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   POPULAR TREATISE

          ON HEALTH,

  AND THE MEANS OF PRESERVING IT;

              OK THE         I

YSPEPTIC'S POCKET COMPANIOI
      FKOM THE LAST LONDON" EDITION
BY THF T \TE DR. WILLIAM TURNBULL.
WITH EXTRACTS PIIOM OTHER MEDICAL WRITERS,
        AND NOTES BY THE EDITOR.
       NEW-YORK:
J. K. PORTER, 114 FULTON STREET

         ' 1831.
✓ 

s v.V,

[Enteredj according to the Act of Congress, August 6th, in
  the year 1831, by J. K. rorler, in the Office of the Clerk
  of the Southern District of New-York.] 
PREFACE.
«
  This Treatise was  published  after the
death of the author, by his son, Dr. William
Turnbull, to which he prefixed the following
introductory remarks:
  " The present work is given to the public
as the relics of an eminent physician, whose
character in the metropolis was well known,
and who was distinguished by a successful
and scientific practice.  He was particularly
celebrated in the popular periodical publica-
tions of that day, by bringing forward, in
small tracts, or occasional letters, whatever
he thought could be useful to the public ; and
in this way he considered that he discharged
a duty, without regard to professional emo-
lument or mystery ; which is, of all others,
the most  pleasing, that of benefiting his
fellow-creatures, by gratuitous and disinter- 
IV
PREFACE.
ested advice.   In doing this, it may be said,
he followed the example of the  celebrated
Dr. Fothergill, who,  actuated  by  similar
motives, was ever attentive to catch the pre-
dominant attack of disease at the time, and
publicly to disseminate his opinion upon it,
for the purpose of checking its progress.
  " The situation of Dr. Turnbull, gave him
abundant  opportunities  of displaying  his
philanthropy, both by his employment in  the
public charities to which he belonged, and
also by  his ready and often unsolicited at-
tendance on the poor in his own neighbour-
hood, to whom he acted the part of  a friend
and a father.
   " From the pen, therefore, of such a char-
acter nothing is to be expected  but what is
worthy  of notice, and what will be found to
benefit  mankind by the instruction it con-
veys.
   "The papers which he left seem to be  part
of a  practical  system of medicine he  had
planned and nearly completed for the public
eye.  The first part,  which forms  the con-
 tents of this volume, consists of several sub-
 jects, which, though they have been treated 
PREFACE.
V
of by others,  yet it is not in  that  concise
manner that distinguishes the remarks upon
them from i)r. Turnbull's pen."
   Notwithstanding the deep stake that every
person has in  the preservation of his health,
the majority of mankind pay little attention
to it until, from want of precaution, they are
deprived  of  this  inestimable  boon.  And
when this occurs, they  generally apply to the
nearest doctor, or person bearing that title,
to ascertain what ails  them, as they would
to a fortune-teller to recover lost  property:
not being aware that  qui  dit docteur ne dit
pas  un homme  docte,  mais un homme qui
devrait etre docte.   That is,  that the appella-
tion of doctor does  not  always indicate a
learned man,  but one  that ought  to  be so.
The celebrated Dr. Moore,  of England, said
that between a good physician and none at
all, the difference,in most cases, was scarcely
discernible by the patient, but that between
a good physician and a bad one the differ-
ence was  immense.
   The  want of due discrimination  in  this
respect, frequently proves fatal to the patient, 
VI
PREFACE.
who dies of the doctor, through  the  instru-
mentality of phlebotomy and drastic medi-
cines.
  Although the  medical  art,  deservedly,
stands high in the list of learned  profes-
sions, so  called, as being eminently  condu-
cive to the well-being of man, yet there are
those who pretend to it, that incur ant awful
responsibility involved in its mal-administra-
tion.
  Many  works have been  written  on the
means of preserving health, containing more
or less merit, but, for the most part, are loo
diffuse for the general reader to profit much
by their perusal; and, moreover, are often in-
terlarded with medical prescriptions, which
can never be  relied upon  for all constitu-
tions, under all circumstances;  and there-
fore their use, in the hands of inexperience,
may produce deleterious consequences.  The
safest way is, to take  proper  means  for the
preservation of health,  and  if from unavoid-
able causes, or otherwise,  the  system be-
comes  deranged,  in a considerable  degree,
then to employ a skilful physician to repair 
PREFACE.
vii
it.  It is  dangerous for those  unskilled in
their use,  to meddle much with mineral and
vegetable  poisons.  They  are  edged tools,
and if not  adroitly handled may cut too deep.
  A work on health, by Dr. Kitchiner, pub-
lished  some time ago in England,  and re-
printed in Philadelphia, in 1823, contains
much  good practical advice;  but is very
defective in classification and arrangement,
and is  also objectionable on the ground be-
fore alluded to.   We have, however, availed
ourselves of some excellent remarks in this
publication.
  On  the whole,  the work  before us, for
popular use, is, in  our opinion, far superior
to any thing of the kind that has fallen un-
der our view.   It is systematic and concise,
and, at the same time, contains whatever is
necessary  on the  subject.    Owing to the
style and regular order in which the different
topics are treated, its perusal is far from being
tedious, a  consideration of no  little weight
with those who prefer novel reading  to the
study of authors treating merely on the pre-
servation  of  health, which,  in comparison 
Vlli,             PREFACE.
with works of amusement, are held in little
consideration.
  The publisher of this edition, after having
tried the various medical and manual opera-
tive schemes for the cure of dyspepsia, has
become convinced that the most sure remedy
is a rigid adherence to strict rules of regimen
and exercise ; and that if this course will not,
in all cases, cure, it will undoubtedly pre-
vent the approach of this troublesome and
sometimes deadly enemy.
  His  practice is to avoid the use of ardent
spirits, fermented  liquors, tea, coffee, and
tobacco in any form.  His diet, morning and
evening,  consists  chiefly of stale bread and
milk, occasionally adding a boiled eggt  or
ripe fruit; excluding, however, pears, which
he finds  injurious.    He  dines on  a small
quantity of beef-steak, with no other condi-
ment than salt; and no vegetables  but po-
tatoes.    Cabbage particularly is  rejected.
From his experience in regard to lobsters, he
thinks that no dyspeptic stomach can digest
them.  He takes much exercise in the open
air, and when  this cannot conveniently  be 
PREFACE.              IX
obtained, he makes use of dumb bells, which
distends the chest and gives a brisk circula-
tion to the whole system.   A  warm bath
about once a week he has  found very salu-
tary.   He avoids medicine  as much as pos-
sible, nor does he find it necessary, except
wJien  he imprudently departs  from  the
course above specified.   In this  case,  a
bottle of Congress, Saratoga water, taken  in
the morning before breakfast, answers the
desired purpose.  Any gentle aperient might,
perhaps,  prove equally effective.   This wa-
ter, however, is  injurious if taken  at  any
other time of day than here directed.
  The publisher has suffered under this com-
plaint for about ten years, and, by adhering
to the above discipline for a little over three
months, finds himself perfectly comfortable,
except when deviating from the rules pre-
scribed.
  When the human  system has been  ma-
terially deranged for  many years, it cannot
reasonably be expected that it can be imme-
diately restored, by  any means whatever.
Patience and perseverance are required. But 
z
PREFACE
it is confidently believed, that any dyspeptic,
by following the course here indicated for
five or six months, will be so far recovered as
to be enabled to return by  degrees to his
usual mode of living.   He may, however,
find it necessary to abstain from tobacco al-
together, and to make a very sparing Use of
alcohol in any form. 
CONTENTS.
Introduction.  General Remarks on the pre-
  servation of health, -         ...    -  |
Of the different constitutions and temperaments
  of mankind,  ------   6—71
Of the Non-naturals,      ...      u
Of Air,  -......II
Of Seasons,    ------   16
Of Aliment,......18—75
Animal Food......25—77
Vegetable Diet,.....31
Of Drink,       ......38
Water,       ......40
Wine.......41
Ardent Spirits,    -----    43
Tea, Coffee, Chocolate,    -    -    -    - 45
Spices, or Condiment,                      47
Of Exercise,         .....50
Of Sleep and Watching,                    55
Of Secretions and Excretions,    -    -    -  58
OfClimate,.....74
Fruits,.......79
Bread,.......81

                 Appendix.
Peptic  Precepts,       -         -       -  83
Suspended Animation by Drowning,     -    86
Chronic Rheumatism,    -        -      -  88
Cutaneous Eruptions,     -             -    89
Alcohol in different Liquors,       -    -    - 90
Nutritive matter in vegetable substances,  -  92 
 
INTRODUCTION.
    GENERAL REMARKS ON  THE PRESERVATION  OF
                     HEALTH.

  That health is the first of sublunary blessings, is a fact
universally admitted ; but this fact,  however impres-
eive, seldom produces that  conviction on the minds of
individuals,  which shows an  influence in regulating
their mode of life.
  To preserve health, it is necessary to live under the
habitual impression of our  constant propensity to dis-
ease, and  to conduct ourselves with a due attention  to
this important truth.   Few people can appreciate pro-
perly the value of health till they experience the attack
of disease ;  and it is only from the loss of this  first of
blessings, we begin to put a proper  estimation  on the
possession of it.  But though actual disease does not
take place,  there  are, with every individual,  certain
slighter deviations from  the healthy state,  which, if
neglected, undermine the constitution, and bring on
irreparable mischief before  we are sensible of its ap-
proach.  It  is these  gentle warnings it behoves us to
attend to, which, like enemies in  ambush, insidiously
push on, till they terminate in the irreparable loss  of
health, and in the breaking  up of the habit.  Hence, it
is much  easier to preserve health, than  to recover it
when lost.
                        1 
2
INTRODUCTION.
  The principles, indeed, of the healing art,  or that
which regards the preservation of this blessing, arc as
clear and ccrtuin aa its maxims are easy to put in prac-
tice.   The principles, again, of  medicine,  or  what
respects the cure of actual disease, are often as obscure
and ambiguous, as its rules are painful and disagreeable.
One simple maxim is  always to be kept in view, that
health is preserved by avoiding every thing that is hurt-
ful, and by  adopting that which is  salutary.   But,
however simple this view is, no subject  is of so  much
importance as that which regards its preservation: and
it cannot be too often inculcated, that even a temporary
loss of it often lays the foundation for disagreeable con-
sequences during the remainder of life.
  Health, if defined, we  may consider as consisting in
the corresponding harmony of each part  of the body
with another, and this harmony extended equally to the
solids and the fluids, so that a proper balance or pre-
ponderance continues to be supported between thcrn.
This forms the perfect state of the animal economy;
and, during this state, the functions of both body and
mind are  performed with pleasure, satisfaction, and
alacrity.  When tlus is  altered, disease ensues; and
then what avail all the other advantages of life?—Can
enjoyment be experienced in  the act of suffering? or
what consideration can bo made of fortune, honour, and
dignity, by him who is sensible only to his  existence
by the torture he feels ?
  But that an attention  to  health may be, in the  op-
posite extreme, carried  too far, will be  also readily
admitted; and perhaps forms  an equal fault.  Hence,
to live medically, as has been alleged, is to live  miser- 
                  INTRODUCTION.                  •>

ably, and to be the conplant flare of rule.  Yet, even
as an apology for this fault, it may be observed, that
tlio enjoyment of a few years in the unrestrained man-
ner in which the libertine  wishes  to  enjoy them,  is
purchased  with an age of  pain and infirmity for the
remainder of life.
   The true plan, therefore, consists,  as wisely esta-
blished by the Author  of Nature,  in  regulating and
keeping under  control our  various  appetites  and
passions ;  and, by doing this,  united with a  proper
knowledge of his constitution, every man will taste
that tranquillity of mind and soundness of body, which
is the source of a refined  pleasure that a life of  intem-
perance can never experience.
   To the preservation of health, the golden mean equally
applies, as to other important pursuits in life ;  for an
attention to health  may be carried so far,  as already
hinted, that it degenerates into weakness.  Thus, how-
 ever proper the system of the noble Venetian, Cornaro,
 might be  in his particular case, and with the infirm
 and worn-out constitution which gave rise  to his pre-
 cepts, it is by no means a plan to be generally adopted,
 or to which mankind in general are disposed to submit.
 The human frame, we know from daily  observation, is
 adapted for  great variety, and can endure  equally the
 scorching heats of the torrid zone, and the chilly freez-
 ing colds of the polar circles.
    Man is  more injured by himself than by any external
 awent  or circumstance  of situation  in which he  is
 pFaccd ; and the principal thing required  is to guard
 him against the evils which attack equally the energies
 of his mind and body,—from the refinements of modern 
4                 INTRODUCTION.
life.   These  are  the  snares  he is  to  beware of, the
syrens, whose poison saps the foundation of his frame;
and, avoiding these, by temperance, moderation, and
exercise, let him so regulate  his mode of life, as to be
always able to enjoy, in the happy language of the poet,

        "The feast of reason, and the flow of soul."

  Before entering into any minute details of what 13
proper for the preservation of health, a preliminary part
is, to ascertain and be well acquainted with  the  signs
of this state.  Thus, we shall  be best able  to fix our
proper mode of  life,  when  we can  judge  of its ef-
fects, or to change it, if these effects induce  a disposi-
tion to  disease, instead of preserving the  marks  of
health.
  In order to enjoy a  perfect state of  health, it is first
necessary that the principal organs of the body be com-
pletely  formed; and these are confined  to  the  head,
chest, and belly.  This makes what is termed a sound
constitution—that is to say, the bones should be thick
and strong,  the  teeth good;  there should  prevail a
greater proportion of flesh than of fat;  the head should
be of a proper size ; the chest capacious and  open ; the
belly a little protuberant;  the  muscles  thick;  the
vessels  large; the  nerves solid,  compact, and exten-
sively  diffused;  the  tendons  firm,  and  the fibres in
general elastic; the appetite  neither too great nor too
small, and the secretions and excretions performed in
due proportion to each other.   To these signs are to be
joined the absence of all pain, the sweet uninterrupted
enjoyment of sleep for the usual stated period, and the 
INTRODUCTION.
5
capability of supporting moderate exercise with  ease,
and without inconvenience.
  In enumerating these various signs of health, it is not
intended here to alarm those in whom they do not all
observe the uniformity described.   There is an infinite
number of shades and deviations from perfect health to
an actual assailment of disease, in which every one ex-
periences the enjoyment of existence suited to his parti-
cular constitution or temperament; but, by tlus picture
now drawn,  every  one will be enabled  to  judge of
the slightest derangements in their habit of  body,  by
wh^ch they may come to be remedied before they arise to
the height of actual  malady.
  Indeed, it  cannot be too  often impressed, that it is
easier to prevent than to  cure ; and the words of the
poet contain, on this point, an important truth :

          Trincipii obsta: serd medicina paratur.
                                       Ovid.
        The attack resist: too late the cure may come.
1* 
 
              ON HEALTH,

                     AND

ON THE MEANS OF PRESERVING IT, $c.
                  CHAPTER I.
      OF  THE DIFFERENT CONSTITUTIONS AND
           TLMT-ERAMENTS OF MANKIND.

  The constitutions of mankind we find considerably
varied ;  and speaking in general terms, no two persona
are formed so exactly alike, that the same precepts incul-
cated will  equally apply, or the same means of cure
be alike successful under disease.  This mode of pro-
ceeding, however, is commonly pursued by empirics:
but, the regular and cautious observer of nature, before
laying down his regulations for health in  any particular
case, examines with care the distinctions of habit in
which each individual coming under his  review differs
from another ;  and on those differences  or minute dis-
tinctions, he founds his scientific and successful plan of
treatment.

           Arrangements of Temperaments.

   These distinctions, though numerous,  have been ar-
ranged  by physicians under certain heads or leading 
8           DIFFERENT TEMPERAMENTS.

points;  and, by this arrangement, the various constitu-
tions  or temperaments of mankind have been classed
under four denominations, known  by the names of the
sanguine, the choleric, the ptdegmalic, and the melancholic.
In each of these denominations we arc to observe, that
a certain difference or varied proportion exists between
the solids and fluids,  which gives a peculiar change
or modification to the movements of the habit or system.
The particulars oi"  these modifications we  shall  now
examine, in the order in which they are placed.

              1.  Sanguine Temperament.

  The first, or sanguine temperament, is  distinguished
by the excess of fluid compared with the proportion of
solid parts.  Thus, the vessels being replete with blood,
it possesses a strong disposition to inflammation from
the slightest cause, and  it is  seldom able to  endure
much heal.   It  is  marked also by much  sensibility
and irritability.  It is variable in all it3 motions: fickle
and unsteady in  every thing it undertakes, prone to
suspicion, affable and  courteous, but equally forgetful
and unkind.  It  may be termed properly the tempera-
ment of pleasure.  It is fond of every thing voluptuous,
and,  hating industry and application, it makes  little
progress for the most part in any art or science, unless
where it is joined with a mixture of the next constitu-
tion, or the choleric.

               2. Choleric Temperament.

   In the next, or choleric temperament, there prevails
  yellow tinge of the  skin.  The eye is dark and of a 
            DIFFERENT TEMPERAMENTS.           9

penetrating cast.   Every action here is denoted  by
rapidity.   Tlus constitution possesses an excess of bile,
and the body is generally distinguished by a relaxed
state.  It is fitted for the most laborious employments.
In diet, a fondness for animal food is a leading feature
of this constitution.

             3. Phlegmatic Temperament.

   The next temperament in the order of arrangement,
is the phlegmatic one, distinguished by the softness and
whiteness of the skin, and a large prominent eye; by a
weakness of circulation, as denoted  by the pulse, and
by a general slowness and languor  in all  its actions.
Indifference and apathy arc also its leading characteris-
tics.  Prone to obey, it seems born to submit to every
oppression;  and so much in every  respect  does this
tameness  prevail, that even its health seems little in-
jured by exposure to weather..

             4. Melancholic Temperament.

   The last temperament is the melancholic.  Here we
observe a gloomy countenance, a dry and meagre fibre,
a hard or tough skin, with eyes small and hollow.  The
action of the system is weak and languid, and there pre-
vails in the blood an excess of black bile, which renders
the motions of the intestines particularly  slow.  The
mind, however, is quick in its perceptions, and is much
given to contemplation and deep research.   A slowness
of decision marks the execution of whatever it under-
takes • and to the evils of life it yields with patience 
 10          DIFFERENT TEMPERAMENTS.

 and submission, though it discovers at the same time a
 vindictiveness of temper when once provoked.
   Such are the differences to be remarked in the consti-
 tutions of mankind, and their  differences  have  been
 referred by authors to various causes.
   The most  important to be  noticed, is the different
 state of the nervous system in different individuals. Thus,
 when the nerves are large and  strong,  and the brain
 bears a similar proportion, that constitution will possess
 much sensibility, and all the qualities of mind connected
 with it;  which  is  the actual state of the nervous sys-
 tem both in the  sanguine  and choleric temperaments.
 Where, on the contrary, the nerves are small,  and the
 brain contracted in  the same degree, a  state of mind
 will exist correspondent to  this formation ; there the
 Bcnses will be dull, and a languor prevail, and even a
 degree of melancholy in every action.  Such a state of
 the nervous  system is found to distinguish both the
 phlegmatic and melancholic  temperaments.   Thus,
 while the sanguine and choleric habits readily receive
 impressions, and as readily transmit them with rapidity
 to all parts of the body, the two latter constitutions are
 with difficulty acted upon, and the effect of the impres-
 sions they receive is but slowly conveyed  to every part.
 The consideration of these circumstances requires parti-
 cular attention in the practice of physic ;  for too much
caution cannot be shown in  the  exhibition of powerful
 medicines to the two former constitutions.  The worst
consequences have accordingly been  known to follow
 their administration here in too large a quantity.  It is
in the two latter  habits this  caution would  ba  mis-
placed : the dull arid state of the nervous system ren- 
OF AIR.                    11
ders it here equally difficult to affect them by the most
powerful medicines, as  it is easy m the former; and
the most liberal doses may be, therefore, ventured upon
without much danger.
                   CHAPTER II.

              OF THE NON-NATURALS.*

  This  is a  term applied by physicians to express a
number of things essential to the existence of man, with-
out entering into his composition, or constituting a part,
as it were, of his nature.   They are properly compre-
hended  under air, aliment, exercise, rest, watching,  and
sleep, the secretions and excretions, and the passions and
affections of the mind.   On each of these it will be pro-
per to descant so far as they influence the constitution
of man in producing a state of health and disease.

                      1. Of Air.

  The first and most important of the whole is air;  for
wliile life can be supported for some  time without ali-
ment, existence terminates rapidly when we are de-
prived, but for a few moments, of air.
  From our  first entrance into the world, its presence

  * This term has been long reprobated, although used by all pro-
fessional  men.  Il conveys no idea of what shouldjbe understood by
it, and is ;i relic of the jargon of the Peripatetic school, or Uit
Galenic philosophy. 
12
OF AIR.
becomes an essential requisite  to the continuance of
life.  The action of  respiration begins,  the lungs arc
expanded, and continue their functions till death.

             General Composition of Air.

  This fluid, which we inhale,  formerly considered as
Bimple and uncompounded, modern chemistry has been
able to analyse, and  to investigate its principles.  Tliia
analysis shows that air, though colourless, transparent,
compressible, and elastic, as we find it surrounding our
globe, under the name of atmosphere, is composed of
three different substances: of oxygen, azote, and carbonic
acid, in different proportions; the first  being twenty-
seven parts to the hundred, the second seventy-two or
Beventy-three, and the last only one part.  The first of
these substances, or oxygen, is  that best suited for the
support of life ; and  where it is procured pure, or by it-
self, by an artificial process, an animal  enclosed in it
will support  its existence seven or eight times longer
than when enclosed  with the same proportion of com-
mon air.  Its use is therefore apparent, and it is by the
proportion of this substance in common  air that we are
enabled to breathe.  Hence, atmospheric air, the more
it is deprived of this part of its composition, the less is
it calculated to sustain animal life.
  The second substance, or azote, termed  in common
language foul air, is that part of the atmosphere which
is produced by the various processes of vegetable and
 animal bodies going on near the surface of the earth by
 combustion, respiration, and putrefaction.  Hence it is
 a substance which cannot be breathed without affecting 
OF AIR.
13
the springs of life, and paralyzing the sinews of action.
When  accumulated  in  undue proportion, it proves
quickly fatal to every animal exposed to its influence.
  The third substance,  carbonic acid, more commonly
termed fixed air, is equally pernicious to animals as the
former; but, as its quantity is so small, bearing a pro-
portion of only one part in the hundred, we are less ex-
posed to its deleterious effects, and therefore, on that
account, it claims here less consideration.

               General Effects of Air.

  From this view of the composition of air,  we are en-
abled to judge what part of it is eminently necessary  to
the preservation of life ; and after our knowledge  of
this  constitution  of  **io atmosphere, we are led  to
examine, next, the influence  that different states of it
have upon us in respect  to health.   Thus, by a warm
air the solids of the  body are relaxed, and  a  stronger
circulation of the fluids produced.  The nervous system
is particularly oppressed by it, and nervous habits suffer
much distress and inconvenience in hot weather. Cold,
on the contrary, imparts to the solids an unusual firm-
ness and compactness.   The muscles become more
elastic.  The digestion and assimilation of the food are
quickened, and proceed more rapidly.  But, with these
good effects produced on the body by the influence of
cold, a prononcss to disease is apt at the  same  time
to arise, and  a  strong tendency to inflammation is one
immediate  consequence  of  the increased vigour and
tone thus communicated.  Hence, all those  complaints
which are connected with a powerful excitement of the
                         2 
14
OF AIR.
system readily appear, and winter is the scene of their
attack.  Damp or moist air produces an equal relaxa-
tion  and debility as warm air;  but, it is still more
hurtful, by giving a tendency to obstructions, and by
checking the discharge  from  the skin.  It has also a
powerful influence on the mind, in producing depres-
sion, torpor, and ennui.  Dampness, though increased
in its effects by cold, is still more hurtful when aided by
heat, especially where the degree of heat is very great.
It is  from this source proceeds the mortality of the West
India Islands, where heat and moisture in conjunction
form the predominant cause of disease.;  A dry cool air
is the most conducive to health.  It produces a serenity
and activity both of body and mind.  If the degree ot
coolness, however, be too great, it disposes, as already
observed, to inflammation; and i?it be too warm and dry,
it is apt, in the other extreme, to enervate and debilitate
the system.  Great and sudden vicissitudes or changes of
atmosphere arc highly injurious both to the healthy and
invalid.  The human system best accords with gradual
and progressive alterations, and all sudden changes are
prone  to induce disease.   Thus,  exposure to  a cold
coming after a warm day,  is sure to produce symptoms
of disease in the invalid  and infirm, and should be care-
fully avoided, even by those in more vigorous health.

               Modifications of the Air.

  From the composition and general effects of air, we
proceed next to examine some of its modifications.
  Winds may be considered  as strong concussions or
motions of the air, and  when irregular, arise from dif- 
OF AIR.
15
ferent  causes;  as  the  situation  of the quarter from
which they blow, the  position of a mountain, a forest,
and other collateral circumstances.
  Of the different winds, the north wind is esteemed
the most healthy.  By it the atmosphere is freed 'of
noxious  exhalations,  and  the  air  rendered dry and
serene.   Hence, it imparts to the body colour, vigour,
and elasticity ;  though from its degree of cold it is apt
to be chilling for the invalid, and to those subject to
pulmonic affections, or diseases of the chest, and other
species of inflammation.
  In opposition to  the north wind, comes the south,
which, on  the  contrary, weakens and relaxes, being
loaded with moisture, which tend to give rise to colds
and catarrhal diseases.
  The west wind,  of  the  whole,  conveys the most
agreeable sensations,  though it is less bracing than the
north or  north-east.
  The east wind in Britain produces feelings more un-
pleasant  than any other, and that feeling docs not arise
merely from its degree of cold.   To such a height does
it often take place, that even the most cheerful disposi-
tion is rendered  by a long continuance in it, peevish
and morose. It is also well known that persons having
once  experienced the attack of  intermittent fever or
ague, from their unpleasant feelings, can prognosticate
at all times its  approach.
  To conclude our  observations on winds, as they re-
gard  health, it may be remarked, that a west wind, or
rather north-west,  is both  the most salutary and the
most agreeable ; and after it, they may be arranged in
the following order—viz. first,  an east, then a north- 
16
SEASONS.
east, and last of all in the scale, a south and a south-
east. But, at the same time, when stating these general
effects, it is to  be observed, that local  circumstances
essentially vary these several qualities of the different
winds.  Thus, if  they blow over a continent, or the
ocean, or over high mountains, or icy regions, they will
be rendered colder and more humid than if they take
their direction from  another quarter.   In  every situa-
tion, however,  the morning wind is to  be considered
more  bracing than that of the evening, which brings
with it always some portion of dampness and moisture.

                      Seasons.

  Of the four seasons, spring is indisputably the most
healthy, as well as the most beautiful of the year.  It is
then that the vegetable kingdom is  renewed.  On this
account there is collected a greater proportion of oxygen
or vital air, and of course the  atmosphere  is rendered
purer than at any other time of the year.  It is also the
most temperate, being neither too cold nor insupportably
hot.  It is the season whose charms are oftencst painted
by the poet, and  the perpetual continuance of which is
considered as constituting a part of  the  supposed hap-
piness of Elysium.
   Summer is neither the most  agreeable nor the most
healthy of the seasons.   Its too great heat, by enerva-
ing, deprives us, as it were, of a part of our existence.
The beginning of this season ha3  been remarked as
most salutary to children or young persons ; but, as it
advances, in consequence of the excessive bodily dis-
charges it occasions, it gives a tendency to diseases of 
               DOMESTIC SITUATION.             17

the putrid kind, and the most fatal epidemics are found
to make their appearance at this period.
  Autumn, the next season, is still more unhealthy than
summer;  but, the beginning of this season and the
latter end  of summer, are allowed  to agree well with
the infirm and aged.   Besides, from its degree of heat,
the autumnal season  is rendered unhealthy, and has its
atmosphere vitiated   by the corrupted  and  putrified
particles  of vegetation which then  every where  cover
the soil;  and, unless  this is counteracted, as sometimes
happens, by frequent winds and some degree of cold,—
fever, dysenteries, and diarrhoeas of the worst nature,
Occur at this period of the year.
   Winter is considered as  equally healthy with the
spring, when it is not too intense, and when the changes
from frost to thaw do not happen too suddenly.  It is in
this season that inflammatory affections mostly prevail:
every precaution, therefore, should be taken to avoid
any unnecessary exposure of the body, either by neglect
of warmth of dress,  or by long continuance in an ex-
posed situation.

            Domestic Situation for Health.

   Such are the leading observations that occur in the
various constitutions of air,  and on the  circumstances
of seasons, as connected with the atmosphere: it now
remains  to point out, as a practical inference from the
whole, the particular situation which every individual
ought to prefer for his residence, where a choice is left to
him, in any climate to which the chance of his fate may
rivet him.  Such a situation ought to be in an open dry      •
                         2* 
la
OF ALIMENT.
country, on  a healthy soil, and ralhcr a rising ground.
Neither should it be expot-ed to  the  extremes of win-
ter cold nor  of summer heat, but so placed that  the
latter may be moderated by  a free pure air, and  the
solar rays admitted, so as  to  temper  the rigour of  the
former.  The apartments of this  dwelling should be
formed of a proper size  and  height, to admit freely, at
all  times, a  circulation of air.  To enjoy such a re-
sidence with comfort, the apartments having a southern
exposure should be inhabited in winter ; and in sum-
mer, on the contrary, those situated  to the north and
cast; and through the day no person should live in the
room set apart for sleep ; but such apartments  should
be regularly opened, and the bed and bed-clothes turn-
ed over, that the exhalations from the body imbibed
during the night, may be dissipated  before the return
to repose.  The use of fire  in sleeping apartments id
also to be condemned ; and in damp weather if a fire is
found necessary, it should always be removed before the
hour of retiring to rest.   From these few leading rules
every individual will be  enabled to  know, in the choice
of his domestic residence, what he  ought to avoid, and
what he ought to prefer.

                   2. Of Aliment.

  The first object in all aliment is,  the degree of its
nourishing quality ;  and as animal food  furnishes this
in the greatest proportion, it i:;  more fitted  than  the
vegetable for the support of man.*  Animal food admits

  * " Animal food being composed of the  most nutritions parta of
the food on which the animal lived, ai»d having been  already di- 
OF ALIMENT.
13
also of a greater variety than any other; but in pro-
portion to this variety, it is apt to induce noxious effects.
Vegetable food, tho' it contains less  nourishment than
the former, makes a proper mixture with it to counter-
act these hurtful  consequences.  The particular effects
of this difference of aliment  on the human  body, we
have an opportunity of contemplating in the habits of
certain votaries who exclusively use each.  Thus, those
tribes, as the Tartars, who  live solely on animal food,
possess a degree  of ferocity of mind, and fierceness of
character, wliich  form the leading feature of all carnivo-
rous animals.  Besides producing this  state of mind,
animal food also  disposes the fluids strongly to putre-
faction.  Even a  disagreeable smell is emitted from the
body of those who solely use it, and all  the  secretions
partake of the same effluvia.
  On the other hand, an entire diet of vegetable matter,
gives to the mind a gentleness, softness, and mildness
of feeling, the  reverse of the  former character, as ap-
pears in the Gcntoo:  and this habit of body is less
subject to diseases of a putrid nature.   A mixture of
diet is, therefore,  best suited to the human constitution:
though the  proportion  of this  mixture cannot be very
minutely ascertained, yet two-thirds of vegetables to
one-third of animal food will  form the  best  and most
salutary  regulation of diet.
  The importance  of attention to diet  cannot  be too

gestcd 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 viscera,
and consequently requires more labour of the stomach, and other
digestive organs."—Burton on the Nun-Nuturalx. 
20
OF ALIMENT.
strongly inculcated :  and all the errors  committed, in
regard to its quantity or quality, must  bo productive of
very serious evils to the human frame.
  With  a small quantity of aliment the operation of
digestion will  always be most active, and  the proper
changes of the food in its conversion into aliment will
be also most  fully completed.   On the other hand,
where an excess of quantity  is  introduced  into  the
stomach, the  organ  becomes over-loaded,  the gastric
juice is not in  sufficient quantily to prepare  it, and part
will accordingly pass off in an undigested state.
  But, if this attention to quantity be  at all times  ne-
cessary, it is indispensably so in infancy and the early
periods of life ; for it is then that indigestion lays  the
foundation for many  diseases. Indeed, most  of the com-
plaints of childhood may be referred to this source.  At
the same time, while  excess in quantity is thus con-
demned, it  is proper that nature  should be satisfied;
and where  too little nourishment is taken, we  feel as
much indisposed as by the opposite extreme.
  In the quantity of food also  much should depend on
the particular situation of the individual.  The hardy,
active, and laborious, require, it is evident,  a quantity
which will by no means suit the weak, sedentary,  and
inactive.  Even the quality should be regulated by the
same circumstances.  Thus, the  hardy and vigorous
countryman stands in need of a crude and solid food, in
order that the strong  powers of his stomach may have
proper exercise, and that it may not pass  off too quickly,
but continue its proper stimulus for a certain time.   But
this food is by no means calculated for the weaker pow-
ers of t lie luxurious and indolent,  who require,  on tho 
                     OP ALIMENT.                  21

contrary, an aliment easier assimilated, to digest which
the action of the stomach is little exerted.*
  All rules of diet, however, must be directed by the
particular circumstances and situations of the individuals
for whom they are intended.  No general directions can
apply so well as those drawn by every man from his own
experience.  But still some leading axioms on this sub-
ject ought to be kept in view, the principal of which are
here laid down:—
  1. The first to be attended to is, that the nourishment
taken in sliould be sufficient to supply the waste of the system.
If left to  nature, tlus would properly be determined by
the state of the appetite.  The appetite is that sensation
or call  vvliich nature employs to intimate the wants of
the body, and  should be indulged  until it is satisfied,
whenever the body is in a healthy state.  The only ob-
jection  to this rule  appears where the stomach has been
habitually over-distended:  then the appetite will  con-
tinue even to excess, and must not be indulged to the
extent of its desire  ;  for, the consequence of indulging
this excess, would  be, in the end, the production of cor-
pulence,  .l..   ss of blood, and all tho dangers of  over
repletion,  while  its immediate effects on  the stomach
and  bowels  will be equally disagreeable, in inducing
head-ach, fever, diarrheca, and other disorders.!

  • Food must take the temperature of our stomach,  (which is
probably not less than  120,) brfnre digestion can commence. When
the stomach is feeble, cold food frequently produces flatulence, pal-
pitation of the heart, Stc.; and all the other troublesome accompani-
ments of indigestion.—Dr. Kitc/n'ner.                    ?
  \  The most con/non cause of dyspeptic disorders, which are so
prevalent at the commencement of the third period of life (the age
of 42,) U an increasing indolence, inducing us to diminish the de-
gree of the active exercise we have been in  the habit of taking,
without in a corresponding degree diminishing the quantity of our 
22
OF ALIMENT.
  8. The second rule of diet is, that the  stomach should
be slowly and gradually filled, as sudden distension of the
stomach is both injurious to the organ, by expanding its
fibres  too  rapidly, and  also by preventing the proper
quantity of nourishment being taken in.   It is also inju-
rious in another point of view, by the imperfect mastica-
tion of the aliment, by which is  prevented  a sufficient
preparation of the food, previous to its reception into the
stomach.  By this means the  powers  of the latter will
be more increased in assimilating it.
  3. The third  rule is, that the aliment be prepared  in a
simple  state, for in this  state it is  found to be most
nourishing.  All the multiplied combinations of viands
which  the art of cookery has introduced and refined on,
in proportion as they please the palate, are, perhaps,  to
be  considered  as  destructive  to  health.   The  real
nourishing part of the food is  only what  is convertible
into jelly or mucilage, oil and sugar.  All  the other parts
arc  unnecessary  appendages, which, by their bulk,
merely fill the stomach; though this distension of the
organ acts, perhaps, in an indirect manner in conducing
to promote digestion, by keeping  a certain stimulus
upon the organ, from this expansion of its fibres.
  4. The fourth rule is, to confine the aliment to one kind,
or rather to  cat chiefly of one dish.  By this practice
the stomach is not solicited to  eat too much, which is
apt to be the case where variety prevails; and, from one


food ; on the contrary, people serm to expert the Btomach to grow
stronger and to work harder as it grows older, and to almost en-
tirely support  the  circulation without the help of exercise.—Dr.
Kitchiner. 
OF ALIMENT.
23
wholesome dish,  nourishment is  better prepared  and
concocted than from an heterogeneous profusion.4
   5. A fifth, and very important rule in modern life is,
not to make the distance between meals  too great.  Thus,
the body will  be regularly supplied with nourishment,
and no unusual craving or debility ensue.  The regula-
tion of this distance should be determined by the pro-
cess of digestion.   This  process we find generally
completed in tliree or four hours ; and,  observing this
rule, every meal should succeed another at this distance
of time.f  Long fasting is attended with effects equally
pernicious as over-repletion.  It produces a tendency
to putrescency, and the general mass of fluids becomes
tainted.  In consequence of it also, the appetite begins
to fail,  a loathing of food ensues, and a slow creeping
fever pervades the system, and enfeebles every action of
life.   The distance between meals, as observed by mo-
dern fashion, tends  somewhat to induce the same evil,
though not in that degree.   Protracting dinner, the prin-
cipal  meal, to  a late and unusual hour, so far destroys
the tone of the stomach, as to prove the origin of most
of those dyspeptic complaints which affect men of busi-
ness, and the higher ranks of life.  This meal, from its
late season, is more indulged in, than it otherwise would
be.J   The stomach, in consequence,  becomes over-dis-

  * It is your superfluous second courses, and ridiculous variety of
wines, liqueurs, ices, desserts, &c, (which are served up more to
gratify the pride of the  host, than the appetite of the guests)  that
overcome the stomach, and paralyze digestion.—Dr. Kitchiner.
  f As a general rule, the interval of fasting should seldom be less
than three, nor more than five hours.—Dr. Kilchitier.
  { " We often tease and disorder our stomachs by fastine for too
long a period, and when we have thus brought on what I may call
a discontented state of the organ, unfitting it lor its office, we set to a 
24
OF ALIMENT.
 tended, and, no time being allowed by the approach of
 evening, for the exercise  necessary to assist digestion,
 this process is not completed  till  the  hour of sleep.
 Hence, crudities are generated, night-mare and other
 affections from over-repletion interrupt rest, and morning
 uneasiness succeeds this too late and solid repast.
   6. The sixth rule is, not to alloio exercise immediately to
 succeed a meal.  Digestion quickly foljows the reception
 of the food.   Nothing, therefore, should interfere with
 the action of the organ wholly engaged  in this process.
 This rule is particularly applicable to the delicate  and
 nervous ; and the brute race pay particular attention to
 it, by lying down and enjoying  a state of rest the  mo-
 ment their stomachs are filled.  With man the pursuits
 of life and the engagements of society do  not, in general,
 permit it to be carried so far; but, a sufficient time of
 rest should be allowed after every meal, that the opera-
 tion of digestion  may fairly and  regularly proceed.
 Sleeping after dinner, the  principal meal, is the practice
 of some countries ; and this practice is only to be con-
 demned where it is carried too far.   After middle age,
 it will always be found useful; and, it is highly necessary
 in warm climates, where the body is feeble and enervated
 by the relaxing influence of the burning atmosphere,
 and where the diet,  being also more of a vegetable kind,
 requires to be more completely assimilated, in order to
its conveying a full  proportion of nourishment.
   With these leading facts, or general rules, held in view
in regard to the use of aliment, we are prepared to enter

meal, and (ill it to its utmost, reirdless of it; powers -n it  f cJ
ings."—Memethy's Surg. Obs'. 
ANIMAL FOOD.                T5
upon the particular kinds of it commonly introduced at
tabic;  and, first, of animal food.

                   Animal  Food.

  Animal food we arc to consider  both as the most
nourishing and  stimulating  of all aliment.   Hence,
when prematurely and excessively used, as is too  fre-
quently done  with children, it tends to bring on  too
early a maturity, to exhaust  the system by an excess of
strength, and, of course, to  induce in the same propor-
tion  a  rapid decay.   But, though this  is the general
tendency of all animal food, it differs from itself in its
several species or kinds more than most other sorts of
aliment, in consequence of the difference in the nature
of the animals from which it is taken, in their mode of
life, and a variety of other circumstances.
  The use of animal food must also be regulated by ex-
ternal situation.   From its strong stimulant powers, it
agrees best with a situation in which the action of  the
system is rather depressed.   Thus a cold atmosphere is
more suited to that kind of diet than any other; and the
influence of summer both requires its  quantity  to be
abridged, in order to preserve the body in health, and
also, in order to  avoid its tendency to induce a putrid
state, which is best counteracted by a suitable interpo-
sition of  vegetable  matter.  Excess  of animal food
naturally renders men fat and plethoric:  and as disease
is  tho  unavoidable consequence of this state of reple-
tion, such moderation should be observed in its use as
not to exceed what is strictly conducive to health,  the
deficiency of quantity being made up by a suitable in-
                         $ 
26
ANIMAL FOOD.
terposition of vegetables.   The appetite, though cer-
tainly  intended to be so,  we are not  to  consider the
proper criterion of the quantity required to supply the
waste  of the system; for this guide we find too often
apt to be violated, and a craving will continue to remain
after the fullest meal.

                       Qjiadrupeds.

   Of the different kinds of animal food, quadrupeds
certainly afford the strongest and most copious nourish-
ment.   Game, though not the most nutritive, is the most
stimulant  and heating species.   Tame  animals, full
grown, are next in rank,  and young domestic animals
are least so.*  Carnivorous animals are also more stimu-
lating  than the graminivorous, and, therefore, are more
liable to produce a putrescent state of habit when used.
   Fish, in point of stimulating quality, are greatly infe-
rior to quadrupeds, and, though they contain a gootf deal
of nourishment, yet  it is  less congenial to  our  nature.
The use of some kinds  of  it is  even attended with
danger, and produces  morbid effects not unfrequently
terminating fatally.
   Poultry is the mildest and most wholesome of animal
food, from its situation and mode of life.   It. is less apt
to be injured by the refinements of luxury, and may ac-

   *  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 nutritious,
than veal or lamb.   If the flesh of mutton and lamb, beef and veal,
are  compared, they will be found of a duTerent  texture, the two
young meats of a more stringy indivisible nature  than the others,
which makes them harder of digestion.—Domestic Management. 
ANIMAL  FOOD.
27
cordingly be more largely employed, without producing
any noxious consequences to the system.
  Beef contains a strong wholesome nutriment, and is
most suited to those who  possess a vigorous stomach,
and use much exercise.  Roasting is the most nourish-
ing form of eating it.  It is always in season, and is there-
fore more  relished  than any other species of animal
food.*
  Lamb is a light wholesome food, and highly nutritious;
and a fit aliment, from its easy digestion, for the sickly
and weak.  It is best when six months old, and is pro-
ferable to that used at an earlier period.  Like all young
  * The medium between over and under-dressing is, in general,
most agreeable,  and  certainly mon wholesome.   That  meat
which is considerably under-done,  contains more nutriment than
that which is over-done, is true enough,—that which is not done
at all, contains a great deal more ; but, in the ratio that it is raw, so
is it unfortunately difficult of digestion, as Spallanzani 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.   Surely no man in his senses,
would willingly be so wanting in consideration of the comfort, &c.
of his stomach, as to give it the needless  trouble of cooking and
digesting also, and waste its valuable energies in a work which a
spit or a stewpan can do better.
  Our neighbours of France are so justly famous for their skill in
the affairs of the kitchen, that the adage says, " As many French-
men, as many cooks."   Surrounded  a.tthey are by a profusion of
delicious wines, and seducing liqueurs,  offering every tempta-
tion to render drunkenness delightful, yet a tippling Frenchman ia
a rara avis.  They know how so  easily to keep life in sufficient
repair by good eating, that they require little  or no screwing up
with liquid stimuli.   This accounts for that toujuurs  gai,  and
happy equilibrium  of the animal  spirits which they enjoy with
more regularity than any people: their elastic stomachs, unim-
paired by spirituous liquors, digest vigorously the food they saga-
ciously prepare and render easily assimilable, by cooking it suffi-
ciently—wisely contriving to get half the  work of the stomach
done by fire and water, till

            The tender morsels on the palate melt,
            And all the force of cookery is  felt.—Dr. Kitehiner 
28
ANIMAL FOOD.
food, it should be eaten with a portion of vegetable acid,
to correct its insipidity.
  Mutton, or the animal at its matured age,  is a  far
preferable nourishment.    It should not be  younger
then three years when used.  Roasting is its best form;
and before dressing it, it should be exposed for some
days to the open  air, which mellows it and renders it
more  digestible.   The fat  of mutton is less easily as-
similated in the stomach than the fat of most other ani-
mals, from its tendency to coagulate.  The lean of this
animal is, therefore, the preferable part for food. •
  Pork  forms a strong nutritious food; but, from its
great quantity  of  oil, it requires  much exercise and a
good digestion, to use it largely as aliment.  In all cases
where there prevails either a strong tendency to inflam-
mation, or where there exists a fault in the fluids, pork
i3 an improper and pernicious species  of  nutriment.
A less quantity of it is necessary than of most others ;
and its digestion should be assisted by the use of acids,
or it should be employed in a form in which salt is largely
conjoined with it, to assist the solution of its oily parts.
Hence,  salted pork is most digestible, if not too much
smoked or  dried.   The qualities of pork may be said
also to  differ much, from its mode of feeding ; and by
more attention to rearing it for its quality, than  in order
to procure a great  accumulation of fat, which is the ob-
ject aimed at, it might be rendered a species of nourish-
ment equally wholesome with any other.   In the wild
state, the flesh of  this  animal is a preferable food,  both
in point of relish and digestibility.
   This is  the sum  of the observations necessary on the
first division of animals used for food, or the quadrupeds 
ANIMAL FOOD.
29
of this country.  The second division, or poultry, oners
a much lighter and more wholesome  elementary sub-
stance ;  but, in the same proportion is its nounishing
quality inferior.  The cock and hen are in most general
request.  The former, if old, is only fit for soup; but,
at the same time, the capon is one of the most delicate
viands we  possess, and, from its tender juicy fibre, is
easily assimilated into chyle.  The young hen is equally
wholesome, and may be  considered in its mildness as
nearly equal to vegetable aliment.  It is the food gene-
rally recommended for the invalid, and it is best pre-
pared" by roasting.
  Geese and ducks are a strong, and afford rather an
unwholesome nutriment.   They have been supposed as
giving a tendency to cutaneous  diseases.   Their fat is
certainly highly indigestible.
  Turkey is not so light an aliment as the hen or capon,
,nd some parts of  it are difficult of digestion.  As it is
usual also  to accompany it with stuffing, this effect is
even increased by the form of eating it.
  From poultry, then, we proceed to fish, which is less
congenial to the animal nature than the two former di-
visions.  It affords but an incomplete nutriment, and it
is not so digestible as the animal food already consi-
dered.  It possesses also  (its peculiar characteristic) a
strong  tendency to putrefaction.  Hence,  there are
many objections to its  use, from  the natural habit or
state of health of individuals at the time.  These faults
of fish, however, are somewhat corrected by the man-
ner in whichit is commonly eaten: sauces and pickles of
an  acid nature arc generally employed with it when
eaten in a fresh state.
                         3* 
20
ANIMAL FOOD.
  Salt and dried fish, though difficult to digest, arc use-
ful in some cases, where an acid acrimony in the stom-
ach or first passage prevails.  Salt fish prepared by a
natural exposure to the open air, and washed with salt
water, are less injurious than those cured by oil.
  Shell-fish  have been considered as highly nutritive:
from  their indigestible nature, they certainly  continue
long on the stomach, which may have given rise to this
opinion, without any proper foundation for it.
  Lobsters possess a peculiar acrimony, and, unless
eaten very fresh, are a dangerous  food, even though
corrected  by the acid and spices used along with them.
  The same observations may be applied to  the crab.
Eruptions of the skin arc said very often to attend the
use of this aliment.
  Oysters arc the  safest food of this kind.  They are
best eaten raw, and contain much nutritive jelly.  They
prove laxative in this state, and have been much recom-
mended in consumptive cases.  Snails, though seldom
eaten, are used as a remedy, with the same view.
  Muscles are a food that often proves of a deleterious
nature; and much caution should, therefore, be ob-
served in  using  them.  The vegetable acid is accord-
ingly  a proper addition here.
  The chief of the  amphibious tribe, is the turtle  or
tortoise, reckoned of the first luxuries of the table.  Its
flesh is wholesome and delicate ; and it resembles, in its
salubrity,  veal or young poultry.  When used in the
natural siatc, it  cannot  fail to prove highly nutritious :
but when changed by the refinements of cookery, and
united with such a number of heterogeneous articles as
arc' used  in its  dressed state, its nourishing qualities 
VEGETABLE FOOD.
31
must be in part destroyed, and the only effect of its im-
provement will be, to excite  fever and  overload  the
stomach.
  Besides the turtle, some parts of frogs are also eaten,
particularly the legs, and are much relished when pre-
pared as a fricassee.

                 Of Vegetable  Diet.

  In this species of diet a great variety occurs: but the
first and leading division of it is that which arises from
grain or farinaceous seeds.   The farinaceous grains con-
tain much nourishment, and, as a proof of it, they yield
a copious mucilage: but  they are, at the  same time,
somewhat difficult to digest.  From these grains is pre-
pared what we name bread, which has been considered
so essential to our support as to be termed the Staff of
Life.  Tlus portion is divided into two kinds, leavened
and unleavened bread.  Leavened bread is that, prepared
by a slow fermentation, in consequence of which all the
tough  parts of the flour are ultimately mixed with the
dryer part?, and, by the after-operation of  baking, the
fixed air comes to be expelled.   This preparation of
bread i=, therefore, the most wholesome, and, the longer
it is kept, it proves the more so.  New bread contains
much indigestible paste;  and, its fixed air not being en-
tirely expelled, it becomes extracted in the stomach, and
produces flatulence, cramp, and indigestion.   This effect
is easily prevented, either by keeping the bread till stale
or toasting it.  Stale bread is, therefore, at all times the
most wholesome, as, by this delay of  using it, the  pro-
cess of mixture and fermentation is entirely completed, 
32
OF VEGETABLE  DIET.
 and particular attention should be paid to using it in
 this state, by all who are liable to complaints of the
 stomach, which are readily  incurred  by this cause.
 Unleavened bread is that prepared by the simple mix-
 ture of flour and water, without subjecting it to any fer-
 mentation.   Such bread is always indigestible, from its
 viscid nature, and from the quantity of mucilage with
 which it abounds.
   This particularly applies to all unfermented prepara-
 tions of flour, whether in the form of bread, pudding, or
 pastry:  the two latter of these forms are even rendered
 worse in this respect by the different articles with which
 they are mixed.
   The  quantity of bread that ought to be eaten, must
 be regulated by circumstances.  Where animal food is
 much used, less of it is necessary than of vegetables of
 a watery or acescent nature.  But, where the propor-
 tion of vegetable diet is intended to exceed, bread, as
.being the most nutritive article of this class, should be
 much preferred.
   The same situations also of individuals that exclude
 much use of animal food, recommend, in a reverse
 proportion,  the increase of this article;  and a certain
 quantity of it is necessary, we may say, with every spe-
 cies of diet, to prevent that satiety and disgust which we
 feel from the long continuance of every other article but
 itself.   If one-third of animal food to two-thirds of vege-
 tables,  be a  proper proportion of diet, then these two-
 thirds should consist more of bread than of any other
 vegetable preparation.
   Of the different grains for  the preparation of bread,
 wheat is the principal.  It is originally, we are told, the 
OF VEGETABLE  DIET.
33
production of Sicily;  but, in consequence  of the im-
provements of cultivation and agriculture, it is rendered
the most nutritive grain we possess, and very different
from what it was found in its original state.
  Rice may be considered as the grain most used next
to wheat, although it affords a nourishment less perma-
nent.  While wheat is the favourite production of the
Western hemisphere, rice is, in the same manner, of the
East.  It forms almost the sole diet of the Gentoos, who
correct its imperfect stimulus in the stomach by the ad-
dition of aromatics, spices, and other seasoning, to the
highest excess.
  Rye and oats are the grain  next in repute for the
same purpose.  Rye bread is reckoned easily digested,
and very wholesome, having little  tenacity.  It is an
article much used on the Continent.  Oats are an article
of stronger nourishment than rye; and, like the rice of
the Gentoo, form the principal diet of the poorer classes
of the northern parts of the British Islands.  This mu-
cilage  is much used by the invalid and infirm, both as a
nourishing substance, and as possessed, at the same
time, of a gentle aperient quality.
   Barley may be mentioned after these grains, as form-
ing less an article for bread, than being the basis from
which the malt liquors, after it has undergone a fermen-
tation, termed making-, are procured.  Its consideration
belongs to this head,  though it  is  occasionally used, in
its natural or decorticated state, in broths and soups, to
give them consistence and a mucilaginous quality.
   Millet is a grain inferior to  any that has been enu-
merated, and its mucilage is too crude for any but the
most active stomachs. 
31
OF VEGETABLE  DIET.
  The mannA-grass may be here noticed as a favourite
seed of the Germans and Poles.  It ha3 a sweet agree-
able taste, and, boiled in milk, is said to prove remark-
ably nutritive.  It is used more for  invalids than as a
common article of diet.
  The second order of vegetables, termed pulse, differs
from the class now examined, chiefly in its proportion
of strong gluten, and the quantity of fixed air its par-
ticles contain.   Its bread, therefore, though  perhaps
even more nourishing, is difficult of digestion, and forms
properly a diet for only active and laborious stomachs:
it produces a costiveness, and  these effects are increased
in proportion to the age of the articles.  The chief indi-
viduals of this class in this country, are beans and peas;
and in their use much caution  is necessary to counteract
those effects they produce on the stomach and bowels.
  When young and in their recent state, green peas and
French beans are favourite dishes.  They are still  to bo
considered as flatulent, but,  at the 3ame time, digest
with sufficient ease.
  The third order of vegetables for diet are the  vari-
ous species of greens.   These are chiefly used to coun-
teract the effects of animal food, as they arc of a watery
and somewhat acescent nature, and,  at the same time,
contain littlo nourishment.   They are,  in  summer, a
proper addition to other food, and, being of a  laxative
nature,  they arc useful  in this season  to relieve the
bowels  where costiveness takes place, as is usual from
the increased discharge by the skin.   If eaten  in a raw
state, their solution in the stomach is assisted by  vine-
gar, and other condiments.
  All the cabbages are hard and indigestible.  They 
OF VEGETABLE DIET.
35
require a great deal of boiling, and cannot be too much
softened in their texture to render them fit for the stom-
ach.*  Sour krout, or cabbage in the raw state, sliced,
salted, and allowed to undergo  the acetous fermenta-
tion,  is  a favourite  antiseptic  preparation with  the
Germans, and is much used at sea.
JP The next class of vegetable productions, is the roots,
which, next to grain, is the most useful variety of vege-
table substances.  They are of two kinds, the mild and
the acrid.  The first are the most nourishing, the latter
are chiefly eaten as conuiment, or for medicinal purposes.
Of the first or mild kind, the principal article is  the
potatoe.   It is properly  a light  alimentary substance,
neither viscid nor flatulent, and having no tendency also
to produce acidity.  The principal food of many coun-
tries  consists  almost entirely of this  article, with  the
addition of milk; and they form together, a nourishment
flt to support the most laborious  and active in a state of
health, without the necessity for any other kind of ali-
ment.  Such  is the mode of living among the lower
orders in Ireland, a country usually distinguished for the
health, vigour, and natural acquirements of its inhabi-
tants.  Its flour has been recommended for pastry, and
dishes prepared from its meal, in preference to that from
the grain, as being of a less viscid tenacious nature.   In
the choice of potatoes, those of the farinaceous kind are
the  most wholesome, those that are gelatinous arc not
so readily digestible.   Various inventions have been
attempted to  convert this vegetable easily into flour.

   * Cabbage is rendered more digestible by changing the water
 after it has been some time boiled. 
36
OF VEGETABLE  DIET.
   Celery is the most fragrant of the acrid  roots, and,
though somewhat indigestible when raw, is  the reverse
when prepared by boiling or soaking it in vinegar.
   Garlic and its different species, as onions,  shallot,
and chives, are warm stimulating roots ; useful in  as-
sisting digestion, expelling flatulence, and freeing  the
bowels of  any viscid accumulations.  They agree best
with the cold phlegmatic constitutions; and in  such,
from their volatile penetrating nature, they  display tho
happiest effects, where viscidities oppress the lungs and
head.
   Radishes are all of the same nature, though they are
not so powerful.  They agree best with an active vigor-
ous stomach, for they are troublesome by  generating
flatulence,  in consequence of the extrication of air that
arises  from their use.  Tho  smaller  the radishes,  the
easier they are digested.
   The last  order of vegetable substances used in diet,
consists of fruits.   These are, for the most part,  the
production  of summer, and they are composed of  those
principles which are adapted to allay that excess of heat,
and increase of circulation, which the body feels at that
period.
  The bad qualities of fruit used in diet arise from its ex-
cess of acid, or its tendency to fermentation.   The more
unripe the fruit, the more it will possess of its acid prin-
ciples ; for  this is converted, as it proceeds to maturity,
into a saccharine matter, or sugar;  and, it is in this
ripe state,  when it abounds in the saccharine  matter,
that fruit is most safely used.   The tendency to fermen-
tation, again, will bo much connected with its quantity
of juice: the  more juicy, therefore,  any fruit is,  the 
                OF  VEGETABLE DIET.             37

more fermentable  it will be upon the stomach, and the
more apt to generate flatulence and the other symptoms
connected with it.  The dryer, then, any particular fruit,
the safer it is for the stomach.  These bad qualities of
fruit arc corrected  in several ways.
   1. By the mode  of preparing it for use.  Thus, boiled
It is less flatulent than in its natural state.  '■
  2. By the addition of 6pices or sugar to it, which will
check its flatulent tendency, and correct its acidity;
and,
  3. By its junction with alcohol or ardent spirits, as a
little  rum or brandy, which will destroy the disposition
to ferment.  By either of these methods it may be safely
employed in moderate quantity, as an addition to other
diet at that period  of the season when aliment of a cool-
ing nature is required.
  The  following may  be properly termed  farituiceoua
fruits, possessing a mixture of properties.
  The first of these is the cucumber, which is a cooling
production,  gently opening,  though liable to ferment.
Tliis effect may be corrected by the addition of  spices.
In the  form of a pickle it i< an useful antiseptic.
   Melons much resemble cucumbers.   They require
the addition of alcohol or wine, with sugar, to prevent
their  fermentation on the  stomach.
   All the nut kind, as almonds, walnuts, hazel-nuts, fil-
berts, &c, though  they are of a nourishing  nature, yet
are both indigestible from their hardness, and  also con-
tain a considerable quantity of oil. This oil, by becoming
rancid on the stomach, is very apt to produce heartburn.
In eating these fruits, thty should be fresh,  and their
acrid -Kin canfullv  removed.
                         4 
38
OF DRINK.
                   2. Of Drink.

  Aliment we have hitherto considered chiefly in a solid
state, or in the form of food :  we are next to examine it
as a liquid, under the name of drink.   Drink is, perhaps,
more necessary than  food to  the support of life, and
without it even the digestion of food cannot take place.
The want of it, or too sparing a use of it, produces the
worst effocts,  both on the stomach and  bowels, and
also  extends its powerful influence to the blood, which
acquires, from this cause, an acrimony highly pernicious;
nor are the secretions  less injured, which also assume
tho same vitiated state, and  lay the  foundations of ob-
structions of a fatal nature.
  The rules, however, for drinking,  require the same
caution  and regulation as for eating; and the principal
of them  may be reduced to the following heads:—
  The first rule is, the quantity to be used, and this is to
be determined by five circumstances, viz. the degree of
thirst, the time of the season, the quantity and nature
of the victuals, the hour of the day, and the state of the
constitution.    '^
*  The first is regulated by our desire;  and as the cessa-
tion  of hunger is properly the  test of the quantity of
food, so  the allaying of thirst should certainly be the
criterion for the quantity of drink.  In all cases the pro •
portion of drink should be greater than that of food, and
double the quantity has been stated as a good  general
rule  to be guided  by.
  The second, or  the time of the 3eason, will also regu-
late  the quantity to be taken.  Thus, in  summer, when 
OF DRIN&.                   39
<ho discharge of the skin is increased to excess, double
the quantity is necessary to what is required in winter,
when this discharge proceeds in the usual and regular
state.
  The third circumstance, or the quantity and nature
of the victuals, is equally to be attended to here.  Thus,
a large proportion of victuals will require a greater dilu-
tion than a small portion; and the dryer the nature of the
food, the more beverage will be  necessary.
:  The fourth circumstance, or the hour of the day, will
also regulate our quantity.  Thus,  we are in general
less inclined to drink in the earlier than in the later
hours of the day, from the  fluids in the  early part not
being dissipated by exercise, or other causes increasing
the action of the system.
   The last circumstance, or state of the constitution,
has also an  equal  influence; for  the phlegmatic and
melancholic constitutions have  less inclination to drink
than either the sanguine or choleric.
   As  the object of all drink is the dilution of all food, it
should neither be begun before a meal,  nor continued
much in the course of it.  It should properly succeed it,
regulated by the rules we have  already laid down.
   Excess of drink is, perhaps, not equally hurtful as the
want of it; but, still it is attended with pernicious effects,
in relaxing the  stomach too much, and in inducing an
impoverished state of the fluids, which lays the founda-
tion of the most obstinate chronic maladies.
   Having thus determined the quantity to be used, the
next regulation respects its quality, including a consi-
deration of the various simple and compound  liquors
employed at table. 
40
OF DRINK.
                      Water.

  The first beverage, the basis of.all other liquids, and
the means  by which the aqueous parts of the system
supply their waste, is water.  This fluid is very different,
from the qualities it receives from its various impregna-
tions ; for it never can be considered as an entirely sim-
ple body.   All water, however, may be esteemed fit for
the use of man, which does not contain above ten grains
of mineral  or earthy matter in the pound, and comes
under the  denomination  of soft water.   All water that
exceeds this proportion is to be considered as hard water,
and to be rejected from domestic use.
 ' Water, however,  though  6oft, is  often contaminated
by various  impurities; and when no other is to be had,
from the particular situation or circumstances of indi-
viduals, it becomes then necessary to be acquainted with
the different methods of rendering it, even in this tainted
state, fit for use.
  The first method of punfying water is, by boiling and
filtering, or, what is more effectual, by submitting it to
distillation.  But this method gives to the fluid a maw-
kishness and insipidity  disagreeable to the taste.  To
keep it from corruption or impurities of this kind, acids
or charcoal is the most certain method.  Thus, half an
ounce of powdered alum will purify twelve gallons of
water.  A  small quantity of alkali and vitriolic acid
will even preserve a cask of it from this state.   Lime,
in a very trifling proportion, will do the same.   Vinegar
forms a good antiseptic, where bad water is used.   Char-
eoul is  a powerful corrector of putrescency, and the 
OF DRINK.
41
staves of water-casks have been therefore recommended
prepared in this way.
  The moderate use of water of a proper temperature is
the best beverage that ca n be employed.  It strengthens
the stomach, assists digestion, and gives a proper im-
pulse to the circulation of the small vessels.   In the list
of longevity, water-drinkers stand high; but, in its use,
the circumstances of the  individual must regulate both
its quantity, and also the temperature in which it ought
to be employed.

                 Division of Liquor.

  Water, then, forms the basis of all other liquors; and
the latter may be divided into two heads, as they are the
production of the process of fermentation and distilla-
tion

                      Wine.

  The first of the fermented liquors that claims our at-
tention is wine, a liquor which  has received the highest
encomiums, and which, properly used, is the solace  of
the invalid and aged ; but, when the reverse is the case,
it proves the ruin of the constitution and the source  of
disease.  All wine contains three principles; a propor-
tion  of  alcohol, of acid, and of sugar, with a particular
aromatic principle or flavour, with which the distinction
of wines is connected.  On the predominance of one of
these principles does the strength or  weakness of the
wine depend.
  For the weak and infirm, those wines in which the
                        4* 
42                   OF DRINK.

proportion of the sugar or saccharine principle exceeds,
arc the most proper, as the sweet wines of Russia, Italy,
Greece, Malaga,  &c; but they ought to be properly
fermented, and have no posthumous addition of sweets,
uc sugar or honey, to adulterate them after the process.
  For tho variety of complaints in, which fever or in-
creased circulation  u predominant, those wines which
are distinguished by an excess of the acid principle are
most useful, particularly those of France and many parts
of the Continent.  The degree of strength in which those
wines should be used ,rnust be determined by the nature
of the complaint and the state of  fever present in the
system.
  For the real state of health,  wines in which the prin-
ciples exist in  a just  proportion are the most  proper.
Those that contain their suitable quantity of alcohol or
spirit, if not carried to excess, will,  on the whole, be the
most salutary beverage.
  Tho general effects  of wine  are those of a stimulant
liquor on the system.  It increases the circuUiion and
gives activity and animation to every  part;  but, along
with this general influence  it displays, it possesses
secondary qualities no less useful.   From an acid form-
ing one of its  constituent principles, it is particularly
antiseptic, or good  against  a putrescent tendency in
habit, and, as such, is highly beneficial in all putrid states
of body.  The excessive use of wine, however, is always
attended with hurtful consequences.  The nervous sys-
tem particularly suffers, and those quick feelings and
sensations that fine part of the frame termed the nerves
ix intended to possess,  become dull,  blunted, and in-
capable of conveyimr the n^uai  impressions.   Ita tempo- 
07 DRINK.                   43
rary influence is still more powerful; for during the few
hours of intoxication apparent insensibility ensues, and
a tendency to palsy and apoplexy is conspicuous.   This
real state of temporary disease is to be alleviated by a
cool air, a proper posture, with the head raised, and the
removal of all prcsslivV; from the body, with the free use
of diluent liquors.
  Tho consequence of intoxication  is a  deep and sound
sleep,  awaking from which the body feel? weak  and
tremulous:  the stomach is much disordered by a super-
abundant acid, which often requires the use of absorbents
to remove it;  at least twenty-four hours are  necessary
before the body is restored to its ordinary health.
  The use of wine should be confined  to the  more ad-
vanced stage of life.   Water is the proper beverage of
youth  as long as the constitution retains its soundness
and vigour ;  but, as the progress of time weakens the
powers of the  frame, or temporary causes induce the
same  effect, then an indulgence in wine and other ine-
briating liquors, to a certain extent, becomes necessary.
But, in addition to the various effects arising from wine,
as an inebriating liquor, its adulteration often renders it
particularly dangerous.*
  After wine, follows a beverage which we term ardent
spirits.  As wine is formed by the process of fermenta-
tion, ardent spints require in addition to this a second
process, or distillation.  The principles of this compo-

  * To ice wine 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 knowing when they have got
ruough; for as soon as the wine becomes warm in their stomachs,
the dose they have taken merely to exhilarate  them, makes them
drunk.—Dr. Kitchiner. 
44
OF DRINK.
sition consist of alcohol, water, and  an cmpyrcumatic
oil; and the less of this oil that is present in it, the purer
it is considered as a spirit.  Proof spirit, which is the
standard of this composition, is  made up of fifty-five
parts of alcohol and sixty-five parts of water; but recti-
fied  spirits should contain no more of the latter  than
five parts.
  The intoxication that attends the use of ardent spirits
is well  known, and their powers are increased when
distilled with spices and aromatics.  They are best taken
to prevent the noxious influence of cold and moisture ;
and, though in general considered useful after  strong or
oily food, this is more a popular prejudice than founded
on just principles.   Rigid or dry constitutions should be
by no means indulged in this beverage.  Relaxed habits
will receive a certain temporary tone and vigour  from
their use; but this  should also be under considerable
limitation.   In some circumstances  ardent spirits arc
powerful antiseptics; and in a moist cold atmosphere,
or where pestilential vapours prevail, their use will be
attended with some good consequences.
  The certain effects of the habitual use of ardent spirits
are to occasion a destruction of the principal organs,
particularly of the liver, and along with this to occasion
a dull torpid state of the nerves, which ends in  a general
debility  and relaxation of the system.
  Next to ardent spirits come to be noticed malt liquors,
which are composed of water,  malt, and hops.  They
are, however,  known under two  species of beer, or
porter, and ale; and the species chiefly differ in the
mode of preparing tfie malt, the proportion of hops, and
in the degree of fermentation.  The addition of the hop 
TEA.                     45
is  highly  useful, as counteracting tho eflbcts of the
mucilage, and preventing the tendency to flatulence and
diarrhoea, which is apt to occur where it  is not used.
The degree of fermentation occasions a great variety in
malt liquors; for some are only half fermented, as the
Dantzic, or black beer ; others are more than fermented,
as the Burton and other strong ales.
  The more malt liquor is deprived of its fixed air before
being used, the more safely it  comes to be  exhibited;
though, bottled, and in the gaseous state, it  is often
useful as a medicine.
  Malt liquor, if deprived of its fixed air and well hop-
ped, is both nourishing and wholesome.  It is more fitted
for the laborious and active than the indolent and nerv-
ous, and will be found on the whole to agree well where
the stomach and bowels are in a healthy state.
  From fermented and distilled liquors we come to those
that are more purely dduent; the first of which is

                        Tea.

  The leaves of this shrub are the part  used; and their
infusion is evidently of a narcotic nature; but so slight,
that it will only show its effects  as a narcotic where the
nervous system is either naturally very irritable or ren-
dered so by disease.  The proofs of this narcotic nature
have been subjected to experiment by the late ingenious
Dr. Cullen, who has argued upon their deleterious effectH
as an article of diet; and in farther confirmation of the
same opinion, the increase of nervous diseases, accord-
ing to the.bills of mortality, has corresponded  annually
in proportion to the increased consumption of this article. 
46
COFFEE.
But though these facts certainly deserve attention, we
are convinced that the use of tea, in a  moderate  pro-
portion, joined with a due quantity of solid nourishment,
will never be attended with any hurtful consequences,
though some circumstances should be attended to in its
use, as a proper preventive measure where it is indulged
in.
  1. The first is, that the infusion be weak.  This is tho
practice of the Chinese, who always prefer a weak beve-
rage,  of which  habit has introduced  with them the
propriety.
IP 2. The second is, the kind of tea employed; for the
Bohea, or the shrub in its native state, is preferable to
the green, or the unripe production.
  3. The articles used with it;  for a due proportion of
sugar and cream, or milk, ought never to be omitted.
  4. The manner  of preparing it; and  here boiling is
preferable to simple infusion, as dissipating a part of
the aroma, in which its deleterious qualities exist.
  With these precautions, then, tea will form a proper
dietetic beverage.  It is more diluent, though less nour-
ishing, than the cocoa.   It is less aromatic and drying
than the coffee, and it is sufficiently cordial and exhila-
rating to the «-    us and weak, who are fondest of it.


                      Coffee.

  From tea we are led to another dietetic beverage, the
infusion of  the bean  named coffee.  The qualities of
this production are unfolded by roasting; in the manner
of doing which some nicety is required to prevent the 
SFICES,  OR CONDIMENT.
47
loss of its aromatic parts, on which its perfection de-
pends.  The consequence of this operation, however, is
to render the infusion from  it heating and astringent;
and it is therefore not suited to particular habits.
  In  ordinary use, it should not be made very strong;
and to correct its  astringent tendency, a large portion
of milk and sugar should be  conjoined with it.

                     Chocolate.

  The last of the dietetic articles of  this  class to be
mentioned,  is chocolate.  It is  not  liable  to the  same
objections as  the  two former, being neither  narcotic,
heating, nor astringent.   It is properly a mild nourishing
substance, containing a large proportion of oil; and
according to the mode of preparing it, is this oil rendered
hurtful to the stomach, or not.   To  avoid, therefore,
rancidity in  forming it, and  to join with it aromatics to
render it light, are the two circumstances to be attended
to; and where this takes place, it is the most healthy
beverage that can  be employed, for all constitutions and
habits.   It  requires  less correction  than  any of the
former; and its praises  have been sounded as one of
the most  useful restoratives and aphrodisiacs ever in-
troduced for the use of man.

                Spices,  or  Condiment.

  Having given a cursory view of the different articles
of diet, under the head of food and drink, it remains to
consider how these arc prepared, in order to plr^;e the 
48
HONEY.
ta9te, by certain additions of u saline or aromatic nature,
under the denomination of spices.
  The first of the saline spices, and the most general in
use, is

                      Sea Salt.

  This  substance  may be considered  as a necessary
ingredient in the food, and as necessary to the health of
the human frame, in a due proportion, as the food itself.
It assists the digestion in a remarkable  degree, disposes
the glutinous parts to an easier solution, and accelerates
the motion of the organs  concerned in the preparation
of the aliment, so as to perfect that operation.   It cor-
rects the principles in  vegetable matter, which, by an
excess in their use, may prove hurtful to the habit;  and,
when used  itself in a similar excess, it proves  equally
the cause of disease, by thinning the solids and giving a
disposition to scurvy.

                       Sugar.

  Sugar is  an article, which,  though not  essentially
necessary like the former, is perhaps  nearly as much
employed in the preparation of our aliment.  Like every
saline  substance, its excessive use must  be hurtful, by
thinning both the  solids  and  fluids, and disposing to
those diseases wliich are connected with that morbid
state.
                       Honey.

  Honey, in its  properties, much resembles s-ugar, but
is pflKuliar  in its effects on H>mc constituii.,-,^, which 
PEPPERS.
49
renders it unsafe with many, and apt to produce flatu-
lence and disorders of the stomach and bowels.  It is an
useful  laxative to those with  whom  it agrees,  and
particularly  where there is a disposition to calculous
complaints

                      Peppers.

  The different kinds of pepper, though heating, are the
most innocent of all the spice3;  and they form an useful
addition to all indigestible food, whether animal or vege-
table, by  increasing  the powers of the stomach to dis-
solve it.  They are best used in the form of powder, by
which  their virtues are more fully imparted ; and they
are also an  useful medicine  in stomach complaints,
attended with a  viscid secretion, flatulence,  pain of
head, &c.  In such cases they may be swallowed whole,
in six or eight grains  at a time.
  The finer warm aromatics are  not altogether fitted for
common use, from their heat and pungency.  To some
kind of food their increased  stimulus is  necessary.
Cubebs are less pungent than pepper, though their heat-
ing quality in stews is more permanent.  Cardamoms
are distinguished  by  their grateful  aromatic smell.
Vanilla  is chiefly  employed in  chocolate, to render it
light and  digestible, and to impart  to it a  particular
flavour.   Cloves are highly exceptionable,  from their
very heating nature.  Mace and nittmegs are less so, and
supposed to" possess qualities wliich render them useful
in diarrhoea and dysentery
5 
50
OF  EXERCISE.
                    3. Of Exercise.


  Exercise forms, as it were, a necessary appendage to
our  existence,  without  which  man cannot  live, nor
health be procured.   The more we examine the human
constitution, the more the powers of man seem fitted for
action.  Indolence and inactivity are with him the cer-
tain source of disease, and temperance and exercise are
his surest guardians of health.*
  The  general effects of exercise are  to increase  the
strength of the body by preserving the vigour of circula-
tion, and thus expediting all the secretions and  excre-
tions, by which the  vital stream is  preserved in a pure
and healthy  state, and all obstructions  prevented or
done away.
  Exercise, though thus attended with the oest  conse-
quences, should yet  be  kept, within due bounds, and
these proportioned to the habits of life and the constitu-
tion of the patient.
  * "Most chronic diseases, arise from too  much food and too
little exercise, both of which lessen the weight of the heart and the
(luantity of blood ; the  first by causing fatness ; the second by a
diminution of the blood's motion.
  "Hence, when the liver is grown too large by intemperance and
inactivity, it may be lessened and brought to a heaJthful magnitude
by temperance and exercise.  It may be emptied other ways by art;
but nothing cem prevent its filling again, and consequently  secure
good and constant health but an exact diot and exercise.  Purging
and vomiting may lessen the liver, and reduce  it to its jupt magni-
tude ; but those 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-thc food and inert -using the exercise."
  " Much sleep, much lood, and little exercise, are the principal
things which  make animals grow fat.  II the body, on account of
age or other  infirmities cannot use sufiiciei.i exercise, and takes
much  the same quantity of sleep, its weight must be lessened  by
lessening the food."—Dr. Kitchiner. 
                    OF EXEIICISE.                 51

  Repletion, or fulness of habit, is evidently an enemy
to it in a great degree: the sudden use of it, or violent
exertion quickly applied, is mostly to be guarded against,
and a regular  equable manner of applying it should be
pursued ;  and with similar precaution, after it exDOsurc
to cold should be equally avoided.
  Exercise has been properly divided into two heads,
the active and the passive.
  The former of these is adapted to the young, vigorous,
and athletic; the latter better suits the old the invalid,
and the infirm.
'  Exercise should be regulated, both in  its time ana
duration,  by  a variety of circumstances.  It should
rather precede than follow the reception  of food, and
it  never  should  be carried  so far for the purposes of
health as  to induce much fatigue.  Every person will
be able ta judge of the degree which docs him good,
and beyond this point he should not carry  it.
  Every  exercise to wliich we are accustomed will be
found best to agree with us;  and it should  be  often
gently increased in the progress, and gradually discon-
tinued.  In the open air it is most useful; but this must
be regulated often by the state of the weather; but all
violent exercises are best performed in that situation.-
  Exercise should be equally avoided immediately be-
fore and after  a  meal.   Before a meal it dissipates too
much the fluids  concerned in the  preparation  and
digestion of the food;  and immediately after a meal it
suspends  altogether this  process.  Much, however, of
the mischief from this  source will  be got the better of
by  custom;  though still  every thing that savours of 
52
OF EXERCISE.
great exertion should be avoided, and only the milder
kinds of exercise put in effect.
  The first kind of exercise that claims to be noticed, is
walking;  and perhaps it is  of all others the most useful
and healthy.   Both body and mind are enlivened by it,
and it is highly serviceable  when carried to an extreme
in many nervous diseases.  The most proper situation
for walking is the country,  in serene and dry  weather;
and the situation of the  latter should be particularly
studied, in the use of this exercise, to give  it proper
effect.  Even in the country, damp marshy ground is to
be avoided; and walking here will have more effect on
one accustomed to a town,  than on others not confined
to this situation.  ■■  - <
  Running is an exercise of much exertion, and is par-
ticularly to be avoided when a tendency prevails to
complaints of the chest, or there  is much fulness of
habit.
  The same observation may be made on dancing, which
is generally carried to excess; and thus what is meant
to be a gentle exercise is converted to  a source of dis-
ease.  Where it is also generally performed  in heated
rooms, and  under a confined and vitiated atmosphere,
the worst  effects are known to follow  this favourite in-
dulgence.
  Of the passive  exercises, riding  is one of the most
conducive to health.  Riding in a carnage, as being the
most gentle, is best adapted to the invalid and aged: it
promotes the circulation in  an easy agreeable  manner;
and, if the carriage be properly suspended, and not too
nicely, the motion will  be sufficiently strong  for every
purpose.  It has also one  farther advantage  where a 
OF EXERCISG.
53
close carriage is used;  that it may be cither considered
as an exercise in the open air, when the windows are
let down, or it may be viewed as an exercise at home,
where the carriage is close and confined.
  Riding on  horseback is an exercise  attended  with
considerable  exertion  both  of  mind and body;  it is
therefore well suited to the healthy, young, and active;
and it is also particularly beneficial where obstructions
exist in any of the organs.   Hence it has been strongly
recommended in consumptive complaints, from the  days
of Sydenham to the present time.  This admirable prac-
titioner, in  affections of this nature, considered it as a
specific.   It should be used in this case at least for three
hours every day.   All  visceral obstructions,  by the in-
creased  circulation it excites, arc benefited by it; but
some caution is necessary where they are of very  long
standing, as inflammation  may be produced  where the
exertion is too great.
  Sailing is a passive exercise, well  suited to a state of
disease, especially where the stomach or  lungs are
affected.  It produces at first much sickness and nausea,
and occasions the stomach  and adjacent organs to be
completely unloaded:  bilious complaints, therefore, are
removed by i
  Reading  aloud, singing, and other  exercises of the
voice, contribute much  to influence the stale of the
digestive organs  and the lungs; and when other exer-
cises cannot be used, they  form a  useful  substitute.
  Wind instruments have  been much condemned, and
with great propriety; as being too powerful  in the ex-
ertion they occasion,  by hurrying the circulation in the
lungs.                    5* 
64                 OF EXERCISE.

  In taking exercise, much attention should be paid to
the ease and freedom of dress, particularly of the neck
and joints, that the circulation may not be confined at
any one part, but be permitted to move on every where
with freedom and ease.
  In violent exercises, particularly that of riding  on
horseback, much advantage will be derived from  sup-
porting the bowels by a  broad belt, the pressure of
which must be regulated by circumstances.
  Exercise, however, is more especially useful in the
temperate  and cold climates.  It is less necessary in
the warm ones ; and, instead of it, friction is generally
substituted, which is no less useful in every situation.
  Friction is employed in different ways, either with the
naked hand, with flannel, or with a brush.  It has  been
a practice peculiar to  the eastern  nations from  time
immemorial, and experience has shown it to be attended
with the best consequences to the general health.
  Every part of the body may be subjected to this ope-
ration, but the  belly and spine arc the chief parts that
require it;—the extremities  only in  cases of age or
disease.   The several postures of the body may be even
mentioned as  different species of exercise;  but  they
should be occasionally changed, and  one posture not
continued too long,  otherwise  the intended  effect is
lost.
  On the whole, of the active exercises, walking may be
considered as  the best and most natural, where it is
properly employed, and not carried so far as greatly to
fatigue.  Of the passive  exercises,  friction is equally
useful.  It is best at night, as  its effects are favoured by
the after retirement to bed, where a free perspiration of 
             OF SLEEP AND  WATCHING.           ->a

the parts is apt to ensue; and  the state of the atmo-
sphere should be studied while performing this operation,
and no exposure of the body take place to cold or mois-
ture,  so as to counteract the free circulation induced
by it.
  But while the exercise of the body is thus provided
for, that of the mind is no less necessary; that active
irritable principle, which governs our actions and our
motions, requires to be  kept  in  perpetual change of
thought and reflection, to prevent that fatiguing exertion
which attends  its long continuance  on  one object or
turn of thought.  Like the body, the mind is strength-
ened by exertion ; but that exertion, if too severe, won-
derfully affects the corporeal faculties. To avoid these
evils, study should be carried  on by starts, and  any
extreme thinking should  be avoided, and the ideas on
which we  have strongly dwelt for the time should be
afterwards changed  by variety of games and amuse-
ments.  ,  .

             4 Of Sleep and  Watching.

  As the materials of which we arc formed waste and
require a constant supply, so this waste chiefly takes
place while the powers of the body exert  their activity,
and a state of watchfulness prevails.  To repair this
waste, an intermission of the activity of  the system is
necessary; and this intermission we know by the name
of sleep.  Sleep, then, is a suspension of the more active
functions, and is essential to the body, in order to repair,
at times, her exhausted powers.   During sleep the vital
functions  only arc awake.  They  are uniformly  and 
56
OF SLEEf AND  WATCHING.
steadily performed, and previous to this slate a languor
of the senses comes over us,  and all  those  leading
circumstances which  indicate something  like the an-
nihilation of existence.   In this passive situation, the
senses acquire new energy and vigour, to be exerted on
awaking from this supineness;  and it is this additional
vigour, rising to a certain height, that occasions sleep to
be thrown off, and the state of watchfulness to return.
Sleep may be  considered as an  interruption to the
nervous fluid through the brain, occasioned by its weak-
ened action or collapse;  and all the causes that induce
sleep show this to be the  ease.  Hence  sleep will  be
induced by whatever weakens, and is prevented  by
whatever excites or stimulates the  system.
  Dreams arc the effect  of external sensations acting
upon the brain, when the sleep is unsound, and seldom
occur during the first hours of this state.  Ideas which
have lately occupied the  mind are the chief objects of
our dreams, and they arc apt to occur with iho sickly
and intemperate, more than  with  the healthy and the
regular.
  Tranquillity of mind and body is a necessary attendant
on the enjoyment of sleep, and whatever interrupts this,
banishes  this grateful indulgence.  None have  more
influence  than affections of the mind  of  a depressing
nature.  Hence it  flies  the  individual  occupied with
grief; or, in the beautiful language of the  poet,
       " Tir'd Nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep,
       "He, like the world,  his ready visits pays
       "Where fortune smiles; the wretched he  forsakes
       " And lights on lids unsullied with a tear."
  The proper time for sleep  is pointed out by nature, 
             OF SLEEP  AND WATCHING.          :>7

when the beams of day are withdrawn ; but nature does
not require a lengthened period of the whole night, but
is satisfied with a moderate proportion of it; and  this
must be regulated by the circumstances of the employ-
ment  during the day.  From six to eight hours  form a
proper medium.  The want of sleep, beyond a certain
time, evidently consumes the spirits, and debilitates the
whole frame.
  Nor can it be easily enjoyed for some time where the
want of it takes place to any great degree.  The temper
also particularly suffers from it.   Too much  sleep is no
less prejudicial to the health.  The body becomes by it
torpid and inactive,  and nervous complaints arc  the
consequence.   Children, however, should be indulged
to any degree of it, as no stupor will ensue  with them.
So gratifying is sleep, that it gives relief to the sharpest
afflictions, and may be considered as the chief solace of
the unfortunate and wretched.
  The hour of going to bed ought  never to be too late,
and on first going to bed, sleep is always sounder and
most refreshing
  Towards the proper enjoyment of sleep, many  cir-
cumstances are necessary.
  1. The early retiring to bed.
  2. Not oppressing the stomach,  or giving the powers
of digestion too much to do.
  3. The proper posture of lying in bed J  which should
be on  one side, with  all the muscles as much as possible
relaxed.
  4. The proper temperature of the body; and to pre- 
58
OF  THE  SECRETIONS
serve its due heat, a sufficient quantity of clothes should

be used.*
  5. That all pressure from clothes, and other articles of
dress, should be removed before going to bed.
  With these precautions sleep will be properly enjoyed,
the strength of the body renewed, and the faculties of
the mind and body rendered spirited and active, so soon
as the return of day arrives.
         6. Of the Secretions  and Excretions.

  The aliment we take in, it has clearly been seen, in
consequence  of the  process of digestion,  is prepared
into nourishment, and thus  converted  to supply the
different wants of the system.   That part  which is not
convertible for the supply of these  wants, passes off;
and the nourishment  itself, when  it has supplied its
  * We do not recommend either curtains or tester, &c. to the bed,
especially during the summer—by the help of these, those who
might have the benefit of the free circulation of air in a large room,
very ingeniously contrive to reduce it to a small closet:—chimney-
boards and window-curtains are also inadmissible in a bed-room.
  The best bed is a well stuffed and well curled horsehair mattress,
six inches thick at the head, gradually diminishing to three at the
feet, on this another  mattress five or six inches in thickness: these
should be unpicked and exposed  to the air, once every year.  An
elastic horsehair mattress, is incomparably the  most  pleasant, as
well as tho most wholesome bed.
  Bed-rooms should be thoroughly ventilated by leaving both the
window and the door open every day when the weather is not cold
or damp—during which the bed should remain unmade, and the
clothes be taken off  and spread out for an hour, at least, before the
bed is made n^ain.
  Ot all the customs of clothing, the most extremely absurd is the
usual arrangement  of bed-clothes, which in order to make the bed
look pretty in the day time, are left long at the head, that they may
rover the pillows;  when they are turned down, you  have an  in-
tolerable load on your lungs, and that part of the body whi::h is
most expose during  the day, is emothered at night, with double  tho
quantity of clothes that any other part has.—Dr. Kitchiner. 
AND  EXCRETIONS.
59
different offices, becomes unfit to be longer retained, and
is  carried out of the body in a changed state.  This
forms the subject of the secretions and excretions of the
body; a subject of the first importance to the well-being
of the system, and on a proper attention to which the
success of the physician, or the art of healing, depends.
  Thus, from the bowels is discharged the mass of thick
feculent mattter, the refuse of the food.
  By the kidnies passes off the more  watery, oily, and
saline parts, the retention of which would produce acri-
mony in the habit.
  By the skin is evacuated a similar discharge, but of a
still more subtle kind, in consequence of which a ten-
dency to putrefaction in the habit is  prevented.   These
are the three great outlets of the body, by  which its
health and well-being are preserved.   Disease is never
formed without a change in the state of these discharges,
and never removed without the increased action of one
or other of them.  This forms a cue for the conduct of
the physician, in  his treatment of disease; and it is in
following the steps  of  nature in this respect, that  his
success in his art, or in the proper treatment of disease,
will depend.
  With most individuals, a  preference in favour of one
discharge more than another seems to take place, and
this should be always inquired into and studied.

                1. Discharge by Stool.

   The regular and moderate state ot this discharge is
of the first importance to health.  It should neither be
expelled too quick, after the reception of food nor should 
GO              OF THE SECUETION-

thc latter be retained too long, after the nourishment is
separated from it.  A stool once a day is mentioned as
the regular and standard rule; but the quantity and
quality of the food must at the same time greatly deter-
mine this.   Hence it will vary in different persons, whose
health is equally good, as connected with their special
circumstances.   Some  peculiar constitutions may be
noticed, that are known only to evacuate once in a
week or fortnight: but this  peculiarity can only be
barely noticed, and does not admit of  any explanation;
though  a corruption of the fluids, in the end, must be
the consequence of this slow state of the bowels, in
such constitutions;  and, when attacked by disease, the
heated mass of fluids  must render the morbid cause
much more active.
  A warm atmosphere and indolent life are unfavourable
to this discharge; and wherever it is irregular, it should
be carefully  counteracted by an uniform  practice of
going to stool daily at a certain hour, either  of the
morning or evening.  Much depends on the diet for the
regulating of this discharge:  a dry hard diet is always
unfavourable to it ; a moist and soft one is the reverse:
and, by observing these two extremes, a proper regula-
tion may so be formed  in this respect, that the  bowcla
may always have  an  uniform and regular action, in
clearing themselves of the contents.  Sometimes, how-
ever, costiveness is an  hereditary disease, or it may be
brought on by weakness, in  consequence  of previous
affections debilitating the system.   These causes are to
be attended to, and as  far as possible  corrected.
   With respect to the appearance of the  matter dig-
 charged, this, should never be  too dry nor too liquid.  In 
AND EXCRETIONS.
61
the strong and athletic, who use much exercise, it often
acquires this very hardened state, without any injury to
the general health;  and thus the whole of the nourish-
ing part would seem to be completely taken up in such
habits.  A  hardened  state of the excrement  often in-
duces painful  headaches, and not unfrequently  fever.
It  is very prejudicial  to  all those who  are subject to
stomach complaints,  particularly  the hysterical and
hypochondriacal constitutions.  The delay of this na-
tural discharge, or  counteracting the efforts when ac-
tually taking place,  is attended  with serious and often
fatal consequences.  By resisting  the  action  of the
bowels,  the canal becomes distended with its contents;
a pressure of the blood-vessels takes place; and tho
piles,  a painful and  loathsome disease, is apt to  be
formed.   The natural inclination once lost,  does not
recur  for some  time, and the bowels are provoked in
vain to resume their action till another day.
  Looseness is again generally the effect of immoderate
eating;  part of the food not coming to be  digested,
passes off in this way, and nature thus reheves herself
of a load she has properly no use for.   Thus, great eaters
are generally  thin  and  emaciated,  and possess less
strength than those  who take a moderate meal, where it
is properly  concocted. The stools, then, may be con-
sidered as enabling us to form a proper judgment of the
quantity and quality of the aliment, as also of the state
of the digestion and assimilation.
  To render the digestion complete, and thus produce a
proper and healthy discharge by stool, many circum-
stances  require to be attended to.
  1. The  first  is a proper  proportion of exercise, to
                         6 
62
OF THE SECRETIONS
invigorate the system, and promote the force of the cir-
culation.
  2.  The second is a due quantity of drink, sufficient to
dilute our solid food.
  3.  The proper choice of our food; neither too solid
on the one hand, nor too diluent on the other ;  and so
prepared as to answer the same purpose.
  .4.  Avoiding excess of sleep, as promoting too much
the discharge by the skin, at the expense of that by the
bowels.

               2. Discharge by Urine.

  This discharge is meant to take place oftencr    .■ the
former, and between it and the skin a balance seems to
prevail in the quantity poured out.  The fluid separated
here is of a thin straw colour, somewhat yellowish, with
a white loose sediment, and, on being first discharged
it has no disagreeable smell: all  which marks show
whether the habit producing it is healthy or not. This
discharge is much affected by the influence of constitu-
tion, climate, and season.  Some constitutions naturally
produce a greater quantity than  others.   In warm cli-
mates it is much less than in the colder regions;  and,
in the same way, the approach of summer diminishes
its quantity, which is increased again on the return of
winter.   It is only from the morning appearance of this
fluid that we arc to judge of the state of the individual's
health, and not from the accidental change to wliich it
is subjected in the course of the day; for no fluid is so
apt to be varied in its appearance and  qualities from
casual  circumstances.   The prognostications by this 
AND  EXCRETIONS.
63
 fluid have opened a wide field for empiricism, and water
 doctors have been noted, at every period^f civilized so-
 ciety, for imposing on the credulity of mankind.  There
 is no doubt that some judgment may be drawn  from this
 fluid, at times.  The urine of hypochondriacs,  and also
 of hysterical patients, we know to be remarkably clear
 and limpid, and likewise in great quantity.   In weak
 habits it is found to be a good deal foamy, and to retain
 its froth for a considerable  time.  Whatever stimulates
 the system most, occasions the urine  to  be  of a red
 colour, and to deposit a brick-coloured  sediment; and
 even the colour of the urine may be considered as indi-
 cating, according as it is high or otherwise, the degree
 of vigour in the system.  The  want of a sediment en-
 tirely, after long standing, is a proof of great weakness.
   It is not possible  to  ascertain, with precision, the
 exact quantity of this discharge daily, but  two circum-
 stances will tend much to determine it:  the quantity of
 drink used, and the degree of perspiration.   Where the
 discharge is deficient, it may always be promoted by the
 use of thin diluent liquids, with moderate exercise, and
 the addition of mild acids in diet; and as many diseases
 arise from this discharge being too deficient, it  ought  to
 be carefully promoted in all such cases.   Vigour of habit
 is always attended  with a  moderate  discharge of this
 excretion;  relaxation  and weakness show a preter-
 natural quantity of it.  Exercise tends also to lessen its
 quantity, while cold and moisture increase it.
  A morbid discharge of urine forms a peculiar disease,
termed diabetes, which proves generally  of  a fatal ten-
dency.   The parts,  also, connected with this discharge,
arc more liable to be affected by disease than any other. 
64
OF THE EXCRETIONS
Hence we cannot be too careful in attending, not to
retain it too long when once solicited, nor to make it
too often before the bladder is fully distended.  By the
former, inflammation and distension of the bladder is
apt to arise; by the latter, the organ becomes nar-
rowed, thickened, and contracted, and loses part of its
conical and natural size.  Retention, by occasioning a
deposition of sediment, is apt to lay the foundation  of
calculus, or stone.

             3. Discharge by the Skin.

  The present discharge differs from the two former, in
being uninterrupted, and may be considered as  equally
important.  Day and night it is constantly discharged
through innumerable pores, which are the openings of
small vessels, every where spread on the surface; three
thousand of which occupy no more space, according  to
computation, than one inch.   By this discharge we are
freed from all impurities of a thin acrid nature, and none
of them have such an immediate effect as this, on the
general health and spirits.  From three to four pounds
is the medium calculation of this discharge. It is most
abundant during the night, as being favoured by a calm
uniform circulation, and the  greater heat  and mildness
of the atmosphere.
  The first mark of every febrile disease is the suppres-
sion of this discharge; and the first means of relief,
whether induced by nature or art, is the opening of this
discharge.  It has also a powerful influence on the state
of the stomach, and between it and this organ  alterna-
tions of health and disease show themselves.  A regular 
                  AND  EXCRETIONS.               65

and vigorous perspiration is a sure mark of health, and
by attending to  the state of it, we shall sooner detect
and redress derangements of health, than by any other
criterion we can go by.  But this discharge, though so
necessary to the well-being of the body, is not so uniform
as the others.  It differs at different  times of the day, in
the same  individual,  and is not equally active at all
hours.   A full stomach  lessens it;  but when digestion
is completed, it is most abundant.   The season also, as
observed, has  great effect upon it.  A warm season or
climate promotes it in a rapid manner, and checks that
by the urine and bowels  in an equal  proportion.  In
order to keep it as regular as possible, attention should
be paid both to the state of  clothing and the nature of
our aliment.   The first  should preserve us as much as
possible in an uniform atmosphere,  and  the  second
should be of that nature to keep up a proper vigour of
circulation,  as being  necessary to promote it.  Hence
all  circumstances that tend  to interrupt it should be
avoided; and  those enumerated as effecting this, are,
  1. Violent pain. 2. Obstruction of small vessels from
oily matters attached to the skin.  3.  Severe cold, es-
pecially at night; and the interference of other objects,
as the process of digestion, &c.
  From the importance  of this  discharge, it should
claim with every individual, the most particular atten-
tion ; and all those means by which it may be promoted
should be constantly held in view.   These means are,
extension of the muscles of the different parts of the
body, especially of the  extremities,  whether by simple
movement or expansion of them, or  by means of bodily
exercise:  by this action the circulation of the fluids is
                         6* 
G6
OF THE SECRETIONS
promoted, and  thus  their determination to the  skin
accelerated.  The warm bath has here a similar  influ-
ence, and answers the same effect,  by what  may  be
considered as a passive operation.  The  use of mild
sudorifics is equally efficacious, particularly warm  di-
luent fluids;  but all  such expedients, except exercise,
are more proper for removing states  of disease, where
this discharge is interrupted, than for merely preserving
health.
  Sweat differs from the usual perspiration, both in the
nature and quantity of the  matter  thrown out.   Its
effect, therefore, is always to weaken ; and, though a'
useful means of carrying off  most acute maladies from
the body, yet, if carried  too  far and  rendered habitual,
it is apt to lay the foundation of consumption, and other
evils of a serious nature.  It may indeed, however, be
considered as a proper outlet for purifying the habit,
and much skill is  requisite to manage it properly with
this view.  The removal from too heated to too cold an
atmosphere, is always dangerous, as suddenly checking
perspiration.  But custom will do much in this respect,
in preventing our suffering on this head.  No practice
is so proper, as a preventitive from vicissitudes of heat
and cold, as the daily washing  with cold  water.   By
this the body becomes braced  and hardened;  and it
should be a habit early begun and regularly continued,
in order to induce the good effects to be expected from
it.   When we consider the consequence that sleep  has
in  relaxing and debilitating the body, the morning is
pointed out as the proper time for this operation.*

  * Neglecting to observe the Levitical law of ablution conduces
probably more than any other cause, to sickness.  A bath, warm 
AND EXCRETIONS
67
  The nature of the food cannot fail to have a sensible
influence in the quantity of the discharge by the skin.
The more thin and attenuating the aliment is, the more
will it be of a nature  fit to pass off by this  excretion.
Gross oily food,  and such as is  of a  viscid nature, from
its not passing off readily in this way, too often lays the
foundation of cutaneous diseases, by favouring obstruc-
tions of the small vessels of the skin.
  All the depressing passions,  by lessening the vigour
of circulation, lessen also the evacuation from the sur-
face,  so necessary to the health of the frame;  while the
enlivening ones  produce a contrary effect.
  Exercise and  cleanliness  are equally useful  in this
view.   The rules, in respect to this discharge, may be
Bhortly summed up: to keep the skin clean and  moist,
by  means of  attention to dress, exercise, and aliment;
so that the quantity perspired  will require a change of
linen every twenty-four hours.
or cold, should oe taken once or twice a week, particularly in
Bummer; when, however, this  is inconvenient, washing the body
with a spunge will answer as a substitute.   But a pediluvium, or
rather half bath, should be practised every day in all seasons of the
year.  Thomas Jefferson, in answering some queries respecting his
habits, observes, " I attribute my not being subject to colds to wash-
ing my feet in cold water every morning, which  I have done for
Bixty years."                          ...    .      u
  To preserve the skin in  a healthy condition, those who wear
flannel should change it every night on going to bed, and wipe tho
body with a coarse towel; as it becomes saturated with the perspir-
ation of the day, which, if the flannel is not changed, is reabsorbed,
and thereby the action of the skin weakened and the whole system
vitiated.                           . . .   -  .         .  •_
  When it la known, that at least five-eighths of the amount taken
into the body is discharged through the skin by perspiration, it will
readily be perceived that too much care cannot be taken to keep it
in proper condition to perform the office required. 
68
OF THE SECRETIONS
                      Saliva.

  As the digestion of the food is accomplished chiefly
by the powers of the stomach,  so this process is fa-
voured by its mixture with certain fluids in its passage
to the organ.  The chief of these fluids  is the saliva,
or secretion from the salivary gland, known by the name
of spittle.   The quantity of this discharge daily thrown
into  the stomach, is very considerable; and being evi-
dently necessary to the preparation of the aliment,  it
should not  be uselessly  thrown away  or  expended.
Hence the custom of using tobacco, particularly smok-
ing,  which occasions such a waste of this liquor, ought
to be indulged only under strict limitations.
  In constitutions where the fibre is lean and dry, its
use must be attended with much injury to the general
health; and by the narcotic effects of the plant, besides
its irritation on the saliva, tho injury will even be in-
creased by it.  But when the habit, again,  is full  of
juices, as in the corpulent  and phlegmatic, and where
the acme of life, or middle age, is at the same time past,
then these inconveniences from taking  tobacco will  by
no means so readily occur: on the contrary, if moder-
ately indulged in, it will  be useful, by dissipating part
of the redundant fluids; and its utility will be  even
greater, if indulged in to  counteract the effects of a
moist,  cold  atmosphere.   The best time to smoke  ia
when digestion  is complete,  not immediately after a
meal;  and the process should be favoured by the use of
diluent liquors, in the time of it, to supply the waste
that  is taking place. 
AND  EXCRETIONS.
69
                Of the Nasal Mucus.

  This discharge is intended properly to moisten  the
surface of the nostrils, and preserve them in that state
which is necessary to make them convey the  impres-
sions they are intended to  receive.   An  additional
stimulus, therefore, such as snuff, to render this more
abundant than it ought to be, can only produce irrita-
tion, and the consequences which must arise from such a
cause.  The greater number of snuff-takers, therefore,
do themselves much injury by this practice; and it ia
only in those  cases where an artificial issue or drain
from the head is wanted, that it ought to be indulged in.
Hence, in moist habits, subject to defluxions in the eyes,
or pains of the head, a moderate use of snuff will be of
much advantage ; while in the irritable, weak, and con-
sumptive, it will give  rise, from  its  peculiar narcotic
stimulus, applied to a  situation so near to the brain, to
alarming diseases.  It has been  considered in many
cases as a cause of palsy, and used to be mentioned aa
such, in his lectures, by the late celebrated Dr. Cullen.
But while deterring his readers from its use, the box lay
generally before the Doctor, who jocularly remarked,
in spite of the danger of this disease, he found himself
compelled from habit to indulge the practice, which he
generally reprobated at the same time in strong terms;
a proof of the little influence of good advice on the mind,
where danger does" not at the moment press upon  us.
Another bad effect of  snuffing,  is  that of stopping  the
nostrils;  it impedes the respiration, and gives thelunga
more to do.  By passing also into  the stomach, it is  the 
70
OF THE SECRETIONS
source with many of much uneasiness, pain, and flatu-
lence in that organ.  From this view, reason will point
out what is best; habit and gratification, what is most
pleasing.

             Of the Secretion of the Ear.

  This secretion renders the organ, when in moderate
quantity, more acute for receiving the impressions it is
intended to convey.  But it sometimes hardens and
accumulates, so as to render deafness the consequence.
It then requires to be washed out with soap and warm
water, and oil used as a substitute, to prevent the same
acci4ent happening again.  Where the secretion, on the
contrary,  is thin  and  acrid,  daily washing with cold
water will be of service.   Should insects get into this
cavity, oil forms the proper remedy for destroying them.

                  Of Hemorrhage.

  As the blood is the most elaborate of all the fluids, so
it is tho most useful  for preserving the health of the
system.  The loss of it is therefore more severely fell
than that of any other ; and this loss  never takes place
but as a consequence of disease.   In the male, blood is
apt to appear with piles, and  also from the nose.  In
both these cases it is dangerous to repress it suddenly;
for though weakening, in the mean time it  is  cither
connected with a general fulness of habit or of the part.
Both these states must be removed before the discharge
can  be safely got the better of.  Nature, therefore,
should be  allowed to take her own course, and only 
       GENERAL  REMARKS ON TEMPERAMENTS.     71

prevented from going  to extremes.  The same may be
said of the menses in women; and to thera the same
observation equally applies.

                Of Retention of Milk.

  The same  delicate attention that is necessary to the
former discharges, is equally essential here.   This se-
cretion, in  a nursing female, is readily affected by the
slightest causes, in respect to diet, situation, or passions
of mind.  The consequence of this is, that a foundation
is not only laid for morbid affections in the organ; but
the general health is apt to be deranged by the influence
it possesses with the whole of the system.
  GENERAL REMARKS ON  TEMPERAMENTS.

[Some of the remarks-tff Dr. Turnbull were omitted in the order in
  which they appeared, under an apprehension that the entire would
  carry this volume to a greater extent than was desirable for a
  popular Manual.  But as the small type used in this edition em-
  braces more matter, in a given number of pages, than was calcu-
  lated upon, the passages rejected are inserted in this place.  The
  table of contents, which  will be prefixed to the volume, will
  prevent any particular inconvenience arising from the trans-
  position.]

  One of the causes of different temperaments may be
referred to difference of irritability, the peculiar inherent
property of the muscular fibre.  Thus in the choleric,
the muscular fibres are excited to action by the slightest
stimulus, while in the phlegmatic, the muscles contract
but slowly, and  are only brought into exertion by the
mojt powerful means. 
72              GENERAL REMARKS
  Even the proportion and nature of the blood has a
manifest  influence on the constitution;  and a highly
assimilated blood, by its greater stimulus, will  render
the exertions of the solids stronger and more violent.
  When  these several causes are maturely taken into
review, though an original and unalterable predisposi-
tion to the temperament takes place, yet it is clear, in
the course of life, from the action of these causes, the
temperament, though not fundamentally changed, may
be considerably modified;  and this modification arising
from different  circumstances, the latter fall next to be
taken into consideration.
  The first of these circumstances  apt to  modify the
constitution or temperament in the  course of life, is a
difference of regimen.  Hence we find a free use of ani-
mal food, by exerting the body in the highest degree,
and imparting, as it were, an unusual stimulus  and
excess of vigour to  it, occasions all the senses to be
proportionally enlivened, and  even a degree of ferocity
to prevail, which is a leading feature of character in all
the carnivorous animals.   In the same proportion vege-
table  food  diminishes the action of the system,  and
lowers also  its irritibility and sensibility in  a cor-
responding degree.             • *■
  The second circumstance possessing this constitu-
tional  influence,  is education.   Indeed, at the earlier
periods of life, it is plain its effects cannot fail to be ex-
tensive in  modifying the habits and manners of man •
and it must ever have considerable power over the mind,
or the thinking part of the  system, which will thus
communicate itself to the corporeal part.
   The third circumstance, and a very leading one is 
ON TEMPERAMENTS
73
climate.   Thus, the warm  climates naturally  produce
an acuteness and sensibility in their inhabitants, while
the cohl and  foggy regions  are generally  found the
abodes of dullness and insipidity.  It is from this fact
the Greek proverb justly arose, of applying the charac-
ter of being born in  Boeotian air, as a mark to denote
stupidity, from the moist inhospitable  atmosphere of
that country.
  The next circumstance is the fortune of the individual.
Every one is  sensible what a difference the  enjoyment
of luxury must make  on the  habit, compared with the
opposite state, where it is harassed by the evils of life,
and pressed by the hard gripe of poverty.
   The last circumstances that claim enumeration, and,
which may be comprised together, are, the age, society,
and profession.  That each of these has a considerable
influence, cannot be doubted.  So strong indeed  is the
influence of the  first, that we find the dispositions of
the sanguine and choleric, as age advances, gradually
decline.  The second has  no less, from its particular
effect in  modifying  the  disposition and manners  ; and
the third is equal to the other two.   Professional dis-
eases which are so frequent with artificers, show the
leading power of this circumstance over the state of the
constitution-
   Such is a  short sketch on the subject of constitutions
or temperaments, which has  been so largely treated by
physicians.   It is clearly one  on which every individual,
anxious for liis health, ought to bestow the fullest atten-
tion, and to be able himself  to distinguish the leading
features  of his own constitution or habit.  By this know-
ledge he will  be enabled to regulate with precision hia 
74                   CLIMATE.
mode of life, in such a manner as to avoid, on many
occasions, the causes of disease, and by this knowledge
he will likewise be well acquainted with what diseases
he ia most liable to be attacked.

                      Climate.

  Climates may be divided into  three, the warm, the
temperate, and the cold.  The first, seated between the
tropics, forms what is called the Torrid Zone.  Under
this climate the heat is always  excessive,  and  often
indeed  unbearable, particularly when the sun passes
perpendicularly over these regions.
  The temperate climates include that space which ex-
tends from the  Tropic  to the Polar circle.   Here the
heat is more supportable,  and lessens  in  a gradual
proportion as it approaches the Circle, so that a great
variety prevails in the climate of the countries included
within this division.
   The  cold  climates are those placed at the two ex-
tremities of the globe;  a dreadful situation for their in-
habitants, where the sun for months never shows itself
in  the  hemisphere,  where  the earth  is  covered with
perpetual snow, and the sea with ice; for, every thing
 here in a fluid state becomes immediately solid, and the
 degree of cold too often benumbs at once the springs of
 life.
   It is only in the second  division, or the  temperate
 regions, that a variety of climate may be said to prevail,
 and this variety may be said to be increased by the
 gradual change or return of the seasons.
    The best situation for the human frame is that where 
                   OF ALIMENT.                75

h enjoys an atmosphere moderately heavy and elastic,
being neither that rarified air found in the more ele-
vated regions, as in mountaincous countries, nor that
dense thick atmosphere which hovers over low marshy
grounds. By attending to these observations, he who is
able to choose his own situation may guard against all
the inconveniences and dangers that arise from the
existence of a too pure 01 too loaded atmosphere.


                    Of Aliment.

  Aliment, is a subject of much importance.  By thia
term is understood whatever is taken into the stomach,
and passes of course into the system, for the purpose of
nourishment, or for the support of the body; and, in com-
mon language, this we know by the name of food and
drink.   All substances under this  denomination must
nndergo a certain preparation before being received into
the system.  Thus, they are first taken into the mouth,
and there divided by the action of the teeth and muscles
of the jaws.  By this operation, named mastication or
chewing, they are broken down and mixed with a cer-
tain quantity of liquor or saliva before they pass into the
Btomach.  Even in their descent into that organ some
additional fluids continue to be pressed into and blended
with them;  and,  on  their arriving there, they become
thinned with the gastric juice, a peculiar liquor, secreted
from the stomach, which  is the most powerful solvent
of all elementary matter.   After experiencing their ne-
cessary changes in this organ,  by its action, they are
transmitted  next to  its under  orifice or the  pyloric, 
76
Or ALIMENT
where they pass out to the intestines or bowels;  and
here, in their course, they meet with the bile and various
other secreted fluids.   In this  progress the  different
parts of the aliment are separated.  Those proper for
the nourishment of the system arc taken up by certain
vessels called lacteals, and converted into a thick milky
liquor termed chyle, which collects into one reservoir, the
thoracic duct, from which it is conveyed into the blood,
and thus  distributed through every part, for the nour-
ishment and support of the body.   The remainder of
this aliment, not fit to be converted  into chyle,  passes
onwards through the long circuit of the bowels till it
comes  to  be discharged in a useless and effete state ;
and along with it is discharged from the body also,  part
of the secreted  fluids  which  have been employed in
making the requisite alteration upon it, and in  effecting
the separation of its different parts.
  All aliment consists  either of a vegetable or animal
nature.  Vegetable aliment, it  is probable, was the first
food of man, in the choice of which it follows, he would
be originally led  to taste and smell, and afterwards di-
rected to it by experience.  At that period the salubrity
of aliment would  not  enter into his review;  neither
perhaps, did the simple life of nature  require it: but, as
refinement took  place, and a deviation  from this  first
order of things proceeded, animal food, from observation
perhaps of the carnivorous  tribes, would come to be
introduced by him, and we find accordingly, that even a
variety of  it became very early a principal support of
life. 
ANIMAL FOOD
77
                    Animal Food.

   Fresh meat is to be considered as the most  whole-
 Bome;  and whenever it is dried or prepared by salting,
 it loses its  nourishing quality in a certain degree, and
 becomes  more unfit to supply the waste and preserve
 the health of the system.
   The meat of tame and domesticated animals, is also
 preferable to those that are wild and live in' a state of
 nature.   They are more juicy and tender in their fibres,
 while the others  are  more rigid  and dry, and  conse-
 quently are more indigestible.
   The form of preparing the meat, has also a necessary
 relation both to its digestibility and  degree of nourish-
 ment.                 <
   In the raw state, although some animal substances
 are eaten, yet, it is not the form in which they are now
-the most agreeable.   They are, therefore, prepared by
 the application of heat and moisture in  various ways,
 or what is known by the name of cookery.
   One of the first of these ways is by boiling.  By thia
 process the meat  is deprived greatly of  its  nourishing
 quality, or of its jelly, which is introduced into the fluid
 or soup.  Wherever it is wished to introduce a quantity
 of nourishing matter quickly into the system, this con-
 version of it into soup is preferable to any other mode
 of cookery; but, in ordinary health, taken in this form,
 if solely trusted to, it gives the stomach too little to do,
 and the meat itself is left in that indigestible state, as to
 be rendered unfit for repairing the waste of the body, or
7* 
78
ANIMAL FOOD.
conveying the proper stimulus which animal food is
intended to produce.
  Roasting is the form  in which  animal food is most
relished, and by this form it is both rendered highly palat-
able, and its nourishing  qualities are at the same  time
abundantly preserved.  The outer parts, however, ex-
posed to the fire, acquire an empyreumatic taste,  and,
from being also more dried, arc less digestible, and sit
heavier on the stomach, than the internal particles of it,
when this form of cookery is used.
  Baking, the next mode, possesses most of the advan-
tages of roasting, with the addition that, by preventing
evaporation from the surface,  in consequence of the
crust  that coveis it, its nourishing parts  are better pre-
served than in any other form.  But, as it is apt to sit
heavy on some stomachs, from the greater retention of
its oils,  it requires the additional stimulus of spices and
aromatics to render it lighter, or increase the powers of
the stomach to digest it.
  Frying it  a mode in which a somewhat similar opera-
tion to baking takes place.   Part of the substance of
the meat is at first  melted  down  ; but a crust is  soon
formed  by the fire over the rest, which preserves it and
renders it soft and  mellow.  The abundance of fat or
oily matter used  in this  operation is the  only objection
to it, by rendering it as food somewhat indigestible;
and the same attention  to increase  the  powers of the
stomach by seasoning, is necessary here as where bakin"
is employed. 
FRUITS.
79
                       Fruits

  Cherries,  from their strong acid, are peculiarly an-
tiseptic.  While they are useful, therefore, in all dis-
eases where a  tendency to putrescency  appears,  or
where  this  state  has actually  commenced,  they  are
equally injurious in health.  The sweeter kinds are less
hurtful than the others;  but, it  may be observed, that
cherries, like all other stoned fruits, possess something
peculiar in their nature,  which renders them not  so
salutary to the  stomach as other fruits, even  indepen-
dent of the general principles they  possess in common
with other fruits.  In the use of stoned  fruits, much
attention should be paid to avoid the swallowing of the
stones, as from this cause the most  fatal effects have at
times arisen.
  Plumbs are liable to tho same objections with  the
former, but not in so  great a degree.  They should  be
used, however,  only when full ripe.
  Tamarinds yield, from  their  pulp, a highly grateful
acid.   In the warm  climates it quenches thirst and
allays heat, but is here only used medicinally.
  Peaches are a salutary kind of fruit, of an attenuating
nature, and therefore  useful in obstructions and bilious
disorders.  They are best in their fresh state, and their
kernel, as being a grateful bitter, should be eaten along
with them.  This fruit is of various  kinds;  but the thin
downy-skinned species is the best.   ^
  Apricots is a fruit not so healthy as peaches, from its
tendency to  the  acid fermentation  ; but in their ripe
state, they are a cooling antiseptic. 
80
FRUITS.
  Pears are generally somewhat hard and  indigestible.
They tend also to produce flatulence ; even the sweetest
and  most saponaceous kinds are inferior to the next
fruit, or,                    *
  Apples;  which are an aromatic fruit, laxative in their
medical effects, and in  general cooling  and antiseptic.
They attenuate also viscid  phlegm, and are recom-
mended in  pectoral affections.  The various species
differ in their degree of aromatic principle, in their de-
gree of acidity,  and also in  their proportion of juice.
According to their possession of more or less of each of
these principles, their medical effects are to  be judged
of.   Their kernels and those  of the former fruits  are to
be considered as co'rrectives of the fruit itself, and ren-
dering it more salutary to the stomach.
  Quinces are a combination  of acid and mucilage, and,
therefore,  useful antiseptics, especially in dysentery.
Their pulp is, however,  somewhat indigestible.
  The lemon, orange, and fruit of a  similar kind, pos-
sess  a grateful juice, more or less acid, with an aromatic
bitter rind, and  a  powerful  essential oil, strongly as-
tringent and  heating.  It is the juice  only that is used
in diet; the other  parts are occasionally used in  medi-
cine. The acid  of these fruits, termed the citric acid,
forms the proper specific for  the scurvy, and is also the
best corrector of vegetable narcotic poisons.
  Currants, are a  fruit of a nourishing  quality.  Their
juice is an agreeable acid, not unlike that of the lemon.
They are of an emollient and  laxative nature.
  Gooseberries are a cooling  refreshing fruit.
  Figs are a  fruit highly nutritive.
  Grapes and strawberries are both very  wholesome. 
BREAD.
81
They tend to promote all the evacuations, and are laxa-
tive without inducing any apparently weakening effects.
The  quality of the former is much varied by soil and
climate.   The sweetest kind are the safest to be used.
The latter are supposed to possess qualities against the
stone, and are much recommended with this view.  The
wild strawberry has the most agreeable flavour, and is
perhaps, the best of the whole species.

                       Bread.

  In making good wholesome bread, many  circum-
stances are necessary to be attended to.
  1. The first is, to select the best species of grain for
the purpose;  and wheat has been generally preferred in
this country without any mixture.*
  2. The age of the grain, or rather flour, when used;
for, the older it is, the less tenacious.
  3. The third  lies in the  proper fermentation and
baking.
  4. The fourth is the quality of the water or fluid cm-
ployed for mixing it.
  If these circumstances are attended to, the bread then
formed will be light and porous;  for the sponginess of
it is to be considered as a test of its proper fermentation
and the entire extrication of its fixed air.  Such bread
also will thoroughly dissolve in water, without showing
any marks of viscidity.
  The  more  that bread is formed different  from these

  * As Indian corn is not raised in England, the author was proba-
bly ignorant of its dietetic virtues.  A mixture of flour made of
this grain with that of wheat is known to make a more wholesome
bread, especially for those of costive habits than wheat flour alone. 
b2                       BREAD.


rules, the more indigestible it will  be found, and will,

with invalids, be apt  to lay a foundation  of stomach

complaints and those other ailments which are the con-

sequence of imperfect digestion.*


  * TheFrench manner of making bread is deemed by that nation,
and others in the habit of using it, preferable to any  other.  It is
very light and of course easily digested.  This arises from the se-
vere fermentation the dough is made to undergo previously to bak-
ing.  The material made use of for this purpose is leaven, which
constitutes, it is  believed, about a fourth part of the batch.  Tho
Bhape of the French loaf exposes a greater surface to the heat than
the  common round loaf, and consequently causes it  to be more
thoroughly bakr-I.  An erroneous opinion  prevails in  New-York,
that the twisted loaf, made by some of our bakers, is manufactured
in the French manner ;  whereas it is directly the reverse.  That
kind of bread undergoes little fermentation, and consequently is
viscid and heavy. 
APPENDIX.
               PEPTIC PRECEPTS.

     EXTRACTED FROM DR. KITCHINER'S WORK ON
                     HEALTH.

                   Constipation.

  To humour that desire for the marvellous, which is so
universal in medical, as well as in other, matters, the
maker3 of aperient pills generally select the most drastic
purgatives, which operating considerably in a dose of a
few grains, excite admiration in the patient, and faith in
their powers, in proportion as a small dose produces a
great effect, who seldom considers how irritating such
materials must be, and consequently how injurious to a
stomach in a state of debility, and perhaps deranged by
indulging appetite beyond the bounds of moderation.
  Aperient medicine does enough,  if it increases the
customary  evacuation, and  does  too  much, if it does
more, than excite one additional motion.
  Bowels which are forced into double action  to-day,
must, consequently, be costive  to-morrow, and' consti-
pation will be caused by the remedy you have recourse
to to remove it; this lias given rise to a vulgar error,
that the use of  even the mildest laxative is followed by
costiveness.
  Habitual costiveness is  not curable by drugs alone,
and is most agreeably corrected by diet and regimen. 
84
ABSTINENCE.
  A littlc'attention to regimen will generally prevent it,
a*simple laxative will suffice to remove it, and neither
will be often necessary, for those who observe a deob-
struent diet, take proper exercise in a pure air, sufficient
liquid food, and eat freely of butter, salt and sugar.
  Tho peculiarity of  most  constitutions is so con-
venient, that almost all costive persons, by attending to
the effects which various  things  produce upon their
bowels, may find, in their usual food  and drink, the
means of persuading their sluggish viscera  to vibrate
with healthful celerity.

                     Abstinence.

  Abstinence is the easiest, cheapest, and best cure for
the disorders which arise  from indigestion  oj  intem-
perance.
  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 wholesome 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 means are ineffectual, the next step,
is to produce energetic vibration in the alimentary tube,
without exciting inordinate action, or debilitating deple-
tion ; and to empty the bowels, without irritating them. 
DISTANCE  BETWEEN MEALS.
85
                    Strong  Food.

  The strong food, which the strong action of strong
bodies require, would soon  destroy weak ones; if the
latter attempt to  follow the example  of the former,
instead of feeling invigorated, their stomachs will be as
oppressed, as a  porter k; with a load that is too- heavy
for him, and under the idea of swallowing what are called
strengthening nourishing things, will very soon make
themselves ready for the undertaker.
  Some people seem to  think, that the more plentifully
they stuff themselves, the better they must thrive, and
the stronger they must grow.
  It is not the quantity that we swallow, but that which
is properly digested, which nourishes us.
  A moderate  meal well digested, renders  the  body
vigorous; glutting it with  superfluity, not  only op-
presses the system, but  produces  all sorts of dis-
orders.

               Distance between Meals.'

  Those who take no food between an early breakfast,
and a late dinner, for fear, as they term it, of spoiling the
latter meal, generally complain of flatulence, languor,
lowness of spirits, &c.  (and those who are troubled by
a cough, have often a paroxysm of  it,) for the hour or
more before dinner; and heartburn, &c.  after it: the
former arising from fasting too long, the latter  from
indulging an appetite over excited.
                          8 
96
SUSPENDED ANIMATION
  The languor of inanition, and the fever of repletion,
mfty bo  easily avoided  by eating a luncheon, solid and
nutritive, in  proportion as the dinner is protracted, and
the activity  of the exercise  to be taken in  the  mean
time.

'                    Indigestion.

  It is at the commencement of decline, t. e. about our
fortieth year, that the stomach begins to require peculiar
care and precaution.  People who have been subject to
indigestions  before, have them then more frequent and
more violent; and those who have never been so afflicted,
begin to suffer them from slight causes: a want of atten-
tion to wliich too frequently leads to the destruction of
the best constitutions,  especially of the studious, who
neglect to take due exercise.—Dauberton on indigestion.
  He who has not by that time (age of forty) learned to
observe the causes of self-disorder, shows little signs of
wisdom; and  he who has  carefully noted  the  thinga
which create disorder in  himself, must by his own  ex-
perience possess  much knowledge, that a physician at a
pop visit ought  not  to oretend to.—Domestic Manage-
ment.

         Suspended Animation by Drowning.

  Every person  should be  acquainted  with  the  treat-
ment, recommended by  the Humane Society, for tha
recovery of  persons  apparently drowned, which is  a.i
follows: 
BY DROWNING.
87
   I. Convey  the  body carefully, with the head and
shoulders in a raised position, to the nearest house.*
•   2. Strip the body, and  rub it dry; wrap it  in  hot
blankets, and place it in a warm bed in a warm cham-
ber.
   3. Wipe and cleanse tho moutn and nostrils.
   4. In order to restore the natural warmth of the body,
move  a heated covered warming-pan over the back
and spine; put bladders or bottles of hot water, or
heated bricks to the pit of the stomach, the arm-pits,
between the thighs, and to  the soles of the feet; foment
the body with hot flannels;  (if possible, immerse  the
body in a warm bath, as hot as the hand can bear, as
this is preferable to  the  other means of restoring
warmth;)  rub the body briskly with the hand ; do not,
however, suspend the use of the other means  at  the
same time.
   5. In order to restore breathing, introduce the pipe of
a common pair of  bellows,  (where the apparatus of the
Humane Society is not at hand,) into one nostril, care-
fully closing the other and the mouth: at the same time,
drawing downwards and gently pushing backwards the
upper  part of the wind-pipe, to allow a more free ad-
mission of air.  Blow the bellows gently, till the breast
be a little raised:  the mouth and nostrils should then
be set free, and a moderate pressure made with the hand
upon the chest; repeat  this process  till life appears

 * Great care pnould be taken in removine the body, that it be not
bruised, or shaken violently, or in any way roughly handled, nor
rarried on the shoulders with the head hanging down, nor rolled on
the ground, on a barrel, &c.; such methods, formerly resorted fo
with the view of causing the waicr tn limy out of the stomach, are
now considered highly injurious. 
88            CHRONIC RHEUMATISM.

  6.  Electricity to be employed early by a medical as-
sistant.
  7.  Inject the stomach by means of an clastic tube and
syringe, with half a pint of warm brandy and water, or
wine and water.
  8.  Apply sol volatile or hartshorn to the nostrils.

Chronic Rheumatism, and Herpes, or Cutanemts Eruptions.

  These complaints are so common, are often so difficult
to conquer, and at the same time have been the subjects
of so much quackery, that we are induced, from experi-
ence of their effects,to submit the following remedies:

      Beer for the cure  of Chronic Rheumatism.

10 Ounces of Sarsaparilla, I  5 Ounces Sassafras loot,
5 do. Lignum Vita;,       | 10 do.  Liquorice root,
                10 Drachms Senna.

  Tne whole to be  cut fine,  and thoroughly boiled,
making 5 gallons.  To which add a sufficient quantity
of hops, molasses and yeast.  This composition makes
a very pleasant beer, which may be drank freely at all
times in the  day.  If this quantity should prove insuffi-
cient renew it till cured.  Take at the same time, say
two  tea-spoonfuls of white mustard seed occasionally
before meals.
  This prescription was obtained from a celebrated
French physician, formerly of New York.  All medical
writers who treat of the complaint, as well as prac-
tioners in general, recommend the above articles; but
the English and American physicians do not, it is be- 
CUTANEOUS ERUPTIONS.
89
Heved, commonly prescribe so  large a quantity as the
French.  Besides, a decoction of those roots or woods
are used, the mawkishncss of which to most persons is
so disagreeable as to prevent  patients from taking a
due quantity, if it were directed.
  The famous  medicine discovered in  France, called
Rob, which has proved so efficacious in rheumatic and
mercurial complaints; is known to be chiefly composed
of the above  ingredients; which in most cases produce
the same effects,  in the pleasant and cheap mode here
prescribed, provided a sufficient quantity be taken.

           Herpes or  Cutaneous Eruptions.

   Herpes is derived from herpo (Greek) to creep; because
it creeps  and spreads over  the skin.  It consists of
various species which require different treatment.  The
two principal of which  are,—first, what is called dry
tetter, which appears indiscriminately in different parts
of the body, itching very much, though not otherwise
troublesome.  When scratched, the epidermis or scarf-
skin  scales off in the form of fine bran.
   For the cure of this kind, dilute an ounce of sulphuric
acid  (oil of vitriol) in a quart of rain  water.  If a junk
bottle be  used, it should not be made full, as the com-
position requires to be well  shaken ;  and in this case,
of course, reserve a  part of the oil of vitriol.  Should
the mixture, at  first, prove too  pungent,  it may be
.weakened by adding rain water.  Rub this on the part
affected at least twice a day, going to bed  and rising.
Make use even  of a stiff hair  brush  for this purpose.
The  skin  becoming, in  most case?, sufficiently insen- 
90
PROPORTION OF  ALCOHOL
sible to bear this oppcration.  In about ten or fifteen
days the cure will generally be effected.
  The second kind, above referred to, generally com-
mences on the face, afterwards  spreading to the neck
and other parts of the body.  This species is commonly
called ring-worm.   For its cure use the following com-
position :

    1 Ounce of white precipitate of mercury,
    1-2 do. red  do.
    1-4 do. Venice turpentine,
    4   do. hog's lard.

  Rub the three first mentioned ingredients in a mortar,
and then  add the hog's lard.   For a quantity sufficient
for  a single case, an apothecary can  reduce  the pre-
scription.
       Proportion of Alcohol in different liquors.

  The term alcohol is applied in strictness only to the
pure spirit obtainable by distillation and subsequent rec-
tification  from all liquids  that have undergone vinous
fermentation, and from none but such as are susceptible
of it.   But it is commonly used to signify this  spirit
more or less imperfectly freed from water, in the state in
which it is nsually met with in the shops, and in which,
as it was  first obtained from  the juice of  the  grape, it
was long distinguished by the name of spirit of wine.
  As  alcohol is much lighter than water, its specific
gravity is  adopted as the^est of its purity. Fourcroy
considers  it as rectified to the highest point when its
specific gravity is 829, that of water being 1000. 
IN DIFFERENT LtQUORS.
91
  The following table exhibits the proportion of alcohol,
specific gravity .825 at 60° F., by measure, existing in 100
parts of several kinds of wine and other liquors; ex-
tracted from Brando's chemistry:
Port,	25.	83 to 19.00
Average,	-	22.96
Madeira, ...	24.	42 to 19.24
Average,	-	22.27
Sherry, average, -	-	- 19.17
Teneriffe,	-	19. 79
Lachryma Christi,	-	- 19.70
Constantia, -	-	19. 75
Lisbon, -	-	- 18.94
Malaga, - -	-	18. 94
Cape Muschat, -	-	- 18.25
Ditto Madeira, average,	-	20. 51
White Hermitage, :	-	- 17.43
Claret, average,	-	15.10
Malmsey Madeira, -	-	- 16.40
Sauterne,	-	14.22
Burgundy, average, -	-	- 14. 57
Hock, -	-	14. 37
Ditto (old in cask), -	-	- 8.88
Tent, - • -	-	13.30
Champaign (still),	-	- 13.80
Ditto (sparkling) -	-	12.80
Vin de Grave, -	-	- 13.94
Frontignac, -	-	12. 79
Tokay, -		- 9.88
Cider, from -	-	5. 21 to 9. 87
Perry, average, - " -	-	- 7.26
Mead, - -	-	7.32
 
 92            "VEGETABLE  STTBST INCES. .

        Brown Stout,    -    -    -    -   6.80
        London Porter, (average) -     -    4. 20
        Brandy,     ....      53. 39
        Rum,.....53.68
        Gin,......51. 60
        Scotch Whiskey,   -    -     -    54.32
        Irish do......53.90

        Nutritive Matter in  Vegetable  Substances.
   The following table, drawn up by Sir  H. Davy,
 exhibits  the relative  proportions of  soluble  and of
 nutritive matter contained  in  1000 parts of different
 vegetable substances.
       Wheat, average      ...     950
        Norfolk Barley,   -     -     -    -   920
       Oats from Scotland,  -               748
       Rye from Yorkshire,    ...   792
       Common  Bean, -                     570
       Dry Peas,   -     -     -     -    .   57/
       Potatoes, ...    from 200 to 260
       Red Beet,   .....   143
       White do.     -     -    -    -      ] 36
       Parsnip,.....gg
       Carrots,  -     -    .    -     -   -  98
       Common Turnips, -    .     -   -    42
       Swedish, do.     -     -     -    -     64
       Cabbage, ...     -    -    -   73
  * Late French chemists have  ascertained that a bean,  raised in
France, exceeds in  nutrition even wheat.  The result of  their ex
penmems is not at hand or it would be noticed.
  The nutritive matter contained in maise or Indian rorn  a  «■.:„
so hiyhly valued in  this country, is not emitted by "he" Fn^ish
Us8cuh.vifU,0n' " '" Pr"8Umed' °' ,,,eir C,ima,a ™ Pe"-'i«in5
/ 
 
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