonv ach which has been accustomed to be Avound up by the double s/imulus of astringents, and alcohol also, will not be content with the latter only, especially if that be in less quantity, as it is in the Italian and French Wines; 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. Mr. Accum, the chemist, analized for the editor some Port and Sherry of the finest quality; the Portj yielded *Corna-ro complains that old wine was very disagreeable to his stomach, and new wine very grateful; his dose was fourteen oun- ces, (i. e. seven Avine glasses) per day. tFermented liquors furnish very different proportions of alcohol, and it has been sometimes supposed that it does not pre-exist t» t he^amount in which it is obtained by distillation; but some exper- iments I made upon the subject in 1811 and 1813, and which are printed in the Phil. Trans, for these years, tend to show that it is a real educt, and not formed by the action of beat upon the ele- ments existing in the fermented liquor. The following table ex- hibits the proportion of alcohol by measure existing in one hundred pints of wine."—Brande's Manuel'of Chemistry, 8vo. 1819, p. • -100. Hock........14 Claret........15 Sherry -------- 19 Port......... Madeira - -.....34 per cent Alcoho!'" F2 b2 THE art of Tnvigorating life. 20 percent, and the Sherry 19*25 per cent, of Alcohol of 825 specific gravity, i. e. the strongest spirit of Avine that can be drawn, full double the strength of Brandy, which seldom has forty per cent, and common Gin* not more than 30, or 25. Some people have a notion that if they go to the docks, they can purchase a pipe of Avine for twenty pounds less, than they must pay to a regular Avine 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 and price as much as Porter does in London. It is needless to say hoAV difficult it is to obtain the best beer at any price; it is quite as dif- ficult to obtain the best Port Avine at Oporto, where the very superior wine is all bought up at a proportionately high price by the agents for the London wine merchants. Brandies and wines vary in quality quite a!s much as they do in price: not less than twenty pounds per pipe in the country where they are made. 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 Avine at the regular market price. If you are particular about the quality of what you buy, the less you ask about the price of it the better, if you are not, bargain as hard as you please. The editor buys his Wines of Messrs. Danvers and Clarke, No. 122, upper Thames street; his Brandy and *"It would save many lives if gin, &c. was not allowed to be sold until reduced to one third the strength of proof spirit. Peo- ple do not at first drink from any liking or desire, but being cold, or faint Avith hunger or fatigue, they find immediate comfort and refreshment from the use of spirits; and as they can purchase a dram Avith 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, but are the most powerful incentives to vice of every kind; drunk- enness engenders all other crimes. Does the robber pause in his trade? Does the murderer hesitate? they are presently wound up at the gin shop. Has the seducer tried his arts in vain? The brothel is more indebted to this source, than to all the other lures to seduction."—From Hint for the Preservation of Health."—Cal- low, 1813, 12mo. p. 2. WINE. 63 Liqueurs* of Mr. Johnson, in Pall Mall; and his Spirits, kc- of Mr. Richards, Piccadilly: "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 tAvo are laAvful drinkers. "A third drinks neither for the good of the body or the mind, but to stupify and droAvn both."—Maynavaringe on Health, &c. 12mo. 1683, p. 123. * Johnson's White Curacoa takes precedence of all the Li- queurs Ave ha%e ever tasted. A moral and physical Thermometer; or, a scale of the pro- gress of temperance and intemperance, by .J. C. Lettsom, iir n t_____ ..r ,t . -v., . ' r . . _ » M. D. TO— tTO— 50— 40— 30 :o— Liquors with their effects, in their usual order. TEMPERANCE. Health, Wealth. WATER. 10- Milk and Water. Small Beer. Cider and Perry, Wine. Porter. Strong Beer Serenity of Mind. Reputation, long lief, and Happiness. Cherfulness. ' Strength, and Nourishment, when ta- ken only at meals, and in moderate quantities. " "Vices. " f Punci. Idlenes peevish toddy& crank ness. i Grosr, and quarrel < brandy Sc ling. (water. Fight-ing. Lying. Flip & shrub; |" Swear- r< fBitters infu ing. J sed in spirits obscen- 1 Hysteric ity- water. Swind- fGin, bran- ling. I dy, rum, & perjury- J whiskey in Burgla- [_ the morning ry- I Do. during Mur- < the day and der. y, night. ^ Suicide ^ INTEMPERANCE. Sickness. Puking and Tremors of the handsin the morning Bloatedness Inflamed eyes. Red nose & face sore & swel- led legs. Jaundice. Pains in the limbs & bur- ning in the palms of the hands. Dropsy. melancholy Madness. Palsy Apoplexy. I DEATH. J fPUNISH- MENTS. Debt. Black eyes. Rags. Hunger. Hospital. Poor- house. Jail. Whip- ping. The hulks* Botany Bay. Gallows. WINE. f>5 Those who drink wine* c. for the purpose it was given, as a cordial to cheer the circulation, when if filters from fatigue, age, or profuse evacuations of any kind, 'for the stomach's sake," as St. Paul recommends it, and for our ''often infirmities" as a medicine, will understand, that of all the Avays of saving, to run any risk of buying inferior Avine, is the most ridiculous unwise economy. To ice zcine is another very unprofitable and inconven- ient custom, and not only deteriorates its flavour, but by rendering it dull in the mouth, people are induced to drink too much, as they are deprived of the advantage of know- ing Avhen they have got enough, for as soon as the aa ine becomes warm in their stomachs, the dose they have tak- en merely to exhilarate them, makes them drunk. The true economy of drinking, is to excite as much ex- hilaration as may be, with as little wine. We deprecate the custom of fitting for hours after din- ner, and keeping the stomach in an incessant slate of irrita- tion by sipping wine, nothing can be more prejudicial to digestion,\ it is much better to mix food "and drink, and to take them by alternate mouthfuls.—See {age 5. Our '-Vinom Brittannicvm," good home breAved beer, which has been very deservedly called "Liquid Bread,"11 is preferable to any other beverage during dinner or sup- per, or Port or Sherry diluted with about three or four times their quantity of toast and Avater, (No. 463^.undi- luted, these Avines are to strong too be drank during din- *"The blood of the grape appeareth to be blood, in it is life, it is from the vine, and that the plant of life; and that the difference be- tween this plant, ani the Tree of Life in Paradise, Avere but magis and minus, is not so improbable as to be rejected by any, for they Avill be both eranted plants of life, and thev very much respond in their nature as Avell as appellation. What the fruit Avas that sprang from that in Paradise, is not as yet known, or not so per- fectly understood as that of the vine, the nature of Avhich is so lively as that Galen will affirm it to augment radical heat, Avhich is the Avay to live forever."—See Dr. Whitaker on the Blood of the Grape, 16mo. 1654, p. 3.and 31. tin our Peptic Precepts, we have pointed out the most "conven- ient Avays of counteracting the dilapidating effects of excessive vinous irrigation, which is doubly debilitating, when you sud'c. the fascinations of the festive boAvl to seduce you to sacrifice to Bai • thus, thfac hours which are duo to the dr*-.v-.y God of ru-M GG the art of invigorating met. ner, they act so poAverfully on the feelings of the stomach, (hat they dull the desire for solid food, by producing flu >ensation of restoration, and the system, instead of receiv- ing materials to repair and strengthen it, is merely stimu- lated during the action of the vinous spirit. However, the dull stimulus of distension, is insufficient for some delicate stomachs, which do absolutely require to be screAved up'with a certain quantity of diffusible stim- ulus.* Avithout Avhich, they cannot proceed effectively to the business of digestion, or indeed any other business; Ave do not recommend such, especially if they have passed tho meridian of life, to attempt to entirely wean themselves of*it, but advise them immediately after dinner, to drink as much as is necessary to excite that degree of action in their system, Avithout which they are uncomfortable, and then to stop.—See observations on Siesta.. NoAV-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 susceptible stomachs, as the like quantity of alcohol Avould produce upon an adult. Wine has been called "the milk of old age," so "milk is theAvineof youth." As Dr. Johnson observed,it is much easier to be abstinent than to be temperate, and no man should habitually take Avine 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 which may be a needfui stimulus at 40 or 50, will inflame the passions into madness at 20 or 30, and at an earlier period is obsolute poison. *"More or less alcohol 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 di- ease; dyspeptics who have been accustomed to its use, cannot be deprived of it; a very moderate use of Avino can hardly be said to be injurious: wc see those who use it in thi« way, live as long, and enjoy as .or Iri.J: \rHiSKti' is an infirrtely purrr spirit than Eng- lish Gix, Avhich i; an maartain comoound of v;'no:H e-sentia' oils, &o. 63 TUE ART OF INVIGORATING till queur glass ef Johnson's* Wiitc Curacoa] is occasionally recommended as a renovating Bonne Botiche; about a quar- ter of an hour after dinner, he lies doAvn on a sofa, and sleeps for about half an hour; this has Leen his custom for the lasttAventy years; half an hour's horizontal posture is more restorative to him, than if he had sat up and drank three or four more glasses of Avine. As to the wholesomeness of various zvines,\ that depends *Brandy and Liqueur merchant, No. 3, Colonnade, Pall Mali. |To make a quart of Curacoa.—To a pint of the cleanest and strongest rectified spirit, (sold by Rickards, Piccadilly) add '2 drachms and a half of the sweet oil of orange peel, (sold by Stew- art, No. 11 Old Broad street,_near the hank,) shake it up, dissolve a pound of good lump su^arin a pint of cold water, make this in- to a clarified syrup, (No. 47.-7,)- which add to the spirit, shake it up, and lot it stand tiil the following day, then line a -funnel Avith a piece of muslin, and that Avith filtering paper, and filter it Iavo or three times till it is quite bright; or dissolve a drachm and a half of carbonate of potass in about a quarter pint of the liqueur by rubhintr it together in a mortar, adding it to the liqueur, and shak- ing it well up; then incorporate alike quantity of founded alum in another quarter pint of the liqueur; and return it to the liqueur, shake it Avell up; and in a little time it Aviil become fine. This li- queur is an admirable cordial, and a tea-spoonful in a tumbler of w'eris a very refreshing summer drink, and a great improvement to PUNCH. ■..us. We do not offer this receipt as a rival to Mr. Johnsonls Curacoa; it is only proposed as an humble substitute for that in- comparable liqueur. $"U y a pour le Gourmet plus de soixante series de vins; il n'y en a que trois pourle Chimiste ; savoir, less vins mousseux, les vilis faits, les vins supres. Jje sucre existe tout forme par la nature dans les raisins murs de tons les jays; sa proportion fait la unnci- palo difference des vins; e'est lecre seal'qui etablit la fermentation vineuse; si l'on enferme levin avant qu'elle soit terminee, le gae, qui etait surle point de s'echapper, reste dans la liqueur, ei le vin est mousseux. Ce gaz est de Vacide carbonique, le memc air qui fait mousser le ciche, la biere, l'hydromel, etles eaux minerales de S ■!!/., de Chatteldon. II est dantereux a respirer en quantitc, puisqu'iJ asehjxie les animaux; mais il est tres-salubre a boire ainsi com- bine- Si, au contraire, la fermentation est terminee, le sacrt- s'vst change dans le vin, eau devic, qui tient en dissolution le tar.re, le principe colorant, et le priocipe extractif du raisin. Voila, ceqiii constitute les vins fails; ils ne moussent phis, et ils sont plus ou inoins gcnereuxsaivaatles proportions de leurs principes. ^•'Enfin, quahd le sucre aaturel au mi sin est trop abondant pour WINE. 6fl on the integrity and skill of the wine-maker, and upon the peculiar state of the stomach of the Avine-drinker; Avhen my stomach is not in good temper, it generally desires to have red wine, but when in best health, nothing affronts it more than to put Port into it, and one of the first symioms of its coming into adjustment, is a wish for white wine. One of the chief causes of that derangement of the stomach, Avhich delicate and aged persons so constantly complain of after dining out, is the drinking of "wines, &c. Avhich they are unused to. White, deserves to be preferred to red wines, because the latter being harder pressed, and subjected to a stronger fermentation to extract the colouring matter from the husks of the grape, are more loaded with feculence. Of red wines, Claret is the best; and it is to be lamen- ted, that the duty imposed upon it is so great, that to mod- erate fortunes it amounts to a prohibition; when Ave make this observation, we do not mean to impeach the prudence which has induced those as ho no doubt best understand the subject, to determine that political necessity imperatively decrees that the delightful and salubrious wines of France, must be taxed twice as high as the coarse unwholesome wines of. Portugal. Of the white wines, we believe that Sherry is the. most easy, and .Madeira the most difficult to obtain genuine, most of the saveet avines are as artificially compounded, as the bees- of this country; the addition of Capiilaire to Port Avine, makes Avhat is commonly cailed Tent. Moun- tain, Calcavella, kc. are made up in the same manner For further illustrations of this subject, see Ac cum on adulteration, 2d edition, 12mo. 1820. An inquiry into the effects of fermented liquors, by a wa- ter-drinker, 2d Edit. 1818. S.vNdford's remarks on wine. Worcester, 1799. Lettsom, on the effects of hard drinking. Trotter, on drunkennes, lb04. Accum's art of making English wine, 1820. Carnell on family wine making, 1814. fermenter en totalite, une portion re c dans la liqueur sous forme de 5iro -, et consfitue les vins sucrcs d'Fs:,agnc, de Constance, etc. La ('.i'lerermc de --avear depend d'un arornc particuher, nropre an rajdin de chaque climat."—-CWs Gastronomique, 8vo. 1809, p. 289. 70 THE ART OF INV1CORATING LIFE. Accu.M on brezcing, 1820. Kaavlinsox. on brewing in small quantities,—printed for Johnson. 1807. price Is.; and Home Brewed Ale, printed for Robinson, 1804, price 2s. Facts proving water the best beverage. Primed by Smee- ton, in St. Martin's Lane. Manuel de Somclier par A. Jullien, Paris, 1817. PEPTIC PRECEPTS. "Suaviter in modo, sed fortiter in re." NOT one constitution in a thousand, is so happily con- structed or is constantly in such perfect adjustment, that the operations of the abdominal viscera (on which every other movement of the system depends) proceed with healthful regularity. The folio»ving hints will point out to the reader, how to employ art to afford that assistance to nature, A\nieh in in- disposition and age, is so often required, and ay ill teach him to counteract in the most pvompt and agreeable man- ner, the eiiects of thos.e accidental deviations from sirict temperance, which sometimes overcome tlie nmst abste- mious philosopher, when the seducing charms of convi- viality teinpt him to forego the prudent -maxims of his cooler moments. They will help those who have delicate constitutions, to obtain their fair share of health and strength, and instruct the weak, so to economize the poAvers they have, that they may enjoy life as well as the strong. To humour that desire for the marvellous, which is so universal in medical (as a\ ell as in other) matters; the mak- ers of Aperient Pills generally select the most drastic purgatives, which operating considerably in a dose of a feAv gr.'OiS, excite admiration in the patient, and faith in their powers, in proportion as a small dose produces a great tiled, who seldom considers how irritating such PEPTIC PRECEPTS. 71 materials must be, and consequently how injurious to a stomach in a stale of debility, and perhaps deranged by indulging appetite beyond the bounds of moderation. Indigestion, will sometimes overtake the most expe- rienced epicure; when the gustatory nerves are in good humour. Hunger and savory viands will sometimes se- duce the tongue of a "grand gourmand'1'' to betray the in- terest of his stomach* in spite of his brains. On such an unfortunate occasion, whether the intestin- al commotion be excited by having eaten too much, or too strong food, lie doAvn, have your tea early after dinner, and drink it warm. This is a hint to help the inAralid, whose digestion is so delicate, that it is sometimes disordered by a meal of the strictest temperance. If the anxiety, &c. about the stom- ach does not speedily abate, apply the "stomach warmer?'' This valuable companion to aged and gouty subjects, may be procured at No. 58, liaymarket. A certain degree of heat is absolutely necessary to ex- cite and support a regular process of digestion; Avhen the circulation is languid, and the food difficult of solution, in aged persons and invalids; external heat aa ill considerably assist concoction, and the application of this califacient concave will enable the digestive organs to overcome re- fractory materials, and convert them into laudable chyle. Unless the constitution is so confoundedly debilitated, that the circulation cannot run alone, abstinence is the ea- siest, cheapest, and best cure for the disorders which arise from indigestion or intemperance. I do not mean what Celsus cads the first degree of it, "when the sick man takes nothing" but the second, "when he takes nothing but what he ought." The chylopoietic organs are uncomfortable when en- tirely unoccupied; when the stomach is too tired to work, and too weak to be employed on actual service, it desires *"The human stomach is capable, in the adult, of containing about three quarts of AA'ater."'—Blumenbach's Physiology, p. 145. "By adopting an abstinent plan of diet, even to a deoree >hat produces a sensation of want in the system, we do that which i- raost like to create appetite and increase the powers of digestion." Abzrnethy's Surg. Obs. CH. 72 the art of invigorating life. something to be introduced to it, that will entertain it till it recovers its energy. After intemperate feasting one day, let the food of the foiloAving day be liquid, or of such materials as are easy of solution. Various expedients have been recom- mended Xor preventing and relieving the disorders arising from too copious iibations of "the regal purple s! ream." iVoen a good fellow has been sacrificing too liberally at the shrine of the jolly God, the best remedy to help the stomach to get rid of its burthen, is to take for supper some eneEL, (No. 572, see Index,) Avith half an ounce of butter, and a teaspoonful of Epsom Salt in it; or tAvo or three Peristaltic I irsuaders, AAhichsome gastropholists tale as provocative to appetite, about an hour before din- ner. Soioe persons take as a "scquitur" a drachm of carbon- ate of Soda. Others a teaspoonful of Calcined Magnesia: when im- mediate relief is required, never administer this uncertain medicine, which, if the stomach has no acid ready to dis- solve it, vviil remain inert; it must be taken, only when heart-burn, and symptoms of accidity are manifest. As a. finale to the day of the feast, or the overture of the day after, take (No. 481,*) or two drachms of Epsom Salt in half a pint of beef tea, or some tincture of rhubarb in hot Avater; the first thing to be done, is to endeavour to get rid of the offending material. A breakfast of beef tea* (No. 563,) is an excellent res- torative; Avhen the languor following hard drinking is ve- ry distressing, indulge in the horizontal posture; (see Sies- *To make Beef or Mutton Tea.—Cut a pound of lean gra- vy meat into thin slices, put it into a quart and half a pint of cold water, set it over a gentle lire where it Avill 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 seive or napkin; skim it again, let it stand ten min- utes to settle, and then pour off the clear tea. To make half a pint of beef tea in five minutes for three half-pence, see No. 252 ; and to make good mutton broth for nothing, No. 490. N. B. An onion, and a few grains of black pepper is sometimes added. If the meat is boiled till it is thoroughly tender, mince it and pound it as directed in No. 503 of the Cook's Oracle, and yon may have a dish of potted beef for the trouble »f making it. rEPTIC precepts. 1& xa, p. 42;) nothing removes it so effectually, or so soon cheers the circulation, and sets all right; get an early luncheon of restorative broth or soup. Hard drinking is doubly debilitating when pursued be- yond the usual hour of retiring to rest. Those devotees to the bottle, avIio never suffer the or- gies of Bacchus to encroach on the time which nature de- mands for sleep, escape Avith impunity, many of the evils which soon, and irreparably, impair the health of the mid- night reveller. A facetious observer of the inordinate degree in which some people will indulge their palate, to the gratification of which they sacrifice ail their other senses, recommends such to have their soup seasoned with a tasteless purga- tive, as the food of insane persons sometimes is, and so prepare their boAvels for the hard work they are going to give them!! To let the stomach have a holiday occasionally, i. e. a liquid diet, of broth and vegetable soup, is one of the most agreeable and most Avholsome ways of restoring its tone. If your appetite* be languid, take additional exercise in a pure open air, or dine half an hour later than usual, and so give time for the gastric juices to assemble in full force; or dine upon fish, or Chinese soup, i. e. Tea. If these simple meals are ineffectual, the next step, is to produce energetic vibration in the alimentarj' tube, without exciting inordinate action, or debilitating deple- tion; and to empty the boAvels, Avithout irritating them. *"I1 y a trois sortes d'appetits; celui que Fon eprouve a jeun; sensation imperieusc qui ne chicane point sur le mets, et qui vous fait venir 1'eau a la bouche, a ^'aspect d'un bon ragout. Je le compare au desir impetueux d'un jeune hommequi voit sourirela beaute q'uil ame. Le second appetit est celui que l'on ressent lors- que, s'etant mis a tahle sans faim, on a deja goute d'un plat succu- lent, et qui aconsacre le proverhc, V appetit vient en mangeant. Ju Tassimile al'etatd'un maridont le cosur tiede s'echaurie aux pre- mieres caresses de sa femmc. Le troisieme appetit est celui qu'ex- cite un mets delicieux qui parait a la fin d'un repas, lorsque l'esto- mac satisfait, l'hommo sobre allait quitter la table sans regret. Celui-la trouve son embleme dans les feux du libertinage qui quoi- que illusoire^, font naitrc ccpendant quclques plasirs reels. La con- naissance de cette metaphysique de 1'apnetit doit guider le Cous- inier habile dans la composition du premier, du second et du trois- ieme service."—Cours Gastrononi'm", p. 64. G 2 T4 THE ART Of INVIGORATING LIFE. Sometimes Tt7orrow!J'n 84 TUB ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. Besides Apollo is M. D. As a1! Mvthologists agree, Ann skiliM in herbs and all their virtue?, As well as A3'ton is. or Curtis. N. doubt his excellency would stoop To dictate a receipt for Soup, Show as much skill in dressing Sallad, As in composing of a Ballad. 'Twixt health and riot draw a line, And teach us hoAV, and a\ hen, to dine. The stomach, that great organ, soon, If overchavg'd is out of tune, BloAvn up with AAind that sore annoys The ear Avith most unhalloAv'd noise!' Noav all these sorroAvs and diseases A man may fly from if he pleases; For rising early will restore His powers to Avhat they Avere before. Teach him to dine at nature's call, And to sup lightly, if at all; 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 of Night Dinners To Fools and Dandies, and Old Sinners!'!" That distressing interruption of the circulation which is called "Nightmare," "Globus Hystericus," "Spasms'* "Cramp," or "Gout," in the stomach, with which few who have passed the meridian of life,* ore so fortunate *"It is at the commencement of decline, i. e. about our 40th year, (hit 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 sio.'er them from slight causes: a want of attention to which too frequently leads to the destruction of the best constitutions, especially of the studious, who neglect to take due exercise. I'he remedey proposed is Ipecacuanha, in a dose that will not occasion any nausea; but enough to excite such an increased action of the virmicular movement of the stomach, that the phlegm may be separated and expelled from that organ. "The eifects of it surpassed his most sanguine b-> ,es. by the use of it, notwithstanding he had naturally a delicate constitution. PEPTIC PRECEPTS. ». 85 as not to be too well acquainted, Ave believe to arise from the same causes, which in the day produce palpitation of the heart. The editor is noAV in his forty-third year, and has been from his youth occasionally afflicted with both these disor- ders; sometimes without being able to imagine Avhat has produced them: sometimes he has not been attacked Avith either of these complaints for. many months; they have then seized him for a week or more, and as unaccountably 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 Avhen he has 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, the change of the time of taking it. The fatigue attending his performance of Am- phytrion at his own table, has also occasionally produ- ced it. It appears to he occasioned by want of action in the sys- tem, being generally preceded by languor, (which, if not removed, may proceed to produce palsy, or death,) caused either by depression of the power of the heart by anxiety, he weathered the storms of tlie Revolution," &c. and lived to be ift. The above is an extract from Dr. Buchan's translation of Mr. Daubenton's Observatiqns on Indigestion. This treatise brought Ipecacuanha Lozenge^ into fashion, as the most easy and agreea- hle manner of taking it: .they contain about one-sixth of a grain, and are prepared and sold by Savory and Moore, Chemists, in Bond Street. * Delicate people, Avho are accustomed to dine at a certain hour, on certain food, &c. are generally deranged as often as they dine out, and change the hour, &c. The editor has a patient Avho never cline^ out without suffering seA'erely for several days after, not from over-eating or drinking, kc. but from the change of diet, and the time of taking it. His habit is to make a hearty meal off one dish at five o'clock, and drink Avith it 'ome good heartening home-brewed beer, and tAvo or three glasses of wine, that has not been kept till it ha% loat its best nu&lities. IT 2 36 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. obstruction of the peristaltic motion by the oppression of indigestible matter, or interruption of the performance of the restorative process. it is certainly not to be prevented by abstinence, for du- ring the time that the editor Avas Irving the effect of a spire ,diet, he was most frequently afflicted Avitli it.—See Cos. on Si: ep, kc. It is only to be relieved by stimulants, ami in an extreme case, by quickly acting aperients, &c. See folloAving pa^es. Some persons are peculiarly subject to it ivhen they lie on their back, others if on their left side: Avhen the editor has any disposition to this malady, it is certainly exaspe- rated if he lays upon his right side, especially during the first part of the night; it is a good custom to lay one half of the night on one side, and the other half on the other. When this appalling cause of the circulation takes place, he wakes, with the idea that another minute of such sus- pended action will" terminate his existence: his first re- course is to foice the action of the lungs, by breathing as quick and as deep as possible. He feels very languid, and to prevent a return of the fit, drinks a couple of glas- ses of white wine, or half a Avine-glass of brandy, in a Avine-glass of peppermint water. Sometimes the disorder does not terminate with one paroxysm, but recurs as soon as sleep returns-. when this is the case, get half a tumbler of hot water, add to it a wine-glass of Peppermint Wetter, and half that quantity of Tincture of Rhubarb, or fifty drops of Sal Volatile, or both. The symptoms of security from a repetition of the fit, is a vermicular sensation, betokening that the peristaltic motion, and the circulation is restored to its regular pace again. iiis belief that many sudden and unaccountable deaths in the night have arisen from invalids not knowing how to manage this disordei-, induces the editor to relate his own personal experience concerning it, and the remedies which he has found effectual to remove it. "Non igaara mali, miseris succurrere disco." The crse is very similar to what Dr. Whytt relates of himself, in his Observations on Nervous Hysteric, and Hypo- PEPTIC PRECEPTS. 87 ckondriac Disorders, 8vo. 1767;* by which Dr. Cullen. in page 10 of his Clinical Lectures, says "he has done more than all his predecessors." Mr. Waller has Avritten a very sensible essay on the Nightmare; those who are much afflicted Avith it, cannot lay out 3*. Gd. better, than in buying his book, l!?mo. 1816. He says, "it most frequently proceeds from acidity in the stomach, and recommends Carbonate of Soda, to be taken in the beer you drink at dinner." He tells us "he deriv- ed his information, as to the cause, and cure of this dis- tressing disorder, from a personal acquaintance with it for many years." How devoutly it is to be wished that all authors would follow good old Sydenham and Mr. Waller's example, and give us a register of the progress of those chronic complaints which they have themselves been afflicted with, and the regimen, kc. which they have found most effectual to alleviate and cure them; and, instead of Avhat they think, write only what thej7 know, as the pains-tak- ing Sanotorius, Sfallanza.ni, Bryan Robinson, and the *'Dr. W. says: "When the stomach is in a sound stntc, and di- gestion is properly performed, the spirits are good, and the body* is light and easy; but Avhen tbat organ is out of order, a languor, de- bility, discontent, melancholy watchfulness, or troublesome dreams, the nightmare, &c. are the consequences. I have often been seiz- ed with a slight Incubus, attended with a faintness, as if the circu- lation was a good deal obstructed before I was fully asleep, which has made me get up suddenly : while I lay aAvake I felt nothing of these symptoms, except some degree of uneasinc-s about my stom- ach : but when I Avas just about to fall asleep they began to return again." "In this way I have gone on for two or three hours or more, in the beginning of the.night. At last, I found that a dram of brandy after the first attaek kept me easy the Avhole night," p. '312. "When affected'with uneasy sensations from wind, I have not only been sensible of a general debility and flatness of spirits, but the unexpected opening of a door, or any such trifling unfore- seen accident, has instantly occasioned an odd sensation about my heart, extending itself to my head and arms, &c. At other limes, when my stomach is in a firmer state, I have no such feeling: at least, in a very small degree, from causes'which might be thought more apt to produce them. Faintings, tremors, palpitations of the heart, convulsive motion*, and all those disorlers Avhich are called nervous, Sec. &c. sre often owing mere to the infirm state of the first passages, than to any fault either in the brain or heart," p. J3-2, &c. IV. Wbytt died A. D. 1766, in his 52d year. 88 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LII I . persevering and minutely accurately observing Dr. Stark have in their Dietical Experiments. Dr. Whytt has immortalized himself by th ■ candid relation of his oavii infirmities, and his ciicu.sta dial ac- count of the regimen, &c. which enabled h in to bear up against them; which forms the most valuable collection of observations on nervous complaints, that experience and liberality have yet presented to the public. One page of personal experience, is worth folios of theoretic fancies, or clinical cases, which can only be illu- minated by the tAvilight of conjecture; they may be faith- ful narratives of the accounts given by patients, yet, as these are very often imposed upon by their imagination, attributing effects to very different causes than those which produce them, they are often very inaccurate deductions. The delicate and the nervous, will derive the great- est adArantage from keeping a register of their health; they should note, and avoid whatever disagrees with them, and endeavor to ascertain, what kind and quantity of food, exercise, occupation, and pleasures, kc. are most agreea- ble to their constitution, and take them at those regular periods Avhich appear most convenient to them. HoAvev- er this advice may excite the smiles of those who are swelling "in all the pride of superfluous health," such methodical movements will considerably improve the en- joyment, and prolong the life of the valetudinary and the aged: for Avhom, instinct is the best guide in the choice of aliment. None but the most obstinate ignorant visionary, would dream of laying down absolute rules* for governing the caprice and Avhims of infirm stomachs of crazy valetudin- *"Physicians appear to be too strict and particular in their rules ef diet and regimen; too anxious attention to those rules hath of- ten hurt those Avho were well, and added unnecessarily to the distresses of the sick. Whether meat should be boiled or roasted, or dressed in any other plain way, and Avhat sort of vegetables should be eaten Avith it, I never yet met with any person of com- mon sense (except in acute dlness) whom I did not Chink much fitter to choose for himself, than I was to determine for him."—Dr. IIeberden on Diet. "When the stomach is weak, it seems particularly necessary that our food should be nutritive and easy of digestion. "f may further observe, that its qualities should be adapted to the feelings of the stomach. PEPTIC PRECEPTS, 88 axeans. Codes of dietetics* are almost useless, the sug- gestions of reason are often in direct opposition to the de- sires of appetite. In most matters regarding the adjustment of that su- preme organ of existence, the stomach, "honest instinct] "In proof of this proposition, numerous instances might be men- tioned of apparently unfit substances agreeing with the stomach, being digested and even quieting an irritable state of the stomach, merely because they Avere suitable to its feelings. Instances migb.t also be mentioned of changes in diet producing a tranquil and healthy state of stomach in cases where medicines had been tried in vain."—Abernethy's Surg. Obs. p. 68. *"A Fool, or a Physician at f>rty, is an adage containing more truth than is commonly believed. He who has not by that time learned to observe the causes of self-disorder, shows little signs of wisdom; and he Avho has carefully noted the things which create disorder in himself, must by his own experience possess much knoAvledire, that a nhysician at a pop a i'ut ought not to pre- tend to."—Domestic Management, 1813, p. xxxvi. t"Grilllts, who, according to the doctrine of Transmigration, (as Plutarch tells us) had, in his turn, been a beast, discourses how much better he fed and lived then, than when he was turned to man again, as knowing then what food Avas best and most pro- per for hhn, which Sarcophagisis (flesh eaters) in all this time were yet to seek."—Evylyn's Acelana, hi mo. 1699, p. 89. "Instinct than reason makes more wholesome meals."—Young. "My appetite is in several things of itself happily enough ac- commodated to the health of my stomach: Avhatever I take a- gainst my liking does me harm; but nothing hurts me that I eat with appetite and delight."—Vide honest Montaigne's Essay on Experience, book iii. chap. xiii. "The stomach gives information when the supplies have been expended, and represents with great exactness the quantity and quality of whatever is wanted in the present state of the machine, and, in proportion as it meets with neglect, rises in its demand, and urges its petition with a louder voice."—Dr. Wm. Hunter's Introductory Lecture, 4to. p. 81. "Take food in proportion to the quantity of nourishment con- tained in it, of which the stomach appears from instinct to be ca- pable of judging."—J. Hunter on the Animal Economy, 4to. p. 221. "Prompted by instinct's never erring pov.cr, Each creature knows its own proper aliment, Directed, bounded by this poAver within, Their cravings are Avell aimed; voluptuous man, Is b;, superior faculties misled ; Mislsi from plaasur ■■-, even in quest of joy." Armstrong's Art of Preserving Health. 90 the art of invigorating life. *comes a vulunteer." Fentriloquism seldom fails to make out a fair title, to be called "unerring." A due respect to the suggestions of instinct, every invalid aa ill rind high- ly advantageous; natural longing has frequently pointed out food, by Avhich acute diseases have been cured, aa hen the most consummate medical skill was at fault, and life at its loAvest ebb. It is needless to insist upon the importance of diet and regimen in chronic disorders. Be content Avith one dish; from Avant of submission to this salutary rule of temperance, as many men dig their grave Avith their teeth, as aa dh the tankard; Drunkenness is deplorably destructive, but her demurer sister Glut- tony destroys a hundred to her one. Instinct speaks pretty plainly to those Avhose instruments of digestion are in a delicate state, and is an infinitely surer guide than any dietetic rules that can be contrived. "Our stomach is^ in general, a pretty good judge of Avhat is best for it; thousands have perished for.being inattentive to i(s calls, for one Avho has implicitly obeyed them."—Dr. Smith's Guide in Sickness, iivi). p. 59. "In every case Avherein Ave wish to preserve sirength (as in most chronica] complaints) we should be extremely cautious in prescrib- ing a rigid regimen, especially if it is intended to be long continu- ed" Things disagreeable to the palate, seldom digest Avell, or con- tribute to the nourishment of the body."—Frlconer on Diet, pages 7 and 8. "What is most grateful to the palate, sits most easy on the stom- ach."—Adair on Diet, p. 28. "Longings directed by the pure guidance of instinct, and not arising merely from opinion, may not only be satisfied with impu- nity, but generally be indulged in Avith advantage."—Withers on the Abuse of Medicine, Gvo. p. 233. *"As to the quality of food, although whatever is easy of diges- tion, singly considered, deserves the preference, yet regard must be had to the palate and to the appetite, because it is frequently found, that Avhat the stomach earnestly co\ ets, thoutrh of •difficult diges- tion, does nevertheless digost better than what is esteemed of ea- sier digestion if the stomach nauseates it: I am of the opinion the oatient ought to eat only of one dish at a meal."—Sydenham on Gout. "Every animal but man keeps to one dish; herbs are the food of this species, fish of that, and flesh of a third."—Spectator, No. 95. "Be content Avith one dish at a menl, in the choice of that con- sult your palate,"—Mandeville on Hypocondriasis, p. 316. PEPTIC precepts. 91 That the food Avhich we fancy most, generally sits ea- siest on the stomach, is a fact Avhich the experience of al- most every individual can confirm. The functions of digestion go on merrily Avhen exercis- ed b}' aliment which the stomach asks for, they often la- bour in vain when we eat merely because it is the usual time of dining, or out of necessity, to amuse the gastric juices, and "lull the grinding stomach's hungry rage." To affirm that any thing is wholesome, or unwholesome, Avithout considering the subject in all its circumstances to which it bears relation, and the un account a ble peculiari- ties of different constitutions, is, with submission, talking nonsense. Let ever}- man consult his stomach; to eat and drink such things, and in such quantitios, as agree with that perfectly well, is Avholesome for him, Avhiist they contin- ue to do so:* that which satisfies and refreshes us, and causes no uneasiness after, may safely be taken in modera- tion, whenever the appetite is keen, whether it be at din- ner or supper. What we have been longest used to, is most likely to agree Avith us best The whoiesomeness. kc. of all food, depends very much on the quality of it, and the A\ay in which it is cooked. Those Avho are poor in health must live as they can; certainly the less stimulus any of us use the better, provi- ded it be sufficient to properly carry on the circulation: I sometimes hold it lawful to excite appetite when, it is feeble by age, or debilitated by indisposition. Those stimuli which excite the circulation at the least expense of nervous irritation, and afford the greatest quantity of nutriment, must be most acceptable to the stomach, when it demands restorative diet. A healthful impetus may be given to the system by a well seasoned soup, or a restorative ragout, at half the ex- pense to the machinery of life, than by the use of these spiiituous stimuli, Avhich fan a feverish fire, exciting ac- tion Avithout supplying the expenditure of the principle producing it, and merely quicken the circulation for a few *It is surprising hoAV much the condition and disposition of the stomach and intestines will vary in the same person at different times."—Whytt on the Mrves, p. 127 92 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. minutes, without contributing any material to feed the lamp of life, Avhich, if it be originally or organically de- fective, or is impaired by time or disease. \vill sometimes not burn brightly, unless it be supplied with the best oil, and trimmed in the most skilful manner. Coed Mock Turtle, see (No. 246, or 247,) will agree with AAeak stomachs surprisingly Avell; so will that made by Birch in Cornhill, and by Kay at Albion House, Al- dersjrate Street. . This excellent soup, is frequently order- ed for dispeptic patients, by the senior physician to one of the largest hospitals in this metropolis: as a man of science and talent, certainly in as high estimation as any of his cotemporaries. Ox-tail soup (No. 240,) Giblet soup (No. 244,) and (No. f;7,) and (No. 89,) and (No. 439,) and (No. 503,) are very agreeable extempore restoratives, so easy of digestion, that they are a sinecure to the stomach, and give very lit- tle trouble to the chylopoietie organs; those whose teeth are defective, and those whose circulation is below par, will find them acceptable foods. "Expcrto creele;"1 the reader will remember Baglivvs chapter "de ldolis Metlic- orum,'''' wherein he tells us, that "physicians always pre- scribe to others, what they like themselves." The learn- ed Mandeville has favoured us Avith five pages on the incomparably invigorating virtues of Stock Fish!! a kind of cod which is dried Avithout being salted. See pages 316, kc. of his Treatise on Hypocondriasis. The best ansAvers, to all inquiries about the wholesomes, are the following questions: "Do you like it?" "Does it ajrice with you?" "Then eat in moderation, and you can- not do very wrong." Those who have long lived luxuriously, to be sufficiently nourished, must be regularly supplied with food that is nutritive, and drink that is stimulating;* spice and wine-, are as needful to the "Bon Vivant" of a certain age, as its mother's milk, is to a Tnew-Born Babe. The decrease of the energy of life arises from the de- crease of the actions of the organs of the body, especial- ly those of digestion, a\ hich in early life is so intense and r"Many pee 'e t • be sufficiently nourished, must be supplied with food exceedingly stimulating."—Sturve's Aslhenohgy, 8vo 1801, p. 280. fEPTie PRECEPTS. ss perfect, that a child, after its common unexcitant meal of bread and milk, is as hilarous and frolicsome as an adult person is after a certain quantity of roast beef and port. The infirm stomachs of invalids, require a littie indul- gence;* like other bad instruments, they often Avant oiling and screwing, and winding up and adjusting with the ut- most care, to keep them in tolerable order; and will re- ceive the most salutary stimulus, from now and then mak- ing a full meal of a favorite dish. This is not a singular notion of my own, though it may not exactly agree with the fastidious fancy of Dr. Sangrado7s disciples, that star- vation and phlebotomy, are sovereign remedies for all disorders. Those philanthropic physicians. Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet. and Dr. Merryman, hold the same doctrine as the Magnus Coquus; i. e. the author of the "Cook's Oracle'" to Avhose culinary skill we have been so repeatedly-indebted in the composition of this work. As excessive eating and drinking is certainly the most frequent cause of the disorders of the rich, so privation is the common source of complaints among the poor; the cause of the one is the cure of the other, but Where one of the latter dies of Avant, how many thousands of the former are destroyed by indigestion! If strong spices and savory herbs excite appetite, they (in an increased ratio,) accelerate the action of the bow- els, and hurry the food through the alimentary canal too rapidly to allow the absorbents to do their work properly. Salt is the most salubrious and easily obtainable relish which nature has given us to give sapidity to other sub- stances; and has this advantage overall other sauces, that if taken to excess, it carries its remedy with it in its ape* rient quality. We suspect that the most mischief is done by the im- *"Whosoever dreameth that no sickman- should be allured to meat, by delightful and pleasant sauces, seemeth as froward and fantastical as he that would never Avhet his knife. "Why hath nature brought forth such variety of herbs, roots, spices, &c. fit for nothing but sauces, kc. but that by them, the sick should be allured to feed. "Abstinence is as dangerous, as fulness and satiety is inconve?b ient."—Dr. Moffet on Foods, t2mo. 1746, p. 343. ■ I 434 the artvof invigorating lifk. moderate and constant use of the common cout/imnits. We have seen some puritanical foils, aa ho are forevf: boasting that they never touch made dishes, kc. (one won id suppose they had the tongue of Pity litis*) so he-do\ il eve- ry morsel they put into their mouth, with pepper, and mus- tard, &:c. that they made their common food ten times tfiove piquante, than the burn-gullet Borate Bouche of an eastern nabob, or a broiled Devil, enveloped in "\ eritable sauce d'Enfer."—See (No. 355 and 5">C.) We do not condemn the moderate use of spices, but the constant and excessive abuse of them, by wiiich the papil- lary nerves of the tongue become so blunted, that in a lit- tle time they loose all relish for useful nourishing food, and the epicure is punished with all the sufferings of inces- sant and insurable indigestion, perturbed sleep, and the horrors of the night-mare, kc. kc. IIoAvever, enough has been written by a thousand cautionists, to convince any ratio rod creature of the advantage resulting {p both the body and tho mind from a simple and frugal fare: the great ■secret of health and longevity is to keep up tlie sensibili- ty of the stomach. No regiment can be contrived that will suit every body. '"'This gentleman had so cold a stomach, (raith Snidas.) that he made a sheath fof his tongue, that he might swalloAV down his pottage scalding hot; yea, I myself have known a Shropshire gentleman of the like quality."—Dr. Mr/Fi etto/i Fo'jd, 4to. 1655, p. 287. t"The chyle appears to be of the same; nature, from whatever aliment it has; been extracted: if the medical people in diln rent countries avcic questioned, each would probably approve of the diet used in their own, and would find plausible arguments to prove its superiority, Avith'numerous and admirable examples among their counirurm in support of their theory. "An Engivfm in would probably be of opinion that wheat-bread, and a huge portion of animal food, gives the strongest and must substantial nourishment. -An Irishman, or a Scotchman, would probably maintain that a small portion of animal food, with plenty of potatoes and oat- meal, is far better adapted to form a vigorous anel barfly race. The Laplanders live almo-t entirely upon animal food; (he Hin- doos and Genteos. &e. never taste any thing but vegetables."— .rlooRE's Mat. Jtlid. p. 70. 'du ti'ex-ourse of ja'fvJAv years, the produce of several acres of PP.PTIO PRECEPTS. f)« -;Try all the bounties of this fertile globe, Thf re is not such a salutary food As suits with every stomach." Dr. Armstrong's Art of Preserving Health, bookii. line 120, "1 kneAV a black servant of Mr. Pitt, an Indian mer- chant in America, Avho Avas fond of soup made of Rattlp Snakes, in Avhich the head without any regard to the poi- son, Avas boiled along with the rest of the animal."—Dr. G. Fordvce on Digestion, kc. 8vo. 1791, p. 119. No food is so delicious that it pleases all palates; noth- ing can be more correct than the old adage "one man's meat is another man's poison.*" It Avould be as difficult for a Laplander, or an earth-eat- ing Ottomaque, to convince our good citizens that train oil, and guttermud, is a more elegant relish than their favorite turtle, as for the former to fancy thatKay or Birch's soup can be as agreeable as the grease and garbage Avhich cus- tom has taught them to think delicious. "Man differs more from man Than man from beast.'1—Colman, Celsus* very sensibly says, that "a healthy man, under land, a number of large o:toms which are attributed to pre ious irregularities, to idio- syncracy, to hereditary dispositions, to disease, and to approaching old age, freipiently arise from constipation of the bowels."—Ham- ilton on Purgative Medicines, 1806, p. 7. PEPTIC PRECEPT*. 99 is not obeyed, the necessity for the evacuation passes a- way; the call being again and again neglected, habitual , costiveness is the consequence."—Hamilton on Purga- tives, p 72. It will facilitate the acquirement of this salutary eva- cuation, to take at night, such a dose of aperient medicine, as experience has pointed out, as just sufficient to assist nature to produce a motion in the morning. Habitual costiveness is not curable by drugs alone, and is most agreeably corrected by diet and regiinen, those most important, and only effectual, although much neglect- ed (because little understood) means of permanently alle- viating chronic complaints, for which '•Coquina est optima Medicina" Strong constitutions are generally costive ;* that perfect and vigorous action of the absorbents, which is the cause of their strength, is also the cause of their constipation: "Oportet sanorum, sedes esse figuratas." This ought to make them content, hut the constipated are forever murmuring about a habit, which, if managed with moderate care, is the fundamental basis of health and long life. A little attention to regimen will generally prevent it, a simple laxative will suffice to remove it, and neither will be often necessary, for those Avho observe a •deobstruent diet, take proper exercise~in a pure air, suffi cient liquid food, and eat freely of butter, salt, and sugar. The peculiarity of most constitutions is so convenient, that almost all costive persons, by attending to the effects Avhich various things produce upon the bowels, may find, in their usual food and drink, the means of persuading their sluggish viscera to vibrate with healthful celerity. A supper or breakfast of thin Gruel, (No. 572,) with plenty of butter and salt in it, ripe fruits, particularly grapes,] oranges, strawberries, raspberries, mulberries, *"Astriction of the belly is commonly a sign of strong chylopoetic organs."—Arbuthnot on Aliment, p. 24, tBeautiful and full ripe Hot-house grapes may be procured in the greatest perfection at the fruit shops in Convent garden, almost all the year round; and the editor has frequently given them to It/U the art of invigorating life. marmalade, honey, treacle, roasted apples, stewed prunes, rigs, raisins, tamarinds, French plums, kc. will almost al- ways produce the desired effect. Ijpwo or three strong Cinnamon or Ginger Lozenges, gradually dissolved in the mouth when the stomach is emp- ty, will act as an aperient on many persons. • Salad Oil is a Arery pleasant Peristaltic Persuader: by the following means it may be introduced (as a supper) to the most delicate stomach, Avithout any offence to the most fastidious p slate. Put a table-spoonful of Sherry into a wine-glass, on this a table-spoonful of Olive oil, on this another table-spoon- ful of Sherry, or rub together a table-spoonful or two of oil, with the yolk of an egg boiled hard, (No. 547,) add a little vinegar ancbsalt to it, and eat it at supper as a sauce to a salad (No. 138*) of mustard and cresses, or lettuce, radishes, button onions, celery, cucumber, &c or cold boiled asparagus, brocoli, cauliflower, carrot; or turnip, kidney or French beans, or pease; or pickled salmon, (No. 161,) lobster, (No. 176,) shrimps, herrings, sprats, (No. 170,**) or mackarel, (No. 168,) or as a sauce to cold meat, kc. You may give it an infinite variety of agreeable fla- vours; the ingredients to produce which are enumerated in (No. 372) of "The Cook's Oracle." Hypochondriac people are fond of taking medicine at certain times, the spring and fall, at the full or the new moon, &e whether they want it or not. For those in health to attempt to improve it by taking physic is absurd indeed. Rememher the epitaph on the Italian Count: "I was well, Wished to be better, Took physic, and died." Hypochondriasis, spleen, vapours, the blue devils, the bile, nervous debility, kc. are but so many different names delicate women who have been afflicted ^ith feverish complaints, to the quantity of a pound per day, with the most satisfactory ef- fect ; they were extremely grateful in cooling their parched mouth?, and at once most agreeably and effectually supplied the place n' botksaline draughts and aperient medicine. fFJPTTC PRECEPTS'. 101 tor those disorders Avhich arise either from chronic weak- ness of the constitution, or an inconsiderate management of it. A man Avho has a strong tamina will bear irregular- ities Avith impunity, Avhich will soon destroy a more deli- cate frame. We do not laugh at the melancholy of the hypochondriac, or consider his complaints as merely the hallucinations of tin malade imaginaire; but trace the cause of them to eith- er some indigestion interrupting the functions of the ali- mentary canal, Avhich a gentle aperient AAOuld immediate- ly remove, or the ineffective performance of the restora- tive process, insufficient nutritive diet, or depression of the vital and animal functions from anxiety or over-exertion of either the mind or the body: Avhich nothing but rest and nutritive food can repair. The editor of this little treatise has had from his youth to bear up against an highly irritable nervous S3"stem; the means he has found useful to manage and support it, he i« now recording for the benefit of other nervous invalids. ^« We advise our friends, never to call in even the gentle aid of peristaltic persuaders, but when instinct absolutely insists upon it; some of the indications of Avhich are "a disagreeable taste in the mouth, eructations, Avant of ap- petite, sensations of distention in the stomach and boAvels, pains in the stomach and head, vertigo, feverhhness. rest- lessness, peevishness," &c. but these will often disappear by taking a liquid meal, instead of a soiid one, or using more exercise will often ansAver the purpose. Mr. Jones very sensibly observes, '-if people will by no means rest from constantly tampering with laxatives, instead of using exercise, the habit of using lavement every evening cannot be so destructive, as it irritates only twelve inches of intes- tine and spares raking doAvn the other thirty nine^fiej..'1'1— See Med. Ful. Errors, p. 44. Relaxed poavels* are often extremely unmanageable. *"People aa ho have relaxed bowels have seldom strong thought* or strong bodies."—Locke on Education, sec. 2". "The cure for relaxed nerves (the source of all chronic disorders) mmt necessarily bcjriu at the stomach. He Avho attempts to care 102 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFfi. and difficult to regulate, and are the principal cause ot that chronic weakness which is so generally complained of,% and of many other distressing nervous disorders. jf the boAvels are unfaithful to the stomach, and, in- stead of playing fair, let go their hold of the "Pabulum Vitas," before the absorbents have properly performed the process Avhich that grand organ has prepared for them, nutrition will be deficient; and flatulence, &e. &e. giddiness, spasms," head-ache, and back-ache, and what are called bilious and nervous disorders, and all the disea- ses incident to debility, will attack you on the slightest cause. Those Avho are afflicted Avith a relaxation of the bow- els are advised to a dry diet, rather than a liquid one, and must submit to a regimen diametrically contrary to that Ave have recommendad to cure constipation, "Since 1 lessened my drink I have been much more cos- tive than I Avas before, and have for two years past freed myself from a diarrhoea. Costiveness generally attends dry food in other animals as well as men."—B. Robinson ton Food and Discharges, pages 5! 2 and 64. Live principally upon animal food sufficiently cooked, and stale bread, or biscuit; instead of malt liquor (unless it be very mild and good home-brewed beer, Avhich is the best of all beverages) drink beef tea, (No. 563,) or well made toast and Avater* (No. 463,*) Avith about one-fourth part of wine, and a little sugar and grated nutmeg or gin- a nervous distemper without firm bowels, labours in vain ; for it ii impossible that the constitution of those avIio have slippery,bowels, should ever be braced.-"—Cheyne on Long Life, p. 107. *"To make Toast and Water.—Cut a bit of the upper crust of bread, about twice the thickness toast is usually cut, toast it earefuiiv, till it be completely broAvned all over, but not at all blackened or burnt; put this into a jug-, and pour upon it as much boiled water ?.= you wish to make into drink, cover the jug, let it stand till cold. The fresher, the better. Obs.—A roll of fresh thin cut Lemon Peel or dried Orange Peel infused Avith the bread, is a grateful addition, and makes a very refreshing summer drink: and when the proportion of the fluids is destroyed by profuse per- spiration, may be drank plentifully. Let a large jug be made ear- ly in the day, it will then become warm by the heat of the air, and may be drank freely with impunity; cold water frc:.h drawn from a Avell cannot Avithout danger." fEFTIC PRECEPTS, 103 ger in it; if the stomach be troubled Avith acidity, or great flatulence, one-eighth part of brandy may agree with it better: whatever you eat or drink shoidd be warmed.—See page 4lJ on Seista, and page 71. Be watchful of the efects of the food which you take; avoid A\'hatever appears to irritate, and eat only that which txperience has proved acceptable. IPtRiTABLE boavels are excited to inconveniently in- creased action by an}' thing that the stomach has either not the ability, or the inclination to prepare for them, and diarrhoz is the consequence. The easiest and most effectual method of restoring tranquillity in the boAvels, i-~ to be content Avith a light diet of gruel, broth, or fish &c. till the return of a keen appe- tite assures you, that the stomach has recovered its poA/ers, and being ready for action requires its usual supply of sol- id food. When the bowels get a trick of emptying themselves too of- ten, a teaspoenful of compound powder of chalk in your tea, or a wine-glas* full of the following mixture, taken tAvice or thrice a day, will generally cure them of it very sjpcediiy: Chalk mixture, six ounce-:, Tincture of Cinnamon (r-o. 41G*.) one ditto. Opiate confection, cue drachm. 'Mixed together. If diairhoe continues obstinate, more poiverful astrin- gents* may be necessary. Tincture of Cjnnakxn (No. 436*) is one of the best cordial tonics, see also (No. 569,) and*(Nos. 413 and 15.) Opiuji Lozenges, containing- a quarter of a'grain each, and strongly flavoured Avith oil of peppermint, are recom- mooded to those who are troubled with relaxed bowels. Strong Peppermint Lozenges are the most convenient portable carminative: as soon as they are dissolved, their influence is felt from the beginning, to the end of the ali- mentary canal; they dissipate flatulence so immediately, *Dr. Pemberton recommends the folloAving Bolus: Kino. pulv. j. Conf'T:. Opiat. gr. xii. Misc. Fiat bolus, ter quotidie sumendus. See his observations on the diseases of the Abdominal kucera, 8vo. iC07,p.l4O. 104 THE ART OF INVIGORATING MFfc. that they well deserve the name of Fcgetable JEther; 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 between meals. N. 1>. Sixvi different sorts of Lozenges, are made in the most superlative manner, by Mr. Smith, Fell Street, Wood Street, Cheapside. His Rose Jnjubus, are a very elegant preparation, which those Avho have not a remarkable SAveet breath, are re- commended to take the last thing at night, and the first in the morning; the breath smells faintest when the stomach is emptiest. His Mellifluous Aromatics are so delicately flavoured, they moisten the mouth and throat Avithout clo}'ing the palate, stomach, &c. Avhich is more than can be said of most lozenges. TO MAKE FORTY PEniSTALTIC PERSUADERS. Take, Turkey Rhubarb, finely pulverized, tAvo drachms. Syrup (by weight) one drachm. Oil of Carraway, ten drops (miliums.) Made into pills, each of Avhich will contain three grains of' rim.hu rt>.. The dose of the Persuadep.s must be adapted to the coi stitutional peculiarity of the patient: when you Avish to accelerate or augment the alvine exoneration, take two, three or more, according to the ettect you desire to pro- duce; two pills Avill do as much for one person as five or six will for another; they generally will very regular- ly perform what you Avish to-day, without interfering with what you hope will happen to-morrow; and are, therefore. as convenient an argument against constipation as any we -are acquainted with. The most convenient opportunity to introduce them to the *Here followed, in the first edition, some observations on singing. See pae;e 43 of this book; but most of them are taken out and will Bhortly be published by Messrs Hurst and Robinson, No. DU, (.'heap- side, as part of the prefatory matter of "The Lnglish Mef.o- Pies," selected by the author of this Avork, from the library of Wm, Kitchener, M. D. PEPTIC PRECEPTS. 105 stomach, is early in the morning, when it is unoccuricd. and has no particular business to attend to, i. e. at icast half an hour before breakfast. Physic should never interrupt the stomach, when it is engaged in digesting food; perhaps the best time to hire it, is when you a\yake out of your first sleep, or as soon as you awake in the morning. Moreover, such is the increa- sed sensibility of some stomachs at that time, that half the quantity of medicine will suffice. From tzoo to four Persuaders will generally produce one additional motion within tAvelve hours. They may be taken at any time, by the most delicate females, Avhose constitutions are so often distressed by constipation,* and destroyed by the drastric purgatives they take to relieve it. See also page 99. Their agreeable flavour recommends them as the most convenient aperient for children, Avhose indispositions most frequently arise from obstructions in the boAvels; it is not always a very easy task to prevail upon a spoiled child to take physic j therefore, we have made our pill to taste exactly like gingerbread. For infants, too young to swallow 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: in every disorder! the main point is carefully to watch, *"A knoAvledge how to regulate the alvine evacuation, consti- tutes much of the prophylactic part of medicine; hence hoAV ne- cessary it is to.advise those who either wish to preserve good health, or are in need of the lost treasure, to attend to this circumstance." Hamilton on Purgatives p. 7. "How much it behoves those who have the charge of young people, particularly of the female sex, to impress them with the propriety, nay with the absolute necessity of attention to the reg- ular state of the boAvels; and to put in their power by the use of proper means, to guard against constipation; and at the same time to watch over them, le^t through indolence, they neglect a circum- stance which, promoting in the gay season of youth, the enjoy- ment of health and happinness, opposes a sure barrier aiounst the inroads of chlorosis, >7iel, Emetic Tartar, Jameses Powders, kc. have'tcrn man v a stomach into ra rs, so that it could never bear common food i:t^r."— Cir.ocAN j?:. GovJ. 8vo. 1771, p. 79. peptic precepts. 107 the only remedy for one disease, people suppose must be ■Ji panacea for every disorder) and other drasti ic mineral medicines, Avhich are aAvfuily uncertain both in their strength and in their operation. If, instead of two or three times a Aveek tormenting your bowels Avith Corrosive Cathartics, Ilydragogues, Phlegmagogues, kc. you take one Or two gentle Persua- ders, tAvice or thrice a day; they will excite a gradual and regularly increased action of the viscera, restore the tone of the alimentary tube, and speedily and effectually cure the disorder, aa ithout injuring the constitution. There is not a more universal or more mischievous vul- gar error, than the notion, tha,t physic is efficacious, in pro- portion as it is extremely disagreeable to take, and fright- fully violent in its operation; unless a medicine actually produces more distress in the system, than the disorder it is administered to remove; in fact, if the remedy be aot 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 pain, and f .en- tifully supplied with black doses, and drastric drugs; trey have the best opinion of that doctor who most furiously "Vomits—Purges—Blisters—Bleeds—and Su-eats ''em." To perfectly content them that you have most profoundly 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 ra- tional, and are apt to try other questions by the rules of common sense, in matters relating to tneir health, surren- der their understanding to the fashion of the day, and in the present century, on all occasions take Calomel as cool- ly as in the last, their grandfathers inundated their pool- stomachs with Tar-water. tonic tincture, (No. 569) is Penman Bark, bruised, one ounce and a half. Oranc-e Pe; 1 do. one ounce. Krandy, or Proof Spirit, one pint. . 108 the art op Invigorating life. Let these ingredients steep for ten days, shaking the bottle eeery day, let it remain quiet two days, and then decant fie clear liquor. Dose—one teaspoonful in a Avineglass of aa ater, twice a day, when you feel languid, i. e. when the stomach is empty, aK>nt an hour before dinner, and in the evening. T\\ enty grains of the powder of bark may be added to it occasionally. To this agreeable aromatic tonic we are under person- al obligations, for frequently putting our stomachs into good temper, and procuring us good appetite and good di- gestion. In low nervous affections, arising from a languid circu- lation; and, when the stonrach is in a state of shabby de- bility from ag-e or 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 Avith milk and sugar, has been taken for breakfast by nervous and dyspectic persons with great benefit. Co owing a bit of Orange Peel twice a day when the stomach is empty, will be found very grateful, and strengthening to it. STOMACH TINCTURE. Two ounces of Cacasrilla bark (bruised,) or dried Or- ange Peel, or Colombia Root, infused for a fortnight in a pint of brandy, will give you the tinctures called by those names. Dose—one or two teaspoonsful in a wine-glass of water. 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 more in vogue formerly, 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 "Balsamnm Film?"1 PEPTIC PRECEPTS. 109 "Cur moriatur homo, qui su.mil de Cinnamomo ?,f—"Cinnamon is verie conuortable to the stomache, and the principall partes of the bodie." "Ventriculum, Jecur, Lienem Cerebrum, norvosque juvant < I ro- borat.''—"I reckon it a great treasure for a student to have b} him, in his closet, to take now and then a spoonful."—Cogan's Ha- ven of Health, 4to. 1584, p. 111. Obs.—Tavo teaspoonsful in a wine-glass of water, are a present and pleasant remedy in nervous languors, and in relaxations of the bowels; in the latter case Ti\ e drops of Laudanum may be added to each dose. soda avater, (No. 481.*) The best way of producing agreeable pneumatic punch, as a learned chemist has called this refreshing refriger- ant, is to fill two half-pint tumblers half full of vater, slir in- to one 30 grains of carbonate of potass, into the other 25 grains of citric* acid (both being previously finely pound- ed.) Avhen the powders are perfectly dissolved, pour the contents of the one tumbler into the other, and sparkling Soda Water is- instantaneously produced. To make dourle Soda Water, use double the quantity of the poAvder. Single Soda Water is a delightful drink in sultry Aveath- er, and may be very agreeably flavoured by dissolving a little raspberry or red currant jelly in the water, (before you add the carbonate of potash to it,) or a little tincture of ginger, (No. 411,) or syrup of ginger, (No. D'Jl.) or syrup of lemon peel, (No. 393,) or infuse a roil of fresh and thin-cut lemon peel, and a bit of sugar in the water, or rub down a few drops of (No. 408,) with a bit of lump sugar, Avith or,without a little grated ginger; a glass of Sherr}f or a tablespoonful of brandy is sometimes added. The addition of a teaspoonful of the tonic tincture (No. 569,)will give you a very refreshing stomachic; and ten drops of Tinct. Ferri Muriati put into the Avater in lvhich you dissolve the citric acid, a fine effervescing chalybeate. The day after a feast, if you feel fevered and heated, *The flavour of CoxweWs Citric Acid is much more agreeable than the Tartaric, which, being cheaper, is sometimes substituted. for it. K 2 1-10 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. you cannot do better than drink a half-pint glass or two of Single Soda Water betAveen breakfast and dinner. Double Soda Water (especially if made with tepid Avater) is an excellent auxiliary to accelerate the opera- tion of aperient medicine, and if taken in the morning fast ] ing, Avill sometimes move the bowels without further as- sistance. If some good Cogniac or essence of ginger (No. 411) be added to it, it is one of the best helps to set the stom- ach to Avork, and remove the distressing languor which sometimes fblioAvs 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 presently. If ginger is taken to produce an immediate effect, to warm a stomach, dispel flatulence, &c. or as an addition to aperient medicine, the following is the be?t preparation of it: Steep three ounces of fresh grated ginger, and one ounce of fresh lemon peel, (cut thin) in a quart of brandy, or proof spirit for ten days, shaking it up each day. N. B. Tincture of alspice,, which, is sometimes cal- led Essence of Bishop, for making mulled wine, kc. extem- pore, is prepared in the same manner. gruel, (No 252.) 1st, Ask those ivho are to eat it, if they like it thick ar thin; if the latter, mix Avell together by degrees, in a pint basin, one tablespoonful of oatmeal with three of cold water; if the former teo spoonsful. Have, ready in a stewpan, a joint of boiling water or milk, pour this by degrees to the oatmeal you have mix- ed, return it into the stewpan, set it on the fire, and let it boil for five minutes, stirring it all the time to prevent the oatmeal from burning at the bottom of the stewpan,.skim, and strain it through a hair sieve. FEPTIC PRECEPTS. 11 1 2d. To convert this into caudle, add a little ale, wine, ©r brandy, Avith sugar, and if the bowels are disordered a little nutmeg or ginger grated. Gruel may be made with broth* (No. 490) or (No. 252) *Portable Soup, or Glaze.—(No. 252.)—Desire the butch- er to break the bones of a leg or a shin of beef, of 10 pounds weight (the fresher killed the better,) put it into a soup-pot (a digester is the best uteusil for this purpose) that will well hold it: just cover it Avith cold Avater, and set it on the fire to heat grad- ually till it nearly^boils, (this should be at least an hour;) skim it attentively while any scum rises; pour in a little cold Avator, to throAv up the scum that may remain, let it come to a boil asrain, and again skim it carefully: Avhen no more scum rises, and the broth appears clear, (put in neither roots nor herbs nor salt,) let it boil for eight or ten hours, and then strain it through a hair sieve into a broAvn stone pan; set the broth Avhere it will cool quickly; put the meat into a sieve, let it drain, make potted beef (No. 503,) or it Avill be very acceptable to many poor families. Next day remove every parficle of fat from the top of it, and pour it through atammisor fine sieve aS quietly as possible into a steAvpan, taking care not to let any of the settlings at the bottom of the stone-j»an go into the stewpan, Avhich should be of thick copper, perfectly Avell tinned; add a quarter of an ounce of whole black pepper to it, let it tDoil briskly, Avith the stewpan uncovered, on a quick fire: if any scum rises, take it off with a skimmer; when it begins to thicken, and is reduced to about a quart, put it into a smaller steAv- pan; set it over a gentler fire, till it is reduced to the thickness of a very thick syrup; take care that it does not burn, a moment's inattention now will lose you all your Idbour, and the soup will be spoiled: take a little of it out in a spoon and let it cool: if it sets into strong jelly, it is done enough, if it does not, boil it a little longer, till it does; have ready some little pot~, such as are used for potted meats, about an inch and a half dee|., taking care that they are quite dry; we recommend it to be kept in these pots if it is for home consumption, (the less it is reduced, the better is the fa- vour of the soup,) if it be sufficiently concentrated to keep for six months; if you wish to preserve it longer, put it into such bladders as are used for German sausages, or if you prefer it in the form of cakes^pour it into a dish about a quarter of an inch deei*; when it is cold, turn it out and Aveigh the cake, and divide it with a paste- cutter into pieces of half an ounce and an ounce each ; place them in a warm room, and turn them frequently till they are thorough- ly dried ; this will take a week or ten days; turn them tAvice a day ; when well hardened, if kept in a dry place, they may be preserv- ed for several years in any climate. This extract of meat makes excellent "Tableltes de Bouillon,'1'* for those who are obliged to endure long fasting. Obs.—The uses of this concentrated essence of meal axe numer- ous. It is equally economical and convenient for making extem- pore broths, sauces and gravies for hashed or stewed meat, game, or poultry, fee. il2 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. or (No. 564,) instead of water, (to make Crowdie, see (No. 205,*) and may be flavoured with sweet herbs, soup You may thicken it and flavour it as directed in (No. 329;) to make gravy, sauces, &c. take doub'e the quantity ordered for broth. If you have time and opportunity,as there is no seasoning in the sou.', either of roots, herbs, or spice, boil an onion with or without a bit of parsley, and SAveet herbs, and a few corns of allspice, or other spicje,. in the water you melt the soup in, which may be fla- voured Avith mushroom catsup (No. 439,) or Eschalot wine (No. 402,) essence of sweet herbs (No. 417,) savory spices (Nos. 421, or 457,) essence of celery (No. 409,) &c. or zest (#Jo. 255;) these may be combined in the portions most agreeable to the palate of the eater, and are as portable as portable soup, for a very small por- tion will flavour a pint~ The editor adels nothing to the solution of this soup, but a very little ground black pepper and some salt. Mem. This portable soup is a most convenient article in cookery, especially in small families, where it will save a great deal of time and trouble. It is also economical, tor no more will be melted than is wanted, so there is no waste. A shin of beef, weighing nine pounds, and costing 1*. 10 l-2d. produced nine ounces of concentrated soup, sufficiently reduced to keep for several months. After the boiling, the bones in this joint Aveighed two pounds and a quarter, and the meat two ptmnds and a quarter. As it is difficult to obtain this ready made of good quality, and Ave could not find any proper and circumstantial directions for mak- ing it, which on trial answered the purpose;. and it is really a great acquisition to the army«and navy, to travellers, invalids, &c. the editor has bestowed some time, &c. in endeavouring to learn, uid to teach hoAV it may be prepared in the easiest, most economical and perfect manner. The ordinary selling price is from 10s. to 12*. but you may make it according to the above receipt for 3.?. 6d. per pound, i. e. for 2 l-2oL per ounce, which will make you a pint of broth. Those who do not regard the expense, and like the flavour, may add the lean of ham, in the proportion of a pound to eight pounds of leg of beef. It may also be flavoured by adding to it, at the time you,put tho broth into the smaller stewpan, mushroom catsup, shallot Avine, es- sence of spice, or herbs, &c. we prefer it quite plain, it is then rea- dy to be converted in an instant into a basin of beef tea for an in- valid, and any flavour may be immediately communicated to it by the magazine of taste (No. 463.) Mail.in Chops delicately stewed and good Mutton Broth.-(No. 490)- Put a> pound of chops into a stewpan with cold water enough to cover them, and half a pint over, and an onion ; when it is coming to a boil, skim it, cover the pan close, and set it over a very slow fire till the chops are tender, if they have been kept a proper time, they Avill take about three quarters of an hour's very gentle sim- PEPTIC fRECEPTS. Mi.) 'roots and savoury spices, by boiling them for a few min- utes in the Avater you are going to make the gruel Avith, or Zest (No. 255,) pea poAvder (No. 458,) or dried mint, mushroom catsup ANo. 439,) or a few grains of Curry powder (No. 455,) or savoury ragout powder (No. 457,) . or cayenne (No. 404,) or cellery seed bruised, or soup Kerb poAvder (No; 459) or an onion minced very fine and bruised in Avith the oatmeal, or a little eschalot Avine (No. 402,) or essence of celery (No. 409,) or (No. 413,) (No. 417,)or(No.420.)&c. Plain gruel, such as is directed in the first part of this recipe, is one of the best breakfasts and suppers that we can recommend to the rational epicure; is the most com- forting soother of an irritable stomach that Ave know, and particularly acceptable to it after a hard day's work of in- timperate feasting, Avhen the addition of half an ounce of butter, and a teaspoonful of epsom salt will give it an a- perient quality, which will assist the principal viscera to get rid of their burden. "Water Grwe/(says Tryon in his observation on health, 16mo. 1688, p. 42,)is "the King of Spoon Meats," and "the Queen of Soups," and gratifies nature beyond all others. In the "art of thriving,''' lb'97, p. 8, are directions for preparing "fourscore noble and wholesome dishes, upon most of which a man may live excellent well for twopence a day: the authors Obs. on water gruel is that "essence of oatmeal" makes "a noble and exhilarating meal!"1 Dr. Fra#kll\:s favourite breakfast Avas a good basin of warm gruel, in Avhich there was a small slice of butter ivifh toasted bread and nutmeg, the expense of this, he reckoned at three half-pence. "xVastication is a very necessary preparation of solid aliment, without Avhich there can be no good digestion." The above are the first lines in Arbuthnot's Essay on Al- iment. This first act of the important process of digestion, is most perfectly performed, when the flavour, &.c. of our mering. Send up turnips Avith them, fNo. 130,) they may be boiled with the chops, skim well, and then send all up in a deep dish, with the broth they were stewed in. N. B. The broth Avill make an economist one, and the-meat a-ir- •#ior ATh»lesome and comfortable meal. 114 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. food is agreeable to our taste; Ave naturally detain upon our palate those things which please it. and the meat Ave relish most, is consequently most broken down by cheiv- ing and most intimately incorporated with the saliva, this is the reason Avhy what we desire most ve digest best. Here is, a sufficient answer, to the folios which have sprung from the pens of cynical and senseless scribblers, on whom-nature not having bestoAved a palate, they have proscribed those pleasures they had not sense* to taste, or comprehend the wise purposes for which they were given to us, and "Compound for sins they areinclin'd to, By damning those they have no mind to." How large a share of the business of digestion is mana- ged by mastication, has been shown by the experiments of Spallanzani.] *Men are but rarely "framed so in the prodigality of nature," as to'have all their senses in perfection, very fev/ have a single one, that approximates within many degrees uf it; the eye of Rhailmel, the ear of Handel, the palate of Apicius, or the sensitive touch of the blind Girl, who could/ee/, colours, arepancratic faculties which are seldom produced. The folloAving division of the senses is so excellent that I copy it from the scarce book referred to below: "1 distinguish the six. senses by the character of noxious and innocent. The first three, thinking, seeing and hearing, are the in- nocent. The last three,feeling, tasting and smelling, the noxious. "I pursue happiness or systematic pleasurable sensation, in the cultivation of the first class, and in the controyl of the latter."— See the Life of John Stewart the Traveller, p. 12. 1"I took two pieces of mutton, each Aveighing 45 grains, and having chewed one as much as 1 used to chew my food, enclosed them in two separate spheres, and swallowed them at the same time, these tubes were voided at the same time, of the masticated meat there remained only 4 grains, of the other there were 18 left. " The necessity of mastication is sufficiently known ; there is per- haps no person who has not, some time or other, suffered from indi- gestion, for Avant of having chewed his food properly. The reason is obvious. Not to mention the saliva Avhich moi=tcns the food and predisposes it to be dissolved, it cannot be doubted, that when it is reduced to meee,s by the action of the teeth, the gastric fluid penetrates, and attacking it at more points, dissolves it more speed- ily than when it was whols. This is true of menstrua in gereral, Avhich alwa;, s dissolve bodies sooner Avhen they have been previous PEPTIC PRECEPTS, 115 To chew long, and leisurely, is the only Avay to extract the essence of cur food, to enjoy the taste of it, and to ren- der it easily convertible into laudable chyle, by the facili- ty it ccives to the gastric juices to dissolve it without trou- ble. " The pleasure of the palate, and the health of the siorn- ach, are equally promoted by this salutary habit, which all should be taught to acquire in their infancy. The more tender meat is, the more aac may eat of it. That Avhich is most difficult to cheAv, is of course most diffi- cult to digest. From 30 to 40 (according to the tenderness of the meat) has been calculated as the mean number of munches, that solid meat requires, to prepare for its journey d'OAvn the red jj lane; less Avill be suihcient for tender, delicate, and easily digestible white meats. The sagacious Gourmand, will calculate this precisely, , and not Avaste his precious moments in useless jaAv-A\ork, or invite an indigestion by neglecting mastication. I cannot give any positive rules for this, if depends on the state of the teeth;5* every one, especially the dyspec- tic, ought to ascertain the condition of these useful work- | ir.g tools; and to use them with proportionate diligence, is an indispensable exercise which every rational epicure Avill most cheerfully perform, who has any regard for the welfare of his stomach.! It has been recommended, that those' whose teeth are | ly broken to pieces. This is n>o a reason why, in other experi- I ments, masticated bread and* dressed flesh were more readily dis- I- solved than ynchewed bread and raw flesh. The boiling had made | it tenderer, and consequently disposed it to allow ingress to the gastric fluid/'—Spallanzan! on Digestion, vol. 1. p. 277. *In no branch of the practice of physic, is there more dangerous | quackery, than in this department; the only means we can furnish If our friend- with to avoid this, is to recommend them to apply to a k scientific deutist of acknoAvledged integrity and experience. Our L own mouth is under considerable obligations to Mr. Esmonds, of I Conduit Street, Hanover square. i t"Slave-*dealers are v/cll acquainted with the characteristic ¥ sif-ns of perfect health, any defect of Avhich much diminishes the 7 value of a slave. The war-t of a tooth makes a slave worth two dollars less."—Fisxv's Medical Geography, vol. i. p. 449, 116 THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE. defective, should mince their meat, this will certainly save trouble to both teeth and stomach, nevertheless, it is ad- visable, let the meat be minced ever so fine, to endeavour to mumble it into a pulp before it be introduced to the stomach, on account of the advantage derived from its ad- mixture Avith the saliva. "iiv experiment. I determined the quantity of saliva se- creted in half an hour, to be whilst the parts are at rest. four drachms.1'—Stark on Diet, p. 99. Mastication is the source of all good digestion; with its assistance, almost any thing may be put into any stom- ach with impunity: without it, digestion is always diffi- cult, and often impossible: and be it ahvays remembered, it is not merely what we eat, but what Ave digest well, that nourishes us. The sagacious Gourmand is ever mindful of his motto: "Masticate, Denticate, Chump, Grind and SAvalloAv." The four first acts, he knows he must perform properly5 before he dare attempt the fifth. Those who cannot enjoy a savoury morsel on account of their teeth, or rather on account of the want of them, Ave refer to the note at the foot of p. 116. To those who may inadvertently exercise their masti- cative faculties on unworthy materials, or longer on Avor- lhy ones than nature .finds convenient, Ave recommend "Peristaltic Persuaders." See page 104. When either the teeth or stomach are extremely feeble, especial care must be taken to keep meat till it is tender, be- fore it is cooked, and call in the aid of the pestle and mor- tar; and see Nos. 10,87, 89, 175, 1781; from 185 to 250, 501—542, and especially 503. Or dress in the usual way whatever is best liked; mince it, put it into a mortar, and pound it with a little broth or melted butter, vegetable, herb, spice, zest, No. 255, kc. according to the taste, kc. of the eater. The business of the stomach is thus very materially facilitated. "Mincing or pounding meat, saveth the grinding of the teeth; and therefore, (no doubt,) is more nourishing, es- pecially in age, or to them that have weak teeth; but bntter is not proper for weak bodies, and therefore, moi$; PEPTIC PRECEPTS, IT? ien it in pounding with a little claret wine, and a very httle cinnamon or nutmeg.1'—Lord Bacon's Natural History, Century 1.—54. This is important advice for those who are afflicted with "Tic Douloureux;'' the paroxysm of which is gener- ally provoked by the exercise of eating, and the editor has knoAvn that dreadful disorder cured by the patient frequently taking food thus prepared in small portions, in- stead of a regular meal. The teeth should be cleaned after every meal Avith a ^'tooth preserver," (i. e. a very soft brush.) and then rinced aa ith tepid water, never neglect this at night; nothing destroys the teeth so fast as suffering food to stick be- tAveen them, those Avho observe this rule, will seldom have any occasion for demrifrices, essence of ivory, indurating liquid enamels, S,-c. But it is the rage just now Avith some dentists, to re- commend brushes so hard, that they fetch blood like a lancet Avherever they touch; and instead of "teeth pre- servers,'''' these should rather be termed "gum bleeders." Not even a philosopher can endure the toothach pa- tiently; what aa overcoming agony then must it be to a -grand gourmand! depriving him of the means of enjoy- ing an amusement Avhich to him is the grand solace for all sublunary cares. To alleviate, and in indeed gener- ally tocure this intolerable pain, we recommend Toothavhe and Anti-rheumatic Embrocation, (No. 567.) Sal A-olatile—three parts Laudanum—one part. Mix and rub the part in pain therewith frequently. If the 7 tooth Avhich aches is holloA.v, drop some of this on a bit of cotton, and put it into the tooth, if the pain does not abate Avithin an hour, take out the cotton, and put another piece ■mi, changing it every hour four or five times, till the pain ceases. In a general face-ache or sore throat, moisten a piece. of flannel with it and put it to the part affected, rub an/ i>art afflicted Avith rheumatism night and morning and in the middle of the day. I have frequently cured old an*! inveterate rheumatic affections Aviththis liniment. TtfE end. l/w lA)Z T A