[May, 1831.
           VALUABLE   WORKS  "

                       PCBMSHID BT

I. &  J. HARPER, 82 CLIFF-STREET, NEW-YORK.
THE HISTORY OF MODERN
  EUROPE, from the rise of the
  Modern Kingdoms to the present
   feriod.  By William Rubsill,
   .L.D., and William Jones, Esq.
  With Annotations by an Ameri-
  can,  la 3 vols. Svo.
THE HISTORICAL WORKS of
  the Rev. WILLIAM ROBERT-
  SON, D.D.; comprising his HIS-
  TORY-of AMERICA; CHARLES
  V.;  SCO! LAND, and INDIA.
  In 3 vols. Svo. with Plates.
GIBBON'S HISTORY OF THE
  DECLINE AND FALL OF THE
  ROMAN EMPIRE.  In 4 vols.
  8vo. With Plates.
The abo*e works (Russell's, Robertson's, and
  Gibbon's) »r« stenotypad  and  printed
  uniformly.  Great pains have  been taken
  to render them perfect in every respect.
  They are decidedly the liest ediuons ever
  published in this country.
ENGLISH SYNONYME3, with
  copious Illustrations and Explan-
  ations, drawn from the bast Wri-
  ters.  By Gcorqk Cradb, MA.
  A 'new Edition, enlarged.  8vo.
  [Stereotyped.]
LIFE OF  LOR!) BYRON.  By
  ThomauTVIoori, Esq.  In 2 vols.
  Svo.  VYith a Portrait.
HOOPER'S MEDICAL DICTION-
  ARY.   From the last London
  Edition.  With Additions, by Sa-
  muel Akbrly, M.D. Svo.

COOPER'S  SURGICAL  DIC-
  TIONARY.   In  2  vols. Svo.
  Greatly enlarged. [Stereo'yped.]

GOOD'S(Dr.J-MivM*5nN)STUDY
  OF MEDICINE.  In 5 vols. 8vo.
   A new edition.  With additions
   by Samuel Cooper, M.D.

 THE BOOK OF NATURE; being
   a popular Illustration of the gene-
   ral Laws and Phenomena of Crea-
   tion, etc.  By John Mason Good,
   M.D. and F.R.S.  Svo.  With his
   Life.  [Stereotyped.]
DOMESTIC DUTIES; or Instruc-
  tions to Married Ladies. By Mr*.
  William  Parks, liino.
ART OF INVIGORATING  and
  PROLONGING LIFE. By Wil-
  liam  Kit<;hinb!!,  M.D.  18mo.
  [Stereotyped.]
THE COOK'S  ORACLE, AND
  HOUSEKEEPER'S MANUAL.
  By William Kitchiser, :'.D.
  Adapted to the American Public
  1"ido. .[Stereotyped.]
GIBSON'S  SURVEYING.   Im-
  proved and enlarged.  By Jambs
  Rvan.  8vo.
DA VIES1  SURVEYING. Svo.
SURVEYORS' TABLES. 12mo.
BROWN'S DICTIONARY of the
  HOLY  BIBLE. From the last
  genuine Edinburgh edition.  8vo.
BROWN'S (J.) CONCORDANCE.
  Printed  on Diamond type, in
  the 32mo.  form.  [Stereotyped.]
SERMONS   ON  IMPORTANT
  SUBJECTS, by the Rev. Samuel
  Davie?, A.M., sometime Presi-
  dent of the College of New-Jer-
  sey.  In 3 vols. Svo.
THE WORKS OF  THE REV.
  JOHN  WESLEY, A.M. With
  his Lifs.  Complete in 10  vols.
  Svo.  From the last London Edi-
  tion.  With a Portrait.!
LETTERS FROM THE #  FAN.
  By Jamks Emerson, l'.-i. 8vo.

THE LITERARY REMAIN? OF
  THE LATE HENRY NEELE,
  Author of.thc " Romance of His-
  tory," &cfcc. 6vo.

RELIGIOUS DISCOURSES. By
  Sir Walter Scott, Bart. 18mo.

LIVES OF THE SIGNERS OF
  THE DECLARATION OF IN-
  DEPENDENCE.  12rno.
 SKETCHES FROM VENETIAN
  HISTORY. 2 vols.  lBmo. 
)
Works Published by J.  Sr J. Harper.
 THE HISTORY OF THE JEWS,
  From the earliest period to the pre-
  sent time.  By the Rev. H. II. Mil-
  man.  In 3 vols. 18ino. illustrated
  with original maps, &c.
 THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON BUO-
  NAPARTE. By J. G. Luckii art,
  Esq. With copperplate engravings.
  2 vols. 18ino.
LIFE OF NELSON.  By Robert
  Southev, Esq.  With a portrait.
THE  I.TFE  OF ALEXANDER
  THE GREAT.  By the Rev. J.
  Vv'",i.iams. With  a map. 18mo.
NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  IN-
  SECTS.  Illustrated by numerous
  engravings. 18mo.
THE  LIFE OF  LORD BYRON.
  By John Galt, Esq. 18mo.
THE  LIFE  OF MOHAMMED,
  rounder of the Religion of Islam,
  and of the Empire of the Saracens.
  By the Rev. George Bisu, A.M.
  With a plate. ISmo.
LETTERS  ON  DEMONOLOGY
  AND WITCHCRAFT.   By Sir
  Walter Suit, Bart. 18mo.
HISTORY OF THE BIBLE.  By
  the Rev. G.  R. Glkio.  In 2 vols.
  18mo.with maps of Palestine, &c.
NARRATIVE. OF  DISCOVERY
  AND ADVENTURE IX THE
  POLAR SEAS  AND  REGIONS,
  with Illustrations of their Climate,
  Geology,and Natural History; and
  an Account of the Whale Fishery.
  By Professor Li ^lik, Professor
  J\mes<in, and  Hit.h  Mckray,
  Esq.  With maps, ive. 18mo.
LIFE AND TIMES OF GEORGE
  IV, with  Anecdotes  of Distin-
  guished Persons of the last Fifty
  Years.  By the Rev.  Georok C.t<>-
  i.y.  Wft+i a portrait. Kino. New
  and improved edition.
NARRATIVE OF  DISCOVERY
  AND ADVENT; RE  IX AFRI-
  CA, from the earliest a ties to the
  present time.  With Illustrations
  of the GeolO'v, Mineralogy,  and
  Zoology  By Professor Ji>!t:so\,
  James Wilson, Esq., and High
  Murray, Esq.  With a  map and
  wood engravings. 18m©.
HISTORY OF CHIVALRY AND
  THE  CRlk.ADES.  By  G. R.
  Ja.-. i:s, Esq. lsmo., with a plate
     3
  LIVES OF EMINENT PAINTERS
   AND SCULPTORS.  By Allan
   Cunmxoiiam,  Esq.  In 3  vols.
   18mo. with portraits.

  FESTIVALS,  GAMES,  AND A-
   MUSEMENTS, Ancient and Mod-
   ern. By Horatio Sjhth. 18mo.

  LIFE OF MARY  QUEEN  OF
   SCOTS.  By Hknry Gla.-sfcTrd
   Bitli..  In •?. vols. 18mo.
  MASSINGER'S PLAYS.  Designed
   for family use.  In 3 vols. 18mo.
  PELHAM;  OR,  THE  ADVEN-
   TURE* OF A GENTLEMAN. A
   Novel. }n 2 vols. 12mo. By the
   Author of The Disowned,'' Deve-
   reux,' ' Paul Clifford' <kc.
 THE DISOWNED.  AlVovel.  In
   2 vols.  12mo.  By the Author of
   ' Pelham,' &c.  [Stereotyped.]
 DEVEREUX.  A Novel.  In 2 vols.
   12mo.  By the Author of 'Pel-
   ham,' &c.  [Stereotyped.]
 PAUL CLIFFORD.  A Novel. In
   2 vols. 12mo.   By the Author of
   ' Pelham,' *c.   [Stereotyped.]
 THE SIAMESE TWINS.  By the
   Author of ' Pelham,'  &c. 12mo.
 AFFECTING SOENES; being Pas-
   ses from the Disry  of a Physi-
   cian, 18mo.  [Stereotyped.]
'youth  AND   MAMIOOD  OF
   CYRIL THORNTON. A Novel.
   2 vols. lQmo. [Stereotyped.]
 THE DUTCHMAN'S FIRESIDE.
   By J. K.  PAtLDlNG, E<q.
 BOGLE CORBERT.  A Novel.  By
   the Author of '• Lawrie Todd," &c.
   2 vols, l-'mo.
 'CAI.E3 WILLIAMS.  In 2 vols.
   l.'.no.  By the Author of" Cloud-
   csley," &c.
 SALATHIEL.  By the Author of
   " Tales of the Great St. Bernard,"
 .  &c. In 2 vols.  I2mo.
 WAVERLEY.  By fti Walter
   Sr■ni'T, Bart. 1 vols. 12mo.
 LIFE of DR. E. D. CLARKE. Svo.
 FRENCH REVOLUTION or 1830.
 LIFE OF  VAN HALEN, &c. 8vo
  BROOKS' POEMS, 12mo
  MILLER'S GREECE,  12mo.
  SMART'S HORACE. 2 vols. 18mo 
Works published by J. <$* J. Harper.
 BUI WER'S NOVELS. Printed and
   bound uniformly in sets of 8 vol-
   umes—embracing "Pelham," "the
   Drowned,"  " Devereux,"  and
   " Paul Clifford."
 DARNLEY.  A Novel.  By  G. R.
   Jamies, Author of "Richelieu." In
   2 vois. 12mo.
 DE L'ORME.  A Novel.  By the
   Author of " Richelieu" and " Darn-
   ley."  2 vols. 12mo.
 HAVERHILL. ANovel.  In2vols.
   12mo.
 TRAITS OF TRAVEL. A Novel.
   In 2 vols. i2mo.  By T. C. Gi; \t-
   tan, Author of "Highways and
   Byways."
 Tin:  HEIRESS OF BRUGES. A'
   Tale.   By  the Author of " High-
   ways  and Byways,"  "Trails of-
   Travel," &.C. 2 vols. 12mo.
 MAXWELL.  A Novel.   By th
   Author of "Sayingsand Domgs."
   2 vols. 12mo.
 LAWRIE TODD; OR, THE  SET-
   TLERS IN THE  WOODS. By
   John G.w.r, Esq., Author of "the
   Annals of .the Parish," '• the Ayr-
   shite Legatees," Ace.   In 2  vols.
   12mo.
 SOUTHENNAN.  A Novel.  In 2
   vols.  12ino.  By  th•■ Author of
   "Lawrie Todd," "the Annals of
   the Parish," <fec. &■?.
 WALTER COLYTON.   A  Tale.
   In 2 vols, litno.   By  Hop. vce
   S-iith, Author of "Brambletye-
   House," " Zillah," &c. &c.
 THE  NEW  FORES'!'.   A Novel.
   In 2 vols. 12mo.  By the Author
  of " Brambletye-House,"  " Zil-
  lah," <&c. &c.
 THE COLLEGIANS. ANovel. In
  2 vols. 12mo.
 THE RIVALS. A Novel.  By the
  Author of "the  Collegians," <fec.
  In 2 vois. 12mo.
 HUNGARIAN TALES. In 2  vols.
  12mo.   By Mrs. Cork, Author of
   the Lettre de Cachet" and " Ro-
  mances of Real Life."
ROMANCES OF REAL LIFE. In
  2 vols  12mo. By the Author of
  " Hungarian Tales."
COMING OUT; and THE FIELD |
   OF THE FORTY FOOTSTEPS.
   Novels.  By Misses Jane and An-
   na Maria Portkk.  In 3 vols.
   12mo.
 THE BARONY.   A Novel.  In-2
   vols. 12mo.  By Miss Anna Ma
   Ria Porter.
 FRANCE, IN 1829—30.   Py Lady
   Morgan.  In 2 vols. 12mo.
 CLOUDESLEY.  A Novel.  In 2
   vols. 12mo. By the Author of "Ca-
   leb Williams," &c.
 SKETCHES OF IRISH CHARAC-
   TER.  By Mrs. Sarah C. Hall.
   12mo.
 CYRIL THORNTON.  A Novel.
   In 2 vols. 12mo.
 BEATRICE.  A Tale, founded  on
   Facts.  By Mrs. Hofland.  In. 2
•   vols. 12mo.
CONTRAST.  ANovel. ByRtaiNA
   .tlvlil.v li.ru HE, Author  Of " the
   Children of the Abbey," &c. <fcc
   In 2 vols. 12mo.
THE DENOUNCED.  ANovel.  In
   2 vols. 12mn.  By the Authors of
   " Tales by the O'Hara Family."
THE OXONIANS.  A Nov, I.   In
   2 vols. 12mo.  By  the Author  of
   " the Roue."
THE COUNTRY CURATE.  By
   the Author of "the Subaltern."  In
   2 vols. 12mo.
ROMANCE of HISTORY. France.
   In 2 vols. 12mo.  By  Leitcii
   Ritchie, Esq.
ROMANCE of HISTORY.  Si-ain.
   la 2 vols. 12mo. By Don T. De
   Trueba, Author of "the Castil-
  ian," <fec.
THE INCOGNITO; or, SINS AND
  PECCADILLOES.  ANovel.  By
  the Author of " Romance of His-
  tory," " the Casiilian," &c.
THE TALBA.  A Novel.   BvMrs.
  Bray, Author of  " the  White
  Hoods," " the Protestant," &c.
STORIES OF WATERLOO, AND
  OTHER TALES.   In  2  vol*.
  12mo.
WAV'ERLEY ; OR, 'TIS  8IXTY
  YEARS SINCE.  A Novel. In 2
  vols.  12mo.  Revised, corrected,
  and enlarged by the Author.
DE LISLE. ANovel.  2voIs.l2me.
                     3 
Works published by J. <$* J. Harper.
ST.VALENTINES DAY; or,THE
  FAIR MAID OF  PERTH.   Be-
  ing Second Series of " Chronicles
  of the Canongate." By the Author
  of " Waverlcy."  In 2 vols. 12mo.

THE DOOM OF DEVORGOIL.;
  and AUCHINDRANE.  By  the
  Author of '• Waverlcy."  12mo.
TALES OF A GRANDFATHER.
  By the  Author of ' Waverley."
  First, Second, Third, and Fourth
  Series.
ALM ACK'S REVISITED: or, HER-
  BERT MILTON.  A Novel.   In
  2 vols. 12mo.
YESTERDAY IN IRELAND.   A
  Novel.   In 2 vols. 12mo.  By the
  Author of " To-day in Ireland."
WALDEGRAVE.  A Novel.  In 2
  vols 12mo.
THE ADVENTURES of a KING'S
  PAGE.  A Novel.  2 vols. 12mo.
TALES AND SKETCHES.  By a
  Country Schoolmaster. 12mo.
SEPARATION.  ANovel.  By La-
  dy Charlotte Bi:rv, Author of
  " Flirtation." In 2 vols. 12mo.
THE EXCLUSIVES.  ANovel.  In
  2 vols. 12mo.
FALKLAND.  A  Novel.   By the
  Author of "Pelham," &c.
LIFE OF MANSIE WAUCH, TAI-
  LOR IN DALKEITH.  12mo.
THE LOST HEIR; and THE PHE-
  D1CTION.  A Novel. In 2 vols.
  I2mo.
THE SUBALTERN'S LOG-BOOK.
•  A Novel.  In 2 vols. 12mo.
FOSCARLNI. ANovel.  In 2 vols.
  12mo.
HA.I.II BABA. ANovel. In 2vols-
  12mo.
POSTHUMOUS PAPERS, FACE-
  TIOUS  AND FANCIFUL, OF A
  PERSON  LATELY  ABOUT
  LONDON.  12mo.
APICIAN MORLELS.  A Comical
  Work.  With Cuts.  12mo.
STORIES OF A BRIDE.  By the
  Author of " The Mummy."  In 2
  vols. 12mo.
THE SCHOOL OF FASHION.  A
% Novel.  la 2 vols. 12mo.
     4
THE  ENGLISH AT HOME.  A
  Novel.  In 2 vols. 12mo.  By the
  Author of "the English in Italy"
  and  " the English in Franco."
THE  LAST OF THE PLANTA-
  GENETS.   An  Historical Ro-
mance. In 2 vols. 12mo.
TALES OF MILITARY LIFE.  In
  2 vols. 12mo.  By the Author  or
  " the Military Sketch-Book."
STRATTON HILL.  ATaleofthfl
  Civil Wars.  In 2 vols. 12mo.
RYBRENT DE CRUCE.  A NoveL
  In 2  vols. 12mo.
PEACE CAMPAIGNS OF A COR-
  NET. ANovel. In 2 vols. 12mo.
PRIVATE LIFE.  A Novel.  In 2
  vols. 12mo.
TALES OF THE WEST. 2vols.
  12mo.  By the Author of "Letters
  from the East."
          In Press,
THE  YOUNG DUKE.  A Novel.
  By the Author of " Vivian Gray."
  2 vols. 12mo.
PHILIP  AUGUSTUS.   A Novel.
  By the Author of " Darnley," &c
  2 vols. 12mo.
THE TUILERIES.  A Novel.  By
  the Author of " Hungarian Tales,"
  &c.  In 2 vols. 12mo.
ROMANCE AND REALITY.  A
  Novel. By L. E. L. In 2 vols.l2ma
NORTHERN TRAVELLER, 18mo.
THE  LIBRARY  OF  SELECT
  NOVELS—which will embrace no
  works but such as have received
  the  impress of  general appro-
  bation, or have been written  by
  authors  of established  character,
DRAMATIC LIBRARY—Being se-
  lections  from  popular  standard
  Dramatic writers; illustrated with
  Explanatory  Notes, and  adapted
  to Family reading, by  the omis-
  sion of all exceptionable passages.
FAMILY CLASSICAL LIBRARY;
  or  English  translations of the
  most valuable  Greek and Latin
  Classics.
EPITOME OF ENGLISH LITE-
  RATURE; or, A Concentration of
  the matter of Standard Authors,
  on a plan entirely new; with Por-
  traits, Biographical Sketches, && 
HARPER'S  FAMILY  LIBRARY.
  " Books that you may carry to the fire, and hold readily in your hand,
are the most useful after all.  A man  will often look at them, and be
templed to go on, when he would have been frightened at books of a larger
size, and of a more erudite appearance."—Dr. Johnson.
  The proprietors of the Family Library feel themselves stimulated to
Increased exertions by the distinguished favour with which it has already
been received.
  The volumes already before the public may be confidently appealed to
as proofs of zeal on the part of the publishers to present to their readers
a series of productions, which, as they are connected, not with ephemeral,
but with permanent subjects, may, years hence as well as  now, be con-
sulted for lively amusement as well as solid instruction.
  To render  this Library still more  worthy of patronage, the proprie-
tors propose  incorporating in  it such works of interest and value as
may appear in the various Libraries and  Miscellanies  now preparing in
Europe, particularly the " National" and the " Edinburgh Cabinet"  Libra-
ries.  All these  productions,  as they emanate from the press, will be
submitted to a committee of literary gentlemen for inspection;  and none
will be reprinted but such as shall be  found calculated to sustain the
exalted character which this Library has already acquired.
  Several well-known authors hate been engaged to prepare for it original
works of an American character, on History, Biography, Travels, &c. &c.
  Every distinct  subject will in general be comprehended in one volume,
or at most in three  volumes, which may form either  a portion  of the
series or a complete work by itself; and each volume will be embellished
With appropriate engravings.
  The entire series will be the production of authors of eminence, who
have acquired celebrity by their literary labours, and whose  names, as
they appear in succession, will afford the surest  guarantee to  the  public
for the satisfactory manner in which the subjects will be treated.
  Such is the plan by wliich it is intended to form an American Family
Library, comprising all that is valuable in those branches of knowledge
which most happily  unite entertainment with instruction.  The utmost
care will be taken, not only to exclude whatever can have an injurious
Influence on the mind, but to embrace every thing calculated to strengthen
the best and most salutary impressions.
  With these arrangements and facilities, the publishers flatter  them-
selves that they shall  be aDle to, present  to their fellow-citizens a work
of unparalleled merit and cheapness, embracing subjects adapted to all
classes of readers, and forming a body of literature deserving the  praioe
of having instructed  many, and  amused all; and above every  other spo-
oies of eulogy, of being fit to be introduced, without reserve/jr exception,
by the father of a I'amiFy to the domestic circle.  Meanwhile, the very low
price at which i' is charged renders more  extensive patronage  necessary
for its support and  prosecution. The immed-ate encouragement, there-
fore, of those  who approve its plan and execution is respectfully solicited.
The work  may  be obtained  in  complete scis, or in separate  numbers,
bom the principal booksellers throughout the United States. 
HARPER'S FAMILY LIBRARY.
  The following opinions, selected from highly respectable Journals, ffM
enable those who are unacquainted with  the Family Library to  form an
estimate of its merits.  Numerous other  notices, equally favourable, and
from sources equally respectable, might be presented if deemed necessary.
  '•The Family Library.—A very excellent, and always entertaining Mis-
cellany."—Edinburgh Review, No. 103.
  " The Family Library presents, in a compendious and convenient form,
well-written histories of popular men, kingdoms, sciences, &c. arranged
and edited by able writers, and drawn entirely from the most correct and
accredited authorities.  It is, as it professes to be, a Family Library, from
which, at little expense, a household may prepare themselves for a con-
sideration of those elementary subjects of education and society, without a
due acquaintance with which neither man nor woman has claim to be
well bred, or to take their  proper place  among  those with whom they
abide."—Charleston Gazette.
  " We have repeatedly borne testimony to the utility of this work.  It is
one of-the best that has  ever been  issued from the American press, and
should be iu the library of every family desirous  of treasuring up useful
knowledge."—Boston Statesman.
  " The Family Library should be in the hands  of every person.  Thus
far it has treated of subjects interesting to all, condensed in a perspicuous
and agreeable style......We have so repeatedly spoken of the merits of the
design of this work, and of  the able manner in which it is edited, that on
this occasion we will only repeat our conviction,  that it is worthy a place
in every library in the country, and will prove one of the most useful as
it is one of the most interesting publications which has ever issued from
the American press."—N. Y. Courier <V Enquirer.
  " The Family Library is, what its name implies, a collection of various
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to the family circle.  It is  neatly printed, and should be in every family
that can afford it—the price being moderate."—New-England Palladium.
  " The Family Library is, in all  respects, a valuable work."—Pennsyl-
vania Inquirer.
  " We are pleased to see that the publishers have obtained sufficient en-
couragement to continue their valuable Family Library."—Baltimore Re-
publican.
  " We  recomm»nd the whole set of the Family Library as  one of the
cheapest means of affording pleasing instruction, and imparting a proper
pride in  books, with which we are acquainted."—Philadelphia U. S. Ga-
zette.
  R It will prove instructing and amusing to all classes.  We are pleased
to learn  that  the works comprising this Library have  become, as they
ought to be, quite popular among the heads of Families."—N. Y. Gazette.
  "It is the duty of every  person having a family to put  this excellent
Library  into the hands of his children."—N. Y. Mercantile Advertiser.
  " We have  so often recommended this enterprising and useful publica-
tion (the Family Library), that we can here  only add, that each succes-
sive number appears to confirm its merited popularity."— N. Y. American.
  " It is so emphatically what it purports to be, that we are anxious to see
it in every family.—It  is alike  interesting and  useful to  all classes of
readers."—Albany Evening Journal.
  " The little volumes of this series truly comport with their title, and are
in themselves a Family  Library."—N. Y. Commercial Advertiser.
  " We have met with no work  more interesting and deservedly popular
than this valuable Family Library."—Monthly Repository.
  " The plan of the Family Library must be acceptable to the American
reading community."—N. Y. Journal of Commerce.
  "To all  portions of  the  community the  entire series may be warmly
recommended."—American Traveller.
  " It is a delightful publication."—Truth Teller. 
FAMILY  LIBRARY.
  The following popular and valuable Works (printed and bound uniformly
with this volume), are embraced in the " Family Library;" and are sold
separately, or in sets, at a very reduced price

                                  the Rev. G. R. Gleig.  In 2 vols.
                                  18mo. with a map of Palestine.
                                NARRATIVE  OF  DISCOVERY
                                  AND  ADVENTURE IN  THE
                                  POLAR SEAS AND REGIONS,
                                  with Illustrations of their Climate,
                                  Geology, and Natural History; and
                                  an Account of the Whale Fishery.
                                  By Professor  Lkslie,  Professor
                                  Jameson,  and  Hugh  Murray,
                                  Esq.   With maps, &c. 18mo.
                                LIFE AND TIMES  OF GEORGE
                                  IV., with  Anecdotes  of Distin-
                                  guished Persons of the last Fifty
                                  Years. By the Rev. George Cro-
                                  ly. With a portrait.  18mo. New
                                  and improved edition.
                                NARRATIVE  OF  DISCOVERY
                                  AND ADVENTURE IN AFRI-
                                  CA, from the earliest ages  to  the
                                  present time.  With Illustrations
                                  of the GeologyJ  Mineralogy, and
                                  Zoology.  By Professor Jameson,
                                  James Wilson, Esq., and  Hugh
                                  Murray, Esq.  With a  map and
                                  wood engravings. 18mo.
                                LIVES OF EMINENT PAINTERS
                                  AND SCULPTORS. By Allan
                                  Cunningham, Esq.  In 3 vols.
                                  18mo.  with portraits.
                                HISTORY  OF CHIVALRY AND
                                  THE  CRUSADES.   By  G. R.
                                  James, Esq.  18mo., with a plate.
THE  HISTORY OF THE JEWS,
  From the earliest  period to the
  present time.  By the Rev. H. H.
  Milman. In 3 vols. 18mo. illus-
  trated with original maps  and
  woodcuts.

THE  LIFE OF NAPOLEON BUO-
  NAPARTE. By J. G. Lockuart,
  Esq. With copperplate engravings.
  From the 2d London edition.  2
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U                  LIBRARY OP

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SELECT N0VEL8.
Ill
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              DIRECTIONS

                         FOE


INVIGORATING  AND  PROLONGING  LIFE;

                         OR,


       THE  INVALID'S  ORACLE.   .

                      CONTAINING I

PEPTIC PRECEPTS, POINTING OUT AGREEABLE AND EFFECTUAL
   METHODS TO PREVENT AND RELIEVE  INDIGESTION, AND
       TO REGULATE AND STRENGTHEN THE ACTION
            OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS.

       ___________,   , :y____4-----------------■

            BY WM. KITCHINER, M.D.

   AUTHOR  OF  THE COOKS ORACLE  AND HOUSEKEEPER S
                   MANUAL, &C. &C.


         FROM THE SIXTH LONDON EDITION ;

                 REVISED  AND IMPROVED.

              BY  T. S. BARRETT,
                                       Hi1"! ''%._-.
 Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery, Fellow- of $& New-YdrtoBflSJical
              and Philosophical Society^«£c.' &c.        '• ;>'





                    NEW-YORI^>t3^ 4^%^° , .

      PUBLISHED BY J. <$■./. HARPER, 89v^U^T:    /

Sold by Collins & Hannay, Collins <& Co.,G>*r€. <fe II. Carvill, White,
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                        1831. 
                    <RTA









  [Entered, according to the Act of Congress, May Wtfi,
in the year 1831, by J. 8c J. Harper, in the office of the
Clerk of the Southern District of New-York.'} 
     ADVERTISEMENT
BY  THE AMERICAN EDITOR.
  Dr. Kitchiner, in the preface to the fifth edition
of this work, tells us, that his object is not to offer
information to the professors of medicine, but simply
to give to the public some hints to assist them in the
recovery and improvement  of health, and to do this
in such  terms  as  will  be  universally understood.
His aim has been to illustrate subjects of vital im-
portance  to all, in  so perspicuous  a manner that
all may clearly comprehend.
   The editor  of the last  London  edition, who, it
appears,  is the son  of the author,  tells  us that
"above ten thousand copies of the 'Directions for
Invigorating and Prolonging Life' have been sold in
England!" and that  "it was a source  of  much
gratification to the  author, that a work on which
he had  bestowed so much pains, and to which he
had dedicated so large a  portion  of time, should
have met with such encouragement."
   After this statement of the author's objects, and
the great success of the work in England, the editor
believes that no apology is  necessary for the liberty 
 4               ADVERTISEMENT.
 he  has taken  to introduce  Dr. Kitchiner to the
 notice  of  the American reader.  He begs leave,
 however, to state that, before he ventured on  this
 step, he took  the precaution to  submit  the work
 to  the  perusal  of gentlemen in  whose judgment
 he had confidence.   These gentlemen are unani-
 mously of the  opinion  that  " the work  is of the
 first order, and that it is adapted to general useful-
 ness ;   that it is deserving the approbation of,  and
 will meet with  encouragement from the American
 public."
   Thus encouraged  and fortified by the judgment
 of  the  wise, the editor  confidently recommends
 this work to the attention of all who deem life  and
 health gifts worth preserving; and he dedicates it
 especially  to such as are suffering from dyspeptic,
 nervous, and bilious affections.
  It is  strange,  His passing strange, that people in
 general do not  seem to learn the true estimate of
 health  until  they feel that it is forsaking them:
 yet so it is!  The poor invalid  stands prepared
 to make any sacrifice, or to incur  any expense, for
 the recovery of  that  which a little  previous care
 would  have  secured  to him for years!   He  will
have recourse to expensive professional consulta-
 tions,—he will swallow potion after  potion  of  the
most disgusting  drugs,—he will quit the  scene of
his youth and manhood,—will  give up  the most 
ADVERTISEMENT.
5
lucrative trade or profession,—and he will forsake
the circle of his family and friends, to seek health
in distant  and  strange lands ; he will—what is it
that he will not do or suffer, in  order to prolong
his stay on the earth 1
   It will not be expected that the  editor should
say much respecting  the additions  which he has
made to this veiy  excellent work.   His principal
object has been to adapt it to the American public.
He flatters   himself, however, that what he has
done  will  be considered improvements: and he
wishes, in  particular, to recommend to the notice
of the reader his remarks on bathing—a means of
preserving health too  much neglected among us.
                            T.  S. BARRETT.
   28 Bayard-street,
  New-York, May, 1831.

  N.B.  The  numbers  (enclosed in parentheses) which fre-
quently occur in this work, refer to Dr. Kitchiner's " Cook's
Oracle and Housekeeper's Manual;" an  edition of which
has lately been published by J. & J. Harper, and  may be
obtained from the principal booksellers  throughout the
United States.
                       A2 
V- 
CONTENTS.
                                                 Page
Art of Invigorating Life.........9
Reducing Corpulence  ...........44
Sleep................55
Siesta................79
Clothes................84
Fire.................96
Influence of Cold............102
Air  .  .   :..............106
Exercise...............^
Bathing...............114
Wine................127
Peptic Precepts.............141
The Pleasure of making a Will........211
Extracts from Comaro's Writings.......223
Index, alphabetically arranged........245 
 
               THE  ART

                      OF

INVIGORATING AND PROLONGING LIFE,


          BY DIET AND  REGIMEN.
 " The choice and measure of the materials of which our body is com-
posed,—and what we take daily by pounds,—is at least of as much im-
portance as what we take seldom, and only by grains and spoonfuls.n
—Dr. Arbuthnot on Aliment.
  The author of the following  pages had origin-
ally an  extremely delicate  constitution;  and at
an  early period  devoted himself to  the study of
physic, with the hope of learning how to make the
most of his small stock of health.
  The system he  adopted succeeded, and he ar-
rived at  his 48th year  in  tolerably good health;
and this  without any  uncomfortable abstinence;—
his  maxim has ever been, " dumvivimus, vivamus."
  He does not mean the  aguish  existence of the
votary of fashion—whose body is burning  from
voluptuous intemperance to-day,  and freezing in
miserable collapse to-morrow—not extravagantly
consuming in a day the animal spirits which Na-
ture intended for the animation of a week—but
keeping  the  expense of  the  machin ;ry  of life 
10           THE ART OF INVIGORATING
within the income of health, which the restorative

process can regularly and comfortably supply.

   This  is the  grand  "arcanum  duplicatwrrC  for

"living all the days of your life."

   The art of invigorating the health and improving

the  strength of  man  has  hitherto only been con-

sidered for the purpose of training* him  for  athletic

exercises; but I have often thought  that a similar

plan might be adopted with  considerable advantage,

to animate and strengthen enfeebled constitutions

—prevent   gout—reduce   corpulency—cure   ner-

vous  and chronic  weakness—hypochondriac and

bilious disorders, &c.—to   increase  the enjoyment,

as well as prolong the duration,  of feeble life—for

which medicine,  unassisted by diet  and  regi-

men,! affords but very trifling  and temporary help.

           " Think not, ye candidates for health,
              That aught can gain the wish'd-for prize
            (Or pill, or portion, power or wealth)
              But temperance and exercise."

  * The advantages of the training  system  are not confined to pedes-
trians and pugilists alone—they extend to every man ; and were train-
ing generally introduced instead of medicines,  as an expedient for the
prevention and cure of diseases, its beneficial consequences would pro-
mote his happiness and prolong his life.   " Our  health, vigour, and
activity must depend upon regimen  and exercise; or, in other words,
upon the observance of those rules which constitute the theory of the
 training process."
   " It has been  made a question, whether training produces a lasting,
or only a ternporary effect on the constitution ?  It is undeniable, that if
 a man be brought to a better condition—if corpulency and the impuri-
 ties of his body disappear,—and if his wind  and strength be improved,
 by any process whatever, his good state of health will continue  ntil
 some derangement of his frame shall take place from accidental or
 natural causes.  If he shall relapse into intemperance, or neglect the
 means i f preserving his health,  either by omitting to take the neces-
 sary exercise, or by indulging in debilitating propensities, he must ex-
 pect such encroachments to be made in his constitution, as must soon
 unhinge his system.  But if he shall observe a different plan  the bene-
 ficial effects of the training process will remain until the gradual decay
 of his natural functions shall, in mature old age, intimate the  approach
 of his dissolution."—Capt. Barclay on Training.
   t "To employ the best remedies, while regimen is neglected, is to build
 up on one side, and pull down on the other "—Dr.  Todd o?i Indigestion. 
AND  PROLONGING LIFE.
11
  The universal desire of repairing, perfecting, and
prolonging life has  induced many ingenious men
to try innumerable experiments on almost all the
products of  the   animal, vegetable,  and mineral
kingdoms,  with the hope of discovering agents
that will not  merely increase or diminish the force
or frequency of the pulse, but, with an  ardour as
romantic as  the   search  after  the  philosopher's
stone, they have vainly hoped that panaceas might
be  found possessing the power of curing " all the
evils that flesh is  heir to."
  This is evident enough to all who have examined
the early pharmacopoeias, which are full of hetero-
geneous compounds, the  inventions of interested,
and the imaginations  of ignorant  men.  A com-
pound  ceases  to  be  valued merely because  it
consists of  just  three,  nine,  or  thirty-nine, or
ninety-three odd ingredients ;  or a simple, because
it is scarce,  or is brought two  or three thousand
miles, or has been  in use  two or three thousand
years.
  The  liberal and enlightened physicians of the
last and present century have gradually expunged
most  of these, and  made the science of medicine
sufficiently intelligible to those  whose business it
is to learn it.  If medicine be entirely divested of
its  mystery,  its power over the mind,  which in
most  cases forms  its main strength, will no longer
exist.
  It was a favourite remark of the celebrated Dr.
John  Brown,* that " if a student  in  physic  em-
ployed  seven years in storing his memory with the
accepted, but,—unfortunately, in nine  cases out
* Sec the 338th aphorism in Coltos's Lacon. 
12          THE  ART OF  INVIGORATING
of ten,—imaginary powers of medicine, he would,
if he did not possess  very extraordinary sagacity,
lose a much  longer time in discovering the multi-
form  delusions his  medical  oracles had imposed
upon him—before he  ascertains that, with the ex-
ception  of mercury for  the lues, bark for intermit-
tents, and sulphur for psora, the  materia medica*
does  not furnish many  specifics, and may be al-
most  reduced to  evacuants  and stimuli:"—how-
ever,  these, skilfully  administered,  afford  all  the
assistance to  nature that can be obtained from art!
   Let not the uninitiated in medical mysteries ima-
gine for  a  moment that  the editor  desires  to de-
preciate  their importance; but  observe, once for
all,  gentle reader, that the only reasons he  has for
writing this book  are  to warn you against the or-
dinary causes of disorder,  and to teach the easiest
and most  salutary method of preventing  or  sub-
duing it, and  of recovering and preserving health
and strength,  when, in spite of all your  prudence,
you are overtaken by  sickness, and  have no medi-
cal friend ready to defend  you.
 '* A late foreign writer has given the following flattering definition of
physic—" Physic is the art of amusing the patient while Nature cures
his disease."—Dr.  Paris's Pharmacologia.
 Dr. Gideon Harvey wrote a very humorous 16mo. 1689, on the Art of
curing Diseases by Expectation; and in page 192 gives us the following
prescription for the gout:
 " In the gout, if  the expectation physician presents his patient gratis
with the following nostrum, it will not only be well taken, but much
more veneration will be given to  it than if paid for—and to the physi-
cian will redound a lasting and diffusive glory and reputation ; viz.—
ten links of thread, half yard long, dipped in wax  of ten different
colours; each to be tied by the patient, if possible, or by his nurse, to
each  distinct toe of the feet, and to be untied every hour or two, and
changed to other toes, namely—the red-waxed thread where the green
was, the blue where the yellow,  &c. &c. By this means a great deal
of time will be passed ; and. if  the patient continues tying and untying,
till a good long fit is expired, it will have also another good effect, of
rendering his back very flexible, and being tired at night—prove a means
to make turn Bleep, without the charge of a dose of opium." 
AND PROLONGING  LIFE.
13
   Experience has so long proved the  actual im-
portance of training,  that pugilists will  not wil-
lingly engage without such preparation.
   The principal rules for which are, to
   Go to bed early—
   Rise  early—
   Take as much exercise as  you can in the  open
air,*  without fatigue—and consider your walk, not
merely as the means of exercise, but as the means
of enjoying the  purest vital nourishment—
   Eat and drink moderately  of plain  nourishing
food—
   And especially, to keep the  mind  diverted,! and
in as easy and  cheerful a state as possible.
   Somewhat such  a  system  is followed  at the
fashionable watering-places;  and  great would be
the  improvement of health  that would  result from
it, if it was not continually  counteracted by the
ball-room| and the card-table.
   A residence in the country will avail little if you
carry with you there the irregular habits and late
hours of fashionable life in the city.
   Do not expect much benefit from mere change
of air—the purest breezes of the country will pro-
duce  very little effect,  unless accompanied  by
  * Good air  is good for our lungs—just in the degree  that good food
is good for our stomach.
  t "Besides his usual or regular exercise, a person under training ought
to employ himself in  the intervals in every kind of exertion which tends
to activity, such as cricket, bowls, throwing quoits, &c, that during the
whole day both body and mind may be constantly occupied."
  "The nature of the disposition of the person trained should also be
known, that every cause of irritation may be avoided ; for, as it requires
great patience and perseverance  to undergo training, every expedient to
soothe and encourage the mind should be adopted."—Capt. Barclay on
Training.
  i Forty years ago, balls, &c. used to  begin in the evening, i. e. at
seven, and end at night, i. e. twelve; now, it is extremely ungenteel to
begin before midnight, or finish  before morning. 
14           THE  ART  OF  INVIGORATING
plenty of regular  exercise* temperance, and, above

all,  tranquillity of mind.—See Obs.  on  " Air and

Exercise."

         " Know, then, whatever cheerful and serene
           Supports the mind, supports the body too.
           Hence the most vital movement mortals feel
           Is hope.                        Armstrong.


   The  following  is  a brief  sketch  of  the usual

METHOD OF TRAINING PERSONS  FOR ATHLETIC EXER-

CISES, which has  received  the entire  approbation

of Mr. J. Jackson, teacher of sparring, and that  of

several professors and experienced amateurs.

   The  alimentary canalf  is  cleansed by a gentle

emetic, and then two or three mild purgatives.

   They  are  directed to  eat  beef and  muttonj—

rather under  than  over-done, and  without either

seasoning  or sauce—broils (No. 94)§ are preferred


  * " The studious, the  contemplative, the valetudinary, and those of
weak nerves, if they aim at health and long life, must make exercise in
a good air a part of their  religion."
  " Whenever circumstances would permit, I have recommended pa-
tients to take as much exercise as they could, short of producing fatigue;
to live much in the open air; and, if possible, not to suffer their minds
to be agitated by anxiety or fatigued by exertion."
  " I do not allow the state of the weather to be urged  as an objection
to the prosecution of measures so essential to health, since it is in the
power of every one to protect themselves from cold  by clothing ;  and
the exercise may be taken in a chamber with the windows thrown open,
by actively walking backward and forward, as sailors do on shipboard."
—Cheyne on Long Life. See Abernethy's Surgical Observations.
  t One of the invariable consequences of training is to increase the
solidity, and diminish the frequency of the alvine exoneration, and  per-
sons become costive as they improve in condition: if this disposition takes
place to an inconvenient degree,—see Peristaltic Persuaders, in Index.
  % "Animal food, being composed of the most nutritious parts of the
food on which  the animal lived, and having been already  digested by the
proper  organs  of an animal, requires only  solution  and  mixture—
whereas vegetable food must be converted into a substance of an animal
nature  by the  proper action of our own viscera, and consequently re-
quires more labour of the stomach and other digestive organs."—Bur-
ton on the Non-naturals.
  § This number, and all those of a similar nature interspersed through
the work, refer to Dr. Kitchiner's  " Cook's Oracle and Housekeeper^
Manual,"—an  edition of which has been recently published in this city., 
AND  PROLONGING LIFE.
15
to  either  roasts (No.  19)  or  boils—and stale
bread or biscuit.
   Neither  veal,  lamb, pork,  fish, milk,  butter,
cheese,  puddings,   pastry,  or  vegetables   are
allowed.
   Beef and mutton only (fresh, not salted)  are or-
dered ; but we  believe this restriction is seldom
entirely submitted to.
   Nothing  tends more to renovate the constitution
than  a temporary retirement to the country.   The
distance from town  which  may be necessary for
such  an excursion must be measured by the purity
of the air  and the  rusticity of the  country; you
must get beyond the effluvia and  smoke, &c. &c.
&c. of the  city.
   The necessity of  breathing  a pure  air, and the
strictest temperance, are uniformly and absolutely
insisted upon by all trainers;  the striking  advan-
tages  resulting  therefrom we have  heard as uni-
versally acknowledged by  those  who have been
trained.
   Mild home-brewed  ale is recommended  for drink
—about three pints per day—taken with breakfast
and dinner, and a little at supper—not  in large
draughts, but by mouthfuls,* alternately with your
food.
   Stale beer often  disturbs  delicate  bowels—if
your  palate warns you that  malt liquor is inclined
to be hard, neutralize it with a little  carbonate of
potash:—that good sound beer, which is neither
nauseous from its newness,  nor noxious from its
staleness, is in unison with the  animating diet of
  * " It is holden better to drink oft and small draughts at meat, than
seldom and great draughts; for so meat and drink will better mingle."
—Dr. Balby oti the Preservation of the Eyesight. 
 16         THE ART OF  INVIGORATING

 animal food, which we are recommending as the
 most effective  antidote to debility, &c. experience
 has sufficiently proved.  Good  ale is proverbially
 nutritive, and  as Boniface says, those  who drink
 it, " eat, drink, and sleep upon it."
    There can be no doubt, that the combination of
 the tonic power of the hop  and the nourishment
 of the malt  is  much  more invigorating than  any
 simp.e vinous spirit.   While we praise the powers
 of pure good beer, we must  also enter our protest
 against the horrid compounds  commonly sold, as
 the worst material a man  can drink—and the diffi-
 culty  of obtaining good beer ready  brewed,  and
 the trouble of  brewing is  so  great—that  happy
 they who are contented with good toast and water (No.
 463*), as a diluent to solid food—and a few glasses
 of wine as a finishing " bonne bouche."
   Those who do not like beer are  allowed wine
 and water—red wine is preferred to white, and not
 more than half  a  pint, (i.  e. eight ounces), or four
 common-sized   wine-glasses,  after   dinner—none
 after supper,—nor any spirits, however diluted.
   Eight  hours'  sleep are necessary ;  but this is
generally left to the previous habits of the person ;
those  who  take active exercise  require  adequate
rest.
   Breakfast* upon meat at  eight o'clock;  dinner

 * The following was the food taken by Capt. Barclay in his most ex-
traordinary walk of 1000 miles in 1000 successive hours, June 1,1809.
" He breakfasted after returning from his walk at five in the morning.
He ate a roasted fowl, and drank a pint of strong ale, and then took two
cups of tea with bread and butter.
 " He lunched at twelve ; the one day on beefsteaks, and the other on
mutton chops, of which he ate a considerable quantity.
 " He dined at six, either on  roast beef or mutton chops.  His drink
was porter and two or three glasses of wine.
 " He supped at eleven, on a cold fowl. He ate such vegetables as were 
AND PROLONGING LIFE.
17
at  two ;  supper is not advised, but they may have
a  little bit  of cold  meat  about  eight o'clock, and
take a walk after, between that time and ten, when
they go to bed.
   The time requisite to screw a man up to his fullest
strength depends upon his previous habits and age.
In the vigour  of life, between 20 and 35, a month
or  two is generally sufficient:  more or less,  ac-
cording as he  is older, and  as his previous habits
have been in opposition to the above system.
   By  this  mode of proceeding  for two  or three
months  the  constitution of the human  frame is
greatly improved, and the  courage proportionately
increased ; a  person who was breathless, and  pant-
ing on the least exertion, and had a certain share of
those nervous  and bilious complaints which  are oc-
casionally the companions of all who reside in great
cities, becomes enabled to run with ease and fleetness.
   The restorative  process  having proceeded with
healthful regularity,  every part of the  constitution
is  effectively invigorated, and a man feels  so  con-
scious of the actual augmentation of  all his powers,
both bodily and mental, that he will undertake with
alacrity a task  which before  he shrunk from  en-
countering.

in season; and the  quantity of animal food he took daily was from five
to six pounds."—See Pedestrianism.
 " His style of walking is to bend forward the body, and to throw its
weight onthe knees.  His step is short, and his feet are raised only a
few inches from the ground. Any person who will try this plan, will
find that his pace will be quickened, at the same time he will walk  with
more ease to himself, and be better able to endure the fatigue of a  long
journey, than by walking in a posture perfectly erect, which throws too
much of the weight of the  body on the ankle-joints.  He always uses
thick-soled shoes and  lamb's-wool stockings.  It is a good rule to shift
the stockings frequently during the performance of a long distance; but
it is indispensably requisite to have shoes with thick soles, and so large
that all unnecessary pressure on the feet may be avoided."—Ibid.
                       B2 
18         THE ART  OF INVIGORATING
  The clearness of the complexion is considered
the best criterion of a man's being in good condition
to which we add the appearance  of  the  under-lip
which is plump and rosy in proportion to the healthy
plethora of the constitution:  this is  a much more
certain symptom of vigorous health than  any indi
cation  you can form from the appearance of the
tongue, or the  pulse, which is another very uncer-
tain and deceiving index, the strength and frequency
of which not only varies in different persons, but in
the same person in different circumstances and posi-
tions ;  in some irritable constitutions  the vibration
of the heart varies almost as often as it beats; when
we walk, stand, sit, or lie down, early in the morn-
ing,  late in the  evening, elated with good news,
depressed by bad, &c, when the stomach is empty,
after taking food, after a full meal  of  nutritive food,
after a spare one of maigre materials, <fec.   There-
fore, it is impossible to ascertain the degree of de-
viation from health by feeling a pulse, unless we
are perfectly well acquainted with the peculiarities
of it when the patient is  in health.
   The editor  has now arrived at the most difficult
part of his work, and needs all the assistance that
training can give to excite him to proceed with any
hope of developing the  subject  with that perspi-
cuity and effect which it deserves, and he desires to
give it.
   The food,  clothes, fire, air, exercise, sleep, wine,
 &c. which may be  most  advisable for invigorating
 the health of one individual, may be by  no means
 the best adapted to produce a like good effect with
 another; at the time of life most people arrive at
 before they think about these things, they are often 
AND  PROLONGING LIFE.
19
become the slaves of habits which have grown with

their growth, and strengthened with  their strength ;

and the utmost that can be done after our  40th year

is to endeavour very gradually to correct them.

   We  caution those who  are past the meridian  of

life to  beware of suddenly abandoning established

customs,* especially of diminishing the  warmth  of


  * Histories of successful Indulgence of Bad Habits in Patients; by A.
Monro, P.A.
  " The old axiom in physic, that sudden great changes are dangerous,
has been disputed by some moderns, who advise to give  over imme-
diately all bad habits.  I have seen  numerous examples where it was
necessary to have regard to them, and even to indulge patients in them,
if we expect to make a cure.—At present I shall mention only two.
  I. A cook  in an eating-house quarrelling with  a servant maid,  she
struck him with a large knife, and cut through a great share of the right
pinna and septum of the nostrils ; so  that it hanged down  towards his
lip.  He had bled a long time, and was very faint from loss of blood, be-
fore his nose was stitched.
  His wife was allowed to give him some white wine among the water-
gruel he was ordered to drink, or to make some sack whey for him ; he,
however, continued very low and faint, with sickness at his  stomach
and headache, for three days; till his wife told me his ordinary way of
living was, to drink a good deal of ale, wine, and brandy every day; and
unless I would allow her to give him more and stronger liquor, she did
not expect he would recover.
  I did not  forbid her; which she interpreted an allowance, and gave a
gill, or four ounces of  brandy, with some of our ordinary ale.  He was
much better next day; and with this dose every day, recovered daily,
till he was quite well.
  2. A man having broken the bones of his leg, after the fracture was re-
duced, I ordered him to have no drink given him, except water and milk,
water-gruel, or such like.  Next morning I found  his pulse very quick,
but low, and with complaints of pain in his head, thirst, &c.  Imagining
some drunken companions, I saw come to visit him, had given him some
strong liquors, I ordered him to be more strictly watched by such who I
was sure would obey me; and  he was  kept to the low diet rigorously.
He did not, however, seem relieved,  slept none all night, and next morn-
ing he was altogether  delirious, got  out of bed, kicked away the box in
which his leg had been put, his tendons were starting, and he scarce
knew any person; his pulse at the  same time intermitting, and being
very low. One then present, whom I knew to be a very complete drunk-
ard, assured me I would kill him if I did not allow him ale and brandy;
for that the patient had for several years outdone him in irregular living.
I consented to allow a little.  That night he was much better, and next
morning was altogether free of  fever, delirium, <fcc. when they acknow-
ledged he had got a Scots quart of ale and  a  gill of brandy in the pre-
ceding day, which had made him sleep well and sound.  This daily
allowance of ale and brandy then he,had all the time of his cure; which 
20          THE ART OF INVIGORATING
their clothing, or the nutritive quality of "what they
eat and drink;  which, by long usage, often become
as indispensable as a mathematical valetudinarian
reckoned his flannel waistcoat was :  " in the ratio
that my body would be  uncomfortable without  my
skin, would my skin be without my flannel waist-
coat:'
  We   recommend those who are in  search of
health  and strength, to read the remarks which  are
classed under the titles wine,—siesta,—clothes,
--" AIR"--"FIRE"--SLEEP--PEPTIC PRECEPTS, &C
  With the greatest deference, we submit the  fol-
lowing sketch, to be variously modified by the me-
dical  adviser—according  to   the  season  of  the
year—the age, constitution, and previous habits of
the patienW-the purpose  it is intended to accom-
plish—or the disorder it is  intended  to prevent or
cure.  Considerable sagacity and  the utmost  cir-
cumspection is required to pilot a patient from a
higher to a lower, and from a lower to a higher
regimen; he must proceed cautiously step by step,
as circumstances permit.
  The first thing to be done is, to put the princi-
pal viscera into a condition to  absorb  the pabulum
vita we put into the stomach—quite  as much  de-
pends  on the state of the organs of digestion* as
on the  quality of our diet: on which depends  not
only the quantity, but the  quality of the  addition
made to our body—it is not  merely the quantity
of nourishment, but the perfection of our organs

went afterward on without the least accident.—Edinburgh Medical
Essays.
  * "According to the force of the chylopoetic' organs, a larger or less
quantity of chyle may be abstracted from the same quantity of food."—
Arbuthnot on Aliment.
\ 
AND PROLONGING  LIFE.
21
for preparing it, that increases our vitality.   Com-
mence with  taking  early in  the  morning, fasting,
about  half  an  hour before  breakfast, about  two
drachms  of  Epsom salts (i. e. as  much as  will
move the bowels twice, not more) in half  a  pint
of warm water.—See Index.
   The following  day go into a tepid  bath, heated
to about 95 degrees of Fahrenheit.
   The third day, take another dose of salts, keep-
ing to a  light diet of fish, brotlis, &c. (Nos. 490,
563, 564, and 572).  During the next week take
the tonic tincture, as directed in (No. 569).   Thus
far any person   may  proceed without  any diffi-
culty, and great  benefit will he derive therefrom,
if he cannot pursue the following part of the  sys-
tem:—
   Rise early, if the weather permits, amuse your-
self with exercise in  the open  air for some time
before breakfast—the material for which I leave
entirely  to the previous habits of the individual.
   Such  is the sensibility of the stomach, when re-
cruited by a good night's rest, that  of all  altera-
tions in  diet, it will be most disappointed  at  any
change of this meal,  either of the time it is  taken,
or of the quantity or  quality of it—so much so,
that the  functions  of a delicate  stomach will be
frequently deranged throughout the whole day after.
   The breakfast* I recommend is good milk gruel
(No. 572), see  Index, or beef tea (No. 563), see

   * For a restorative breakfast I recommend milk tea; it is more nutri-
tive than tea made the common way—and was called by Dr. Fothergill
" mock asses' milk."
  "Take the best souchong tea, pouring on a small quantity of boiling
water to open the leaves, allow it to stand five minutes, then fill the pot
with boiling milk, and add sugar to your taste."— The Good Nurse. 
22          THE ART  OF  INVIGORATING
Index, or  portable  beef-tea  (No. 252);  a pint of

the  latter  may be  made as easily as  a basin of

gruel.*

   The  interval  between   breakfast  and  eleven

o'clock is  the  best time for intellectual business;

then take  exercise till about  twelve, when  pro-

bably your appetite will ask for  a luncheon, which

may consist of a bit of roasted poultry,  a basin of

beef-tea, or  eggs poached (No. 546), or  boiled in

the shell (No.  547), fish plainly dressed (No. 144,

or  145, &c), or  a sandwich  (No.  504),—stale

bread, and half a pint  of good home-brewed beer,

or toast and water  (No. 463*),—see Index,—with

about one-fourth, or one-third  part  of its measure

of wine, of which port is preferred,  or one-seventh

of brandy.

   The solidity of  the luncheon should be propor-

tioned to  the  time  it is intended  to  enable you to



  * Coffee is, perhaps, the  most common beverage at the breakfast-table
in the United States; and notwithstanding the hostility which some me-
dical gentlemen continue to manifest towards this article, it is probable
the use of it will be still continued.  The principle upon which its qua-
lities depend is more stimulant than that of tea, and certainly exerts a
different species of action upon the nervous system, although  it is very
difficult to define the nature of this difference. When taken  with a
meal, it is not found to create that disturbance in its digestion which is
sometimes noticed as the occasional consequence of tea; on the contrary,
it accelerates  the operations of  the stomach, and will  frequently enable
the dyspeptic  to digest substances, such as fat and oily aliment, which
would otherwise occasion much disturbance.  Coffee, like tea, has cer-
tainly an antisoporific effect on many individuals; it imparts an activity
to the mind which is incompatible with sleep; but this will very rarely
occur if the beverage be taken  a few hours before the period  of repose.
Decoction dissipates the aroma; therefore, if we take it as a promoter
of digestion, it should be carefully prepared by infusion.  The addition
of milk is of questionable propriety, but that of sugar or of sugar-candy
may be allowed.  If the use of coffee occasion acidity in the stomach,
then it must be abandoned.  The goodness and wholesomeness of this
article depend much on the torrefaction of the seeds, which should be
only browned, not parched or  burnt, before they are used; for, by the
latter, the oil  in them is rendered empyreumatic and particularly offen-
sive to delicate stomachs.—[B.] 
AND PROLONGING  LIFE.
23
wait for your dinner, and the activity of the exer-
cise you take in the  mean time.
   Take exercise  and amusement as much as is
convenient  in the  open air again,  till  past four;
then  rest, and  prepare for  dinner at five;  which
should  be  confined  to one  dish, of roasted beef
(No.  19), or  mutton (No.' 23), five  days in  the
week—boiled meat one, and roasted poultry one—
with a portion of sufficiently boiled ripe vegetables
—mashed  potatoes  are preferred, see  (No. 106)
and the other fourteen ways  of dressing this use-
ful root.
   The same restrictions from other articles of food*
as we have already mentioned in the plan for train-
ing, i. e. if the person trained has not  arrived at
that time of life when habit has become so  strong
that to deprive him of those  accustomed  indul-
gences, &c. by which his health has hitherto been
supported,  would be as barbarous as to  take away
crutches from the lame.
   Drink at dinner a pint of home-brewed beer, or
toast and water (No. 463*), with  one-third or one-
fourth part wine, or  one-seventh part brandy,  i. e.
a common-sized wineglass to a pint of  water,  and
a few glasses of wine after—the  less the better—
but take as much as custom  has  made necessary
to excite that degree of circulation in your system
without which you are uncomfortable.   Read  Ob-
servations on " Wine."

   * "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 Iamb, beef and veal, are compared,
they will be found of a different texture, the two young meats of a  more
stringy indivisible nature than the others, which makes them harder ol
digestion."—Domestic Management. 
24           THE  ART OF  INVIGORATING
   After dinner sit quiet for a couple of  hours—the

semi-siesta  is a pleasant  position, i.  e.  the feet  on

a stool  about  seven  or  eight  inches high—or, if

your exercise has fatigued  you, lie down, and  in-

dulge in  horizontal  refreshment:* this  you  may

sometimes do with advantage  before  dinner, if you

have taken  more  exercise than usual, and you feel

tired: when  the body is  fatigued, the stomach,  by

sympathy,  will,  in  proportion,  be  incapable  of

doing its business of  digestion.

   At seven, a  little teaf  or warmed  milk,  with a

tea-spoonful of rum, a bit of sugar, and  a little nut-

meg in  it;  after which, exercise  and  amusement

again, if convenient,  in the open air.|


  * "A 40 winks'nap," in a horizontal posture, is the most reviving
preparative for any great exertion of either the mind or the body;—to
which it is as proper an overture as it is ^.finale.—See Siesta, Index.
  t Tea after dinner assists  digestion, quenches thirst, and thereby
exhilarates the spirits.
  X Tea.—The use of this article has become so general that there is,
perhaps, scarcely a family in the United States that passes a day without
it; yet there is 'no subject  that has occasioned a greater controversy
among dietetic writers.  By one party it is decried as a poison, by an-
other it is extolled as a medicine, and a valuable addition to our food ;
while  some refer all  its beneficial effects to  the water  thus introduced
into the system, and its evil effects to the high temperature at which it
is drunk.  In order to understand the value of the different arguments
which have been adduced in support or to the disparagement of this be-
verage, it will be necessary to inquire into its composition. Two kinds
of tea are imported into this country, distinguished by the epithets black
and green.   Both contain astringent and narcotic principles, but in very
different proportions;  the latter producing  by far the most powerful in-
fluence upon the nervous system.   As the primary operation  of every
narcotic is stimulant, tea is found to exhilarate and refresh us, although
there exist individuals who are so morbidly sensible  to the action of cer-
tain bodies of this class, that feelings of depression, accompanied with
various nervous sensations and an  unnatural vigilance, follow the pota-
tion of a single cup of strong tea; while others experience from the same
cause symptoms indicative of derangement of the digestive organs ;  but
these are exceptions from which  no general rule can be deduced.  The
salubrity of the infusion to the general mass of the community is esta-
blished by sufficient testimony to outweigh any argument founded on
individual cases.  It must, however, be admitted, that if this beverage be
taken too soon after dinner, the digestion of the  meal may be disturbed
by the distention it will occasion, as well as by its influence  as a dilu- 
AND  PROLONGING  LIFE.             25
   For supper, a biscuit, or a sandwich (No. 504),

or a bit  of  cold fowl, &c. and  a glass of beer, or

wine, and toast  and  Avater (No.  463*), and occa-  «

sionally (No. 572);  i. e. as light a supper as pos-

sible.

   For those who  dine  very late, the supper may

be gruel  (No. 572), or a little bread and cheese, or

pounded  cheese  (No. 542), and a  glass of beer;

but,

   If you have  had  an  early, or a banian dinner,

or instinct suggests  that  the exhaustion, from ex-

traordinary  exertion,  requires more restorative ma-

terials, furnish  your  stomach   with  a chop  or a

chicken,  &c. or  some of the easily digestible and

nutritive  materials referred  to  in the  Index  under

the  article Food for Feeble Stomachs—and as much

diffusible stimulus as will  animate  the  circulation,


ent; the narcotic and astringent principles may also operate in arresting
chymification , but when a physician gives it his sanction, it is with the
understanding that it shall be taken in moderate quantities and at ap-
pointed periods.   When drank four hours after the principal meal, it will
assist the ulterior stages of digestion and promote the insensible per-
spiration, while  it will afford the stomach a grateful stimulus after its
labours.
  As respects the temperature at which tea should be taken, we may
observe, that although fluids at the usual temperature of the air are grate-
ful and congenial to a healthy stomach, yet persons disposed todyspepsy
frequently require them to be raised to the temperature of the body; for
the stomach not having sufficient vital energy to establish the reaction
which the sudden impression of cold produces in a healthy condition,
falls into a collapse, and  is consequently unable to proceed in the per-
formance of  its requisite duties. It deserves notice, however, that fluids
heated much, above the temperature of the  body are equally injurious.
It is true that they will frequently, from their stimulus, afford present
relief; but it will always be  at the expense of future suffering, and be
compensated by  subsequent debility.
  In enumerating the advantages of tea, it  most not be forgotten that
it has introduced and cherished a spirit of sobriety; and it must have
been remarked by every attentive observer, that those persons luho dis-
like tea frequently supply its place by spirit and water.  The addition
of milk certainly diminishes  the astringency of tea, that of sugar may
please the palate, but cannot modify the virtues  of the infusion.—See
Paris on Diet.—[B.] 
26         THE ART  OF INVIGORATING
and  ensure the influence of "Nature's sweet re-
storer,  balmy  sleep,"—the  soundness of  which
depends entirely on  the stomach being  in good
temper,  and the heart supporting the  circulation
with salutary vigour.—See the Art of Sleeping.
  For the diet to be  confined to beef and mutton
is  a sufficient  abridgment of the  amusements of
the mouth ; it is a barbarous mortification to insist
on  these being always cooked  the  same  way,*
and  we advise an  occasional  indulgence in the
whole range of plain  cookery,  from  (No. 1) to
(No. 98).
  Broils (No. 94) are ordered in the plan for train-
ing, probably, because the most convenient manner
of obtaining the desired  portion hot  (food is then
most easy of digestion—before the  process of diges-
tion  can commence,  it must take the temperature
of the stomach, which when in a languid state has
no superfluous heat to spare); but as the lean part
is often scorched and dried, and  the  fat becomes
empyreumatic, from  being in  immediate contact
with the fire, a slice of well-roasted ribs (No. 20),
or sirloin of beef (No. 19), or a leg, neck, loin, or
saddle of mutton (No. 23, or 26,  or 31),  must be
infinitely  more  succulent  and nutritive ;  whether
this be rather  over  or  under-done, the  previous
habits of  the eater must determine ;  the  medium
between over and under-dressing is in general most
agreeable, and  certainly  most wholesome.
  That meat which is under-done contains  more

 * " Few persons, even in the best health, can, without disgust, bear
to be confined to a peculiar food, or way of living, for any length of time
(which is a strong argument that variety of food  is natural to mankind);
and if so, the debilitated stomachs of valetudinarians cannot he ex-
pected to be less fastidious."—Falconer on Diet. 
AND  PROLONGING LIFE.
27
 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 Spal-
 lanzani has  proved  by actual and  satisfactory ex-
 periments.
   Our food  must be done,  either by our  cook, or
 by our stomach, before  digestion  can take place
 (see 1st page of Obs. on Siesta): surely no  man
 in his senses would willingly be so wanting in con-
 sideration of the comfort, &c. of his stomach, as
 to give it the needless trouble of cooking and di-
 gesting also;  and waste its valuable energies in
 work which a spit or a stewpan can do better.
   Thoroughly-dressed beef (No.  19), or  mutton
 (No. 23), is incomparably the most animating food
 we can furnish our stomachs with.
   Home-brewed  beer is  the  most   invigorating
 drink.  It is indeed, gentle reader, notwithstanding
 a  foolish  fashion  has  barbarously  banished the
 natural beverage of Great Britain, as  extremely un-
genteel—
      " Your wine-tippling, dram-sipping fellows retreat,
       But your beer-drinking Briton can never be beat"
                                  Dr. Arne.
   The best tests of the restorative qualities of food
 are,  as a  small quantity  of  it satisfies hunger, the
 strength of  the  pulse  after it, and the  length of
time which elapses  before appetite returns again.
According to  these rules, the author's own  expe-
rience gives  a  decided  verdict in favour of roasted
or broiled beef (No.  19 or 94),  or mutton  (No. 23
 * " It appears from  my experiments, that boiled, and roasted, and
even putrid meat, is easier of digestion than raw."—See J. HuntbR on
the Animal Economy.
I 
 28          THE  ART  OF INVIGORATING

 or 26),  as most nutritive—then game and poultry,
 of which the meat is brown (No. 59,  or 61, or 74)
 —next veal and lamb and poultry, the fat kinds of
 fish, eels, salmon, herrings, &c.; and least nutri-
 tive, the white kinds of fish—such  as  whiting, cod,
 soles, haddocks, &c.   For further  information, see
 Oysters (No. 181).                   .
   The  celebrated trainer, Sir Thomas  Parkyns,
 &c. " greatly preferred  beef-eaters to sheep-biters,
 as he called those who  ate mutton."
   By Dr.  Stark's very curious Experiments  on
 Diet, it appears, that " when he  fed  upon  roasted
 goose, he was  more  vigorous both  in  body and
 mind, than  with any other food."
   That fish* is less nutritive than flesh, the speedy
 return of hunger  after a dinner of  fish is sufficient
 proof; when a trainer  at Newmarket wishes to
 waste a jockey, he is not allowed  pudding if fish
 can be had.
   Crabs, lobsters (No.  176), prawns, &c, unless
 thoroughly  boiled (which  tbose  sold  ready-boiled
 seldom are), are tremendously indigestible.
   Shell-fish have long held a high rank in the cata-
 logue of  easily-digestible and speedily-restorative
 foods: of these  oysters (No. 181)  certainly de-
 serve the best character; but they, as well as eggs,
 gelatinous substances, rich broths,f &c.  have  ac-

  * "Most  kinds offish, whether from the  sea or fresh water, are
nearly as debilitating as vegetable matter."—Preface to Dr. J. Brown's
Elem. Med.
  t " A dog was fed on  the richest broth, yet could not be kept alive ;
while another, which had only the meat boiled to a chip (and water),
throve very well. This  shows the folly of attempting to nourish men
by concentrated soups, jellies, <fcc."— Sinclair's Code of Health.
  If this experiment be accurate, what becomes of the theoretic visions
 of those who have written about strengthening jellies, nourishing
broths, &c. ? 
AND  PROLONGING LIFE.
29
quired not a little  more reputation for their nutri-
tive qualities than  they deserve. •
  Raw oysters are very  cold  and uncomfortable
companions to dyspeptic stomachs, unless warmed
with a certain quantity of pepper and good white
wine.
  To  replenish the animal  spirits, and  produce
strength, there is  nothing like beef and  mutton;
moreover, when kept till properly tender, nothing
will give less  trouble to  the  digestive organs, and
more substantial  excitement  to the  constitution:
an ounce of beef contains  the essence of many
pounds of hay, turnips,  and various  other vege-
tables.
  Animal food is entitled to the same  place in the
scale of solid stimuli that alcohol is among liquids.
  The author has for some years dined principally
upon plainly  roasted or  boiled beef, mutton, or
poultry; and has often observed, that if he changes
it for any other food for several days together, the
circulation suffers, and he is disposed on such days
to drink an additional glass of wine, &c.
  However, the fitness of various foods and drinks,
and  the  quantity  of nutriment which they afford,
depend very much upon  how  they  are prepared,
and as much on the  inclination and abilities  and
habits of  the  concoctive faculties, which  have the
task of converting them into chyle.
  It is quite as absurd  to suppose, that one kind
of diet, &c. is equally  adapted to every kind of
constitution, as that one  remedy will cure  every
disease.
  To  produce the highest degree of health  and
strength, we must supply the stomach  with not
                      C2 
30         THE ART OF INVIGORATING
merely that material which contains  the greatest
quantity of nourishment, but in making our reckon-
ing, must take into the account the degree in which
it is adapted to the habits and powers of the organ
which is to digest it;  the arms of a giant are not
of much use in the hands of  a dwarf.
  The plan we have  proposed, was calculated for
midsummer-day, when plenty of hard exercise in
the open air will soon create  an appetite for the
substantial diet we have  recommended; it is taken
for granted that a person has the opportunity of
devoting a couple  of months  to the re-establish-
ment  of his health;  and  that  during that time he
will be  content to consider  himself as  an animal
out of condition, and  be  disposed to submit cheer-
fully  to such a modification of the rules  recom-
mended as  his  medical  adviser may deem  most
convenient to the circumstances of the case, and
the age, the constitution,  and previous habits of the
patient,  &c. &c.
  Every part of this system must be observed in
proportion,  and  exercise increased  in  the same
degree,  that nourishment is introduced  to the con-
stitution.
  The best general rule ibr diet  that I can write
is to  eat  and drink only  of such foods,  at  such
times and in such quantities,  as  experience has
convinced  you  agree with your  constitution, and
absolutely to avoid all other.
  A very different  regimen  must be observed by
those who live a life with labour or  exercise, 01
of indolence, and at the different periods of life.*

  * " The dietetic code of the dyspeptic," Dr. Paris observes, " may be
summarily included under the following precepts :— 
AND  PROLONGING  LIFE.
31
   Human  life  may be divided into three stages—

youth, maturity,  and  age,—and not  inaptly  com-

pared  to  the   seasons  of  spring,   summer,  and

winter.

   The first, the  period of preparation,  from our

birth  till about our 21st year, when the body has


  " 1. Precepts in relation to quality of food.  Animal food is more di-
gestible, but at the  same time more stimulant and less flatulent than
vegetable diet.   A dyspeptic invalid may be restricted to meat and bread
with advantage, until the digestive powers have gained sufficient energy
to enable him to convert vegetable matter into healthy chyle; after which
a due mixture of both species of aliment will be essential.  The whole-
some quality of food depends as much, or even more, upon its mechanical
condition than  upon its chymical composition ; and as this is influenced by
various circumstances under our own control, we may render food natu-
rally indigestible of easy digestion.  The digestibility of any species of
aliment, as well as its nutritive qualities,  are influenced by the different
modes of cookery, and  by  the addition of condiments."—See Harper's
stereotyped edition of Dr. Kitchiner's Cook's Oracle.
  2.  Precepts in relation to the quantity of food.  This must in every
case  be regulated by the feelings of the individual.   Let him eat slowly,
masticate thoroughly, and on the first feelings of satiety dismiss his
plate, and he will not have occasion for any artificial standard of weight
and measure.  But he must in such a case restrict himself to o?te dish;
an indulgence in variety provokes an artificial appetite, which he may
not readily distinguish from that natural feeling which is the  only true
indication.
  3.  Precepts with regard to the periods best adapted for meals, and on
the intervals which  should  elapse between each.   In every situation of
life we too frequently pass unheeded  objects of real importance, in an
over-anxiety to pursue others of more apparent, but of far less intrinsic
value; so it is with the dyspeptic invalid in  search of health.  What
shall I eat 1  Is this or that species of food digestible? are the constant
queries which he addresses to his physician. He will religiously abstain
from whatever medical opinion or even popular prejudice  has decried as
unwholesome,  and yet the period at which he takes  his meal is a matter
of comparative indifference with him.  Although  he refuses to taste a
dish  that contains an atom of vinegar with as much pertinacity as if it
held  arsenic in solution, he will allow the most trifling engagement to
postpone his dinner for an hour.   So important and  serious an error da
I consider such irregularities, that I have  frequently said to a patient la-
bouring under  indigestion, " Iwillwaiveallmy objections to the quality
and quantity of your food, if I were sure that such a sacrifice of opinion
would ensure klghlaiiity in the periods of your meals."
  The principal solid meal should be taken in the middle of the day;
four  hours after which a liquid meal should be indulged in. The diges-
tion  of one  meal should always be completed before fresh labour is im-
posed upon the stomach.  The intervals must be regulated by the diges-
tive powers of the individual, and the rapidity with which they are per-
formed.  The patient should never take his meal in a state of fatigue,
and exercise should always be taken three or four hours after dinner.—[B.] 
32          THE  ART OF  INVIGORATING.
generally attained the  acme of expansion:  till
then, a  continual and copious  supply of chyle  is
necessary, not only to  keep our machinery in  re-
pair, but to furnish material for the increase of it.
   The second, from 21 to 42, the period of active
usefulness : during which, nothing more is wanted,
than to restore the daily waste occasioned by the
actions of the vital and  animal functions.
                       " The shooting tubes
      Drink all the blood the toiling heart can pour,
      Insatiate -.—whenfull grown, they crave no more
      Than what repairs their daily waste."
                                 Armstrong.
                      *■
   The third, the period  of decline :  this comes  on,
and proceeds with more or less celerity,  according
to the original strength  of the constitution, and  the
economy* with which it has been managed during
the  second  period—(age is a relative term,—one
man is as old at 40 as another is at  60):  but after
42, the most vigorous become gradually more pas-
sive!—and  after 63, pretty  nearly quite  so.—De-
duct the immaturity of youth and the  imbecility of
age—man's life is indeed a mere span:

            " So short, that it can little more supply,
             Than just to look about us, and to die."

  * " The excesses of our youth are drafts upon our old age, payable
with interest about twenty years  after date."—Colton's Lacon.
  f The teeth are renewed "at the 7th year.
 <  Puberty arrives at twice seven................................14
   Full stature at three times seven ............................. 21
   The vigour of growth at four times seven .................... 28
   The greatest vigour of body and mind at five times seven......35
   The commencement of decay at six times seven  ..............42
   General decay, and decrease of energy, at seven times seven . . 49
    Old age at eight times seven  ............................... 56
   And the grand climacteric of the ancients at nine times seven   C3
Dr. Jameson on the Changes of the Human Body, &c. 
AND  PROLONGING LIFE.
33
SIR WILLIAM  JONES'S  ANDROMETER.
9   12
—Ideas received through the Senses.
—Speaking and Pronunciation.
—Letters and Spelling.
  Ideas retained in the Memory.
—Reading and Repeating.
  Grammar of his own Language.
  Memory exercised.
  Moral and Religious Lessons.
—Natural History and Experiments.
—Dancing, Music, Drawing, Exercises.
  History of his own Country.
—Latin.
—Greek.
  French and Italian.
  Translations.
—Compositions in Verse and Prose
  Rhetoric and Declamation.
  History and Law.
—Logic and Mathematics.
—Rhetorical Exercises.
—Philosophy and Politics
—Compositions in his own Language.
—Declamations continued.
—Ancient Orators studied.
—Travel and Conversation.
—Speeches at the Bar, or in Parliament
—State Affairs.
—Historical Studies continued
—I ,aw and Eloquence.
—Public Life.
—Private and Social Virtues.
—Habits of Eloquence improved.
—Philosophy resumed at Leisure.
—Orations published.
—Exertions in State and Parliament. 
34
THE ART  OF INVIGORATING
  Civil Knowledge mature.
—Eloquence perfect.
—National Rights defended.
—The Learned protected.
—The Virtuous assisted.
  Compositions published.
—Science improved.
  Parliamentary Affairs.
—Laws enacted, and supported.
—Fine Arts patronised.
  Government of his Family.
  Education of his Children.
—Vigilance as a Magistrate.
—Firmness as a Patriot.
—Virtue as a Citizen.
—Historical Works.
  Oratorical Works.
  Philosophical Works.
  Political Works.
—Mathematical Works.
1
J. Continuation of former Pursuits.
J
—Fruits of his Labour enjoyed.
—A glorious Retirement.
  An amiable Family.
—Universal Respect.
—Consciousness of a Virtuous Life.
Perfection of Earthly Happiness.
-Preparation for ETERNITY.*
  * " Preparation for eternity."  This is a phrase of very solemn im-
port ; and as it is not the privilege of every son of Adam to continue
seventy years in this sublunary world, would it not be better for every
one to make an early "preparation for eternity ?"—[B.] 
AND  PROLONGING LIFE.
35
   The most common cause of dyspeptic disorders,
 which are so prevalent at  the  commencement of
 the third period of life, is an increase of  indolence,
 which induces us to diminish the degree  of the ac-
 tive exercise we have been  in the habit  of taking,
 without  in  a corresponding degree  diminishing
 the quantity of  our food; on the contrary, people
 seem to expect the stomach to grow stronger and to
 work harder as it gets older,  and to almost en-
 tirely support the circulation without  the help of
 exercise.
   As the activity of our circulation,  and the ac-
 commodating powers of the stomach, &c. diminish,
 in like  degree  must we lessen the quantity and
 be careful of the quality of our food—eat oftener
 and less  at  a time—or  indigestion  and  the multi-
 tude of disorders of which it is the fruitful  parent,
 will soon destroy us.
   The system of Cornaro has been oftener quoted
 than understood ; most people imagine it was one
 of rigid abstinence and comfortless  self-denial,—
 not at all:—his code  of longevity consisted  in
 steadily obeying the  suggestions  of instinct,  eco-
 nomizing  his vitality, living under  his income of
 health,  and  carefully regulating  his temper  and
 cultivating cheerful habits.
   The  following is  a  compendium of Comaro's
 plan, in his  own words.
  He tells us, that when fourscore,
   " I am used to take in all twelve ounces of solid
nourishment,  such as meat, and the  yolk  of an
egg, &c, and fourteen  ounces of  drink.   I eat
bread, soup, new-laid eggs, veal, kid, mutton,  par-
tridge, pullets, pigeons,  &c, and some  sea  and
river fish. 
36         THE  ART  OF INVIGORATING
   "I  made choice of such wines  and meats as
 agreed with my constitution, and declined all other
 diet;  proportioned the  quantity thereof to  the
 strength of my stomach, and abridged  my food as
 my years increased.
   " Every one is  the best judge of the  food which
 is most agreeable to his own stomach.
   " It  is next to impossible to judge what is best
 for another; the constitutions of men are as differ-
 ent from each other as their complexions.
   " 1st, Take care of the quality.
   " 2dly, Of the quantity; so as to eat and drink
nothing  that offends the  stomach,  nor any more
than you can easily digest.  Your experience ought
to be your guide in these two principles when you
arrive  at forty; by that  time you  ought  10 know
that you are in the midst of your life  ; thanks to
the goodness of your constitution which has carried
you so far.   But that when you are  arrived at this
period, you go down  the hill apace, and  it is ne-
cessary for you to  change your course of life, espe-
cially with  regard to  the quantity and quality of
your diet;  because it  is  on that the  health and
length of our days so  radically depend.   Lastly,
if the former part of our lives has been altogether
sensual, the latter ought to be rational and regular;
order being necessary for the preservation of  all
things, especially  the life of man.
   "Longevity  cannot be  attained "without conti-
nence  and sobriety."*
          " At thirty, man suspects himself a fool,
           Knows it at forty, and reforms his rule."
  * " Cornaro found, that as the powers of his stomach declined with
the powers of life in general, it was necessary that  he should diminish
the quantity of his food; and by so doing, he retained  to the last  the
feelings of health."—Abernethy, Surg. Obs. 
AND  PROLONGING  LIFE.
37
   By the small quantity of food and great propor-
 tion  of his meat to his drink, this noble Venetian
 at the age of forty, freed himself, by the advice of
 his  physicians, from  several  grievous  disorders
 contracted by intemperance, and lived in health of
 body and great cheerfulness  of mind to above  a
 hundred.
   Briefly, the secret of his longevity seems to have
 been a gradually increasing temperance  " in om-
 nibus,"  and probably, after a certain  time of life,
 abstinence from the  " opus  magnum."
   The source  of physical and moral health, hap-
 piness, and longevity,—
       " Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense,
        Lie in three words—health, peace, and competence.
        But health consists in temperance alone;
        And peace, O virtue, peace is all thy own."
                                     Pope.
   Intensive life can only be purchased at the price
 of extensive.
   If  you force the heart to gallop as fast during
 the second as it does during the first stage of life,
 and continually blow  the  steady fire  of  42 till it
 blazes as brightly as the flame of 21, it  will very
 soon be burnt out.
   Those who cannot be content to submit to that
 diminution of action  ordained by nature—against
 which there  is  no  appeal,  as it  is  the  absolute
 covenant, by only the most attentive  and implicit
observance of which we  can hope to hold our lease
of life comfortably—will soon bring to the dimin-
ished energy of the second stage of  life the paralysis
of the third.

         " Naught treads sp silent as the foot of time,
          Hence we mistake our autumn for our prime.
                        D 
38         THE ART OF  INVIGORATTNG
           'Tis greatly wise to know, before we're told,
           The melancholy truth—that we grow old."
                                   Dr. Young.

   " The length of a man's life may be estimated
 by the  number of pulsations which his body has
 strength to perform.   Thus, allowing 70 years for
 the common age of man, and 60 pulses in a minute
 for the  common  measure of pulses  in his whole
 life, would amount to  2,207,520,000;  but if by
 intemperance he forces his blood into a more rapid
 motion, so as to  give 75  pulses in a minute, the
 same number of  pulses would be completed in 56
 years ;  consequently his life would be reduced 14
 years."—See Barry on Digestion.
   From 40 to 60, a witty French author  tells us,
 is " la belle saison* pour la gourmandise;"  for the
 artificial pleasures of the palate it may be,  and the
 bon vivant shall have his physician's permission to
 cultivate them, provided he do  so merely  as  the
 means of prolonging the vigour of youth and pro-
 crastinating the approach of age.
   Restoration may certainly be considerably facili-
 tated by preparing and dressing food,  so as to ren-
 der it easily  soluble ; and if the secret of rejuveni-
zation be  ever  discovered, it will be  found in the
kitchen.
   The  meridian  of life, according to those  who
train men for athletic exercises, is our 28th year.
At this period, five or six years, which make great
 alterations in persons  of other  ages, have little
 effect upon their  appearance in this..  It is, there-
 fore, properly  called the  meridian of life; since

  * And for culinary operators  from 25 to 40. Before the former, they
 can hardly accumulate sufficient experience; and after the latter, they
 every day lose a portion of their " bon gout" and activity. 
AND  PROLONGING LIFE.
39
 the faculties then continue a considerable time in
 their highest degree of strength.
   After the 35th year the elasticity of the animal
 system imperceptibly diminishes;  men  have a
 greater disinclination  to motion, and a sense  of
 greater fatigue from exercise ; their senses become
 less susceptible, and they every hour get the worse
 for wear, however  self-love, assisted by the hair-
 dresser and tailor, &c, may endeavour to persuade
 them to the contrary.
   Digestion and sleep are less perfect.
   The restorative process more and more fails to
 keep pace with the consuming process, for to carry
 on life these two processes  must alternately pro-
 ceed, i. e. secretion and excretion; the one to ex-
 tract nourishment for the reparation occasioned by
 action,  the  other to remove particles  which  are
 worn out.   The stomach, bowels, and  muscles
 labour for the brain and senses ; the former are the
 restorers, the latter the consumers of the system.
   While  we are awake, the consuming  process
 proceeds  faster than the restoring process ; while
 we sleep, the consuming process is suspended, and
 the restoring process proceeds vigorously.  Most
 of the  secretions are  performed during sleep, and
 are performed  in perfection in the degree that our
 sleep is perfect.
   As we  advance in age, the body is  insufficiently
 repaired,  more easily deranged, and with more dif-
 ficulty brought into adjustment again, till at length
 the vital power being diminished, and the organs
deteriorated, nourishment can  neither be received,
nor prepared and diffused through the  constitution;
 and consumption so much exceeds renovation, that
 decay rapidly closes the scene of life. 
40         THE ART OF INVIGORATING
   One may form some idea of the self-consumption
of the human body, by reflecting  that the pulsation
of the heart, and the motion of the blood connected
with it, takes place 100,000 times every day; i. e. on
an average the pulse* beats 70 times in a minute,
              multiplied by 60 minutes in an hour,

                         4200
                            24 hours in a day.
16800
8400
                        100800 pulsations in a day.
   What machine, of the most adamantine material,
will not soon be the worse for wear, from such in-
cessant vibration !  especially if the mainsprings of
it are not preserved in a state of due regulation!
   The following table, founded on experience, may
serve as a scale of the relative duration of human
life:
   Of a hundred men who  are born,
        50 die before the 10th year,
        20 between the 10th and' the 20th,
        10 between the 20th and the 30th,

  * "The pulse in the new-born infant, while placidly sleeping, is
about................140 in a minute.
  Towards the end of the first year  ------  124
  Towards the end of the second year.....110
  Towards the end of the third and fourth years   -   96
  When the first teeth drop out.......86
  At puberty   ............-   80
  At manhood  .----.-...---   75
  At sixty, about  ------------   60."
                               Blumenbach's Physiology.
  The expectations of life are thus calculated by De .Jfoiwe—Subtract
the age of the person from 86, half the remainder will be the expectation
of that life. 
AND  PROLONGING LIFE.
41
        6 between the 30th and the 40th,
        5 between the 40th and the 50th,
        3 between the 50th and the 60th ;
  Therefore, 6 only live to be above the age of 60.
  Haller, who collected  the  greatest number of
instances respecting the age of man, found the rela-
tive duration of life to be in the following propor-
tion :—
  Of men who lived  from 100 to 110 years, the
instances have been                  — 1000
                   Of from 110 to 130 —  60
                          120 to 130 —
  Hufeland's  Art of Prolonging Life.
  See  also  Dr. Price on  " The Difference of the
Duration of Human Life in Towns and in Country
Villages."—Phil. Trans, vol. Ixv.  In London, at
least 1 in 201 of the inhabitants die annually.
  " London has of late years been improving in
salubrity: it appears  by the bills of mortality, that
the annual mortality
              In 1700 was 1 in 25
              In 1801 was 1 in 35
              In 1810 was 1 in 38.
  " The causes of  this superior degree  of health
consist in the  general improvements in the habits
of life, particularly with  regard to ventilation  and
cleanliness in persons  and houses ; greater sobriety,
the improved state of  medicine,  a more ample  sup-
ply of  food, clothing,  and fuel,  and the better man-
agement of children.  Human health and longevity
are so superior in the present age to that imme-
diately preceding, as to afford the chance of nearly
one-third more of earthly existence !"  Sir Gilbert
Blane's Select Dissertations on  Medical Science.
                      D2    ' 
42         THE ART OF  INVIGORATING
   The generative  faculties are the last that nature
finishes,  and are the first that fail.  Economy in
the exercise of them, especially before and after the
second period of life, is the  grand precept for the
restoration and accumulation of strength, the pre-
servation of health, and the prolongation of life.
   We are vigorous in  proportion to the perfection
of the performance of the restorative process, i. e.
as we eat heartily and sleep  soundly; as our body
loses  the power of renovating itself, in like ratio
fails its  faculty of creating; what may be a salu-
tary subduction of the superfluous health of the
second, during the first or the third period of life,
will be  a destructive sacrifice  of the strength  of
both the mind and the body.
   The next organic defect (we  perceive too plainly
for our  self-love to  mistake  it) is manifested by
the eye.   To read a small print, you must remove
it from the eye further than you have been accus-
tomed to do, and place it in a better light.
   The falsetto voice now begins  to fail,  and the
ear loses some of its quickness ; several extraordi-
nary musicians have been able till then, if  a hand-
ful of the keys of  a harpsichord were put down so
as to  produce the  most irrelative  combinations, to
nafoe each  half note without a mistake.   When I
mentioned this to  that excellent organ player, Mr.
Charles Wesley, he said, "At the age of twenty I
could do it,  but I can't now."   He was then in his
55th  year.    Miss Cubitt, of the  Theatre Royal
Drury Lane, and Mr. T. Cooke, the composer, and
leader of the band at Drury Lane Theatre,  and Mr.
Watson, of the Theatre Royal Covent Garden, have
ears of this  extraordinary degree of perfection. 
AND  PROLONGING LIFE,
43
   About  the  same time, the palate is no longer
contented with being employed as  a mere shovel
to the stomach,  and as it finds its master becomes
every day more  difficult to please, learns to be a
more watchful purveyor.
   After 40, the strongest people begin to talk about
being bilious,  or nervous, &c. &c. the stomach will
no .longer do its  duty properly, unless the food
offered  to it is perfectly agreeable to it; when of-
fended,  indigestion brings  with it  all that melan-
choly depression of the  animal spirits, which dis-
ables a man from either thinking with precision, or
acting with vigour ; during  such distressing sus-
pension of the restorative process arise those mise-
ries  of mind  and body, which drive fools to drink,
and  madmen  to  commit suicide.   Without due at-
tention to diet, &c. the third period of life is little
better than a  chronic disease.
   As our assimilating  powers become enfeebled,
we must endeavour to entertain them with food so
prepared as to give them the least trouble, and the
most nourishment.*
   In the proportion that our  food is restorative and
properly digested our bodies are preserved in health
and  strength,  and all our faculties  continue  vigor-
ous  and perfect.
   If it be unwholesome, ill-prepared, and  indi-
gestible,  the  body languishes, and  is  exhausted
even in its youth, and sinks  beneath the weight of
the painful sensations attendant on a state of decay.
   Would  to  heaven that  a  cook could help our

  * " In proportion as the powers of the stomach are weak, so ought we
to diminish the quantity of our food, and take care that it be as nutritive
and as easy of digestion as possible."—AbernetAy's Surgical Observa-
tions. 
44      THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.
 stomachs as much as an optician can our eyes ! our
 existence would then be as much more perfect than it
 now is, as our sight is superior to our other senses.
   " The vigour of the  mind  decays with  that of
 the body;  and not only humour and invention, but
 even judgment and resolution change and languish
 with ill constitution of  body and  of health."—Sir
 William Temple.
   The following account of the successful reduc-
 tion of corpulence and improvement of health the
 author can vouch for being a faithful statement of
 facts.
   " It has been said by some that for one fat person
 in France or Spain, there are a  hundred in Eng-
 land."— Wadd on Corpulence.
                                January 30th, 1821.
     MY DEAR  SIR,
   In  consequence of the conversation I had with
you upon the advantages I had derived from exer-
cise and attention to diet in the reduction, of weight,
 and your desire that I should  communicate  as far
 as I recollect them, the particulars of my case ; I
have great pleasure in  forwarding to you  the  fol-
lowing statement.
   I measure in height six  feet and  half an inch;
possess a   sound constitution  and  considerable
activity.  At the age of thirty I weighed* about 18
stone;  two years afterward  I had reached  the
great weight of 19 stone, in perfect health, always
sleeping well and enjoying good appetite and spi-
rits ; soon  after, however,  I began  to  experience
the usual  attendants on fulness  of  habit,  a disin-
  * " It is supposed, that a person weighing one hundred and twenty
 pounds generally contains twenty pounds of fat,"— Wadd on Corpu-
lence. 
TO REDUCE CORPULENCE.
45
clination to rise in the morning from drowsiness,
heaviness about the forehead after I had risen, and
disposition to giddiness ; I was also attacked by a
complaint in one  of my eyes, the  symptoms of
which it is unnecessary to  describe, but it proved
to be occasioned by fulness of blood,  as it was
removed by cupping  in  the temple.  I lost four
ounces  of blood  from the  temple; and  thinking
that the loss of a little more might be advantageous,
I had eight ounces  taken from  the  back;  and
in order to prevent the necessity as far as possible
of future bleeding, I resolved to reduce the system
by increasing my exercise  and diminishing my
diet.
   " It is only among those who  have the means
of obtaining  the  comforts  of life without labour,
that  excessive corpulency is met with."—Wadd
on Corpulence.
   I therefore took an early opportunity of seeing
Mr. Jackson (whose  respectability and skill  as a
teacher of sparring is universally acknowledged),
and after some conversation with him determined
upon  acting under his advice.
   I accordingly commenced sparring, having pro-
vided myself with flannel dresses which I always
used,  being extremely careful on changing them to
avoid the risk of cold, and I recollect no instance
in which I was not successful.
   I  also had recourse  to riding-schools, riding
without stirrups, so as to have the advantage of the
most  powerful exercise the horse could give; these
exercises I took in the morning, in the  proportion
probably of sparring twice  a week and riding three
or four times. 
46      THE  ART OF  INVIGORATING  LIFE.
  Frequently atv night I resumed my exercise,—
walking  and  sometimes  running, generally per-
forming about five  miles  an hour till I again pro-
duced perspiration ; every other opportunity I could
resort to of  bodily exercise I  also  availed my-
self of.
  In respect to diet I had  accustomed myself to
suppers and drinking  excellent table-beer in large
quantities;  and for probably ten years  had indulged
myself with  brandy and water after  supper: this
practice I  entirely  discontinued, substituting toast
and water  with my dinner  and tea, and a good
allowance  of toast for  supper, always  avoiding
copious draughts.
  I left off drinking malt liquor as a  habit, and in-
deed very seldom drank it at all.  I took somewhat
less meat at dinner, avoiding pies  and puddings as
much as possible, but always  took three or four
glasses of port after dinner.
  During the time I was under this training I took
the opinion of an eminent physician upon the sub-
ject, who  entirely  approved of my  plan and re-
commended the occasional  use of aperient medi-
cine, but which I seldom resorted  to.
  The result of all this was a reduction of my
weight of  upwards of three stone, or about forty-
five pounds, in about six or seven months.  I found
my activity very much increased and my wind ex-
cellent, but I think  my strength not quite  so  great,
though I did  not experience  any material  reduction
of it; my health* was perfect throughout.
  I then relaxed my system a little, and have up to

  * " The diminution of the secretion of fat, when in excess, may be
attempted with safety, and has been attended with success.''^-WaeM. 
TO REDUCE  CORPULENCE.          47
the present time, being  a period of  ten years,
avoided the necessity of bleeding, and have enjoyed
an almost uninterrupted continuance of good health,
although  my weight  has gradually  increased;
sometimes, however, fluctuating between seven or
eight pounds  and a stone, according to my means
of exercise, always increasing in winter and losing
in summer;  and  at this moment (January  29th,
1821,) I am about a stone more than I ought to be,
having ascertained that my best bodily strength is
at sixteen stone and a half.
   When the object is to  reduce weight, rest and
moderate food will always sufficiently restore the
exhaustion arising from exercise;  if an additional
quantity of food and nourishing liquors be resorted
to, the body will in general be restored to the weight
it was before the exercise.
   I  have, sometimes lost from ten  ounces  to a
pound in weight by an hour's  sparring.  If the
object be not to reduce the weight, the food may
safely be proportioned to the exercise.
   You will readily perceive that the plan I adopted
ought only to be resorted  to by persons of sound
constitution and of athletic bodily  frame ; it would
be absurd to  lay down a general rule  for the  adop-
tion  of all fat men.
   I think, with all  lusty men  the drinking of malt
liquor of any kind is  injurious; meat taken  more
than once a day is liable to the same objection.  I
still  persevere in the  disuse of malt  liquors and
spirits, and suppers, seldom taking more than four
glasses  of wine  as a habit; although I do not now
deem it necessary to make myself so  far the  slave 
48      THE  ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.

of habit as to refuse  the pleasures of the table
when they offer.
              I am, dear sir,
                  Yours very truly,
  Mem.—The author begs his fat friends will read
the chapter in this work on Exercise.

  The following  are the most interesting facts in
Dr. Bryan Robinson's Essay on the Food and Dis-
charges of the Human Body.
  "I am now, in  May, 1747, in the 68th year  of
my age.   The  length  of my body is 63 inches :
I am of a sanguine but not robust constitution, and
am at  present neither  lean  nor  fat.   In the year
1721  the morning  weight  of my body  without
clothes was  about  131 avoirdupois pounds,  the
d^aily weight of my food at  a  medium was about 85
avoirdupois ounces, and the proportion of my drink
to my  meat, I judge, was  at  that time about 2.5
to 1.
  "At  the latter end of May, 1744, my weight was
above 164 pounds, and the proportion of my drink
to my meat was considerably greater than before,
and had been so for some time.  I was then seized
with a paralytic disorder, which obliged me to make
an  alteration in my  diet.   In order to  settle  the
proportion of my drink to my meat, I considered
what others have  said  concerning this proportion.
  "According to Sanctorius, though he  reckons it
a disproportion, the drink  to the  meat in his time
was about 10 to 3 in temperate bodies. 
TO REDUCE  CORPULENCE.         49
       " Comaro's drink to his meat was as   -  7 to 6
        Mr. Rye's, in winter, as             4 to 3
        Dr. Lining's, at a medium   -  -  - 11 to 3
        And my drink to my meat   -  -  -  5 to 2
        A mean taken from all these makes the
          drink to the meat—about   -  -  -  2 to 1

   "At the  age of 64, by lessening my food, and in-
creasing the proportion of my meat to my drink, i. e.
by lessening my drink about a third part {i. e. to 20
ounces), and my meat about a sixth (i. e. 38 ounces),
of what they  were in 1721, I have freed  myself
for these two  years past from the returns of a  sore
throat  and diarrhoea, disorders I often had, though
they were but slight,  and never  confined  me.  I
have been much more costive  than I was before,
when I lived  more fully and took more exercise,
and have greatly,  for my  age, recovered the para-
lytic weakness I was  seized with three years ago.
   " Hence we gather, that good and constant health
consists in a just quantity of food ; and a just pro-
portion of  the meat to the drink:  and that to be
freed from chronical disorders contracted by intem-
perance, the quantity of food ought to be lessened;
and  the proportion of the meat to the drink  in-
creased, more or less, according to the greatness
of the  disorders.
   " For breakfast  I commonly ate  four ounces of
bread and butter, and drank half a poimd of a very
weak infusion of green tea.
   " For dinner I took  two ounces of bread and the
rest flesh-meat; beef, mutton, pork, veal, hare, rab-
bit, goose,  turkey, fowl tame and wild, and fish.
   " I generally chose the  strongest meats as fittest,
since they agreed well with my stomach:  to keep
up the  power  of my body under this great diminu-
tion  of my food, I seldom took any garden stuff,
                       E 
 50      THE  ART OF  INVIGORATING LIFE.

 finding that it commonly lessened perspiration and
 increased my weight.
   " I  drank four  ounces of water with my meat,
 and a  pound of  claret  after I had done eating.   At
 night I ate nothing, but drank 12 ounces of water,
 with a pipe of tobacco.
   " There is  but  one  weight, under which a grown
 body can enjoy uninterrupted health.'''' " That weight
 is such as enables the  heart to  supply the several
 parts of the body with  just qualities of blood."
   " The  weight under which an animal  has the
 greatest strength and  activity, which I shall  call
 its  athletic weight, is that weight under which the
 heart, and the proportion of the weight of the heart
 to the weight of the body, are greatest: the  strength
 of the muscles is measured by the strength of the
 heart."
   " If the weight of the body of an animal be greater
than its athletic weight, it may be reduced to that
weight  by  evacuations, dry  food,  and exercise.
 These lessen the weight of the  body, by  wasting
its fat, and lessening its liver;  and they increase
the weight of the heart, by increasing  the quantity
 and motion of the blood.   Thus a game  cock in
ten days is reduced to  his athletic weight, and pre-
pared for  fighting.
  " If  the food,  which, with evacuations and exer-
cise, reduced the cock  to his athletic weight in ten
days, be continued any longer, the  cock  will  not
have that strength and activity which  he  had be-
fore under his  athletic weight;  which may be owing
 to the loss of weight going on after he arrives at
 his athletic weight.
   " It is known  by experiment, that  a cock cannot 
TO REDUCE CORPULENCE.
51
stand above  24 hours at his athletic weight, and
that a cock has  changed very much for the worse
in 12 hours.
   " When a cock is at the top of his condition, that
is, when he is at his athletic weight, his head is of
a glowing red colour, his neck thick, and his thigh
thick and firm ; the day after, his complexion is less
glowing, his neck thinner, and his thigh softer; and
the third day his thigh will be very soft and flaccid."
   "If the increase of weight in a small compass
of  time rise  to above  a certain  quantity,  it will
cause disorders.
   " I can bear the increase of above a pound and
a half in one day,  and an increase of three  or four
pounds  in six or seven  days, without being disor-
dered ;  but think I should suffer from an  increase
of five or  six pounds in  that time.
   "An  increase of weight may be carried off by
lessening  the food, or by increasing the discharges.
The discharges may be  increased either  by exer-
cise or  by evacuations procured by art.
   " By lessening the daily quantity of my food to
23  ounces, I  have  lost  26 ounces; by fasting  a
whole day, I lost 48 ounces, having gained 27 the
day before.
   " Mr. Rye was a strong, well-set, corpulent man,
of a sanguine complexion ; by a brisk walk for one
hour before breakfast he threw off, by insensible
perspiration, one pound of increased weight; by  a
walk of three hours, he  threw off two pounds of
increased  weight.   The best  way to  take  off an
increase of weight which threatens a distemper  is
either by fasting or  exercise."—Robinson on Food
and Discharges, 
 52     THE ART OF  INVIGORATING LIFE.

   "The mean loss of  weight by several grown
 bodies caused by a purging medicine composed of
 a drachm of jalap and ten  grains of  calomel, was
 about 2f avoirdupois pounds;  and the mean quan-
 tity of liquor drank during the time of purging was
 about double the loss of weight."—Robinson on the
 Animal Economy.
  "I have  lost by a spontaneous  diarrhoea  two
 pounds in  twenty-four  hours; and Mr. Rye  lost
 twice that quantity in the same time.
  "Most  chronic  diseases arise from too  much
 food and too little exercise; both of which lessen
 the weight of the heart and the quantity of blood:
 the first by causing fatness; the second by a dimi-
 nution of the blood's motion.
  " Hence, when the liver  is grown  too large  by
 mtemperance  and inactivity, it may be  lessened
 and brought to a healthful magnitude by temper-
 ance and exercise.  It may be emptied other ways
 by art; but  nothing can prevent  its  filling again,
 and consequently secure good and constant health,
 but an  exact  diet and exercise.  Purging  and
 vomiting may lessen the liver and reduce it  to  its
 just magnitude ; but these evacuations cannot pre-
vent its increasing again so long as persons live
too fully and use too little exercise ; and can only
be done by lessening the food and increasing the
 exercise.
  " Much sleep, much food, and little exercise are
the principal things which make animals grow fat.
If the body  on account  of  age or other infirmities
 cannot use sufficient exercise,  and takes much the
 same quantity of sleep, its weight must be lessened
 by lessening the food, which may be done by lessen- 
            TO REDUCE CORPULENCE.         53

ing the drink, without making any change in the
meat;  as I have proved myself by experience."—
On the Food and Discharges of Human Bodies, by
B. Robinson.
  Corpulency steals imperceptibly on most people
after the age of thirty-five ;  but a moderate degree
of obesity is desirable, and indicates a healthful
action  of the  digestive  functions, which by filling
up the  hollow in the skin prevents the formation
of wrinkles.
  The  diet of those who are disposed to be too
corpulent ought to be as plain and as moderate in
quantity as prudence may direct  and  patience  can
submit to; in some cases  it may be expedient to
damp the appetite by eating immediately before
dinner  of fruits or  sweetmeats, by drinking a glass
of sweet wine, or  such other safe means  as the
experience of the patient may best direct.
  Dr. Radcliffe's advice of keeping " the eyes open
and the mouth shut" contains the whole secret of
the cure.
  Dr. Herrying, in his Essay on  Corpulency, says,
that  " the common home-made Castile soap taken
in the quantity of a drachm or two every night for
several months is a most effectual  and inoffensive
remedy for reducing corpulency: he  gives us an
instance thereof in the case of a physician,  who
at the age of forty-five was unable to walk a  hun-
dred yards, and who, by taking every night at  bed-
time a  quarter of  an ounce dissolved in a quarter
of a pint of soft water, felt in two or  three months
so much more active that he persevered in its use
for  two  years, when his  bulk was  reduced  two
whole stone weight, and he  could walk a mile  with
                     E 2 
54        THE  ART OF  INVIGORATING LIFE.
 pleasure;  the  medicine  operated  remarkably by

 urine without producing any troublesome effect."*


   * It has been frequently said by a distinguished medical lecturer of our
 own country, that  " the greatest proportion of men eat and drink them-
 selves to death." Food, no doubt, is frequently a source  of disease; but
 by due attention it  may be rendered subservient to the cure of disease,
 the preservation of health, and the protraction of life.   " The good old
 book" teaches us that herbs and fruit were the first food of man; and it
 is the opinion of some, that animal food contributes greatly to the sup-
 port of " the malevolent and fiercer passions," and that vegetable food is
 conducive, not only to the health, but also to the morality of man.
  However this may be, it is  certain that the different nations of men
 are as much distinguished by their articles of diet as by their language
 and manners.   The Esquimaux live on animal food  and fish; the an-
 cient Britons fed on flesh and milk; the modern Italian feeds on macca-
 roni, and  one of his greatest delicacies is the foetus of the goat; the
 Englishman rejoices in his roast-beef and porter; the Frenchman dines
 on his frog-pie; the Russian lives on horseflesh and  train-oil; the in-
 habitants of hot climates  feed on vegetables, seeds, and roots.   And some
 again are  cannibals, eating  human flesh !  Too much animal food will
 produce plethora and over-fulness of the system, and this will soon ter-
 minate in  death. Sedentary persons, and those who pass to  a southern
 climate, ought to be sparing in the use of animal food.   Excessive use
 of salted meat will produce scrofula and scurvy, and in children eruptive
 diseases.  The proper remedies are vegetables and acids.  On the other
 hand, a spare vegetable diet will produce debility and emaciation in such
 as have been accustomed to animal food.  Diarrhoea, diabetes, &c. will
 follow this change  of diet.  In  such cases, the sufferer must have re-
 course to animal food.
  Excess in the quantity of food is a fruitful source of disease in children,
 producing indigestion and other sufferings; and the common practice of
 stuffing children lays  the foundation for disease in future life.
  For the  purposes of  health, man ought to eat frequently and but little
 Rt a time.  Some persons make only one meal a day; this must be a
very injurious practice.  Late suppers must be avoided as unfavourable
 to health;  the least evil which they can produce is restless nights and
unrefreshing sleep; but  they are frequently followed by apoplexy and
other serious evils.   The quantity of food ought to be diminished as life
advances,  because  less exercise is taken by old people.   The man of
regular and early habits of living is generally healthy through life.  Sir I.
 Newton is said to have lived on vegetable diet while he wrote his great
 work.
  As articles of diet, beef and mutton are greatly superior to veal and
 lamb;  when there is plethora, or over-fulness of blood, then the young
 meats, such as veal and lamb, and the white parts of fowl, are the proper
 animal food.  Roasted and boiled meats are  much more easily digested
 than that  which is fried.  Beefsteaks, with mustard, and brandy and
 water, are good fare for Weak  persons and  dyspeptics.   Of fowls the
 wild is the best, and the brown parts are preferable to the white, because
 they are more nutritious.  Fried  meats, fried oysters, and hard boiled
 eggs are peculiarly  injurious to the stomach, being difficult of solution
 and of digestion.  All  our aliments ought to be well masticated: our 
SLEEP.
5&
SLEEP.
            " When tired with vain rotations of the day,
             Sleep winds us up for the succeeding dawn."
                                                Young.


   Health may be as much injured by interrupted

and insufficient sleep as by luxurious  indulgence.

   Valetudinarians, who regularly retire to rest and

arise at certain hours, are unable without injurious

violence to their feelings to resist the inclination to

do so.

          " Pliant nature more or less demands,
            As custom forms her;  and all sudden change
            She hates of habit, even from bad to good.
            If faults in life, or new emergencies
            From habits* urge you, by long time confirm'd,

teeth were given for the purpose of grinding and mixing our food.  The
mouth maybe  considered as  the first stomach; the  quantity of saliva
discharged and mixed with the food at every meal is from four to eight
ounces, if proper time be allowed fbr mastication ; hence those who bolt
their Tood injure the digestive organs, by robbing them of the necessary
supply of the secretion which nature has ordained for their assistance.
  Dkinks.—On this subject we may say, itfood hath slain its thousands,
then drink has slain its  tens  of thousands.  Gout, phrenitis, jaundice,
dropsy, hemorrhages, madness, and their kindred ills, are the legitimate
offspring of an intemperate use of alcoholic drinks.  Intemperance is a
relative term;  what may be taken  by  one  person with impunity, will
produce plethora and its consequent evils in another.  Porter and ale are
evidently injurious to son.e, wine and spirits to others, and even water
may be taken to excess; but brandy is  the  most certainly fatal in its
effects.  The great quantity of alcohol  contained in our wines is what
renders them dangerous ; perhaps old sherry is the best drink for those
who stand in need of the stimulus of wine.  Every bottle of wine con-
tains from 2$ to 3 ounces of pure alcohol.
  For Coffee and Tea see the notes, pages 22 and 24. He that would en-
sure to himself health, reputation, prosperity, and long life, must perse-
vere in the use of water as his common  beverage.—[B.]
  * " Nothing is a greater enemy to feeble life than laying aside old
habits, or leaving a climate or place  to which one has been long accus-
tomed. The irritation occasioned by such changes is highly prejudicial.
  " Even pernicious habits, insalubrious air, &c., must be abandoned 
56      THE ART OF  INVIGORATING LIFE.
          Slow must the change arrive, and stage by stage,
          Slow as the. stealing progress of the year."
                    Armstrong's Art of Preserving Health.

   How important is it then to cultivate  good and
 convenient habits.  Custom will soon render the
 most rigid rules not only easy but  agreeable:—
      " The strong by bad habits grow weaker, we know;
        And by good ones the weak will grow stronger also."

   The power of habit soon becomes apparent to
 any one who will accurately watch it;  all our per-
 ceptions,  anxiety, levity, pensiveness, as well  as
 sleep, hunger, &c, invariably return at regular in-
 tervals and periods, i. e.  at the time that  they have
 been usually indulged.
   Cultivate, therefore, as   early as  possible  the
 habit of deliberately planning and attentively per-
 forming, to the utmost of your ability, even the most
 ordinary actions: independent of the benefit  that
 your judgment will insensibly receive from such
 practice, you will involuntarily contract  a certain
 ease and  elegance in the most difficult.
   The debilitated require more rest than the robust.
   Nothing is so restorative to the nerves as sound
 and uninterrupted sleep,  which is the chief source
of both bodily and mental strength ; yet how little
care  is usually taken to  secure  the  enjoyment
ofit!!
   The  studious  need  a  full portion  of  sleep,
which seems to be as necessary nutriment to the
brain as food is to the stomach.
   Our strength and spirits are infinitely  more ex-
hausted by the exercise of our mental, than by the

with great caution, or we shall thereby hasten the end of our patient."—
Struve's Astkenology. 
SLEEP.
57
labour of our corporeal faculties.   Let any person
try the  effect of intense application* for  a few
hours:  he will soon find how much his body is
fatigued thereby, although he has not stirred from
the chair  he  sat on.—The waste  of  the vital
powers occasioned by over-exertion of the mental
faculties is almost as debilitating to  the  corporeal
system as a waste of the generative powers.
   Those who are candidates  for  health must be
as circumspect in the task  they set their mind as
in the  exercise they give  to their body.
   Dr. -Armstrong, the poet  of health, observes,
           " 'Tis the great art of life to manage well
            The restless mind."
   The grand  secret seems  to be, to contrive that
the exercise of the  body  and that of the mind may
serve as relaxations to each other.  After serious
occupation and  hard study contrive  to procure as
much cheerful recreation as possible.
   Over-exertion or anxiety of mind disturbs diges-
tion infinitely more  than  any fatigue  of  body:
the brain  demands a much more abundant supply
of the animal spirits than is required for the excite-
ment of mere legs and arms.
   To delicate constitutions, is it  not seldom diffi-
cult, nay, dangerous, to be  long seriously studious
or laboriously diligent ?
          " 'Tis the sword that wears out the scabbard."
    Of the two ways of  fertilizing the brain—by

  * " Rousseau was so impressed  with the evil effects of excessive
mental exertion, that he praised the custom of the inhabitants of the
banks of the river Nornoko, who tied boards on the foreheads of their
children, to prevent genius by early compression of the brain."—Jamis-
son on the Human Body. 
 58       THE  ART OF  INVIGORATING  LIFE.

 sleep or  by spirituous stimulus—(for some write
 best in the  morning, others  when wound  up with
 wine, after  dinner or supper)—the former is much
 less expensive and less  injurious  to the constitu-
 tion than either  port  or brandy,  whose aid  it  is
 said that some of our best  authors have been  in-
 debted to for their most brilliant productions.
   Calling one day on a literary friend, we found
 him lounging on a sofa.    On  expressing our con-
 cern to find him  indisposed, he said, " No, I was
 only hatching,—I have been writing  till I was quite
 tired; my paper must  go to  press to-day, so.I was
 taking my usual restorative—a nap; which, if it only
 lasts five  minutes, so  refreshes my mind that my
 pen goes to work again spontaneously."
   Is it not better economy of time  to go to sleep
 for half an hour, than  to go on noodling  all day
 in a nerveless and semi-superannuated  state—
 if not asleep,  certainly  not  effectively awake  for
 any  purpose  requiring  the  energy  of either  the
 body or the mind ?
   " A forty  winks'  nap," in a horizontal posture,
 is the best preparative  for any extraordinary exer-
 tion of either.
   Those who possess  and employ the powers of
 the mind most, seldom attain the greatest age :*—

  * " Those who have lived longest have been persons without either
avarice or ambition, enjoying that tranquillity of soul Which is the source
of the happiness and health of our early days ; and jatrangers to those
torments of mind which usually accompany more advanced years, and
by which the body is wasted and consumed."—Code of Health.
  "In the return made by Dr.  Robertson  (and published by Sir John'
Sinclair m the 164th page of the second volume of  the Appendix to his
Code of Health) from Greenwich Hospital, of 2410 in-pensioners ninety-
six, i.e. about one-twenty-fifth, are beyond eighty; thirteen beyond
 ninety; and  one beyond one hundred.  They almost all used tobacco
 and the most of them acknowledged the habit of drinking freely. Some
 of them had no teeth for twenty  years, and fourteen only had good ones 
SLEEP.
59
 the  envy their  talent excites,  the  disappointment

 they often meet with in their expectation of receiv-

 ing the  utmost  attention  and respect  (which  the

 world has seldom the  gratitude to pay  them while

 they live), keep them  in a perpetual state of irrita-

 tion and  disquiet, which frets  them prematurely to

 their  grave.*

           " Fame's a reversion in which men take place,
            (O late reversion '.) at their own decease."
                                           Dr. Younq.

   To  rest  a whole  day, under  great fatigue  of

 either  body  or  mind,  is occasionally extremely

 beneficial.

   It  is impossible to  regulate sleep  by the hour:

 when the mind  and the body  have received all the

 refreshment  which  sleep can  give,  people  cannot

 lie in bed,—till then they should not rise.f


 One, who was one hundred and thirteen years old, had  lost all his teeth
 upwards of thirty years.
  " The organ of vision was impaired in about one-half; that of hearing
 in only one-fifth.  This may be accounted for. The eye is a more deli-
 cate organ than  the ear, and the least deterioration of its action is more
 immediately observed.  Of the  ninety-six, they almost all had been mar-
 ried, and four of them after eighty years of age.  Only nine were bache-
 lors. This is a  strong argument in favour of matrimony.
  " The best ages for marriage, all other  circumstances being favour-
 able, are between the eighteenth and twenty-fifth year for females, and
 between the twenty-fifth and thirty-sixth for  males.  The body is then
 in the most complete state to  propagate a healty offspring.  The ages
 when the prolific powers  begin to cease in both sexes will nearly cor-
 respond, and the probable expectation of life will be sufficiently long for
 parents to provide for their children."—Jamikson on tlie Human Body.
  * " Regular and sufficient sleep serves on the one hand for repairing
 the lost powers, and on the other for lessening consumption, by lessen-
 ing vital activity.  (lence the lives of people who are  exposed to the
 most debilitating fatigue are prolonged to a considerable age when they
enjoy sleep in its fullest extent."—Struvk's Asthenology.
  t " It is a perfect barbarism to awake any one when sleep, that' balm
of hurt minds,'  is exerting its  benign influence, and  the worn body is
receiving its most cheering restorative."—Hintsforthe Preservation of
Health. 
60       THE  ART OF INVIGORATING  LIFE.
            " Preach not me your musty rules,
              Ye drones, that mould in idle cell;
             The heart is wiser than the schools,
              The senses always reason well."
                                  .Comus.

   Our philosophical poet here gives the  best prac-
tical maxim on the subject for valetudinarians, who,
by following his advice, may render their existence,
instead of a dull, unvaried round of joyless, useless
self-denial, a  circle of agreeable sensations ;  for
instance, go not  to your bed till you  are tired of
sitting up*—then remain in a horizontal posture,
till you long to  change it for  a vertical:  thus, by
a little  management, the inevitable  affairs of  life
may  be  converted into a source  of continual en-
joyments.
   All-healing  sleep soon neutralizes the corroding
caustic of care,  and blunts even the barbed arrows
of the marbled-hearted fiend,  ingratitude.   There
is  no sorrow that is  not softened  by sleep—after
even  a few moments  we  awake refreshed, and can
reflect on our  misfortunes with fortitude.
   When the pulse is almost paralyzed by anxiety,
half an  hour's  repose will cheer  the circulation,
restore tranquillity to the  perturbed spirit, and dissi-
pate those heavy clouds  of ennui,
      " The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
       That flesh  is heir to."
                                   Shakspeare.
which sometimes threaten to eclipse the brightest
minds and  best hearts.—Child of wo,  lay thy
 * " Exercise your body and your  mind gently till you are tired, and no
longer; sleep till you are refreshed, but no longer; when the bed be-
comes irksome, get up, if circumstances permit; when again nature calls
for rest, follow her dictates, regardless of the time or hour. In health,
custom rules; but when sickness  takes the helm, nature will not be
controlled."—Fulck on Diet, <$•<;. 
SLEEP.
61
 head on thy pillow  (instead of thy mouth to the
 bottle), and bless me  for  directing thee to the true
 source of Lethe—and the sovereign nepenthe for the
 sorrows of human life.   Take from man hope and
 sleep, and he would  be the most wretched being
 in the world.
   The  repose requisite to restore the waste occa-
 sioned by the action of  the  day depends  on the
 activity of the habits,  and on  the health of the in-
 dividual ;  in  general it  cannot  be less  than seven,
 and need not be more than nine hours.*
   Invalids! will derive  much  benefit from indulg-
 ing in the siesta whenever they feel languid.
   The  more perfect our  sleep,  the less we re-
 quire of it:  a sailor will  tell you, that a seaman
 can  sleep as much  in  five  hours as  a landsman
 can in  ten.  On  the  subject  of sleep, Sir Gilbert
 Blane has amused his readers with some interest-
 ing  remarks.—See his  Dissertations  on  Medical
 Sciences, 1822.
   " The refreshment  of sleep  is  not in the simple
 ratio of its duration ; the principal share of this act
 of restoration being found  to  take place in the be-
 ginning of it.   If a person be at any time deprived

  * " In high health seven or eight hours will complete this refresh-
 ment ; and hence arises the false inference drawn from an observation
 probably just, that  longlived persons are always early risers; not that
 early rising makes them longlived, but that people in the highest vigour
 of health are naturally early risers;  because they sleep more soundly
 and all that repose can do for them is done in less time than with those
 who sleep less soundly.  A disposition to lie in bed beyond the usual
 hour generally arises from some derangement of the digestive organs."—
 Hints for the Preservation of Health.
  t " If the patient is favoured with sleep, nothing will so soon renovate
 and restore strength.  When the nurse perceives her patient inclined to
sleep, let every thing give way. no matter what time it happen.  A pa-
tient should never be awakened to take meditine; no medicine can be
so beneficial as sleep, which is the balm of Gilead of this state of being j
and comforts both mind and body beyond any thing."—Good Nurse. 
62      THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.

of one-half or more of his usual portion of it, the
inconvenience experienced is by no means in pro-
portion to this privation;  and habit will bring per-
sons, whose affairs require it, to subsist in health
and  vigour  with  a small  allowance of sleep.
General Pichegru informed me, in the course of my
professional attendance on him, that,  in the career
of his active campaigns, he had for a whole year
not more than one hour of sleep at an average in
the twenty-four hours.  According to  my own ex-
perience, I find that when I am called out of bed
after an hour's  sleep or less,  I feel  a very great
difference in my feelings next day  from what I
have felt when  I have had no  sleep at all.
  " The  powers  of the  sensorium  seem  to be
wound up, as it were, at the most rapid rate in the
first period of sleep ; and great part of the refresh-
ment in the later  hours seems more  imputable to
the simple repose of the organs, than to the recruit-
ing power peculiar to sleep.   There are some  per-
sons  to  whom more or  less sleep  has become
habitually necessary  in  the   course  of  the  day,
particularly after dinner;  and they find that a few
minutes of it satisfy nature."
  Whether rising early  lengthens life we know
not,  but are sure that sitting up late shortens it,
—and recommend you to rise by eight, and to re-
tire to rest by eleven; your feelings  will bear out
the adage, that " one hour's rest before  midnight
is worth two after."
  When  old people have been examined with a
view to  ascertain  the causes of their longevity,
they have uniformly agreed in one thing only,—
that they all went to bed early, and all rose early. 
SLEEP.
63
       «' Early to bed, and early to rise,
         Will make yon healthy, wealthy, and wise."

  Dr.  Franklin published an  ingenious essay on
the advantages of early rising.   He called it "an
economical  project," and calculated the saving that
might be made in the city of Paris, by using sunshine
instead of candles, at no less than  4,000,000Z.
sterling.
  If the delicate and the nervous, the young, or
the old, dine later, or sit up beyond their usual
hour,  they  feel the want  of artificial aid to raise
their spirits to what is no more than the ordinary
pitch of those who are in the vigour of their life,
and must fly from the festive board, or purchase a
few hours of hilarity at the heavy price of head-
ache and dyspepsy  for many days  after; and a
terrible exasperation of any chronic complaint they
are afflicted with.
   When the body and mind  are  both craving re-
pose,  to force their action by the spur of spiritu-
ous stimulus is the most extravagant waste of the
" vis vitae" that  fashion ever  invented to  consume
her foolish  votaries:  for  fools they  certainly are,
who mortgage the comfort of a week for the con-
vivaility of an  hour  with  the certainty  of their
term  of life being speedily  foreclosed by  gout,
palsy, &c.
   Among  the  most  distressing miseries of this
" Elysium  of bricks and mortar" may be reckoned,
how rarely we enjoy  " the  sweets  of a slumber
unbroke."
   Sound passes through the thin pasteboard party-
walls of modern houses with  such unfortunate fa-
 cility, that it is really an evil of the first magnitude, 
64      THE ART  OF INVIGORATING LIFE.
which is by no means counterbalanced by the con-
sideration, that they become  so heated that they
will serve for a plate-warmer in the kitchen, and a
warming-pan in the bedroom ;  for while receiving
these calefacient  comforts, one can hardly help fan-
cying that it is not impossible that what warms our
plates and our beds may some  day or night roast
ourselves !!!   In the second floors the party-walls
are still thinner,  and a  sigh,  laugh,  sneeze,  or
snore in one house is heard in  the next as plainly
as that  in which  it  was  let off;  as we learn from
the following doggerels, by Humphrey Hearquick:

             " If you sigh, sneeze, or snore,
              We can hear you next door;
              Therefore pray be so kind
              To take care of your wind.
              If you're doleful or dry,
              Pray, dear neighbour, don't sigh
              Nor, your nose-itch to ease,
              Don't furiously sneeze,
              Nor sonorously snore,
               Nor do any thing more
              That will wake us next door."

   If  you are so unlucky as to have for next-door
neighbours fashionable  folks who turn night into
day,  or tidy-ones who delight in the sublime econ-
omy  of cinder-saving  or  cobweb-catching, it is
in vain to  seek repose before they have indulged in
the evening's recreation of raking out the fire, and
played  with the  poker  till it has made all the red
coals black; or after  Molidusta has awoke  the
morn with " the  broom, the bonny, bonny broom."
   A determined  dust-hunter  or cinder-saver mur-
ders  its neighbours' sleep with as little mercy  as
Macbeth destroyed  Duncan's—and morning  and
evening, bangs  doors,  slams  up and  down the 
SLEEP.
65
 sashes, and rattles window-shutters, till the " earth
 trembles, and air is aghast!"
   If all  attempts to conciliate a savage who is in
 this fancy are labour  in  vain,  and the  arrange-
 ment  of its fire  is  equally the  occupation of the
 morning  and  the  amusement of the evening,  the
 preservation  of a cinder  and the destruction of a
 cobweb the main  business  of its  existence,—the
 best advice we can  give  you, gentle reader, is to
 send it this little  book, and beseech it to place the
 following pages opposite to its optic nerves some
 morning,  after  you have diverted  it  from sleep
 every half-hour during  the preceding night.*
   Counsellor Scribblefast,  a special pleader, who
 lived on  a ground-floor in the Temple, about the
 time that Sergeant Ponder, who  dwelt on the first
 floor, retired  to rest, began to practise  his violon-
 cello,  " and his loud voice in thunder spoke."   The
 student above, by way  of giving  him a gentle  hint,
 struck up, " Gently strike the warbling Lyre,"  and
 Will Harmony's favourite hornpipes of " Don't Ye,"
 and "Pray be Quiet:"  however, the dolce and pia-
 nissimo of poor Ponder produced no diminution of
 the prestissimo and fortissimo of the indefatigable
 Scribblefast.
   Ponder prayed " silence in the court," and com-
 plained in most  pathetic  terms ;  but,  alas !  his
 " lowly suit and plaintive ditty" made not the least
 impression on him who was beneath him.   He at
 length procured a  set  of skittles, and as  soon as

  * The method taken to tame unruly colts, &c. is, to walk them about
the whole of the night previous to attempting to break them.  Want of
sleep speedily subdues the spirit of the wildest and the strength of the
strongest creatures, and soon renders the most savage animals tame
and tractable.
                     F2 
66      THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.
his musical neighbour had done fiddling, he  began
con strepito, and bowled away merrily till the morn-
ing dawned.   The enraged  musician did  not wait
long after  daylight to put in his plea against such
proceedings;  and received in reply, that such exer-
cise had been ordered by a physician, as the pro-
perest  paregoric,  after  being disturbed by the
thorough bass of the big fiddle below.   This soon
convinced the tormentor of catgut  who dwelt on
the ground-floor  that he could not annoy his supe-
rior with impunity, and  soon produced silence on
both sides.
   People are very  unwisely  inconsiderate how
much it is their own  interest to attend to the com-
forts of their  neighbours:  " To love thy neighbour
as thyself," our  Saviour declared the second com-
mandment. .
   " Sic utere tuo, ut alienum non  ladas,"  is the
maxim  of  our English  law.  Interrupting one's
sleep is as  prejudicial to health as any of the nui-
sances Blackstone enumerates as actionable.
   The majority  of the dogs, parrots, poultry, pea-
cocks, and piano-fortes, &c. in this metropolis are
" actionable nuisances !!!"—Henceforth it should
not be lawful for  any person to  presume to keep
any of the foregoing offensive things in their house,
without a license  so to do from  all their  neigh-
bours that live within earshot of them.
   However inferior in rank  and fortune, &c. your
next door neighbour may be, there are moments
when he may render  you the most valuable  ser-
vice.   " The noble lion himself once owed his life
to the exertions of a poor little mouse that he  had
formerly befriended." 
SLEEP.
67
   Those who have not the power to please  may
beware of offending;  the most humble have oppor-
tunities to return a kindness or resent an insult.
   It is madness to wantonly  annoy any one ;  and
those who are not ambitious  of excelling  in  " the
art of ingeniously tormenting!"  their neighbours,
will thank us for the following hints.
   All  people are not aware, that such is the effect
of echo and vibration that a sound which is hardly
audible in  the house where it is made may be ex-
tremely sonorous  in  the  adjoining  one; and  that
stirring a fire, or moving any furniture on  a  floor
which is not carpeted, sometimes  sounds louder in
the next house than it  does in the  room where it is.
   I have dwelt  a little on this subject, because I
have very frequently heard nervous  invalids*  com-
plain of being grievously disturbed in this  manner,
and who have  at the same time said their next-
door  neighbours were most  amiable people, who
they were sure would not offend a worm intention-
ally ; notwithstanding they were not sufficiently ac-
quainted to give them any hint  of the  pain they
were daily giving them, although certain they would
be  delighted with  any opportunity  of  exercising
their benevolence.
   Piano-fortes  should never be placed   against
party-walls.
   In stirring the fire, never touch the back  or sides
of the grate ;  briefly,  not only remember yourself,
but explain distinctly to your servants, that  any
striking against the floor, especially if not carpeted,
or wall, or on a table, &c. makes twice as much
  * " The ear is the sense through which most shocks reach the nerves."
—Dr. Beddoes on Nervous Diseases. 
 68       THE  ART OF  INVIGORATING  LIFE.

 noise next-door,  as  it does in your own house.
 The ticking of a clock placed on the chimney-piece
 in one house, if the party-wall  is thin, is heard in
 the  adjoining one as loud as in the  room where
 it is.
   There is plenty of time for the performance of
 all offensively noisy operations, between ten in the
 morning and ten at night; during which the indus-
 trious housewife may indulge her arms in their full
 swing;  and while she polishes  her  black-leaded
 grate to the lustre which is  so  lovely in the  eyes
 of " the tidy," the tattoo her brush strikes up against
 its sides may be performed without distressing the
 irritable  ears of her  nervous neighbours, to whom
 undisturbed repose is the most vital nourishment.
   Little   sweep-soot-ho  is another dreadful dis-
 turber.   The shrill screaming of these poor boys,
 " making night hideous" (indeed at any time), at
 five  or six o'clock  in cold dark weather, is a most
 barbarous custom, and  frequently disturbs a whole
 street before rousing the drowsy sluggard who sent
 for  them;  his  rowdy-dow when he  reaches the
 top of the chimney, and his progress  down again,
 awake the soundest sleepers, who  often  wish that
instead of the chimney he was smiting the scull  of
the barbarian who set  the poor child to work  at
such an unseasonable hour.
  The author's feelings are tremblingly alive on
this subject:
                " Finis coronat opus."

However  soundly  he has  slept during the early
part  of the night, if the finishing nap in the morn-
ing  is interrupted  from  continuing  to its  natural 
SLEET.
69
termination, his whole system i? shaken by it, and all
that sleep has before done for him is undone in an
instant;  he gets  up  distracted  and languid,*  and
the only part of  his head that is of any use to him
is the  hole between his nose and chin.
   The firm health of those who live in the country
arises not merely from breathing a purer air, but
from quiet and regular habits, especially the  enjoy
ment of plenty of undisturbed repose.  This enables
them to take exercise, which gives them an appe-
tite, and by taking their food  at  less  distant and
more equally divided  intervals, they receive a more
regular supply of  that salutary  nourishment  which
is necessary to restore the  wear of the system, and
support it in a uniform  state of excitement, equally
exempt from the  debilitating  languor  of inanition
and the fretful fever of repletion.
   Thus, the animal  functions  are performed  with
a perfection and  regularity which, in the  inces-
santly irregular habits of a town-life, are continually
interrupted :  some  ridiculous anxiety or other  con-
sumes  the animal spirits, and the important process
of restoration is imperfectly performed.
   Dyspeptic and nervous disorders, and an inferior
degree of both extensive and intensive life,f are the

  * " The Czar Peter the Great in his rapid journeys lay only upon
straw; and being accustomed to sleep about an hour after dinner, the
emperor rested his head on one of his attendants by way of a pillow.
The denchtchick was obliged  to wait patiently in this posture, and not
make the least motion for fear of waking him ; for he was  as good-
humoured when he had slept well, as he was gloomy and ill-tempered when
his slumbers had been disturbed, or he had been waked unnecessarily be-
fore the appointed time."—See Stofhlin's Anecdotes of Peter the  Great.
  t In Vienna, Berlin, Paris, and London the twentieth or twenty-third
person dies annually; while  in the country around them the propor-
tion is only one in thirty or forty; in remote country viilages,  from one
in forty to one in fifty; the smallest degree of human mortality on record
fc one in sixty. 
70       THE  ART  OF INVIGORATING  LIFE.
inevitable consequence, and are the lowest price for
(what are called) the pleasures of fashionable society.
   Dr. Cadogan has told us (very truly) that chronic
diseases (and we may add, most of those equivocal
disorders which are continually teasing people, but
are too insignificant  to induce them to institute a
medical process  to  remove them) are caused by
indolence,  intemperance, and vexation.
   It is the fashion  to refer all these disorders to
debility; but debility is no more than  the  effect of
indolence,  intemperance, and vexation: the  first two
are under  our own immediate control; and tempe-
rance, industry, and activity are the best remedies
to prevent or remove the  debility which reduces
our means of resisting the third.
   During  the summer of  life,* i. e. the second pe-
riod of it, while we hope that every thing will come
right, the  heart bounds with vigour, and the vital
flame burns too  brightly to be  much or long sub-
dued  by vexation.
   This  originally least cause  soon  becomes  the
greatest, and in the autumn of our existence, when
experience has dissipated the theatric  illusion with
which  hope  varnished  the  expectations  of  our
earlier days, we fear that every thing may go wrong.

               " The whips and scorns of time,
       The  oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
       The  pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
       The  insolence of office, and the spurns
       That patient merit of th' unworthy takes."
" When warm with hope, in life's aspiring morn,
 The tints of fancy every scene adorn,
 The glowing landscape charms the poet's view,
 And youth believes the fairy prospect true.
 But soon experience proves his eye betrayed,
 And all the picture darkens into shade."
                          Fitzgerald. 
SLEEP.
71
   The insatiable ruling passions* of the  second
and third  periods of life, ambition and avarice,—
the loss of our first and best friends, our parents,—
regret for the past and anxiety about the  future,—
prevent the enjoyment of the present, and are the
cause of those nervous and bilious disorders which
attack most of us at  the  commencement  of the
third period of life:  these  precursors  of " palsy
and  gout" may generally be traced to  " disappoint-
ments" and " anxiety of mind."
   "Above  all, it is  of essential importance  to
health to preserve the tranquillity of the mind, and
not  to sink under the disappointments of  life to
which all,  but particularly the  old, are frequently
exposed.   Nothing ought to disturb the mind of an
individual  who is conscious  of  having done all the
good in his power."—Sinclair.
   " Nothing hurts more  the nervous system, and
particularly the concoctive powers, than fear or
anxiety."— Whytt.
   " I shall add to my list, as the eighth deadly sin,
that of anxiety  of  mind;  and resolve not  to be
pining and miserable when I ought to be grateful
and  happy."—Sir Thomas Barnard.
   " I have  observed  more  sudden  deaths have
arisen from disappointments, and these disappoint-
ments grounded upon ambitious  views,  than all
other passions put together."—Dr. Nic.  Robinson.
   " Not only excessive labour of the mind is per-
nicious to the body, but various mental  affections,
such as  grief, fear,  and  anxiety  are justly  enu-

  * " Youth is devoted to lust; middle age to ambition ; and old age to
avarice.  With the good, lust becomes virtuous love; ambition, true
knowledge; and avarice, the care of posterity." 
72     THE ART  OF INVIGORATING LIFE.

merated among the most powerful causes of chronic
weakness.  When the  mind is alarmed by fear,
tormented by hatred and envy, or distressed by grief
and anxiety, the nervous energy is diminished, and
the whole system is sometimes  thrown into violent
agitations.
   " The heart  either  ceases  to  move with  its
natural force, or falls into sudden palpitation from
the want of those  powers which would have given
it  a firmer motion.  Respiration is generally re-
tarded ;  the stomach is sensibly relaxed, and di-
gestion  greatly  disturbed.   Such depressing pas-
sions  of the mind are often succeeded with a mise-
rable  degree  of  chronic weakness.   Even the
anxiety which arises from the ill-humour and un-
kind  treatment of others  is deeply felt by persons
of tender  minds, and consequently proves highly
injurious to their bodily frames."
   " The late Dr. Heberden, being asked the cause
of  the  death  of a  relation of. mine, gave  this
answer: 'Your friend  died of what  nine out of
ten of my patients die of—a broken heart!'   This
reply made an indelible  impression on my feelings.
Dr. Heberden's patients were not among  the  num-
ber of the  outwardly wretched.  - I could not com-
prehend the fact; but year after year revolving it
in my mind, and still looking round attentively on
every side, I am forced to consider it as too true.
   " It is not to be  understood that the effect always
follows the cause immediately;  that must depend
on the state of health: but a blow given ten years
back may as certainly be the cause of death as one
received yesterday, though it will require penetra-
tion to  discover it; and hence  other  causes are 
SLEEP.
73
often  mistaken  for  it."—Hints for  Recovery of
Health.
   "Anguish of mind has driven thousands to sui-
cide ;  anguish of body none.
   " This proves that the health of the mind is of
far more consequence than the health  of the body;
both are  deserving of much  more  attention than
either  of them receive."—Cohorts Lacon.
   People need not groan about the insanities and
absurdities of  others ;  it is  sufficient  to  suffer for
our  own, of which  most of us  have plenty:  we
ought  to endeavour to  convert those of others into
causes of comfort and consolation instead of fretting
about them.
   If you receive rudeness* in return for  civility,
and ingratitude  for  kindness,  it may move  your
pity, but must not excite your anger.   Instead of
murmuring at Heaven for having created such crazy
creatures, be  fervently thankful  that  you  are not
equally inconsistent and  ridiculous;  and  humbly
pray that your own mind may not be afflicted with
the like aberrations.

          "To err is human; to forgive, divine."

   Indigestion! is  the  chief  cause  of  perturbed
sleep,  and often  excites the imaginary presence of
that troublesome bedfellow the  nightmare.   On
this subject see Peptic Precepts.
   Some cannot  sleep  if they  eat any supper,, and

  * "The Romans were of opinion, that ill language and brutal man-
ners reflected only on those who were guilty of them; and that a man's
reputation was not at all cleared by his cutting the throat of the person
who reflected upon it."
  t " Sleep is sound, sweet, and refreshing, according as the alimentary
organs axe easy, quiet,  and clean."—Chkvnb.
                        G 
74      THE  ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.
 certainly the lighter this meal is the better.  Others
 need not put on their nightcap  if. they do not first
 bribe their stomach to good behaviour by a certain
 quantity of bread and cheese and beer, Sic. &c, and
 go to bed almost immediately after.
   The interval between  even a  late six  o'clock
 dinner  and a  late breakfast at ten (16 hours) is
 rather too long an interval for an invalid's stomach.
   It is said that those who take strong food for
 supper keep the stomach  at work  all night.
   As to the wholesomeness  of a  solid supper per
 se, we do not  think  it advisable,  unless habit has
 made it  indispensable: it is  often the  most com-
 fortable meal among  the middle ranks of  society,
 who have quite as large a share of health as any.
   We caufion  bad sleepers  to beware how  they
 indulge in the habit of inviting  sleep by taking any
 of the preparations of opium ; they are all injurious
 to the stomach  and inconvenient to the bowels.
   "The Paregoric Elixir" is  the most agreeable
 anodyne ; I have found that a tea-spoonful in a wine-
 glass of water  just as I lie down in  bed generally
 produces immediate  and refreshing  sleep, and  is
 especially beneficial  when my bowels  have  been
distressed by diarrhoea.  It  is  also  recommended
for coughs;  and I have given  it  at night to children
in the hooping-cough,  in doses of  from  five  to
twenty drops in a little water or on a bit of sugar.
   " Repose  by  small  fatigue is  earned ; weariness
can snore upon the  flint when sloth finds  a down
pillow hard."
   There cannot be good digestion  without diligent
 mastication.   There cannot be sound sleep without
 sufficient exercise. 
SLEEP.
75
  The most inoffensive and agreeable anodyne is,
to drink some good white wine or mulled wine by
way of a supplement to your nightcap.  One glass
taken when in bed, just  before  you say  "good-
night," is as effective as three if you sit up any
time after.
 • Many people if waked during  their first sleep
are unsettled and irritable all that night, and nervous
the following day.  The first sleep of persons who
eat suppers terminates when the food passes from
the stomach.  Invalids then awake, and sometimes
remain  so  in  a feverish state, the stomach feeling-
discontented  from having  nothing to  play with.
A small crust of bread or  a  bit  of biscuit well
chewed, accompanied or not, as experience and
instinct  will suggest, with a  few mouthfuls  of
mutton or beef broth (No. 564),  or toast and water
(No. 463*), or single grog* (i. e. one spirit to seven
waters), will often restore its tranquillity and catch
sleep-again, which nothing invites so  irresistibly as
introducing something to  the  stomach that will
entertain it without fatiguing it.
   We have heard  persons say  they have been
much distressed by an imperative craving for food
when they awoke out of their first sleep, and have
not got  to sleep soundly  again after;  and when
they got up were  as tired as  when they went to
bed, but without any appetite for breakfast:—such
will derive great benefit from the foregoing advice.
   A gruel (No. 572)  supper is perhaps the best for
the dyspeptic and those who have eaten and drank
plentifully at dinner.

  * " The grog on board a ship is generally one spirit and three waters.
ThiJ is too ■trong." 
76      THE ART  OF INVIGORATING LIFE.

  The bedroom should be in the quietest situation
possible, as it were " the temple of silence," and
if possible not less than  sixteen feet square;  the
height of this  apartment, in  which we pass almost
half of our time, is in modern houses absurdly abridged
to increase that of the drawing-room, which is often
not occupied once  in a week; instead of  living in
the pleasant part  of the house where they might
enjoy light and air, people squeeze their family into
" a nice snug parlour," " where Apollo cannot spy."
  We do not recommend either curtains or tester,
&c. to the bed, especially during the summer; by
the help of these those who might have the benefit
of the free circulation of air in a  large room very
ingeniously contrive to reduce it to a small closet:
chimney-boards and window-curtains are  also in-
admissible  in a  bedroom;  but  valetudinarians
who are easily waked or very susceptible of cold
will do wisely to avail  themselves of well-made
double* windows  and doors; these exclude both
noise and cold in a much greater degree than per-
sons who have not tried  them can imagine.
  When a-bed we should lie  almost horizontally;
the head  excepted, which  ought to  be  a little
raised.   Nothing is more prejudicial than to lie in
bed half-sitting.  The body then forms an angle;
circulation is checked and the spine is compressed.
By this custom one of the principal ends  of  sleep,
a free and uninterrupted  circulation of the blood, is
defeated;  and in  infancy and youth deformity and
crookedness are often its consequences.
   The best bed is  a well-stuffed and well-curled
 * If they are not extremely well made by a superior workman, and of
seasoned wood, they are of little or no use. 
SLEEP.
77
horsehair mattress, six  inches  thick at the head,
gradually diminishing to three at  the feet, and on
this another mattress five or six  inches  in  thick-
ness :  these  should  be  unpicked and  exposed to
the air once every year.
   An elastic horsehair  mattress  is incomparably
the most easy and pleasant as well as  the most
wholesome bed.
   The most  delicate person, after having passed
the night in  his bedchamber,  may not  when he
awakes perceive any thing offensive in the 'air of
his room; but let him shut the door and return to
his room after having been in the open air, and
before fresh air has been admitted, he. will quickly
discover how much the freshness  of the  air in his
bedchamber  has  been  deteriorated  during  the
night.
   Bedrooms  should be thoroughly ventilated, by
leaving both the window and the  door open every
day when the weather is not cold or damp—during
which  the  bed  should  remain  unmade,  and  the
clothes be taken off and spread out for an hour, at
least, before the bed is made again.
   In very hot weather the  temperature  becomes
considerably  cooler every minute  after 10 o'clock
—between 8  o'clock and 12, the thermometer often
falls in sultry weather from 10 to  20 degrees.
   Therefore, those who  can sit up till  12 o'clock,
if till  then they keep the windows and  doors of
their room both open, will have the advantage of
sleeping  in an atmosphere  many degrees cooler
than those who go to bed at 10: this is extremely
important to  nervous invalids, whom, however ex-
tremely they  may suffer from heat, we  cannot ad-
                     G2 
78     THE ART  OF INVIGORATING  LIFE.

vise to sleep with  the smallest part of the window
open during the night, unless they take care to in-
terrupt the current of air by the  shutter, and  also
dropping the curtain before it: a  still safer way of
obtaining fresh air is, to leave open the window of
an adjoining  apartment.   In such sultry days the
siesta will  not only be a great support against the
heat, but will help you to sit up and  enjoy the ad-
vantage above stated.
   A fire in the bedroom is sometimes  indispen-
sable—and during half of the year those who can
afford it will do wisely to have  one at least once
in every week; but  not as usually made—it  is
commonly  lighted only just before  bedtime, and
prevents sleep by the noise it makes, and the unac-
customed stimulus of its light.
   Chimneys  frequently smoke when a fire is first
lighted,  particularly in snowy and frosty weather;
and an invalid has to  encounter not only the damp
and cold of the room, but has his lungs  irritated
with the sulphureous puffs  from the fresh-lighted
fire.
   The fire should be lighted about  three or four
hours before, and so managed that it  may burn en-
tirely out half an hour before you go to bea—then
the air of the room will be comfortably warm, and
certainly more fit  to  receive  an invalid who has
been sitting all day in a parlour as hot as an oven,
than a damp  chamber that is as cold as a well. 
THE  SIESTA.                79
              THE  SIESTA.

  The power of positioh and temperature to pre-
vent and alleviate the paroxysms of many chronic
disorders  have  not  received  the consideration
which they deserve;  a little attention to the varia-
tions  of the  pulse will  soon point out the effect
they produce on the circulation, &c.: extremes of
heat and cold, with respect to food, drink, and air,
are equally to be guarded against.
  Old  and cold stomachs, the gouty, and those
whose digestive faculties are feeble, should never
have  any thing cold*  or old put into  them, espe-
cially in cold weather.
  Food  must  take the temperature  of our sto-
mach (which is probably not less than  120) before
digestion can commence.
  When the stomach is feeble, cold food frequently
produces flatulence, palpitation 'of  the heart,  &c,
and all the other troublesome accompaniments of
indigestion.   The immediate remedy for these  is
hot water and the horizontal posture.
  Dyspeptic invalids will find 75 a good tempera-
ture for their drink at dinner, and 120 for tea, &c.
  Persons who are in a  state of debility from  age,
or other causes, will derive much benefit from lying
down and seeking repose whenever they feel fa-

 * " Cold drink is an enemy to concoction, and the parent of crudities."
—Dr. M. Grindall. 
80       THE art of invigorating life.
 tigued, especially during (the first half-hour at least
 of)  the  business  of digestion,  and  will  receive
 almost as much refreshment from half  an hour's
 sleep  as  from half a pint  of wine; the exhausted
 spirits are recruited by this relaxation from bodily
 and mental  exertion, and their sleep  during  the
 night not at  all diminished by it.
    The restorative influence of  the recumbent pos-
 ture cannot  be imagined; the  increased energy it
 gives to the  circulation and to the organs of diges-
 tion  can only be understood by those  invalids who
 have experienced the comforts of it.
    The siesta  is not only advisable, but  indispen-
 sable,  to  those whose occupations  oblige them to
 keep late hours.
   Actors  especially, whose  profession is, of all
 others, the most fatiguing,  and requires  both  the
 mind and the body to be in the  most intense exer-
 tion  between 10 and 12 o'clock- at night, should
 avail themselves of  the  siesta, which is the  true
 source of energy—half an hour's  horizontal  re-
 freshment is  a most beneficial restorative.
   Good beef-tea*  (No.  563), with  a  little bit of
 slightly-toasted bread, taken about nine o'clock, is
 a  comforting restorative, which will  support  you

  * To make beef-tea.—Cut a pound of lean gravy meat into thin slices,
put it into a quart and half a pint of cold water, set it over a gentle fire
where it will become gradually warm.  When the scum rises, catch it,
cover the saucepan close, and let it continue boiling for about two hours.
Skim the. fat off, strain it through a sieve or napkin, skim it again, let it
stand ten minutes  to settle, and then pour off the clear tea.
 To make half a pint of beef-tea in five minutes for three halfpence,
see (No. 252),  and  to make good mutton-broth for nothing, (No. 490) of
" The Cook's Oracle."                                /
 N.B.—An onion and a few grains of black pepper are sometimes
added.  If the meat is boiled till it is thoroughly tender, mince it, and
pound it as directed in (No. 503) of " The Cook's Oracle," and you may
have a dish of potted beef fox the trouble of making it. 
THE  SIESTA.
81
through exertions that, without such assistance, are
exhausting; and you  go to  bed fatigued, get up
fevered, &c.
  When those who speak or  sing  in  public feel
nervous, &c, or fear the circulation is  below par,
and too languid to afford  the due excitement, they
will do wisely by taking, half an hour before they
sing, &c. a little refreshment, or tune their throats
to the pitch of healthy vibration with a glass of
wine, or other stimulus.
  To those who are continually assailed by a va-
riety of circumstances extremely  unfavourable to
health, especially from sitting up late at night, we
recommend the  siesta, and  plenty of exercise in
the pure air.
  When they feel nervous, bilious,  &c, i. e^hat
their whole  system is  so  deranged by fatigue and
anxiety that  they cannot proceed effectively and
comfortably,  they must  give ^■nselves  two or
three days' rest, cleanse  the  aflhfentary  canal with
peristaltic persuaders—see Index—and corroborate
the organs of digestion with the tonic tincture (No.
569).
  The power of the voice depends  upon the pro-
per state of the circulation  supplying  the organs
of voice with energy to execute the intentions of
the singer or speaker,  without which the most ac-
curate ear and  experienced throat will  sometimes
fail in producing the exact quality and quantity of
tone they intend.
  That the • voice is  sometimes  too flat, or too
sharp, &c.  is not a matter of astonishment to those
who really understand how arduous a task  singers
have sometimes  to perform:  it would only be won- 
82      THE ART OF  INVIGORATING  LIFE.
derful if it was not,—how is the throat exempted
from those collapses which occasionally render im-
perfect the action of every other fibre and function
of our body ?
   The  dyspeptic who tries the effect of a nap after
dinner,  will   soon  be  convinced  that  Tristram
Shandy  was  right  enough, when lie  said,  that
" both pain and pleasure are best supported in a
horizontal posture."
  " If after dinner the poppies of repletion shed
their  influence on thy  eyelids,  indulge  thou kind
Nature's hint."
  " A quiet slumber in  a comfortable warm room,
favoureth the operation of digestion; and thou shalt
risej^freshed, and readyfor the amusements of the
evemng.'"  *■»■     **  :
  The  semi-siesta  (i. ^putting up the feet on a
stool  about eigto inches  high)  is  a  pleasant po-
sition.        Wtk*  ''"
  Catching a nap^|a chair is advisable only when
the horizOatal posture is not convenient—when you
can,  lie 8!bwn on a sofa, loosen all ligatures, and
give  youi* bowels fair play, that the circulation and
the process- of nutrition may go  on freely.
  These opinions, which are the.results  of per-
sonal experience, are exactly in unison  with  those
of the following medical professors :—
  " From eating comes sleep—from sleep diges-
tion."—Sanctorius.
  " Sleep is the rnother of digestion."—Blundevile.
  " Nothing more contributes to promote nutrition
than sleep."—Barry.
  " Perhaps one of the uses of sleep, and of the
horizontal posture during that period,  may be  to 
THE  SIESTA.                83
 facilitate the introduction of chyle into the blood."
 — Cruickshank.
   " The brute creation invariably lie  down  and
 enjoy a state  of rest  the moment their stomachs
 are filled.  People who  are feeble digest their  din-
 ner best if they lie down and sleep as most animals
 do when their stomachs are full."—Darwin.
   "Dr. Harwood,  professor of anatomy at  Cam-
 bridge, took two pointers who were equally hungry,
 and fed them equally  well;  one he suffered to fol-
 low the promptings of instinct, curled himself round
 till he was  comfortable, and went to sleep, as  ani-
 mals generally do after eating—the other was kept
 for about two hours in constant exercise.  On his
 return  home  the  two dogs  were  killed.  In  the.
 stomach of the one who had been  quiet and asleep,
 all the  food was  digested; in the  stomach of  the
 other, that process was hardly begun."
   " Quiet of body and  mind for £two hours after
 dinner is certainly useful to the studious, the deli-
 cate,  and the invalid."—Adair.        ..   «
   " After dinner, rest for three hours."—Abernethy.
   " After dinner, ^it a while."—Eng. Prov.
   " Dyspeptics, according to the old rhyme, should
 refrain  from exertion  an hour after dinner.  Mov-
 ing a couple  of hundred  yards with a^ brisk pace,
 immediately after a full meal, will occasion an in-
 digestion ; any effort  of  the mind will  have  the
 same bad consequence."—Dr. Beddoes.
   " Always rest after meat, and do not disturb  the
mind with thinking, nor the body with exercise."—
 Celsus.
   " If you have a strong  propensity to sleep after
dinner,- indulge it:  the nrocess of digestion goes 
84       THE  ART OF  INVIGORATING  LIFE.
on  much better during  sleep; and I  have always
found an irresistible propensity to it whenever dys-
peptic symptoms were considerable."—Waller.
  "Aged men  and weake  bodies a  short  sleepe
after  dinner doth help to nourish."—Lord Bacon.
                  CLOTHES.

  " Of all nations, the English, who need it most, has probably shown
itself least ingenious in the economy of artificial heat, and most impru-
dent in the article of covering."—Dr. Beddoes.

   Of  all the  customs of  clothing,  the most ex-
tremely absurd is the usual arrangement of bed-
clothes ;* which, in order as the chambermaid fan-
cies, to make the bed look pretty in the  daytime,
are left long at the head, that they may cover the
pillows ; when  they are turned down, you  have an
intolerable load upon  your lungs, and that  part of
the body which is most exposed during the day, is
smothered  at  night with  double the  quantity of
clothes that any other part has.
   Sleep is prevented  by an unpleasant degree of
either heat  or cold;  and in this ever-varying cli-

  * "I do not recommend any linen being mangled; from the smooth-
ness of the surface produced  thereby, the patient feels as if lying on
glazed paper: it is always chilling.  I would have body-linen and bed-
1 inen, after being nicely washed, dried if possible in the air, and then well
shaken and smoothed with the hand.
  " In extreme cold weather, I recommend sheets made of fine Welsh
flannel, as very comforting and warm  for the aged and invalid; and I
like a flannel pillowcase under the linen one—they arc very comfort-
able."— Good Nurse. 
CLOTHES.
85
mate, where often " in one monstrous day all sea-
sons mix," delicate thermometrical persons will de-
rive much comfort  from keeping a  counterpane in
reserve for  an  additional  covering in very cold
weather—when some  extra clothing is  as needful
by night as a great-coat is by day.
  A gentleman who has  a mind to carry the ad-
justment  of his  clothes  to a nicety may have the
shelves of his wardrobe  numbered  30, 40, 50, 60,
&c, and according to the degree of cold pointed to
by his Fahrenheit,*  he may wear a corresponding
defence against  it.   Sam Sensitive says, that you
mustn't laugh at this  advice, friend Dreadnaught.
This  mode of  adjusting  dress  according to the
vicissitudes of the weather, &c. is as rational  as the
ordinary practice of regulating it by the  almanac,
or the fashion, which,  in this uncertain climate and
capricious age, as often leads us wrong as right.
   However, the  invalid must not depend entirely
upon the  indications  of his thermometer; we are
much more sensible of variations of temperature  at
some  points  of  the scale, than we  are at others—
i. e. a fall from 44° to  32° is very different  than
from 60° to 48°.  At the two former points we are
alike driven to seek for artificial warmth; but be-
tween  48° and  60°, we  experience the important
difference between the want and no want of a fire.

  * Thermometers intended to show the temperature of rooms should be
so placed as to be equally removed from the radiant heat of the fire, and
from currents of air from the door.  The best plan is to have one mounted
upon a pedestal; you may then set it on a table or chair, and accurately
obtain the actual temperature of the air near you; for in the same room
it may be several degrees warmer in one place than it is in another.
  Out of doors they should be in a northern situation, and sheltered from
sunshine, or reflected heat, &c.
                       H 
96     THE ART  OF INVIGORATING  LIFE.

The difference is arithmetically the same, but very
different when measured by our sensation.   The
penetrating coldness of the raw and damp days far
exceeds that which the thermometer indicates : the
combination of heat  or  cold with moisture  is the
chief source of disease ; and the most uncomforta-
ble  weather for valetudinarians is, when it  is too
wet  to venture out without a  great-coat,  and too
warm to wear one.
  In this climate, we have sometimes, as  early as
September, one or two false alarms that winter is
come; the thermometer falls  to 40°, continues so
for  a day  or  two, and  then  rises  and  continues
from 55° to 60° for  several weeks; therefore, be
not in too great haste to put on your winter cloth-
ing, but have a fire within doors,  and  put on a
great coat when you go out; for if you wear your
thick clothes during this warm weather, you will
have no  extra  resource when winter really does
come.
  Leave off your winter clothes late in the spring,
put them on early in the autumn.
  Wear your winter clothes during the first half-
dozen warm days.   You will get some fine per-
spirations,  which  are highly salutary  in removing
obstructions in the cutaneous pores, &c.
  It is an important  observation  of Sanctorius, that
" active and robust persons discharge  the remains
of their nutriment chiefly by perspiration, the indo-
lent and the weak chiefly by the kidneys and the
bowels."  This remark  suggests many useful hints
in the management  of the diet, clothing, &c. &c.
of invalids. 
CLOTHES.
87
  Delicate and dyspeptic persons  are  often  dis-
tressed  by changing their dress, which must be as
uniform as possible, in thickness, in quality, and in
form, especially (flannel, or indeed) whatever is
worn next to the skin.  To wear soft flannel next
to the skin cannot be too strongly recommended to
those who are afflicted with any affection of the
lungs or bowels;  the application of a double or
treble piece of flannel upon the breast in coughs,
the  belly in  colics,  and  to  any parts  affected by
rheumatism, often affords great relief.
  Great care should be taken that your flannel
waistcoat be thoroughly aired; have two a week
(especially during warm weather),  wearing them
alternate days, and the intervening days let it hang
before your dressing-room fire ; this will render  it
comparatively fresh  and  pleasant.
  The  change of a thick waistcoat for a thin  one,
or a long one for a shorter one,—not putting on
winter garments soon enough,  or leaving them off
too  soon,  will often excite a violent disorder in the
lungs,  or bowels,  &c,  and extremely  exasperate
any constitutional complaint.  Any part of our body
that is either naturally infirm or has suffered  any
kind of injury is  always most liable to the inva-
sion of disease, <fec, and requires to be more  par-
ticularly defended.
  Those  who wear flannel waistcoats should have
them as large in the body and  sleeves as a shirt,
and are recommended to have their new ones about
the   middle  of November,  with sleeves  to them
coming down to the  wrist; the shortening of these
sleeves  in the warm weather is as effective an an-
tidote against extreme heat, as lengthening them 
88       THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.
and closing  the cuff of the coat is  against intense

cold.*

   The desire of appearing young and hearty often

prevents old men  from  wearing  great-coats,  and

other  defences  against  the   vicissitudes  of   the

weather;  however, after the  age of 40,  when the

renovating powers of our machinery decline rapidly,

all  avoidable exposures to cold, &c. are acts  of

extreme folly—whatever those old boys Sir Charles

Chilly  and  Sir Simon Shiver  may think, when at

63 they ape  the alert briskness of 23.


  * On the use of flannel the author does not express himself very fully.
Flannel is an indispensable article in  cold seasons and variable climates,
especially to the feeble and infirm. In the northern and middle States,
this article ought to be worn next to the skin, and be changed at least
twice a week; this practice, connected with the frequent use  of the
flesh-brush, may be considered as one of the  greatest preservatives of
health.  In the cold seasons, flannel ought to be worn both in the form
of shirt and drawers, and  by the female as well as the male.   Many
people lose the advantage of wearing flannel by neglecting  to put it on
sufficiently early in the fall, and by leaving it off too early in the spring
It ought to be put on as early as the  autumnal  equinox, or on the first
appearance of frost, and its use ought not to be relinquished until the
weather has become settled and warm.   From the want  of a due ob-
servance of this rule, many persons suffer material injury;  they contract
cough, rheumatism, or some other evil which not unfrequently continues
with them through life.
  Some medical men are of opinion that flannel ought to be worn at all
seasons of the year.  This, perhaps, may be a good rule as it respects
teething children and persons advanced in life,  as the practice is calcu-
lated to produce an irritation on the skin and a determination of the fluids
to the surface; this practice may likewise prove beneficial in cold and
moist climates as a preventive of rheumatism, and other inflammatory
affections; but it cannot be expected  that people in general will submit
to the use of flannel under the fervid rays of a summer sun. In persona
of feeble and debilitated habits, the practice of wearing flannel in warm
seasons would certainly prove injurious, by producing too profuse a dis-
charge from the surface; this would  unquestionably increase their suf-
ferings.
  Many persons think they cannot wear flannel on account of its fretting
their skin; but there are few who cannot bear the action  of the  softer
fabrics, by inuring themselves to it for a short season.  Matter of fact
will show that persons of the most tender skin and of the most delicate
constitutions wear them with great comfort during the whole summer.
Those who will not submit to the course here recommended, will find
great advantage in wearing flannel over their linen.—[B.J 
CLOTHES.
89
   True wisdom consists in  rendering the  remain-
ing years of life as comfortable as possible:  " Be
old betimes  that thou mayest long be so."
         " Wear a woollen great coat in winter, or,
          You may want a wooden one ere summer."
   The aged should beware of changing that fashion
of their clothes, &c. which time has made,  as  it
were,  a part of their body.
   Our coat* should be made so large, that when
buttoned we may be as easy as  when it  is unbut-
toned ; so that without any  unpleasant increase of
pressure on the chest,  &c. we can wear  it closely
buttoned up to  the chin ; the power of doing this  is
a very convenient provision against the sudden alter-
ations  from heat to cold; buttoning up this outer
garment will protect the delicate from many mis-
chiefs which often arise  in  this inconstant climate
from  the want of such a defence; and the addi-
tional  warmth  it produces will often remove those
slight  chills, Avhich otherwise soon become serious
colds, &LC.
   Another way of  accumulating caloric is to have
two  sets of button-holes to the cuff of  the coat
(especially of your  great-coat), one  of which will
bring it quite close round the wrist.
   When the circulation is feeble, and your feet are
cold,  wear worsted  stockings  (those who  are old
and chilly must have   two pair), have your shoes

  * The following observations on clothing are copied from the Life of
John Stewart, the traveller—" I clothed myself at all times very warm,
and by buttoning and unbuttoning I could  accommodate to the sudden
ehange of climate and season, and preserved thereby that equilibrium of
the secretions and excrements on which health and life depend.
  " Clothing forms a factitious heat, as a substitute to the muscular
heat, declining with age or sickness; on which action of heat vitahty
and all the other functions of vital organism depend."
                       H2 
 90     THE' ART  OF INVIGORATING  LIFE.

 well warmed, and when you take them from the
 fire, put your slippers* to it, that they may be warm
 and comfortable for you on your return home.
   The best  panacea  for  a  languid circulation,
 which is the cause of the chilliness, and coldness
 of the feet, &c, is exercise,!—walking briskly in
 the open  air for  15 or 20 minutes,  three  or four
 times in a day, taking your  first  walk about  a
 quarter of an hour after breakfast,  and  another
 about three or four hours  after;  the more exer-
 cise the better—take care not to  fatigue yourself;
 —remember—exercise  excites, fatigue debilitates.
   Weak people in very cold weather can hardly
 walk fast  enough to excite  sufficiently increased
 action in their  system  to make  and keep  them-
 selves  warm; and the  chilling blast steals away
 the heat of their body faster  than  its  enfeebled
 powers can  supply the  loss, even if they wear as
 many  great-coats as  an onion, unless  they pre-
 viously set the circulation a-going—by taking, just
 before they start,  what the coachmen call  " an in-
 side lining."  They should  take a tea-spoonful of
 warm broth, or  a small glass of wine mixed with
 an equal quantity of hot water, and eat a crust of
bread with it;  these are very proper  overtures
before   starting  out,  in extremely  cold weather.
 The chilling effect of the  atmosphere is not to be
 judged  of  by the thermometer; we  feel as cold
when there is much wind,  and the thermometer at

  * The best slippers are a pair of old shoes ; the worst, those of plaited
 cloth, which make the feet tender, and are a hotter covering for them
 In your hot house, than you give them when you go out into the cold
 air.
  t " To keep the feet warm, there is in reality only one good and whole-
 some expedient—bodily action."—Beddoes. 
CLOTHES.
91
45°, as we do when the air is  still and the ther-
mometer at 35°.                                t
   Cold out of the usual season is  trebly as inju-
rious to invalids who have passed the  meridian of
life, as when it comes at the period it  is expected.
   The grand counteractor of cold is exercise ; and
the best exercise is ambulation in the open air, be-
cause, in walking, more of our muscles are brought
into action than in any other kind of exercise, and
consequently  the circulation is  more universally
excited.   When you wish to walk fastest, in frosty
weather, the ground is often  so slippery that a quick
movement is extremely imprudent: to enable you
to ambulate with convenient celerity for collecting
caloric, do not put on  a pair of shoes  with very
thick soles, but those which are thin  enough, and
large enough to allow such action to  your  toes
that you may be  sure-footed: put on over these
list shoes ; they will effectually prevent your slip-
ping,  and also enable you to  walk  fast, and to
take exercise pleasantly, without  fear of falling;
which in  cold weather is essentially necessary to
all, but especially to persons who  have  cold feet
and  a languid circulation—for  which there is no
remedy so effectual  as a smart walk, two or three
thnes  a  day, for fifteen or  twenty minutes;  in
such  cases,  there  is   no   substitute for walking
exercise.
   Always endeavour  to get your feet  warm by
walking  before you go to dinner.  Digestion is
perfect in the proportion that the circulation is free
and perfect.
   The  restoration  and  the preservation of the
health, especially of those who have passed their 
 92      THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.

 fortieth  year, depend upon  minute and  unremit-
 ting attentions  to  food,  clothes,  exercise, &c.;
 which, taken singly, may  appear trifling,—com-
 bined, are of infinite importance;  and in  fact in-
 dispensable,  not only to the comfort,  but to  the
 continuation of life.
   " If you are careful of it, glass will last as long
 as iron."
   It is a comforting consideration for invalids, that
 long life  is not necessarily connected with high
 health;  many  valetudinarians  have  attained a
 very advanced  age, although  they have  enjoyed
 scarcely one week's uninterruped good health for
 many years.
   The returns  of many benefit societies  prove,
 that sickness  and mortality bear no distinct pro-
 portion to  each  other;  nor is it  at  all likely that
 they should,  while the human  frame is subject to
 feebleness and tedious  disorders, which leave no
 bad consequences after  recovery,  and while sud-
 den deaths are frequent.
   By a regular observance  of  a  few salutary pre-
 cepts,  a delicate constitution will  last as long, and
 will afford its proprietor as  many amusements, as
 a strong body whose weak mind takes but little
 care of it.
  Put  on a great-coat when you go out, and  the
temperature of the external air is not higher than
40°.   Some  susceptible constitutions require this
additional  clothing  when  the  thermometer falls
below  50°, especially at the  commencement of
the cold weather.
  A great-coat and  a hat ought to be kept in a
room where there is a fire: if a great-coat  has 
CLOTHES.
93
 been hung up in a cold damp hall, as it often is, it

 will  contribute  about  as much  to  your calorifi-

 cation—as  if you  wrapped a wet blanket  about

 you.

    Persons who  arc  very  susceptible of the varia-

 tions  of temperature should  have two  great-coats,

 one for cool and fair weather (above 35° Fahren-

 heit), of Bath  coating—and another for cold and

 foul weather, of broad  cloth,  and lined with fur,  as

 a " dreadnaught" against frost  and snow, which, if

 it is intended to  defend you from cold  wind and

 rain,  should also lap over at  least four inches.

    Clothes should be warm  enough to  defend  us

 from  cold,* -—and largef enough to let every move-

 ment  be made with  as much ease when they are

 on as when they are off.

    Those  whose  employments are  sedentary,—

 especially  diligent  students  who neglect  taking

  * " Only fools and beggars suffer from cold; the latter not being able
 to procure sufficient clothes, the former not having the sense to wear
 them."—Boerhaave.
  " Nervous people ought to clothe warm, and guard against variable
 weather.  If they are accustomed  to flannel next the surface of  the
 body, it must be often shifted; and the body ought to be wet-sponged,
 or sprinkled with cold water every morning, then wiped dry with a hard
 towel.  Persons who  practise this  mode of lavation daily know that
 cheerful spirits, an agreeable warmth, keen appetite, and easy digestion
 succeed to it.  And when through indolence or forgetfulness they hap-
 £en not to do it, their dyspeptic  disposition  soon  gains ground."—
 >r. Trotter.
  t " Narrow sleeves are a very great check on the muscular exercise
of the arms.  The waistcoat, in  its  present fashionable form, may be
very properly termed a strait one.  The waistcoat should be long enough
to cover the breeches  two or three inches all round.  The wrists and
knees, but more particularly the latter, are braced with ligatures or
tight buttoning; and the legs, which require the utmost freedom of mo-
tion, are secured in leathern cases, or boots, though the wearer, per-
haps, is never mounted on horseback.
  " To complete the whole, as the head  is  confined by a tight hat, but
rarely suited to its natural shape, so in regard to shoes, the shape of the
foot and the easy expansion of the  toes  are never consulted; but the
shape regulated by the fashion of the day, however tight and uncom-
fortable."—Sinclair. 
94     THE  ART'OF  INVIGORATING  LIFE.

sufficient exercise,* suffer extremely from the pres-
sure of tight  waistbands, garters, &c, which are
the cause of many of  the mischiefs  that  arise
from  long-sitting—during which they  should  be
loosened.
   Braces  have been generally considered  a great
improvement  in modern  dress, because they render
the pressure of the waistband unnecessary, which
when  tight is prejudicial;  but they produce more
inconvenience than  they prevent,—if the  inferior
viscera get thereby more  freedom of  action, the
superior suffer for it;  and  moreover  ruptures are
much  more frequent,—the  girdle which formerly
prevented them being  removed, and instead of that
useful and partial horizontal pressure (in spite of
the elastic springs  which  have  been attached to
braces), the  whole  body is grievously oppressed
by the vertical bands.
   To  keep them up  (the coverings of the inferior
extremities),  have, opposite to the buttons usually
fixed  for the braces to be attached to, holes in your
waistcoat, the general pressure of which you will
find much less oppressive than the partial pressure
of braces, of which this contrivance will  answer
every purpose.
   Stiff staysf and  tight braces obstruct  the cir-

  * <! Those who do not take a sufficient quantity of exercise soon suffer
from a number of disorders,—want of appetite, want of sleep, flatulence,
&c. &c, obstruction, relaxation of the bowels, and all the diversified
symptoms of nervous complaints. Men of letters  suffer much; and
from neglecting to take exercise, are often the most unhealthy of human
beings.  Even that temperance  by which many of them are distin-
guished is no effectual remedy  against the mischiefs of a sedentary
life, which can only be counteracted  by a proper quantity  of exercise
and air."
  t " The steel busk worn in  the front of the corset, with the long stay
laced as tight as  possible, leaving no power for  the expansion of the
frame, cannot fail of producing much mischief."—The Good Nurse. 
CLOTHES.
95
 culation of the  blood,  &c,  are the cause of many

 chronic complaints,  and often  create  organic dis-

 eases.*


  *"Stays and stiff jackets are  most pernicious; they disfigure the
 beautiful  and upright shape of a woman, and injure the  breast and
 bowels; obstruct the breathing and digestion;  hurt the breast and nip-
 ples so much, that many mothers have been prevented by their use from
 suckling their  children; many hence get cancers, and at last lose both
 health and life,  for they render the delivery of women  very difficult and
 dangerous both to mother and child."—Dr. Faust.
  Will the fair reader permit  a few  words on  the dangerous conse-
 quences of tight lacing?  By the violent mechanical pressure produced
 by tight lacing,  the internal vital organs will become partially displaced,
 and the body thrown out of  its natural direction; consequently distor-
 tions will ensue, particularly in young subjects who have not  attained
 their full stature. Under such circumstances, the whole abdominal vis-
 cera become  compressed, especially the stomach, liver, and mesentery;
 the circulation of the blood through these  organs is obstructed, and the
 due performance of the vital functions is prevented, without which nei-
 ther health nor life  can long  continue.  The violence  of such pressure
 will also change the course of the blood, and by preventing its entrance
 into the external vessels, will cause the internal vessels to be over-
 charged with  a redundant quantity.  Hence the more  delicate parts, as
 the brain and lungs, will become distended and inflamed, and the suf-
 ferer will be affected with stupor,  headache, difficulty of breathing, and
other symptoms of fever.
  Tight lacing  will likewise prevent the heart, which is the principal
agent in the circulation, from distributing the blood by the arteries, and
will also prevent the return  of the blood by the veins; and from these
causes will arise palpitation,  fainting, swelling of the  legs, fluor albus,
profuse periodical discharges, obstruction of the lymphatic vessels and
mesenteric glands, inflammation of the lungs, and spitting of blood, &c,
which will frequently terminate  in  an incurable consumption!—[B.] 
96      THE ART OF  INVIGORATING LIFE.
                    FIRE.

  " A frill supply of temperate warmth is as essential to health as a full
Bupply of food."—Dr. Beddoes.

  As  the  force  of the  circulation, which  is  the
source of  heat,  diminishes after  the  age  of 35,
our  clothing  by day and our  covering by night
should be gradually increased.
  Cold,* especially when accompanied with much
wind,  often lulls the infirm and the  aged, and is
the proximate cause of most palsies.
  It is extremely desirable that bed and  sitting-
rooms  for winter  occupation  should  have  a
southern aspect.
  When the thermometer is below 30, the proper
place for people beyond 60 is their own fireside:
many  of the  disorders  and deaths of persons at
this period of life originate from irregularity in diet,
temperature, &c, by dining out, and frisking about,
joining in Christmas gambols, &c. in cold weather,
when Peter Pindar used to say,

                " Fire, flannel, brandy,
                 Are things very handy;
                 Brandy, fire, flannel,
                 Never make a man iH;
                 So brandy, flannel, fire,
                 Are things I do desire."

  In cold  weather, those who do  not prefer to sit

  * " During the coldest months there is regularly the greatest number
of deaths among those aged above 60, and the fewest in the middle of
summer."—Dr. Beddobs. 
FIRE.
97
and  shiver will order the fire  to be lighted; and
in cold weather this must  be  done at least two
hours before they go  into their room:  for when
the temperature of the  atmosphere is at 35, if you
make a capital fire in a room, and the door is kept
   it, it will take two hours  to  raise the tempera-
ture of it to 55.
  A  temperature of about 60 admits with ease and
safety every exertion necessary either to our subsist-
ence or our pleasure ; hence is termed temperate.
  The higher degrees up to 70 are called warm.
  Above that, hot.
  A few degrees below 60 is termed cool.
   And below 50, cold.
   The  art  of making a room  comfortably warm
does not consist merely in making a large  fire in
it, but depends as much on the keeping of cold
air out.  This is best  done by double windows and
double doors ;  at least take care that your  sashes
fit close, that the beads of the  window-frames are
tight, and  those which are not opened for the
purpose of ventilation close, by pasting cartridge-
paper round  them, and have the joint between the
House-wall and the  outside  of  the  window-frame
closely stopped with blue  mortar;  stop the aper-
ture between the skirting-boards and the floor with
putty, and list the doors.
   We suppose it almost needless to say, that every
room in the house should be thoroughly ventilated*
by a current of fresh  air—by opening both doors
and  windows at least once every  day, when the

  * " Stagnant air becomes corrupted in the same manner as stagnant
water. Opening windows  and making currents of air are the best
means of purifying it."—Struvb's Asthenology.
                       I 
THE  ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.
 weather is not  extremely damp  or cold.   By
 making a fire  accordingly, this may be done almost
 every day in the year.
   Desire your servants to open a part of the win-
 dow of each room  as soon as they open the win-
 dow-shutters,  and  so fill  the  rooms with fresh
 morning air,  and  not merely to move the  sash
 about four  inches from the window-sill, or what is
 called opening a window " housemaid's  height;"
 but if the weather is neither wet nor damp, open it
 wide, and incite a plentiful importation of fresh air.
   If you leave the door open for five minutes, it
 will let in  more cold air than your fire can make
 warm in fifteen; therefore, initiate your domestics
 in these first principles of the economy of caloric,
 and when the  weather is cold, caution them to keep
 doors shut.
   A regular temperature may be preserved by a
 simple  contrivance  attached  to a  thermometer,
 which will open an aperture to admit the external
 air—when the apartment is heated above the de-
 gree desired (». e.  about 60 for common  constitu-
tions), and exclude  it when it falls below it.  At
all events,  the upper division  of the  sash  should
be made to slide down, by keeping  a certain por-
tion of that window which is most distant from the
fire a little open,  and dropping the curtain before
it.  The circulation of fresh wholesome air may be
ensured without danger from a  draught.  This is
especially advisable  after dinner, when the air of
the room has  been heated, and scented by  the
 steams of the food.
   When it is convenient, adjourn to another room
 to partake of the dessert, Sic. 
FIRE.
99
   A room which is in constant  occupation all day

may be  occasionally pumped  by moving the door

backward  and  forward  for several minutes,  and

leaving  the  door a little  open:   this  should be

always done in crowded assemblies.

   We do not advise invalids to  indulge themselves

in heating  their rooms  to  a higher temperature*

than from 60 to 65.   Those who have resided the

greater part of their life in warm climates will like

the  latter  best.    While  we recommend  the  aged

and  infirm to  be  kept comfortably  warm,  they

must at  the  same time  cautiously  avoid excess of

heat;

   When you do not wear a great-coat out  of doors,

leave your  door ajar,  especially that of  a dining-

room.   Don't shut the door till your thermometer

falls below 35.


  * " The natural heat of the human body is 98 of Fahrenheit's ther-
mometer.  Any temperature applied to it lower than 98 gives a sensa-
tion of cold ; but if the temperature applied is not below 62, the sensa-
tion of cold will not continue long, but be soon changed to a sensation
of heat; and in this climate, air, &c. applied to the living man does not
diminish the temperature of his body, unless the temperature of it be
below 62; if it is above that, it increases it."—Cullkn's First Lines.
  Men have lived  in cold greater than that at which mercury freezes
(which is at 39° below zero), and in an atmosphere above the heat of
boiling water.
  In Dr. Blagden's experiments, he observes :—
  " As a proof that there was no fallacy in the degree of heat by the
thermometer, a beefsteak was rather overdone in 33 minutes.
  " Our clothes, contrived to guard us from  cold, guarded  us from the
heat on the same principle.  Underneath we were surrounded with an
atmosphere cooled on one side to 98° by being in contact with our
bodies; and on the other side heated very slowly, because  woollen is a
bad conductor of heat; and a thermometer put under my clothes, but
not in contact with my skin, sunk down to 110."—Dr. Blagden's Ex-
periments.
  By this experiment we learn, that heated air has a speedy and power-
ful effect in quickening the pulse, while the animal heat is  little altered
from  its previous standard.
  " The transition from very great heat fo cold is not so hurtful as might
be expected, because the external circulation is so excited as not to be
readily overcome by cold." 
 100     THE  ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.

   Those who are  susceptible of cold (when the
 thermometer tells them that the temperature of the
 external air is under 60,  whether it be in July, or
 in  January)  must order  their servants  to keep a
 small fire, especially if the weather be at the same
 time damp.
   Ye  who, from caprice or parsimony,—instead
 of obeying this comfortable and salutary precept,—
 sit shivering and murmuring, and refuse to employ
 the  coal-merchant  as a  substitute for  the  sun,
 may soon  spend in physic more than has been
 saved in fuel.
   By raising the temperature of my room to  about
 65, taking  a teaspoonful of Epsom salts in half a
 pint of warm water, repeating it every half-hour
 till the bowels were moved twice or thrice, living
 on a broth diet, and retiring to rest an hour or two
 sooner than usual, I have  often very speedily got
 rid of colds, &c.
   Remember, a catarrh  is a disease which may
 readily end in an inflammation of the  lungs, or,
 what is more frequent, an asthma or consumption ;
 one-half of these arise from inattention to what is
 called a common cold.
  A common cold, or what should more correctly
 be called a heat, if properly managed, usually ceases
in a few days, generally  in less than  ten;  if it
continues longer, medical advice should be called
in, and the utmost care taken, or more serious and
fatal consequences may be  expected.
  The following plan of  lighting and managing a
 fire has been attended with great comfort and con-
venience to  myself (particularly at  the beginning
 and the end of winter, when  a  very small fire is 
FIRE.
101
sufficient), and, I think, with a considerable saving
of coals.
   Fill your grate with fresh coals quite up to the
upper bar but one, then lay in your fagot of wood
in the usual  manner, rather  collected in a mass
than  scattered, that a body of concentrated heat
may be produced  as  soon as possible;  over the
fagot place the cinders of the preceding day, piled
up  as  nigh as the grate will  admit, and  placed
loosely in rather large fragments, in order that the
draught may be free; a bit  or two of fresh coal
may be added to  the  cinders when once they are
lighted, but no  small  coal must be thrown on at
first, for the reason above stated: when all is pre-
pared, light the wood ; when the cinders  becoming
in a short  time thoroughly ignited, the  gas rising
from  the coals below, which will  now be affected
by the  heat, will  take fire as it  passes through
them, leaving a very small portion of smoke to go
up the chimney.
  The advantage of this mode of lighting a fire is,
that small  coal is better suited to the purpose than
large, except  a few pieces in front, to  keep the
small from falling out of the grate—it may be kept
in reserve, to be  put  on afterward if wanted.   I
have frequently known my fire, lighted at 8  o'clock
in the morning, continue  burning till 11 at night,
without any  thing being done to it:  when appa-
rently quite out, on being stirred, you have in a few
minutes a glowing fire : it will sometimes  be  ne-
cessary to  loosen or stir slightly the upper part of
the fire if  it  begins to cake; but the lower part
must not be  touched, otherwise it will burn away
too soon.
                    12 
102     THE  ART OF  INVIGORATING LIFE.
OF THE INFLUENCE OF COLD UPON THE HEALTH OF
         THE INHABITANTS OF LONDON.

     By William Heberden,  Jun., M.D. F.R.%.

  " The extraordinary mildness of last  January,
compared with the unusual severity of the January
preceding, affords a peculiarly favourable opportu-
nity of observing the effect of each  of these  sea-
sons,  contrasted with each other.   For of these
two successive winters, one has been  the  coldest
and the other the warmest of which  any regular
account has ever been kept in this country.
  " Nor is  this by any means an idle speculation
or matter of mere curiosity; for one  of the  first
steps towards preserving our fellow-creatures is to
point  out the sources from which diseases are to
be apprehended.   And what may make the present
inquiry more particularly useful is, that the result,
as I hope clearly to  make appear by the following
statements,  is entirely contrary  to the prejudices
usually entertained upon this subject.
  " During  last January, nothing was more com-
mon than to hear expressions of the unseasonable-
ness of the  weather, and fears lest the want of the
usual degree of cold should be  productive  of pu-
trid diseases, and I know not what other causes of
mortality.   On  the  other hand,  ' a  bracing cold'
and ' a clear frost'  are  familiar in the mouth of
every  Englishman, and what he  is taught to wish 
INFLUENCE  OF COLD.          103
 for as among the greatest promoters of health and
 vigour.
   " Whatever  deference be due to received opin-
 ions, it appears to me, however, from the  strong-
 est evidence, that the prejudices of the world  are,
 upon this point at  least, unfounded.  The average
 degrees  of  heat upon Fahrenheit's thermometer,
 kept in London during the month of January, 1795,
 were 23° in the morning, and 29.4° in  the after-
 noon.  The average in January, 1796, was 43.5°
 in the morning, and 50.1° in the afternoon ;—a dif-
 ference of above twenty degrees !   And if we turn
 our  attention from the  comparative  coldness of
 these  months to the corresponding healthiness of
 each, collected from the weekly bills of mortality,
 we shall find the result no less remarkable.   For
 in five weeks, between the 31st of December, 1794,
 and the 3d of  February, 1795, the whole number
 of burials amounted to 2,823 ; and in an equal pe-
 riod of five weeks, between the 30th of December,
 1795, and the 2d of February, 1796, to 1,471.  So
 that the excess of  the  mortality in January, 1795,
 above  that  of  January, 1796, was not  less than
 1,352 persons; a number sufficient surely to awaken
 the attention of the most prejudiced admirers of a
 frosty winter.   And  though I have oidy stated
 the evidence of two  years, the same conclusion
 may universally be drawn, as I have learned from
 a careful examination of  the weekly bills of mor-
 tality for many years.
   " These two  seasons were chosen as being each
of them  very remarkable, and in immediate suc-
cession one to the other, and in everybody's recol-
lection. 
 104     THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.

   "And one of the first things that  must strike
 every  mind engaged in this  investigation is  the
 effect of a severe frost on old people.
   " It  is curious  to observe among those who  are
 said in the bills to die above 60 years of age, how
 regularly the tide of mortality follows the influence
 of this prevailing cause; so that a person used to
 such inquiries may form no contemptible judgment
 of the severity of any of our winter months, merely
 by attending to this circumstance.
  '« Thus, their number last January was not much
 above  one-fifth of ,what it had  been in the same
 month  the year before.
  " The article of asthma, as might be expected,
 is prodigiously increased, and perhaps includes no
 inconsiderable part of the mortality  of the aged.
  " After these came apoplexies  and palsies, fevers,
 consumptions, and dropsies.   Under the last two
 of which are contained a large  proportion of  the
 chronical diseases of this country ; all which seem
 to be hurried on to a premature termination.
  " But  it has in another place* been  very ably
 demonstrated that a long  frost  is eventually pro-
 ductive of the worst putrid fevers that are at this
time known in London;  and that heat does in fact
prove a real preventive  against that disease.  And
 although this may be said to be a very remote effect
of the  cold, it is not therefore  the less real in its
influence upon the mortality in London.
  " I might go  on to observe that the true scurvy
was last year generated in the metropolis from  the
 same causes, extended to an unusual length.  But

  * Observations on the Jail-fever, by V* Hunter.—Med. Trans, vol. Ui. 
INFLUENCE  OF COLD.
105
 these are by no means the only ways, nor indeed
 do they seem to be the principal ways, in which a
 frost operates to the destruction of great numbers
 of people.   The poor, as they are worse protected
 from the weather, so are they of course the greatest
 sufferers from its inclemency.  But every physician
 in London, and every apothecary, can add his testi-
 mony that their business among all ranks of people
 never fails  to increase and  to  decrease with the
 frost.   For if there be any whose lungs are tender,
 any whose  constitution has  been impaired  either
 by age, or by intemperance, or by disease, he will
 be very liable to have all his complaints increased
 and all his infirmities  aggravated by such a season.
 Nor must the young  and active  think themselves
 quite secure, or fancy their health will be confirmed
 by imprudently exposing themselves.  The stoutest
 man may meet with impediments to his recovery
 from accidents otherwise inconsiderable; or may
 contract inflammations  or  coughs, and  lay the
 foundation of the severest ills.  In a country where
 the  prevailing complaints  among all orders of
 people are colds, coughs, consumptions, and rheu-
 matisms, no prudent man can surely suppose that
 unnecessary exposure to  an inclement sky,—that
 priding one's self upon going without any additional
 clothing in the severest winter,—that inuring one's
 self to be hardy at a time that demands our cherish-
 ing  the  firmest constitution lest it suffer,—that
 braving the winds and challenging the rudest efforts
 of the season,—can ever be useful to Englishmen.
But  if generally and  upon the whole it be inexpe-
dient, then ought every  one for himself  to  take
care  that he be not the sufferer.  For many doc- 
THE  art of  invigorating life.
tnnes  very importantly erroneous,—many reme-
dies, either vain or even noxious, are daily imposed
upon the world for want of attention to this  great
truth; that it is from general effects only, and those
founded upon extensive experience, that any maxim
to which each individual may with confidence defer,
can possibly be established."
                     AIR.

              " Home is the best hospital,
               Repose the best remedy."

  Many invalids are hurried into their graves by
the indiscreet kindness of their friends forcing them
from their own warm and  comfortable habitations
to undergo the last struggles of nature in cheerless
and unaccommodating  lodgings,  for  the  sake of
air  more abounding with oxygen, i. e. the  vivifying
part of  the  atmosphere.   That  great  benefit  is
received from what is called change of  air is  true
enough ; but it is seldom considered that there is
also a change in most of the other circumstances
of the patient, many of infinitely more importance
than that which  derives all the credit of the cure.
  For instance, if a person living in  a confined
part of the  city, neglecting  exercise, harassed all
day by the anxieties of business, and sitting up
late at night, &c, be removed to the tranquillity of
rural  scenes which invite him to be almost  con-
stantly taking exercise in the open air and retiring 
AIR.
101
to rest at an early hour,—and thus, instead of being
surrounded by irritations  unfavourable  to health,
enjoying all the  "jucunda oblivia vitae"  which are
favourable  to  it,—such a change will  sometimes
do wonders, and sufficiently account  for the miracu-
lous cures attributed to—change of air.
  Chymical philosophers assert, indeed, that a gal-
lon of the unsavoury gas from Garlick Hill, London,
gives as high a proportion of oxygen as the like quan-
tity of what they  term  " a charming air," " a pure
air," " a soft air," &c.  &c.: this seems  incredible,
and must arise either from  the eudiometer giving
erroneous results or from the air being impregnated
witli matter unfriendly to health, which  the instru-
ments employed to analyze it have  not  the power
of denoting:  let any one  thread the mazes  of a
crowded city, and walk for the same space of time
in a pleasant country,—the  animal spirits will soon
testify which is the most exhilarating.
   The sense of smell is one of the best tests of the
quality of the atmosphere ; the nose is an  excellent
sentinel to warn us to  avoid offensive effluvia.
   Ride four miles from London on  the Hampstead
road,—sniff the fragrance of the healthful breeze ;
as you return, if you keep  your nose on  the alert,
you will soon find it diminish, till within about two
miles  of town it  begins to lose all its fine odour;
and soon after, instead  of the  sense of smell being
feasted with fresh  air, it is offended with  smoke and
innumerable  effluvia.
   However,  people certainly do not only live long
but  enjoy health in   situations  apparently  very
unfavourable to animal life.
   Our omniscient Creator has given to our lungs 
 108     THE  ART OF  INVIGORATING  LIFE.

 the same  faculty of  extracting nutriment  from
 various  kinds of air,  as the  stomach  has from
 various kinds of aliment.
   The poor man who feeds on  the  coarsest food
 is supported by it in as sound health as  the rich
 man who fares sumptuously every day.
   Well, then, in nine cases  out  of ten, to change
 the atmosphere we have been long  accustomed to
 is as unadvisable as a change in the  food  we have
 been  long  used  to;  unless other  circumstances
 make it so than the mere change of place.
   The Avest of England, which has  been so often
 recommended to the asthmatic  and  consumptive,
 taking its milder and moister climate together, has
 no  advantage worth a  journey of even fifty miles.
 It is little  to  the  purpose that on some  spots of
 Devonshire,   Cornwall,  and  South  Wales, the
 myrtles will bear to be  out all the winter; myrtles
 are not men and women now, whatever they might
 have  been  before they underwent  their Ovid's
 metamorphosis.
   That dampness of the air which assists its softness
 in making  myrtles  flourish  may counterbalance
 any inconsiderable benefit which human creatures
 derive  from the trifling  difference of temperature.
  The opulent invalid who has been long indulged
with a  home* comfortably  arranged to his  own
humour, must beware of leaving it during any  in-
disposition: it would  be almost as  desperate  a
procedure as to eject an oyster from his  shells.

 * Dr. Beddoes, in his Manual of Health, puts the following queries :—
 " 1st. Whether home be not the fittest quarters for three-fourths of the
invalids that are forced into the country ?
 "2d. Whether there can be a grosser act of inhumanity than to send
an incurable invalid a long journey to expire in comfortless lodgings'" 
EXERCISE.
109
EXERCISE.
         " By ceaseless action all that is subsists;
          Constant rotation of the unwearied wheel
          That nature rides upon, maintains her health,
          Her beauty, her fertility.  She dreads an instant's pause,
          And lives but while she moves."—Cowper's Task.

         " The wise for health on exercise depend;
          God never made his work for man to mend."


    The  more  luxuriously you live, the more exer-

 cise* you require :—the " bon vivant" may depend

 upon  the truth  of  the  advice  which Sir  Charles

 Scarborough gave to the Dutchess of Portsmouth,

 " you must  eat less,—take more exercise,*—take

 physic,—or be sick."


   * " The cordials, volatiles, bracers, strengtheners, <fec. given by com-
 mon practitioners may keep up  an increased circulation for a few hours,
 but their action soon subsides.
   " The circulation of the blood can only be properly carried on through
 the medium of exercise or labour.
   " Art cannot come up to nature in this most salutary of all her opera-
 tions.  That sprightly vigour and alacrity of health which we enjoy in
 an active course of life,—that zest in appetite and refreshment after eat-
 ing which sated luxury seeks in vain from art,—is owing wholly to new
 blood made every day from fresh  food prepared and distributed  by the
 joint  action of all the parts of the body."—Cadogan.
   t " There is no rule more essential to those who are advanced in life,
 than never to give way to a remission of exercise.   By degrees the de-
 mand for exercise may shrink, in extreme old age, to little more  than a
 bare quitrent; but that quitrent must be paid, since life is held by the
 tenure.
  " Whoever examines the accounts handed down to us of the longest
 livers will generally find, that to the very last they used some exercise,
 as walking a certain distance  every day, <fec.  This is mentioned as
something surprising in them, considering their great age; whereas the
truth is, that their living  to such an age without some  such exercise
would have been the wonder.  Exercise keeps off obstructions, which
are the principal sources of diseases, and ultimately of death.
  " Motion, then, is the tenure  of life; and old people who humour or
                             K 
 110     THE ART OF  INVIGORATING  LIFE.

   Exercise is the grand  power to drive the circu-
 lation through the capillary vessels, by which the
 constitution is preserved from obstructions, appetite
 is  increased,  and digestion  improved  in all  its
 stages,—the whole mass of the blood is cleared and
 refined, the  various secretions  and excretions are
 duly performed,  and the healthful distribution of
 nourishment invigorates  the nerves, gives  firm-
 ness and elasticity to  the muscles,  and vigour to
 every part of the system.

                    " He chooses best
        Whose labour entertains his vacant fancy most."
                                    Armstrongs

   The benefit resulting from exercise does not al-
 together depend upon air and  motion; it requires
 the  combination  of  mental  amusement.   In  all
 situations whatever, and at all ages, this is an es-
 sential object.
   A sportsman habituated to ease  and luxury will
rise with  the sun,  undergo  the most laborious ex-
ercise in hunting a stag, hare, or fox,  for the space
of half a day, not only without fatigue but  with
benefit to health, owing to  the  amusement and
hilarity which the mind enjoys;  but were the same
gentleman compelled to go through half as  much
exercise which afforded no amusement,  his fatigue
and disgust would be insupportable.   This is every
day the miserable experience of men  who were
once engaged in the habits of industrious trade and

Indulge an inclination to sloth and inactivity (which  is too apt to grow
npon them on the least encouragement) act as unwisely as the poor
traveller, who, bewildered in trackless snow, and surprised by a chill-
ing frost, instead of resisting the temptation to sleep, suffers it to steal
upon him, though he knows that by its fatal blandishments he can never
expect to wake again, but must inevitably p«rish."—Institutes of Health. 
EXERCISE.
Ill
 bustle, and  whose  success and wealth  have en-
 couraged and enabled them to retire from business:
 they find life a burden, and, not having a pleasing
 object to encourage exercise, they  acquire a pain-
 ful ennui, and find they have exchanged the otia for
 the  tedia vitas.   It  is here that various  exercises
 have been  suggested  as  succedanea; but,  alas!
 they all fail, because they want the pleasurable zest.
 The dumb-bell  is  tugged, the  feet and  legs  are
 dragged along the walks and avenues  of a garden,
 but  alike uselessly!
   Let your exercise at all seasons be proportioned
 to your strength; for the weak it is better to take
 three short walks than one long one.   This maxim
 should ever be in the  minds of mothers and nurse-
 maids :  delicate children are almost always walked
 too  long at a time.   People are  prone to fall into
 extremes, and when they hear that exercise is in-
 dispensable, often seem to imagine that the stronger
 the  exercise, the more strengthening it must be ~,
 but—
         Begin with gentle toils; and as your nerves
         Grow firm, to hardier by just steps aspire.
         The prudent, even in every moderate walk,
         At first but saunter, and by slow degrees
         Increase their paee."          Armstrong.
   Exercise, to  have its full effect, must be con-
 tinued till we feel a  sensible degree of perspiration
 (which is the panacea  for the  prevention of cor-
 pulence), and should, at  least  once a day, pro-xv
 ceed to the  borders  of fatigue, but  never  pass
 them,   or  we  shall   be  weakened  instead  of
 (strengthened.
   Health depends upon perpetual secretion  and
absorption, and exercise only can produce this. 
112     THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.
   After exercise, take  care to get  cool  gradually
 when your head perspires, rub  it  and your face,
 &c. dry with  a cloth:  this is better  for the  hair
 than  the best " bear's grease,"  and will beautify
 the complexion beyond " la cosmetique royale,"  or
 all  the  red and white  Olympian  dew  that  was
 ever imported.
,   One of the  most important  precepts for the  pre-
 servation of health is to take care of the  skin.*
1   To  preserve the  skin  pure and  pervious, the
whole body ought to be well washed at least every
other day ; how can the perspiration (which Sanc-
torius assures us discharges more  than  the whole
of the  other  excretions),  make  its way  through
pores  half-closed and  covered over with perspira-
tion of the  preceding day.   Cold water should not
be used when the  skin  is warm;  nor very warm
water when it is chilled.   Many  a beautiful face,
neck, and arm have been spoiled by not observing
this caution.
   In winter the  surface of the body, the  feet,f &c.
  * The most ignorant person knows, that proper care of the skin is in-
dispensably necessary for the well-being of horses, &c.
  " The groom often denies himself rest that he may dress and curry his
horses sufficiently;  it is, therefore,  wonderful that the enlightened
people of these days should neglect the care of their own skin so much,
that I think I may, without exaggeration, assert, that among the greater
part of men, the pores of the skin are half-closed and unfit for use."
  t The fdllowing is a very interesting account of the effect produced
on the body by putting the feet into warm water.
  " In a cool evening, October 2, before supper, I caused two youths, the
one of the age of 14 years, the other of 13, both ignorant of the purpose
of the experiment, to put their legs into warm water. After examining
the colours of their skins, and the size of the veins in their hands and
faces, and while they continued in the pediluvium,I counted their pulses
exactly by a watch measuring seconds, and observed—
  " That at 8 o'clock, immediately after the immersion to the gartering
below the knee, in milk-warm water, their pulses beat in a minute, the
first 66, and the second 84, as before immersion.  At 15 minutes after 8,
the water a small time before being increased in heat, though not to the 
EXERCISE.
US
 should  be  washed  twice  or  thrice  a  week, with

 water of the temperature  of  about 98, and wiped

 every day with  a wet towel;  a tepid  bath of  the

 like  temperature once a fortnight will also conduce

 much to  both health and  comfort.   Some advise

 that  the surface  of the body be wiped every morn-

 ing with a wet   sponge, and rubbed  dry after with

 not too fine  a cloth.


 degree of the warmth of blood, the second yawned and began to breatha
 quicker.  Their pulses then beat, the first 69, and the second 88.
   About 25 minutes after 8, the water being made full blood-warm, the
 vein of their hands were greatly swelled, the second had his face flushed;
 their pulses beat, the first 75, and the second 94.  At 35 minutes after 8,
 both of them had the veins  of their faces and hands very much dis-
 tended : the first said  he was greatly disposed to musing; the second
 was sleepy, with his face so red, that I was afraid of  hwting him by
 pursuing the experiment any further.   Both their pulses, which in the
 beginning were soft and small, became very full and hard, and beat, the
 first 80, and the second 98, in a minute.  Then I  made  them set their
 feet on  a spread carpet, sitting still without any motion, as they had
 done before, and reckoned their pulses, wbich at 40 minutes after 8, beat,
 the  first 71, the  second 90; and at 46 minutes after 8,  their pulses be-
 came less and softer, beating, the first 69, the second 88.  A little after
 9, the flush was off the second's face, and their pulses became quite soft
 and smaller; the first 66, and the second 85, almost as they set out."
   " My opinion of the warm pediluvia, then, is this: The legs becoming
 warmer than before the blood m them is warmed, this blood rarefying
 distends the vessels; and not stagnating, but circulating, it  imparts a
 greater degree of warmth to the rest of the mass ;  and as there is a por-
 tion of it constantly passing through the legs, and acquiring new heat
 there, which heat is, in the course  of circulation, communicated to the
 rest of the blood ; the whole  mass  rarefying, occupies  a larger space,
 and of consequence circulates with greater force.  The bulk  of  the
 whole blood being thus increased, every vessel is distended, and every
 part of the  body  feels the effects  of it; the distant parts a little later
 than those first heated.
   " In  the above  experiment, not only the immersed parts and lower
 extremities swelled, but the whole body; and the pulses  of the wrists
 and  temples beat  fuiler and quicker, as well as those derived from the
descending vessel."
  " Since that time I  used the warm  pediluvium, when rightly tem-
 pered, as a safe cordial, by which the circulation can be roused, or  a
gentle fever raised: with this advantage over other cordials and sudori-
 fics, that I can take off the effect of it when I please, and that it operates
 without throwing into the blood any heating drugs, which cannot be so
easily discharged out of the body."—Edinburgh Medical Essays. 
114;     THE  ART OF  INVIGORATING LIFE.
                 BATHING.

   Perhaps it will not be improper for the Ameri-
can editor to  introduce in this place a few remarks
on bathing, as an important part of the " Art of In-
vigorating  and  Prolonging Life."   This, indeed,
seems to be the more  necessary as  our ingenious
author has said so little on the  subject.   Bathing,
it is  generally  known, was a practice in frequent
use by the ancients as a means of preserving health
and  prolonging life;  and though they could  less
easily dispense with  the  bath  on account of  the
frequency of  their athletic exercises, &c, yet in
our days it would be better if the use of baths were
more general and more frequent.  Considered as a
species of universal  domestic  remedy,  as  one
which forms  the basis of cleanliness, bathing, in
its different forms, may be pronounced one of  the
most extensive and  beneficial  restorers of health
and  vigour.  But  the utility of bathing depends
much on a clear and  accurate  knowledge of  the
properties and  effects  of the different  baths, and
also  on their correct application to the constitutions
of the persons who make use of them.   It will be
necessary,  therefore,  to  notice  the  two principal
classes, viz. the cold and the warm bath, separately.
  The valetudinary should consider, that the effects
of bathing are not the same  in every condition of
the system, but that  they derive their character 
BATHING.
115
more from the varying circumstances of those who
use them than from any intrinsic  properties which
they possess.   Heat and cold are neither strength-
ening nor debilitating in themselves, but become so
merely  in consequence of  certain states of the
body at the  time of their application.   The same
application which in a strong person produces  in-
crease of strength, may tend immediately to debili-
tate the feeble ;  and that which  is a stimulant when
used with moderation, becomes rapidly destructive
to vital  power in an over-dose.
   I beg leave  to  state, that  the uniformity of
the temperature in the human body is  sustained
entirely by the vital powers, and the  process ap-
pears to be carried  on with the least  expenditure
of force when the atmospheric  air  indicates  60
degrees.  Every material deviation from this point,
whether by increase or diminution of  temperature,
if long continued,  draws  equally upon the vital
power,  and produces relaxation  proportioned to the
extent and duration of the cause; so that, in  this
sense, both heat and cold are  directly debilitating
powers  to  the human constitution.   These facts
prove that neither  the  cold nor  the  warm bath
should ever be had recourse to by those who are
in ill health, without the advice of some considerate
and able professional man.
   Of Cold Bathing.—The sensible properties of the
cold bath in general consist in its power of contract-
ing the  solid parts of the body, which contraction is
followed by a general reaction, indicated by a salu-
tary glow of the whole  surface.  Any part of the
body which is exposed to the sudden contact of cold
water  experiences  at the same  time a degree of 
116     THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.

tension and contraction, and becomes narrower and
smaller.  Not only the larger blood-vessels, but also
the small capillary tubes, are liable to this contrac-
tion and subsequent relaxation.   The application
of cold, when made to  suitable habits and  proper
states of constitution, is obviously attended with an
immediate tonic effect, from the general glow which
takes place through the whole body, and the accom-
panying feeling of renewed strength, which indicate
an increase of action of a salutary nature in all the
vessels of the  system; and this  increased vigour
of action is a test to the propriety of  the  applica-
tion of cold, and explains the manner in which it
is beneficial.   It shows that the nerves, blood7ves-
sels, and all the organs of the body are excited to
a more healthy and energetic performance of their
functions; and when this reaction does not take
place,  the failure is a sufficient  proof  of such a
weakness  or other state  of the body existing, as
precludes the further use  of the cold bath.
  Cold bathing is of the greatest service in all dis-
orders  originating in  or connected  with simple
weakness and relaxation; that is, in debility unac-
companied with any disease of structure,  or  posi-
tive injury in an important organ.   In the scrofulous
complaints and general weakness of children, in
the  debility and languor  following fever,  intense
study, sedentary occupations, grief, or debauchery,
it is often employed with the best effects;  since
the  debility in these cases directly arises, for  the
most part, from unhealthy habits, depressing pas-
sions,  or the long continuance of feverish action.
In  these cases,  the cautious  application  of cold
proves bracing and salutary; but in case of  posi- 
BATHING.
117
tive injury to the structure of some important organ,
the employment of cold is always improper; it is too
great a shock to the system and the part diseased,
and the patient  is  then benefited only by the use of
warm bathing.   Indeed, in complaints which call for
the use of  the  cold bath, it is generally an excel-
lent practice for the patient to commence with tepid
bathing at about 90 or 93 degrees, which he may
resort to three  or four times  for the first week or
two,  and then try the cold bath.  This rule should
always  be  observed in cases where the weakness
of the patient is extreme, or where the debility has
been of long continuance.
   Whatever may be the complaint for which it is
resorted to, every cold bath  applied to  the whole
body ought to be  of short  duration; since all the
advantage depends upon the first impression which
is made on the  skin and nerves.  The head should
be always first wet, either  by  immersion or by
pouring  water  upon it.  The  immersion  ought
always  to be sudden, not only because it is less felt
than  when we  enter the water  slowly  and timo-
rously, but likewise because the effect of the first
impression is uniform over the whole body, and the
blood in this  manner  is  not propelled from the
lower to the upper extremities.   The shower bath
possesses  great  advantages, as  it pours the water
suddenly upon the whole body, and thus in the
most effectual manner fulfils the rules just specified.
Gentle exercise ought  to precede the cold bath, to
produce some  reaction  of the vascular system on
coming  out of it;  for  neither complete rest nor
violent exercise are proper previous to the use of
this  remedy.   The morning or forenoon is the most 
118     THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.
proper time for cold bathing;  and while  in the
water the bather should not remain inactive, but
move about, in order to promote the circulation of
the blood from the centre of the body to the ex-
tremities.   After immersion, the whole body ought
to be wiped quickly with a dry and rough  towel,
and  moderate exercise in the open  air is proper,
and indeed necessary.
  The cold bath is altogether improper in the fol-
lowing cases,  viz.  in general plethora, or full habit
of body, and in the febrile disposition which attends
it; in active hemorrhages, or fluxes of blood, that
is, bleedings attended with a quick, hard, and full
pulse, and other signs of an inflammatory tendency;
in every kind  of  acute  inflammation; in diseases
of the breast, difficult breathing, and short and dry
cough;  in gouty  and rheumatic  paroxysms;  in
most diseases of the skin; in a state of pregnancy;
in palsy; in indigestion it is also hurtful, at least
in the commencement of the treatment: and when-
ever it occasions  chills, loss  of appetite, languor,
pain in the breast  or bowels, or violent headaches,
it ought in such cases to be discontinued.   These
unpleasant  sensations are the  surest proofs that
the actual  state of the patient's habit is unfit  to
bear the shock; and that either the reaction of the
heart and arteries  is too weak to overcome the cold
pressure on the surface, or that the determination
of blood to the head, or some other vital part,  is
rapidly increased.
   In general,  the best method of cold bathing is in
the sea or a river; but there are not a few instances
where the shower bath merits a decided preference,
and this is  especially the case where there is a 
BATHING.
119
determination to the head.   Although the shower
bath does not cover the surface of the body so uni-
versally as the usual cold baths, yet this circum-
stance is rather favourable than otherwise ; for those
parts which the water has not touched feel the im-
pression  by sympathy, as much as those  in actual
contact with it.  Every drop of water becomes a par-
tial cold bath in miniature ; and thus a stronger im-
pression is made than by any other mode of bathing.
  The shower bath, for the following reasons, pos-
sesses advantages superior to all others :—1.  The
sudden contact of the water, which in the common
bath is  only momentary, may here be 'prolonged,
repeated,  and modified at pleasure.   2. The head
and breast, which are exposed  to some inconve-
nience and danger in the  common bath,  are here
effectually secured by receiving the first shock of
the water; the  blood is  consequently impelled to
the lower parts of the body, and the bather feels
no obstruction in  breathing, or undulations of blood
to the head.  3.  The heavy pressure on the body,
occasioned by the weight of the water, and the
free circulation of the blood in the  parts touched
by it being for some time at least interrupted, is an
unfavourable circumstance in certain cases.   The
shower  bath, on  the contrary, descends  in single
drops, which are at once more stimulating  and
pleasant than the immersion into  cold water, and
it can be  more  readily procured and more easily
modified  and adapted to the  circumstances of the
patient.
  A proper and  convenient  apparatus for  giving
the shower bath may be made by any tinman; but
where a saving of expense is an object, it may be 
120     THE ART OF  INVIGORATING LIFE.

easily supplied by the following easy expedient:—
Fill  a common watering-pot with cold water; let
the patient sit down undressed upon a stool, which
may be placed in a large tub, and let the hair, if
not cut short, be spread over the shoulders  as
loosely as possible; then pour the water from the
pot over the patient's  head, face, neck, and shoul-
ders, and all parts of the body down to the feet, till
the whole has been thoroughly bathed;  let him
next be rubbed  dry and take gentle  exercise, as
has been  already recommended, till the sensation
of cold be succeeded  by a  gentle  glow over the
whole  of his body.
  When this kind of bath is first  resorted  to, it
may be used gently, and with water having some
degree of warmth, so as not to make the shock too
great; but as the patient becomes  accustomed to
it, the  degree of cold  may be  increased, and the
water may be allowed to fall  from a greater height,
so as to make the shower heavier.
  The external use of cold water is often of  sin-
gular benefit in the commencement of fevers, in
sprains, old  swellings,  and  rigidity of particular
parts;  in  which cases it may be applied directly
to the affected parts, and its employment continued
for almost any length of time.
  I have  known some  delicate people to derive
great advantage from daily washing the surface of
the body with a sponge previously immersed in sea
water or cold water.  To rub the skin till it glows,
with a coarse towel wrung out of salt water, will
be found a modification of the. cold bath peculiarly
adapted to the case of some persons.
   Before quitting this subject, I will make a few 
BATHING.
121
 remarks upon the impropriety of plunging into the
 cold bath, after the body has been  greatly heated
 by exercise.  It may be  safely asserted,  that in
 the  early stages of exercise, before profuse perspi-
 ration has  dissipated the  heat, and fatigue debili-
 tated the living power, the cold bath is generally
 safe and useful; on the contrary, nothing is more
 dangerous than for  a person to go into the cold
 bath after exercise has produced great perspiration,
 and  terminated in languor and fatigue.  The rea-
 son of this is sufficiently obvious.  In the first case,
 the exercise is short of fatigue, being just sufficient
 to produce an  increased action of the vascular
 system, with some increase of heat, and thus se-
 cure a force  of reaction  under the shock which
 otherwise  might not always take place.   In the
 second  instance, where the person waits till he is
perfectly cooled, and some degree of languor  fol-
lows as a necessary consequence, the heat is not
only sinking rapidly, but  the system parts more
easily with the portion that remains, and on plung-
ing into cold water, a  sudden chilness is felt, which
is both alarming and extremely dangerous.  Hence,
if  an individual were compelled to  go into  cold
water after very active exercise, he had better go in
when hot than when cooling after having been heated.
   It is generally proper to take a moderate  degree
of exercise after bathing; but the invalid  should
beware of prolonging the walk or the ride  so  far
as to induce any degree of sensible perspiration or
of lassitude.
   If in consequence of going into the bath in an im-
proper state of  health, or of remaining too long 
 122     THE ART OF INVIGORATING  LIFE.

 in the water, the perception of cold and the con-
 vulsive shivering should continue  so long as  to
 become painful or alarming, the person ought with-
 out delay to be put into a warm bed, and a bladder
 filled with hot water should be applied to the  pit
 of the stomach.  This last-mentioned expedient is
 the most effectual method of restoring warmth  to
 the living body in all  cases where, from chance  or
 necessity, it has been  long exposed to intense cold.
 Independently of these circumstances, the practice
 of going to bed after bathing is always to be repro-
 bated.
  The  frequency of  bathing  must be  in a great
 measure regulated by the strength of the constitu-
 tion.  It is generally considered sufficient for those
 in health to bathe on alternate days.   Indeed daily
 bathing is found to be productive of lassitude, ac-
 companied with manifest wasting of the body; but
 if no  other bad  consequences are perceived, these
 symptoms, on discontinuing the bath, will  disap-
 pear,  and  be succeeded by increased alacrity and
 vigour.
  Cold bathing is upon the whole to be considered
 as a remedy much more adapted to the  early than
to the more advanced periods of life.  Those who
have  been accustomed from their infancy to the
use of the cold  bath may, perhaps, persevere in it
during the whole course of life with safety, and
perhaps with advantage.  But persons after a cer-
tain age ought to be very cautious how they com-
mence the practice of plunging  into cold water.
 If they find that their constitutions are incapable
 of that reaction which gives rise to a glowing 
BATHING.
123
 warmth on the surface of the body, they should by
 no means persist in the practice.
    Warm Bathing.—The cold bath is  a water  at
 a temperature below  85 degrees ;  from 85 to 95
 degrees is usually called the tepid bath; and from
 95 to 98 it is called a warm bath.  When the tem-
 perature of the water exceeds 98 degrees, it con-
 stitutes the hot'bath, which is  seldom used above
 105 degrees.  From 100 to 130 degrees is the
 vapour  bath, which degree could not be endured in
 the condensed state of the water.   The tepid and
 warm baths are sedative in their effects.  They
 excite the sensation of heat, lessen the frequency
 of the pulse, relax  powerfully the skin  and simple
 solids,  diminish increased excitement,  and prove
 very refreshing.  The effects  of the vapour bath
 are nearly similar,  but it acts  with  much  greater
 power than water in the liquid form.   The hot bath
 is stimulant; it augments the action of the heart
 and arteries, renders the skin red, quickens respi-
 ration,  and produces  a copious  flow  of  sweat
 These effects prove that a hot bath would  be very
 improper in any case of acute inflammation, though
 a warm bath might  then be very serviceable.
   The  tepid bath is applicable to all  diseases to
 which the cold affusion may  be  applied, and is
 generally preferred  when there is any doubt of the
 strength being sufficient to  react  after  a cold im-
 mersion.  It possesses very considerable efficacy in
 reducing the general excitement, and in lowering
 and lessening the frequency of  the pulse in fever;
it  is safe, in a high degree  grateful, and may be
 extended to  almost the whole class of febrile dis-
eases, such  as typhus, scarlet fever, small pox, &c. 
 124     THE ART OF  INVIGORATING LIFE.

 It is of great service in pregnancy and in infancy.
 During the time of puberty, that is, for about two
 years at that period, cold and sea  bathing  should
 be avoided, both in the case of boys and girls : but
 the tepid bath may then be used with great  advan-
 tase-
   The tepid bath is often of eminent utility in indi-
 gestion, bilious  complaints, in the debility brought
 on by long residence in a hot climate, in languor,
 and extreme weakness occurring in persons  of a
 delicate habit, for the pains and stiffness accompa-
 nying chronic gout or rheumatism, and in all cuta-
 neous  eruptions.   It is likewise usefully employed
 as  an introduction to the use of the cold bath.
   The practice of pouring cold water upon the
 head while the body of the patient is immersed in
 the tepid bath, is frequently resorted to with mani-
 fest benefit in insanity and threatened apoplexy.
   Tepid bathing is particularly indicated  in  old
 age, the  chilness, stiffness, and  debility of which
 state it is well calculated to lessen and remove.
 Franklin, Darwin, and other eminent philosophers
 speak in high terms of the benefit they received in
 their advanced years from the frequent use of tepid
 bathing.
  The best time of using it is in the morning, any
 time between ten and one o'clock:  and gentle ex-
 ercise should be taken afterward.   In general, the
period of immersion should not be less than  twenty
minutes, nor exceed one hour.
  The warm bath is  efficaciously employed  in
 acute rheumatism, inflammation  of  the  abdominal
viscera, of the kidneys, bladder, and womb, in sup-
pression of urine, and in the convulsions  and other 
BATHING.
125
 spasmodic diseases of infants arising from teething
 and other irritations.   It may also be applied with
 safety and good effect in most diseases of the skin,
 in green-sickness, in  slight cases of palsy, in St.
 Vitus's dance, and other spasmodic and convulsive
 affections, where the cold bath  might prove  too
 violent; in costiveness, intestinal obstructions, and
 other  complaints of the bowels that seem to depend
 on an irregular  or  diminished  action of any  part
 of the alimentary canal, and in  cases  of debility
 attended with nervous irritation.   In all  cases  in
 which the constitution  is  injured,  and a general
 state  of debility induced, either by  mercury,  pre-
 vious  illness, intemperance, late hours, irregularity
 in diet or exercise, warm bathing is found to  pro-
 duce considerable advantage when pursued under
 proper restrictions ;  and sometimes, in such in-
 stances, it is continued for a considerable time with
 great  benefit ;  at other times  it is properly  em-
 ployed as  a preparation for  the cold bath.
   Delicate, weakly, and nervous women, who may
 have suffered from miscarriages and the long train
 of complaints consequent  to  such  accidents,  as
 sexual weakness attended with pain in the back
 and loins, &c, will not be disappointed in their ex-
 pectations of relief from warm bathing.
   When the warm bath is  intended to produce in-
 creased perspiration,  it  is  best employed  in  the
 evening, when the immersion should not exceed
 ten minutes, and the  patient should be removed
 from the  bath to a warm bed.   When it is not in-
 tended to  produce perspiration, any  time from an
hour after breakfast till dinner will be proper.   In
these cases the  bathing  may be protracted to fif-
                      L2 
126     THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.

teen or twenty minutes, according to  the feelings
of the patient.   Gentle exercise  in the open  air
should follow the bathing.
   Warm bathing is peculiarly adapted for the pur-
pose of promoting cleanliness;  and consequently it
tends to the prevention and cure of all diseases occa-
sioned by nastiness, and the obstruction of the cuti-
cular excretions.  Early and continued attention to
this important part of decency as well  as of health
would  tend  greatly to diminish the alarming num-
ber of infantile  deaths in our weekly bills of mor-
tality.    It is devoutly to be  wished that  every
mother would look well to  this important means of
prolonging the lives of her  beloved children.—[B.] 
WINE.                   127
                    WINE.

      " Si bona Vina cupis, quinque hsc laudantur in, illis,
       Fortia, formosa, et fragrantia, firigida, frixa."
                          Dr. Cogan's Haven of Health.

  Wine, especially port, is generally twice spoiled
before it is considered fit to be drunk!!!
  The wine-maker spoils it first, by overloading it
with brandy, to make it keep.
  The wine-drinker keeps it till time has not only
dissipated the superabundant spirit, but even  until
the acetous fermentation begins to be evident: this
it is the fashion now to call  " flavour;"  and  wine
is not  liked till it has lost so  much of its exhila-
rating power, that  you  may drink a pint of it be-
fore receiving that degree of excitement which the
wine-drinker requires to  make him happy.  We
mean a legal pint containing  16 ounces.
  A pipe  of port  contains, on the average, 138
gallons, of which three must be allowed for lees,
&c.   This is  enough  for waste, if the  wine has
been properly fined, and steadily bottled.

  A  butt of  Sherry contains   -  130 gallons.
               Madeira   -  -  -  110 ditto.
  Hogshead of Claret  -  -  -  -   55 ditto.

  It is convenient for small  families to have part
of their wine in pint bottles.
  That wine is best when the bottle is quite fresh-
opened is a fact  it is needless to  observe :  half a
pint of wine (i. e. 8 ounces, i. e. four ordinary wine- 
128      THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.
 glasses) is as much as most people (who have not
 spoiled their stomachs by intemperance) require.
   But here  it is  proper to observe, that the larger
 the bottle the better the wine keeps.
   In Scotland, where they liberally quaff the fes-
 tive cup of hospitality, they usually draw off  their
 wine from the pipe into large bottles holding four or
 five pints—and the Scotch pint deserves its name
 of " magnum bonum."
   The  rage for superannuated wine is one of the
 most ridiculous vulgar errors of modern epicurism
 —the " bee's wing,"  " thick crust* on the bottle,"
 " loss of strength,"  &c. which wine-fanciers  con-
 sider the beauty of their tawny favourite, " fine old
 port," are  forbidding  manifestations of decomposi-
 tion, and the departure of some of the best quali-
 ties of the  wine.
   The agef of maturity for exportation from Oporto
 is said to be the second year after the vintage (prob-
 ably sometimes not quite so long).
   Our wine-merchants keep port in wood from two
 to four  years, according to  its original  strength,
 &c.—surely this  must be  long  enough  to do all
 that can be done  by  keeping it—what crude wine
  * A thick crust is not always the consequence of the wine having been
a very long time in the bottle, but is rather a sign that it was too little
time in the cask, or has been kept in a very  cold cellar.
  t " Had the man that first  filled the Heidelberg tun been placed as
sentinel to see that no other wine was put into it, 1 believe that he would
have found it much better at 25 or 30 years old than at 100 or 150, had he
lived so long, retained his senses, and been permitted now and then to
taste it; a privilege with which the natives are seldom indulged.
  " To give a great price for wine, and keep it till it begins to perish, is
a great pity."  I cannot believe that very aged wine, when bordering on
acid, is wholesome, though some wine-drinkers seem to prefer it in that
state.  " Respecting port wine, there is a great fuss made by some about
its age and the crust on the bottle; as  if the age and crust on the bottle
constituted the quality of the wine."  " Such crusty gentlemen snail
not select wine for me."—Youne's Epicure. 
WINE.
129
 it  must be to require  even this time to  meliorate
 it!—the necessity for which must arise either from
 some error in the original manufacture,*  or a false
 taste which does not relish it till time has changed
 its original characteristics.
   Sound good port is generally in perfection when
 it has been from three  to five  years in wood, and
 from one to three in bottle.
   Ordinary port is a very uncleansed, fretful wine ;
 and we have been assured by wine-merchants of
 good taste, accurate observation, and extensive ex-
 perience, that the best port is rather impoverished
 than improved by being kept in bottle longer than
 twof years, i. e.  supposing it  to  have  been pre-
 viously from two to four  years in the cask in this
 country: observing, that  all that the outrageous
 advocates for  " vin pass6" really know about it is,
 that  sherry is  yellow, and port is black, and that
 if they drink enough of either of them it will make
 them drunk.
  White wines, especially sherry  and  Madeira,
 being more  perfectly fermented  and  thoroughly
 fined before they are bottled, if kept in a cellar of
 uniform temperature, are not so rapidly deteriorated
 by age.
  The temperature of a good  cellar is nearly the
 same throughout the year.  Double doors help to

  * " The prime cost of these wines is in this manner doubled or tripled;
 and this great  additional expense is incurred by those who can afford
 such luxury, merely in order that they may be reduced in the course of
twenty years to the state to which they would probably have been
brought in half that time by a more skilful application of the established
principles of fermentation."—Dr.  Henderson.
  t" Wines bottled in good order may be fit to drink in six months
(especially if bottled in October), but they are not in perfection before
twelve.  From  that to two years they may continue so; but it would be
improper to keep them longer."—Edinburgh Encyclo. Britan. 
130     THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.
preserve this.  It must be dry, and be kept as clean
as possible.
   The art of preserving wines is to prevent them
from fretting; which is  done  by keeping them  in
the same degree  of heat, and careful corking,* and
in a cellar where they will  not be  agitated  by the
motion of carriages passing.   " If persons wish to
preserve the  fine flavour of their wines, they ought
on no account to permit any bacon, cheese, onions,
potatoes, or  cider, in  their wine-cellars.  For, if
there be any disagreeable stench in the cellar, the
wine will indubitably imbibe  it; consequently, in-
stead of being fragrant and charming to the nose and
palate, it will be extremely disagreeable."—Cornell.
   That Madeira  (if properly matured before) im-
proves in quality by being carried to the East Indies
and back, by which voyage it loses from 8 to  10
gallons,  or  to  the West, by which  about five are
wasted,! however these round-about manoeuvres
may tickle  the  fancy of  those  folks who  cannot
relish any thing that is not far-fetched, dear-bought,
and  hard to be  had,  and  to whom rarity is the

  * " Cork the bottles very closely with good cork, and lay them on their
sides, that the cork may not dry and facilitate the access of the air.   For
the greater safety, the cork may be covered with a coating of cerement,
applied by means of a brush, or the neck of the bottle may be immersed
in a mixture of melted wax, rosin, or pitch."—Accum.
  t A  puncheon of brandy, containing 130 gallons, after remaining in
cask in a merchant's cellar for three years, lost two gallons in measure
and teu gallons in strength.  The stronger the spirit the sooner it evapo-
rates.
  The London Dock Company are not answerable for any decrease of
quantity in a pipe of wine left under their care, provided it does not
exceed one gallon for each year, which it is supposed to waste in that
time.
  " For a long time the Oporto Company's wines were not exported
from Portugal until they had remained three years in the cellars of
Oporto, during which time they experienced a diminution of one-ninth
part."—Dn. Henderson. 
WINE.
131
" sine  quA non" of recommendation, it  is one of
those inconvenient prejudices—from which common
sense preserve us!
   The grand criterion by which a regular wine-
drinker calculates  the quality of liquor  is  the
quantity of it which he can  swallow without being
intoxicated; according to such a scale, the perpe-
tual  motion of the ship  and the high degree of
temperature will certainly  improve Madeira,—if
making it weaker is an improvement.  This effect
might be produced by the casks  being kept for a
length of time, in a degree of temperature and state
of motion  similar to  what they would experience
during such a  voyage.
   The vulgar objection to new wine (by which
we mean wine that has been maturing in wood two
years  in  Portugal, two in England,  and in bottle
more than twelve  months) is, that  its  exhilarating
qualities are too abundant, and intoxicate in too small
a  dose :  those " bons vivants" to whom " the bot-
tle's the sun of the table,"  and who are not in the
habit of crying to go  home  to  bed  while they can
see  it shining, require wines  weaker than those
which are usually imported from Spain and Portu-
gal.  However, port  and sherry may be easily re-
duced to the  standard desired by  the long-sitter;
"paululum aceti acetos^ will give the  acid gout,
" aqua pura" will subdue their spirit " ad libitum?
and produce an imitation of the flavour acquired by
age,  extempore,—and you  can  thus  very easily
make  fine, fruity, nutritious  new wine  as light
and as old,*  and as  poor,  as  you please, and fit
  * Cornaro complains that old wine was very disagreeable to his sto-
mach, and new wine very grateful; his dose was fourteen ounces (i. e.
seven wine-glasses) per day. 
 132     THE  ART  OF INVIGORATING LIFE.

 it  exactly  to your customer's  palate,  whether
 " massa drinky for drinky, or drinky for drunky
 massa."
   To ameliorate very new or very old wine, mix
 a bottle of the one  with a bottle of the other, or to a
 bottle of very old port add a glass  or two of good
 new claret—to very new,  a glass of sherry.
  It is said to be  a common practice with  wine-
 dealers,  when they wish to pass off port for two
 or three  years older than it is, to add white wine
 to  it,—and  benecarlo,  to  give  consistence  and
 colour to low-priced, thin, pale port.
  Of all our senses,  the  taste,   especially  for
 liquids, is the most sophisticated slave of habit—
 " de gustibus  non est disputandum."
         " The Russ loves brandy; Dutchman, beer;
            The Indian, rum most mighty ;
          The Welchman sweet metheglin quaffs,
            The Irish, aquavitae;
          The French extol the Orleans grape;
            The Spaniard tipples sherry;
          The English none of these escape,
            For they with all make merry."—Old Ballad.

  The astringent matter and alcohol which render
 port wine the prop of an Englishman's heart are
intolerable to  the palate of an Italian or a French-
man.   But a  stomach which has been accustomed
to be  wound up by the double stimulus  of astrin-
gents and alcohol  also, will  not be content with
the  latter only, especially if that be in less  quan-
tity, as it is in the Italian and French wines; which,
therefore, for  the  generality of Englishmen, are
insufficiently excitant.
  He who has been in the habit of drinking porter
 at  dinner,  and port after, will feel  uncomfortable
with home-brewed  ale and claret. 
WTNE.
133
   Mr. Aecum,  the chymist, analyzed for the author

some  port  and sherry of the finest quality; the

port*  yielded 20  per cent.,  and the sherry 19.25

per cent, of alcohol of 825  specific gravity— i.  e.

the strongest  spirit of wine that can be drawn, full

double the strength of brandy, which  seldom has

40 per cent.,  and  common gint not  more than 30

—or 25  per cent, of alcohol.


  * " Fermented liquors furnish very different proportions of alcohol;
and it has been sometimes  supposed that it  does not pre-exist to  the
amount in which it is obtained by distillation; but some experiments I
made upon the subject in 1811 and 1813, and which are printed in  the
Phil. Trans., tend to show that it is a real educt, and not formed by the
action of heat upon the elements existing in the fermented liquor.  The
following table exhibits the  proportion of alcohol, by measure, existing
in one hundred pints of wine."—Brandk's Manual of Chymistry.
             Hock........14
             Claret........15
             Sherry........19
             Port........20
             Madeira.......24 per cent, alcohol.
   " It would save many lives if gin, &c. were not allowed to be sold
until reduced to one-third the strength of proof spirit.  People do not at
first drink from any liking or desire ; but being cold, or faint with hun-
ger or fatigue, they find  immediate  comfort and refreshment from the
use of spirits; and as they can purchase a dram with less money than
they can cover their back or fill their belly, so they gratify the strongest
and least expensive appetite, and insensibly become drunkards.
  " Ardent spirits  are not only eminently destructive  to the body, but
are the most powerful incentives to vice of every kind.  Drunkenness
engenders all other crimes.  Does the robber pause in his trade ?  Does
the murderer hesitate ?  They are  presently wound up at the ginshop.
Has the seducer tried his arts in vain ?  The brothel is more indebted to
this source than to all the other lures to seduction."—Hints for the Pre-
servation of Health.
  " Much has lately been said concerning the sale of spirituous liquors
in our towns. It would not only greatly diminish the consumption of
these liquors, and  lessen all its train  of evils upon the individual, but
also assist the police  in  the preservation of public order, if this single
rule were observed—not to license any houses for their sale situate either
on the immediate line of the great thoroughfares, or within a given dis-
tance of them.  What would be the effect, for example, of withdrawing
all the licenses now held in the  Strand, Fleet-street, and on Ludgate-hill,
or within a furlong of either side of those streets ?  Does any body believe,
that if this were done,  one-fourth  of the liquor now  drunk in  those
streets would find consumers ?  Does any body believe, that the nightly
disorders now complained  of in those streets would  continue ?  The
remedy is entirely in our hands, if we really wish for an alteration." 
134     THE ART OF  INVIGORATING LIFE.
   Some people have a notion, that if they go to the
docks they can purchase a pipe of wine for twenty
pounds less than they must pay to a regular wine-
merchant, and, moreover, have it neat as imported;
as  if  all wines  of the same name were of the
same quality.
   Port varies  at Oporto in  quality  as much as
porter does in London,—where it is needless to say
how difficult it is to obtain  the best beer at any
price ; it is quite as difficult to obtain the best port
wine at  Oporto, where  the  very  superior wine is
all bought up at a proportionately high price by the
agents for the  London wine-merchants.
   Brandies  and  wines  vary  in  quality  quite  as
much as they  do in price:  not less  than twenty
pounds  per pipe in the  country  where they  are
made.  If,  instead  of previously picking  off  the
putrid, green, or  spoiled grapes, they are all thrown
into a cistern  promiscuously,  the wine of course
can be sold at a rate more agreeable to the econo-
mist.
   The only  way  to  obtain genuine  wholesome
liquor is to apply to a respectable wine-merchant,
and beg of him to send you the best wine at  the
regular market price.
   If you are particular about the quality of what
you buy, the less you  ask  about the price or the
measure of it the better.
 "Ardent spirits fill our churchyards with premature  graves, and
crowd our jails and madhouses."—Dr. Rush.
 " There are three sorts of drinkers; one drinks to satisfy nature, and
to support his body, and requires it as necessary to his being. Another
drinks a degree beyond  this, and takes a larger dose to exhilarate and
eheer his mind, and help him to sleep. These two are lawful drinkers.
A third drinks neither for the good of the body nor the mind, but to stu-
pify and drown both."—Mavis waringe. 
WINE.
135
   If you drink wine, &c. for the purpose it was
given, as a cordial, to cheer the  circulation when
it  falters from fatigue, age, or profuse evacuations
of any kind, or, as St. Paul  advises  it,  " for thy
stomach's  sake and  thine  often infirmities," re-
member, that of all the ways of saving, to run  any
risk of buying  bad wine is  the most  ridiculously
unwise economy.
   Pure port is  preferable to all the neurotics that
all the sons of Esculapius can administer.   I wish
I  could  say any thing for  the mended  or made
wines, which are often sold for it to ignorant  and
parsimonious purchasers.
   To ice wine is a  very unprofitable and incon-
venient  custom, and  not  only deteriorates its fla-
vour, but by rendering it  dull  in the  mouth, peo-
ple are induced to drink too much, as  they  are de-
prived  of the  advantage of knowing when thejf
have got enough; for as soon as the wine becomes
warm in their  stomachs, the dose they have taken
merely to exhilarate them, makes them drunk.
   The  true  economy of  drinking is, to  excite
as much  exhilaration  as  may be  with as  little
wine.
   We  deprecate the  custom  of sitting for hours
after dinner, and keeping the  stomach in an inces-
sant  state  of  irritation by  sipping  wine; notliing
can be more prejudicial to digestion ;* it is much
better to mix  food and drink,  and to take them by
alternate mouthfuls.

   * In our " Peptic Precepts" we have pointed out the most convenient
ways of counteracting the dilapidating effects of excessive vinous irri-
gation, which is doubly debilitating when you suffer the fascinations of
the festive  bowl to seduce you to sacrifice to Bacchus those hours which
are due to the drowsy god of night. 
 136     THE ART  OF INVIGORATING LIFE.

   Our " vinum Britannicum"—good home-brewed
 beer,  which has   been  very  deservedly  called
 " liquid bread," is  preferable to any other beverage
 during dinner or supper—or port or sherry diluted
 with about  three  or four times  their quantity of
 toast  and  water  (No.  463*):  undiluted, these
 wines are too strong to be drunk  during dinner;
 they act so  powerfully on the feelings of the  sto-
 mach that they dull the desire for solid food, by
 producing  the  sensation of restoration,—and the
 system, instead of receiving material to repair and
 strengthen it, is merely  stimulated during the ac-
 tion of the vinous  spirit.
   " Drinking strong wine destroys hunger."—Hip-
pocrates.
   However, the  dull  stimulus  of  distension  is
 insufficient for  some delicate  stomachs,  which do
 absolutely require to be screwed up with a certain
 quantity  of  diffusible  stimulus;*  without  which
 they cannot proceed effectively to the business of
 digestion, or any  other business.  We  do not re-
 commend such, especially if they have passed the
 meridian of life,  to attempt to entirely wean them-
 selves  of it, but  advise  them,  immediately after
 dinner, to drink as much  as is necessary to excite
that degree of action in their system without which
they are uncomfortable, and then to  stop.—See ob-
 servations on Siesta.

  * " More or less alcohol is necessary to support the usual vigour of
 the greater number of people, even in health; nothing, therefore, can
 be more injudicious than wholly to deprive them  of this support when
 they are weakened by disease.  Dyspeptics who have been accustomed
 to its use cannot be deprived of it.  A very moderate use of wine can
 hardly be said to be injurious.  We see those who use it in this way
 live as long and enjoy as good health as those who wholly abstain from
 it."—Dr. Philip. 
WINE.
137
        " m health some just indulgence may engage,
         And more the sickness of long life,—old age."

   Now-a-days, babies  are brought to table  after
dinner by children of larger growth, to drink wine,
—which has as bad an effect on their tender, sus-
ceptible stomachs as the like quantity of alcohol
would produce upon an adult.
   Wine has been called "the milk of old age," so
" milk is  the wine of youth."   As Dr. Johnson
observed, it is much easier to be abstinent than to
be temperate,  and no man should habitually take
wine  as food till he is past 30 years of age* at
least;—happy is he who preserves this best of
cordials in  reserve, and  only takes it to support
his mind and heart when distressed by anxiety and
fatigue.
   That which may be a needful stimulus at 40 or
50 will inflame  the passions into madness at 20
or 30, and  at an earlier period is absolute poison.
   Among other innumerable advantages which the
water-drinker enjoys, remember he saves a consid-
erable sum of money per annum; which the beer
and  wine-drinker wastes,  as much to the detri-
ment of his health, as the diminution o'fhis finances:
moreover,   nothing deteriorates  the  sense  of
taste  so soon as  strong liquors;  the water-drinker
enjoys an  exquisite  sensibility of palate,   and
relish for plain  food, that a wine-drinker has no
idea of.
   Some people  make it  a rule  to drink a certain
number of glasses of wine during and after dinner,

  * " No man in health can need wine till he arrives at 40; he may then
begin with two glasses in the day: at to, he may add two more. —See
Trottbr on Drunkenness.
                      M2 
 138     THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.

 whether they are dry, or languid, or not; this is as
 ridiculous as it would be to swallow a certain num-
 ber of mutton-chops whether you are hungry or not.
   The effect produced by wine is seldom the same,
 even in the same person, and depends  on the state
 of the animal spirits, whether the  stomach be full
 or empty, &c.
   The more simply life is supported, and the less
 stimulus we use, the better.
   Happy are the young and healthy who are wise
 enough to be convinced that water is the best drink,
 and salt the best sauce.*
   But in invalids past the meridian of life, as much
 mischief is going on when their pulse hobbles along
 as if the heart was too  tired to carry on the circu-
 lation, as can possibly  be done to the  constitution
 by taking such a cheer-upping  cup of wine, beer,
 &c. as  will remove the collapse, and excite the
 mainspring of life to vibrate with healthful vigour.
   The  following is  the  editor's  plan of  taking
 liquid  food at  dinner,  when  he camiot get good
 beer:  he has two wine-glasses of sherry, or one
 of whiskey,! or brandy (No. 471), and three-fourths
of a pint of gbod toast and water (No. 463) (which
when dyspeptic  he has warmed to about summer
heat, i. e. 75 of Fahrenheit), and puts a wine-glass
of sherry,  or half a glass of whiskey,  &c. into
half a pint of the water, and  the  other  glass  of

 * Water is, generally speaking, the best drink for man; and those
who wish to live long, and to see many happy days, must confine them-
selves to water as a common drink.  This was the beverage of the  im-
mortal Locke, who lived to " a good old age."  Dr. Rush did not dis-
tinguish himself more by his writings against intemperance than by  the
faithful exemplification of his own precepts.—[B.]
 f Scotch or Irish whiskey is an infinitely purer spirit than English or
Holland gin, which is  an uncertain compound of various essential
oils, <fcc. 
. WTNE.
139
sherry, or half-glass of whiskey, &c. into the re-
maining quarter-pint, thus increasing the  strength
of the liquid towards the conclusion of dinner, after
which he drinks from two to four glasses of port or
sherry,  as instinct suggests the state of the circu-
lation requires ; if it be very languid, a quarter of
an hour after dinner, lie down on a sofa and sleep ;
you will find half an hour's horizontal posture more
restorative  than if  you sat up  and drank three or
four more glasses of wine.
  As to  the  wholesomeness  of  various wines,
that depends on the integrity and skill of the wine-
maker,  and upon the peculiar state  of the  stomach
of the wine-drinker.
  When my stomach is  not  in good temper, it
generally requires to have red wine; but  when in
best health, nothing affronts it more than to put
port into it—and one of the first symptoms of its
coming into adjustment is a wish for white wine.
  One of the  chief causes of that derangement of
the stomach which  delicate and aged persons so
constantly complain of, so often and so  severely
suffer from after dining out, is the drinking of beer,
wines,  &c, which they are unused to.
  White deserve to be preferred to red wines, be-
cause the latter, being harder pressed, and subjected
to a stronger fermentation  to extract the colouring
matter from the husks of the grape, are more loaded
with feculence.
  Of red wines, claret is the best; and it is to be
lamented that the duty imposed upon it is  so great
that to  moderate fortunes it amounts to a prohibi-
tion.  When we make this observation, we do not
mean to impeach the prudence which has induced 
140      THB  ART  OF  INVIGORATING LIFE.
those who  best  understand  the  subject, to  deter-
mine, that political  necessity imperatively decrees
that the delightful and salubrious  wines of France
must be taxed twice as high  as the  coarse, harsh
wines  of  Portugal.
   Of the white  wines, we  believe  that  sherry is
the most easy to  obtain genuine:  most of the sweet
wines  are as artificially compounded as  the beers
Of  this country;  the  addition of  capillaire to port
wine makes what is commonly called tent.   Moun-
tain, calcavella,  &c.  are  made  up in  the  same
manner.
                        PASSIONS.

  Nothing, perhaps, contributes so much to preserve the vigour of the
constitution, or to restore health when impaired, as a calm and dis-
passionate state of mind.  Cases are on record where death has resulted
from violent fits of passion.
  The passions, when not excessive, but cherished and indulged with
moderation, and especially when properly directed, are peculiarly con-
ducive to the  health  and happiness of man; but when they are ungo-
verned, excessive, and ill-directed, they are productive of disease, misery,
and a world of suffering.
  The passions are generally divided into two classes, viz., 1.  Jdy, hope-,
love, desire, &c. are  styled the animating passions; while,  2. Anger,
terror, hatred,  <fec. are called  the depressing passions.  They are not
only different in their  nature and degrees, but also in their effects upon
the health and  constitution; hence they  may seem to require a separate
consideration;  but this course would lead to a discussion which the
limits  of this work will not admit.  The general results of excessive
passion are, general debility, loss of action in the extreme vessels and
absorbents, and an accumulation of blood in  the larger vessels.  Hip-
pocrates, Galen, Cullen, and others, have recorded cases of disease in-
duced  by excess of passion.  " General torpor, palsy, and even sudden
death," says Dr. Rush, " have been occasioned by the passions." Excess
ef joy may produce hysteria, epilepsy, and even death. It is reported
that the old doorkeeper of the house of Congress died by joy occasioned
by the news of the surrender of Cornwallis.  But moderate joy is a
gentle and salutary stimulus.  Excessive anger  is detrimental to health
and dangerous to  life. Experience  shows, that by its indulgence, the
whole vascular, nervous, and muscular systems are violently agitated,
and thrown into  preternatural motions which often  produce morbid
effects in the  parts concerned; thus hemorrhages, jaundice, epilepsy,
«lic, apoplexy, &c. are diseases which  most frequently result from vie- 
PEPTIC PRECEPTS.
141
lent passions of anger.  The death of the celebrated John Hunter is said
to have been occasioned by "a sudden fit of anger."  Hence persons
subject to violent fits of passion should, from physical as well as moral
considerations, endeavour to guard against them with particular care
and attention. They ought to watch with vigilance the first approach of
the enemy, and to exert themselves to withstand, with a rational and
firm fortitude, the force of the impending tempest, by diverting their at-
tention as much as possible from the objects of provocation.  Indeed
they should by all means endeavour to avoid the causes that give rise to
the storm and tempest. Such ought  to bear in mind, that " The do-
minion over our passions and affections is an essential and indispensable
requisite to health;" and  they will find a particular advantage in ob-
serving the strictest temperance, in avoiding animal food and meats and
drinks of a stimulating and heating nature, and in applying to some
steady employment of mind and body.—[B.]
           PEPTIC  PRECEPTS.

               " Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re."

   Not one constitution in a thousand is so happily
constructed, or is constantly in such  perfect adjust-
ment, that the operations of the  abdominal viscera
(on which every other  movement of the system de-
pends) proceed with healthful regularity.
   The  following hints will point out to the reader
how  to  employ art  to  afford that  assistance to
nature which, in indisposition  and  age, is so often
required,  and will teach him to  counteract, in  the
most  prompt and  agreeable manner, the  effects of
those accidental deviations from strict temperance
which sometimes overcome  the most abstemious
philosopher, when the  seducing  charms  of convi-
viality tempt  him to forego the prudent maxims of
his cooler moments.
   They will  help  those who  have delicate consti-
tutions  to obtain  their fab; share  of health and 
142    THE ART OF INVIGORATING  LIFE.
strength, and instruct the weak so  to economize
the powers they have, that they may enjoy life as
long as the strong.
   The difference between  a strong and  a weak
constitution is, that the former can assimilate food
of difficult digestion into a healthy serum, and dis-
charge the superfluous quantities;  while the  other
is oppressed, but may under a proper diet enjoy as
much  health and spirits, though less vigour, than
one of a strong constitution.
   To  humour that desire for the marvellous which
is so  universal in medical  (as well as in other)
matters, the makers  of aperient  pills  generally
select  the most drastic purgatives, which, operating
considerably in a dose of a few grains, excite ad-
miration in the  patient,  and faith  in  their powers,
in proportion as a small dose produces a great effect;
who seldom considers  how irritating such  mate-
rials must be, and consequently how injurious to a
stomach in a state of debility, and perhaps deranged
by indulging appetite beyond the bounds of mode-
ration.
   Indigestion will sometimes overtake the most
experienced epicure ;* when  the  gustatory nerves
are in good-humour,  hunger and savoury viands
will sometimes seduce the tongue of a " grand gour-
mand" to betray the interest of his stomachf in
spite of his brains.
      " The veriest hermit in the nation
       May yield, heaven knows, to strong temptation."
   On  such  an unfortunate  occasion, whether the
  * " The hypochondriac with a well-covered table  before him is apt to
make-himself amends for his uncomfortable morning."—Dr. Beddoes.
  t " The human stomach is capable, in the adult, of containing about
three quarts of water ."—Blumenbach's Physiology. 
PEPTIC PRECEPTS.
143
intestinal commotion  be  excited  by having eaten

too  much or too strong food, lie  down, have your

tea early after dinner, and drink it warm.

   This is a hint to help the invalid, whose  diges-

tion is  so delicate that  it  is  sometimes disordered

by a meal of the strictest  temperance.

   " At those orgies of  gorgeous  gluttony that we

hear of, there  should  always  be  at hand an urn

full of warm water."—Dr. Beddoes's Hygeia.

   If the anxiety, &c. about the  stomach does not

speedily abate, apply the " stomach warmer."*  This

valuable companion to aged and gouty subjects  may

be procured at any tin-shop.

   A certain degree of heat is absolutely necessary

to  excite and  support  the  process of  digestion;

when the circulation is  languid, and the food  diffi-

cult of  solution, in aged  persons and  invalids, ex-

ternal  heat will considerably  assist  concoction,

and the application of this calefacient concave will

enable the digestive organs to overcome refractory

materials, and convert  them into laudable chyle.f


  * Two centuries ago, stones were used for this purpose.
  " The coldness of aged and sicke people, from the decay of natural heat,
neMs the help of artificial warmth : it helps much to abate the cold fits
of agues ; if applied to the stomach, it exceedingly helps the weakness
thereof, because all good digestion being made by heat, and as oatward
cold weakens it by abating that heat, so this outward heat strengtheneth
it much, by adding more warmth to it.  It is also excellent to cure lum-
bago, sciatica, and rheumatism, &c."
  See a curious account of the " Warming Stone, an excellent help really
found out for cold, aged, and sicke people; and for the poore, who may
borrow the heating of this stone at a neighbour's fire, if his charity be
not altogether cold; for it will damnifie him no more than lighting one
candle by another."—4to. 1640.
  t Dyspepsv.—This form of disease, which is, generally speaking, the
effect of folly, indolence, or intemperance, has of late attracted the at-
tention and employed the pens of many writers.  Every succeeding au-
thor  challenges the notice of the  reading and suffering world on the
ground of discoveries which he supposes he has made either in the
pathology or  the treatment  of this dreadful and common malady. 
144       THE  ART  OF  INVIGORATING  LIFE.
   Unless the  constitution is  so  confoundedly de-

bilitated   that  the  circulation  cannot  run   alone,


Among the writers  who have  recently appeared 'on this subject, is a
gentleman of this city, Mr. O. Halstead, who makes pretensions to an
entirely new method of cure.  Mr. H. has lately published a work, which
he entitles, " A full and accurate Account of the new Method of curing
Dyspepsy, discovered and practised by O. Halstead."
  Is there not some room to doubt whether works of this description are
not better calculated to increase the number of dyspeptics than to afford
assistance in the cure of the disease?  Of course many who consider
themselves dyspeptic, and many who are curious to see the new method,
will eagerly purchase and read this book.   The result  may be easily
foreseen.  The non-medical reader will dwell on the section containing
the detail of symptoms, until he feels, or  thinks he feels, all  the symp-
toms in himself!
  It is, however, important that every person should acquaint himself
with the causes which generally produce  this disease, in order that he
may avoid them.  On  this  subject we  say, that every thing which
weakens the system in general, or the stomach in particular, may be a
cause.  An excessive indulgence in warm, relaxing fluids, as  tea, coffee,
and soups,—a similar indulgence in stimulating and acrid materials, as
ardent spirits, tobacco, acids, and snuff,—a daily habit of distending the
stomach  by hard eating and drinking,—rigid abstemiousness and pro-
tracted periods of fasting,—imperfect mastication, and eating  too fast,—
an indolent or sedentary life,—habitual exhaustion from intense study,—
and grief and anxiety of mind,—are among the most frequent and power-
ful causes of dyspepsy, or indigestion.
  Perhaps the principal cause of  the very great prevalence of this dis-
ease, which has  been witnessed in this  country of late years, is our
present  sedentary mode of living.   Our general  mode of living differs
greatly from  what was practised by  our  fathers; indeed there  is a
striking difference within the last thirty years.  Our hours of rising and
going to rest are later; the floors of our houses are covered with thick,
warm carpeting, and the windows and doors are made air-tight; cities
and large towns have multiplied, and have surprisingly increased in
population; and, as  a necessary consequence of this, sedentary occupa-
tions in crowded places have augmented beyond all former example, to
the neglect of those engagements which  carry men abroad into  the
fields and open country, and impose a necessity for active and continued
bodily exertion.
  The  healthful  employments  of  the  farmer and country gentleman
have been in a great measure relinquished  for the  more lucrative  pur-
suits of trade and commerce, which have necessarily brought men in
large bodies into a narrow space,  in which they breathe a deteriorated
and unwholesome atmosphere, and by which they are deprived of the
means of adhering to the regular hours and sober habits of a country
life, while they are exposed  to much greater care  and anxiety.  Even
families of independent fortune consider it necessary, for the sake of
pleasure and society, to reside in large towns or populous cities; thus
they sacrifice their health and comfort to their desire of mixing with the
fashionable world, and indulging in the vanities of splendour and show.
By these means a great degree of general chronic debility is silently 
PEPTIC  PRECEPTS.
145
abstinence  is  the  easiest, cheapest, and  best cure

for the disorders which arise from indigestion or in-


but certainly engendered in the constitution, in which the stomach and
intestines soon begin to sympathize, and of which they largely partake.
  Those who have the misfortune  to be labouring  under indigestion
must remember that the first and most important step to be taken in
the cure is, to quit such habits and pursuits as may have tended to give
rise to the disease and continue to aggravate it: until this is effected, no
remedies can prove of any avail.  If the sufferer leads what is called a
fashionable life, it will be necessary for him  to forsake the haunts and
habits  of dissipation ;  to leave the  crowded city;  to shun luxurious
tables, indolence, and late hours; and to retrace the footsteps by which
he deviated from simple nature, and  to  court  the  country pure air,
moderate exercise, early rising, simple  diet, the  society of a few select
friends, and pleasing occupations.   The man of severe study must in
a great measure lay aside  his books ; the tradesman or merchant will
find it  indispensably necessary to  enjoy relaxation: the hard drinker
must greatly diminish his  potations, especially  of ardent  spirits: and
all  dyspeptics must take exercise in the open air freely, rise early, seek
cheerful conversation,  and  carefully observe  a  moderate  and  correct
diet.
  Smoking and chewing tobacco, and even constant snuffing, have often
produced indigestion ; and when they appear to be causes, the practice
must be less frequently resorted to, or altogether abandoned.  Dr. Cullen
says, " I have found all the symptoms of dyspepsy produced by snuffing,
and particularly pains  in the stomach  occurring every day. The'de-
pendance of these upon the use of snuff became very evident from hence,
that upon an accidental interruption of snuffing for some days, these
pains did not occur; but upon a return to snnffing  the pains also  re-
curred ; and this alternation of pains  in the stomach  and of snuffing
having  occurred again,  the snuff was entirely laid aside, and the pains
did not occur for many months afterward, nor, so far as I know, for  the
rest of life."   In another place the doctor relates a singular case of a
lady to whom this  practice became injurious.   This lady had been  for
more than twenty years accustomed  to take snuff, and that at every
time of the day; but she came at length to observe, that ftnuffing a great
deal before dinner took away her appetite, and that even a single pinch,
taken at any time  in the morning, destroyed almost entirely her  relish
for that meal.  When, however, she abstained wholly from snuff before
dinner, her appetite continued as usual; and after dinner, for the rest of
the day, she took snuff pretty freely without any inconvenience.
  Let the dyspeptic, then, remember that a correct regimen  is of the
Utmost consequence; and  that a strict and constant attention  to it is
absolutely  necessary in order to obtain a  perfect cure.  AH sedentary
occupations must be forsaken as much as possible, and if they can be
entirely given up, the  prospect of complete relief will be  far greater.
Indeed, considerable and permanent advantage can "only be obtained, in
a majority of instances, by relinquishing in a very great  measure  all
such  engagements, and quitting the confined atmosphere and late hours
of  the crowded city, for the pure, dry, bracing air of the country, with
early rising and active exercises.  It is the common neglect of such a
regimen that makes indigestion so rarely and imperfectly cured;  for 
146      THE  ART  OF  INVIGORATING  LIFE.
 temperance.*   I do not mean what Celsus calls the

 first degree  of it,  " when the sick man takes no-

 thing ;" but the second, " when he takes nothing but

 what he ought."

    The chylopoietic organs are uncomfortable when

 entirely unoccupied:  when the stomach  is  too tired

 to work, and too  weak  to be  employed  on actual


 where a high state of chronic debility and nervous irritability have been
 induced by long continued exposure to the depressing effects of confine-
 ment, and intense application to business, literary pursuits, or pleasure,
 no medicine or even diet can be employed with much effect as a sub-
 stitute for country air, daily active exercise, cheerful company, and early
 rising.  The patient should quit his bed at six o'clock in the morning in
 summer, and by 6even  in  the winter;  and after  partaking of a light
 breakfast, take exercise  freely  for two or three hours before dinner.
 After dinner, gentle exercise should again be taken for an hour or two.
   Of all exercises those of walking and riding on horseback are the
 most beneficial, and where the patient's means and strength allow, they
 should be used alternately; but  when the strength is  much reduced,
 exercise on horseback is  almost invariably to be preferred.
   The power of daily  active exercise in the open air in curing indiges-
 tion is very great; indeed, such as would appear to the majority of per-
 sons almost incredible;  and therefore  it cannot be  too much insisted
 on as an indispensable requisite to ensure perfect  freedom  from this
 complaint.  Many medical men lay great stress upon attention to diet,
 as necessary in the treatment of this and other chronic diseases; this is
 all perfectly correct:  but we are fully persuaded that regimen is of still
 greater moment, and experience proves that exercise is the most essen-
 tial branch of the athletic regimen.
   Cheerful company and enlivening conversation, with proper clothing,
are also subjects of importance.  The feet and chest especially should
be kept warm; and if the debility be great, with a considerable reduc-
tion of the narural heat  of the body, a flannel waistcoat worn next the
skin during th«r colder months will be very necessary.  The  bedclothes
should be no more than sufficient to keep the patient comfortably warm,
and a mattress is always  preferable to a featherbed.
  Diet has always been  considered a subject of no small moment in
the treatment of indigestion.  The grand maxim with regard to diet is,
to eat and drink sparingly, at stated intervals, and of food the most
digestible, and of that which agrees best with the  individual. No dys-
peptic should eat more than four times a day, and the periods ought to
be, as near as possible, at regular intervals of four or five hours.  It is
a common, but a dangerous maxim, that  dyspeptics should eat little at
a time and frequently. The necessary medicines must be taken under
the direction of an enlightened physician.—[B.]
   * "By adopting an abstinent plan of diet, even to a degree that pro-
duces a sensation of want in the system, we do that which is  most
likely to create appetite and increase the powers of digestion."—Aber-
nethy. 
PEPTIC  PRECEPTS.            147
 service, it desires something to be introduced to it,
 that will entertain it till it recover its energy.
   After intemperate feasting one day, let the food
 of the following day be liquid, or of such materials
 as are easy of solution.  He  that eats till he is ill,
 must fast till he is well.
   Various expedients have been recommended for
 preventing and relieving the disorders arising from
 too copious libations of "the regal purple stream."
   When a good fellow has been sacrificing rather
 too liberally at the shrine of the jolly god, the best
 remedy  to help the stomach to get rid  of its bur-
 den is, to take for supper some gruel (No. 572, see
 Index), with  half an ounce of butter,  and  a tea-
 spoonful of  Epsom  salt in  it: or two or three pe-
 ristaltic  persuaders, which some persevering gas-
 trophilists take as a provocative to appetite, about
 an hour before dinner.
   Some persons take as a " sequitur" a drachm of
 carbonate of soda.
   Others a teaspoonful of magnesia: when imme-
 diate relief  is  required, never administer this un-
 certain medicine,  which, if the stomach has no
 acid ready, will remain inert;  it  must be  taken,
 only when heartburn* and symptoms of acidity ask
 for it.
   As a finale to the  day of the feast, or the over-
 ture  of the  day  after, take (No. 481*) or two
 drachms of  Epsom salt in  half a pint of beef tea,

  * Persons who complain of that pain in the stomach which is com-
monly called heartburn are generally of a costive habit, and the correc-
tion of that is the cure of the heartburn ; however, sometimes it arises
from insufficient mastication, indigestion, or fasting too  long and then
eating too much.  A tumbler of hot water is likely to afford present
relief as soon as any thing. 
148      THE  ART  OF INVIGORATING  LIFE.
 or some tincture  of rhubarb  in hot water;  for the

 first thing to be done is, to endeavour to get rid of

 the offending material.

   A breakfast  of beef  tea* (No.  563) is an excel-

 lent restorative ;  when the languor following hard

 drinking is  very distressing,  indulge in the hori-

 zontal posture  (see  Siesta); nothing   relieves it so

 effectually, or so soon  cheers  the circulation,  and

 sets all  right;  and get  an  early luncheon  of resto-

 rative  broth or soup.

   Hard drinking is  doubly debilitating when  pur-

 sued beyond the  usual  hour of retiring to  rest.f


  * To make beef or mutton tea.—Cut a pound of lean gravy-meat into
 thin slices ; put it into a quart and half a pint of cold water;  set it over
 a gentle fire,whereitwill become gradually warm ; when the scum rises
 catch it,  cover the saucepan close, and let it continue boiling for about
 two hours ; skim the fat off; strain it through a sieve or a napkin ; skim
 it again; let it stand ten minutes to settle, and then pour off the clear
 tea.  To make  half a  pint  of beef tea  in five minutes for  three half-
 pence, see  (No. 252), and to make good mutton broth for nothing, (No.
 490.)
  N.B.—An onion, and a few grains of black pepper,  &c.  are some-
 times added.  If the meat is boiled till it is thoroughly tender, mince it
 and pound it as directed in (No. 503) of the Cook's Oracle, and you
 may have a dish of potted beef for the trouble of making it.
  f The  habit of intemperance may in some instances be checked by ope-
rating skilfully upon the mind.  If the  drunkard be not lost  to all feel-
ing, much may be done by representing to him the state of misery into
which he will plunge himself, his family, and his friends. Some men,
by a strong effort, have dropped the use of liquors at  once in consequence
of such representations.
  A feeling of perversity has, in  some instances, been known to effect a
cure of intemperance.  " A gentleman of Philadelphia who was afflicted
with  a drunken wife, put a cask of  rum in her way,  in the charitable
hope  that she would drink herself to death.  She suspected the scheme,
and from a  mere principle of contradiction abstained ever after from all
use of the bottle."
  Sometimes an attack of disease has the effect of breaking habits of
 drunkenness.  Many gentlemen  who have had attacks of apoplexy and
 have  fortunately recovered, have been so alarmed as to abstain in future
 life from  the use of all liquids stronger than simple water.
  It is difficult to give  any general directions in regard to the regimen
 of a reformed drunkard; this must depend upon different circumstances,
 such as  age, constitution, predispositions, and former manner of living.
 As a general rule, we may say, it ought to be as little heating as possible;
 perhaps  a  milk or vegetable diet will be preferable to any other.  But 
PEPTIC PRECEPTS.
149
   Those  devotees  to the bottle who  never suffer

the  orgies  of Bacchus  to  encroach  on  the time

which  nature  demands for sleep, escape with  im-

punity  many of the evils which soon and irrepara-

bly impair the health of the midnight  reveller.

   A facetious  observer of the inordinate degree in

which some people will indulge their palate, to  the

gratification of which they  sacrifice all their other

senses, recommends  such to have their soup sea-

soned with  a tasteless  purgative,  as the food of in-

sane persons  sometimes is; and so prepare their

bowels  for the hard work  they  are going  to give

them!!

   To let the stomach have  a holyday occasionally,

i.  c.  a liquid  diet,  of broth  and vegetable soup, is

one of the most agreeable and  most wholesome

ways of  restoring its  tone.    See, in the Index,

Food for those whose  teeth are defective.

   If your appetite be languid, take additional exer-

cise in a pure open air, or  dine half an hour later

than usual, and so  give time for the gastric juices


there are cases in which food of a richer quality may be found necessary
as where there is much debility and emaciation of body, or in old age.
  Enervated  drunkards will reap much benefit by a removal to the
country if the town has been their usual residence.   The pure air and
free exercise of the country will speedily renovate their feeble constitu-
tions.  Warm or cold bathing will occasionally be of service, according
to circumstances.  Bitters are not to be advised, especially if employed
in connexion  with spirits.  Chalybeates may be of use where there is
much debility.
  As a motive to reform let the drunkard read deliberately the catalogue
of dreadful diseases which sooner or later result from his beastly habits.
These he will find detailed with great  vividness and force in many mod-
em publications, but in none more clearly than in the writings of Dr.
Rush.
  A French physician states, that he has ascertained that the dilute sul-
phuric acid, in the dose of 10 drops in  a quarter of a pint of water three
times a day, tends to diminish the propensity to drinking ardent spirits.
This prescription is deserving  trial by such  as wish to become sober
men.—[B]
                         N2 
150      THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.
to assemble in full force, or dine upon fish or Chi-
nese soup, i. e. tea.
   If these simple means are ineffectual, the next
step is, to produce  energetic vibration  in  the ali-
mentary  tube, without  exciting inordinate action
or debilitating depletion, and to empty the bowels
without irritating them.
   Sometimes, when  the  languor occasioned  by
dyspepsia, &c. is extreme, the torpor of the system
becomes  so tremendous that no stimulus will help
it, and the heart feels as if it was tired of beating,
a moderate  dose of a quickly  operating aperient,
i. e. half  an ounce of tincture  of rhubarb, or two
drachms  of Epsom  salts in a tumbler of hot water,
will speedily restore its wonted energy.
   The stomach is the centre of sympathy: if the
most minute fibre of the human frame be hurt, in-
telligence of the injury instantaneously arrives, and
the stomach is disturbed in proportion to the im-
portance  of the member and the  degree in which
it is offended.
   If either the body or the mind be distressed, the
stomach  invariably  sympathizes.
   If the  most robust do any thing  too much, the
stomach  is soon affronted, and  does too little: un-
less this  mainspring of health be in perfect adjust-
ment, the machinery of life will vibrate with lan-
guor,  especially, those parts which  are naturally
weak,  or have  been  injured  by accidents, &c.
Constipation is  increased  in costive habits, and
diarrhoea in such as are subject thereto;  and  all
chronic complaints  are exasperated,  especially in
persons past the age of 35 years.
   Of the various helps  to science, none, perhaps, 
PEPTIC  PRECEPTS.
151
more rapidly facilitates the  acquirement of know-
ledge than analogical reasoning; or illustrating an
art we are ignorant of by one we  are acquainted
with.
   The human frame may be compared to a watch,
of which the heart is the mainspring, the stomach
the regulator, and what we  put into it the  key by
which the machine is wound up; according to the
quantity, quality, and proper digestion of what we
eat* and drink will be the pace of the  pulse, and the
action of the system in general:  when we observe
a due proportion between the quantum of exercise
and that  of excitement,  all goes well.  If the
machine be disordered,  the same expedients are
employed for its readjustment as are used by the
watchmaker;  it must be carefully cleaned,  and ju-
diciously oiled.
   Eating salads  after  dinner, and  chilling the sto-
mach, and checking the progress of digestion by
swilling cold soda-water, are other  vulgar errors.
  It is your superfluous second courses, and ridicu-
lous variety of wines, liqueurs, ices,  desserts, &c.
(which are served up more to pamper the pride of
the host than to gratify the appetite of the  guests)
that overcome  the stomach, paralyze digestion,
and seduce  " children of larger growth" to sacrifice
the health  and  comfort of several days,  for the
baby-pleasure of tickling  their tongues for a few
minutes with champaign, custards, and trifles, &c.!
These are  the  occasions when Sancho PanzoHs

 * " It is but increasing or diminishing the velocity of certain fluids in
the animal machine—to elate the soul with the gayest hopes, or to sink
her into the deepest despair; to depress the hero into a coward, or ad-
vance the coward into a hero."—Fitzosbornb's Letters. 
152      THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.
physician, Doctor Snatchaway, prescribes  so  judi-

ciously.

   Most of those  who  have written  on  what, by a

strange perversion  of language, are  most non-m-

turally termed the  non-naturals, have  merely laid

before the public  a nonsensical register of the  pe-

culiarities of their own palate, and the idiosyncrasies

of their own  constitution.*

   Some   omnivorous   cormorants  have   such   an

ever-craving  appetite, that  they are raging with


   * "Salt, pepper, and mustard, ay, vinegarf too,
     Are quite as unwholesome as curry, I vow;
     All lovers of goose, duck, or pig, I'll engage,
     That eat it with onion, salt, pepper, or sage,
     Will find ill effects from 't; and therefore, no doubt,
     Their prudence should tell them—best eat it without.
     But, alas ! these are subjects on which there's no reas'ning
     For you'll still eat your goose, duck, or pig with its seas'nin;
     And what is far worse, notwithstanding my huffing,
     You'll make for your hare and your veal a good stuffing;
     And, I fear, if a leg of good mutton you boil,
     With sauce of vile capers that mutton you'll spoil;
   '"And though, as you think, to procure good digestion,
     A mouthful of cheese is the best thing in question,
   ; 'In Gath do not tell, nor in Askalon blab it,'
   '.^You're strictly forbidden to eat a Welch rabbit.
     And bread, ' the main staff of our life,' some will call
     No more nor no less than ' the worst thing of all.'"
  Some minute philosopher has published an 8vopamphlet  of 56 pages!
on the omnipotent " virtues of a crust of bread eaten, early in the morn-
ing,fasting '. .'"  We have no doubt it is an admirable specific for that
grievous disorder of the stomach called hunger.
  t " Vinegar, taken frequently and freely we know to be destructive
to the stomach.  When slenderness of waist was particularly in request,
many women totally ruined the digestive faculty by vinegar."—Dr.
Beddoes.
  " Mustard, though one of the mildest of the condiments, is capable, in
the form of sinapism, of vesicating the sole of the foot, over which is
spread the thickest epidermis on the whole surface of the body.  Must
not such a  substance be hurtful to a delicate stomach ?  Therefore, to
mustard and pepper I have never accustomed myself from infancy up-
ward ; and I remain a proof of the  truth of my own doctrine, few
persons being more exempt from dyspepsia.  All these articles ought,
therefore, to be denied to children, which will be one grand step to make
them dislike every hot ingredient  in diet when they grow up."—Dr.
Trotter. 
PEPTIC  PRECEPTS.
153
hunger as soon as they open  their eyes, and  bolt
half-a-dozen hard eggs before they are well awake :
others  are  so perfectly restored* by that  " chief
nouiisher of life's feast," balmy sleep, that they do
not think about eating till they have been up  and
actively employed for several  hours.
   The  strong food which is proper for a porter or
a ploughman, and which the strong action of strong
bodies requires, 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 is with a load that
is too heavy for him,  and, under the  idea of swal-
lowing what are called strengthening, nourishing
things, will very soon make  themselves ready for
the undertaker.
   Some people seem to think that the more plen«-
tifully they stuff themselves the  better they must
thrive, and the stronger they must grow.
   It is  not the quantity that is swallowed, but that
which is digested, which nourishes us.
   A moderate meal, well digested, renders the body
vigorous ;  glutting it  with  superfluity  (which  is
only turned into  excrement instead of aliment, and
if not  speedily evacuated) not only oppresses the
system, but produces all sorts of disorders.
   Some are continually inviting indigestion by eat-
ing water-cresses or  other undressed vegetables,!
" to sweeten their blood," or oysters, " to enrich it."

  * " People are an inch taller in the morning than they are at night."—
Phil. Trans.
  f Are very crude, indigestible materials for a weak stomach, unless
wanned by (No. 372); with the assistance of which, and plenty of pep-
per, you may eat even cucumber with impunity.  Almost all nations
concur in joining oil, vinegar, and pepper to these kinds of food. 
 154     THE ART OF INVIGORATING  LIFE.

   Others fancy* their dinner cannot digest till they
 have closed  the  orifice of  their  stomach with a
 certain portion of cheese ;  if the preceding dinner
 has been a light one, a little bit of cheese  after it
 may not do much  harm, but  its character  for en-
 couraging concoction is undeserved:  there  is not a
 more absurd vulgar error than  the  often-quoted
 proverb, that
             " Cheese is a surly elf,
              Digesting all things but itself."
   A third  never  eats goose, &c. without  remem-
 bering that brandy or cayenne is the Latin for it.
   A much less portion of stimulus is necessary after
 a hearty meal of califactive materials, such as good
 beef or mutton, than after a maigre dinner of fish, &c.
   Another  vulgar error in the school of good liv-
 ing is, that " good eating requires  good drinking."
 Good  eating  generally  implies  highly-seasoned
 viands—the savoury herbs and stimulating spices
 with  which these haut gouts  are sprinkled and
 stuffed, &c. are sufficient to encourage  the diges-
 tive faculties to work  " con amore," without any
 " douceur" of vinous irrigation—but  many persons
 make it a rule, after  eating pig, &c. to take  a glass
 of liqueur or eau de  vie, &c. ;  or, as when  used in
this manner, it would be  as properly called, ueau
 de mort."
   Indigestion, or, to use the phrase of the day, a
biliousf attack, as often arises from  over-exertion,

  * " I would sooner encounter the prejudices of any sick man, rather
 than those of a nervous glutton."—Dr. Trotter.
  1 " There is no error more common or more mischievous among dys-
 peptic, hypochondriacal, and hysterical invalids, than to suppose them-
 selves bilious.  The bile '. the bile '. is the general watchword among
 them, and they think they can never sufficiently work it off with aloes.
 magnesia, &c—Dr. Beddoes on Indigestion. 
PEPTIC  PRECEPTS.
155
or anxiety of mind, as from refractory food:  it fre-
quently  produces flatulence,*  and  flatulence pro-
duces palpitation of the heart, which is most diffi-
cult to stop when  it comes on about an hour or
two after a meal;  the stomach is incapable of pro-
ceeding in its business from being  over-distended
with wind, which, pressing on the heart and larger
vessels, obstructs the circulation—as soon as this
flatulence is dispelled, all goes well again—inflating
the lungs to the utmost, i. e. take in as much breath as
you can, and holding it as long as you can, will some-
times act as a counterbalance, and produce relief.
   This is the first  thing to do when  this distress-
ing spasm  attacks  you;  if it is  not immediately
checked, take a strong peppermint, or ginger lo-
zenge, sit, or if  possible lie down  and loosen all
ligatures,—the horizontal posture and perfect quiet
are grand panaceas  in  this disorder; if these do
not soon settle it, take some stimulus : sometimes a
teacupful of hot water, with a teaspoonful of com-
mon salt hi it, will suffice—or a couple of glasses
of wine,  or one  of brandy in  two  of hot water:
either of these will generally soon restore sufficient
energy to the stomach to  enable it  to  expel the
enemy that offends it, and  set the circulation to
work freely again.  If these means are not speedily
efficacious, take half an ounce of tincture of rhu-
barb, or a quarter of an ounce of  Epsom salt, in
half a pint of hot water.
  * Dr. Radcliffe, who succeeded better by speaking plainly to his pa-
tients than some of his successors have by the most subtle politeness,
when asked what was the best remedy for wind in the stomach, replied,
"That which will expel it quickest;" inquiring of the ventose subject
whether the wind passed per ascensum vel per descensum, observing,
that the former is the most aggravated state of ventriloquism, the latter
a sign that the bowels are recovering their healthful tone.
I 
 156    THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.

   If this complaint comes on when the bowels are
 costive, they must  be  put in motion as speedily
 as  possible, by the means above, or those recom-
 mended in the following pages.
   It will sometimes come on during the collapsed
 state of the system, from fasting too long.
   Those who take no food between an early break-
 fast and a late dinner, for fear, as they term it, of
 spoiling the latter meal, generally complain of flatu-
 lence, 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 inordinately indulg-
 ing an appetite  so over-excited;  they are ready to
 gobble down a meal at a mouthful, and a baron of
 beef, a pail of port wine, and a  tubful of tea will
 scarcely satisfy them.
  The languor  of inanition, and the fever of re-
 pletion, may be  easily avoided  by eating  a  lun-
 cheon, solid and nutritive, in proportion as the  din-
 ner is  protracted, and the activity of the exercise
 to be taken in the mean time.
   The oftener you eat, the less  ought to be eaten
 at a time ;  and the less you eat at a time, the oftener
you ought to  eat: a weak stomach  has 'a much
better chance of digesting two light meals than one
heavy one.
  The stomach should be allowed time to empty
itself before we fill  it again.
  There is not  only a considerable difference in
 the digestibility of various foods, but also of the
 time required by different stomachs to digest them,
 the sign of which is the return of appetite. 
PEPTIC PRECEPTS.
157
   Very old  and very young persons want frequent

feeding—the former from insufficient, the latter from

too rapid absorption.

   The digestion of aliment is perfect, and quickly

performed, in proportion to the keenness  of our ap-

petite  at  the time of  taking it, more or less perfect

mastication, and the vigorous state  of  the  organs

of  digestion:  as  a  general  rule,  the  interval  of

fasting should seldom be less than  three, nor more

than five hours,*—digestion being  generally com-

pleted within that  time.


  * " My stomach digests food so slowly, that I cannot study for five or
six hours after a very sparing dinner."—Spallanzani.
  " The time which is necessary  for finishing the first digestion is va-
rious, according to the nature of the food and strength of the constitu-
tion.  Liquids soon pass through it, and are received into the blood more
unaltered ; and the more solid the food is, the longer time is required. It
appears from several experiments, that common solid food in a healthy
person is in the space of six hours entirely discharged from the stom-
ach, changed into laudable chyle, and begins to flow into the blood.
Lower, assisted  by these  experiments, shows, that in two hours after
the chyle is received into  the blood, it is changed into milk, and circu-
lates through the vessels in that form; and in two hours more, by the
continued force of the heart and vessels acting on it, but particularly
those of the lungs, it is changed  into serum, which is a perfect animal
fluid, and contains all the materials necessary for  repairing the solids
and fluids of the body."—Barry on Digestion.
  " If the quantity of fbod be given, its quality will cause a difference in
the time of digestion; for instance, slimy and viscid meats are longer in
digesting in the stomach than meats of a contrary nature; the flesh of
some young animals is not so soon digested as the flesh of the same
animals arrived at their full growth; thus veal and lamb are not so soon
digested as beef and mutton.
  " A man who took a vomit every second night for some months, ob-
served, that when he had  taken chicken for dinner, he always threw it
up undigested, but never threw up any of his food undigested when he
made his dinner of beef or mutton."—Bryan Robinson on the Food and
Discharges of Human Bodies.
  Beef and mutton seem to give less trouble to the stomach than any
kind of poultry.
  The following is copied from Dr. Scudamoreon Gout, being some of
the experiments related by Mr. Astley Cooper, in his lecture delivered at
the Royal College of Surgeons in  1814, which have only been published
in Dr. S.'s book, who informs us, they were performed upon dogs, with
a view to ascertain the comparative solvent power of the gastric juice
upon different articles of food.
                             0 
158     THE  ART  OF INVIGORATING  LIFE.

   The fashion at the present day has introduced a
much longer fast (" a windy recreation," as  Father
Paul assures the lay brother) than even  the elas-
ticity of robust health can endure, without distress-
ing  the  adjustment of the system,  and creating
such  an over-excited appetite, that the  stomach
does not feel as  if it has  had enough  till  it finds
that it has been crammed too much.*
   The  difference  between dining  half  an  hour
sooner or half an hour later than usual, is  that—
   If you  dine sooner, you require  less food and
less drink to comfortably and perfectly restore you,
without any danger of repletion.
   If you dine later, as  nature  becomes extremely
exhausted,  you  are in  great danger of not only
eating too much,  but of drinking till you are half-
drunk, and being extremely ill all night and n ext day.

                     Experiment 5.
                                              Loss by
   Food.        Form.       Quantity.    Animal killed.    Digestion.
  Cheese,      Square.     100 parts.      4 hours.      76
  Mutton,      ------      ------       ------       65
  Pork,       ------      ------       ------       36
  Veal,        ------      ------       ------       15
  Beef,        ------      ------       ------       U
                     Experiment 6.
  Beef,     Long and nar.  100 parts.      2 hours.       0
  Rabbit,       ------      ------       ------        0
  Codfish,------------------       ------        4
 Roast Veal.    Do.      100 parts.      2 hours.       7
 Boiled do.    ------      ------        ------       30
 * " Those who have weak stomachs will be better able to digest their
food if they take their meals at regular hours ; because they have both
the stimulus of the aliment they take, and the periodical habit to assist
digestion."—Darwin.
 "We often tease and disorder  our stomachs by fasting for too long
a period; and when we have thus  brought on what I may call a discon-
tented state of the organ, unfitting it for its office, we set to a meal and
fill it to its utmost, regardless of its powers or its feelings."—Aber-
HKTHY. 
PEPTIC  PRECEPTS.
159
          When hunger* calls, obey; nor often wait
          Till hunger sharpen to corrosive pain;
          For the keen appetite will feast beyond
          What nature well can bear."

  This important  truth  we would  most strongly
press on the consideration of those who  attend our
courts of law, legislative  halls,  &c.
  Many industrious  professional men, in order to
add a few pounds to  their income, in a  few years
are quite worn  out,  from their digestive faculties
being continually disordered and fretted for want
of regular supplies of food, and sufficient sleep.
   An  egg boiled in  the  shell for five minutes, or
les tablettes de  bouillon (No.  252), and a bit of
bread, are a convenient  provision against the for-
mer ; the siesta is the best succedaneum for the latter.
   The sensation of  hunger arises from the  gastric
juices acting upon the coats of the stomach : how
injurious it must be  to fast so  long, that,  by neg-
lecting to  supply it with  some  alimentary sub-
stance which this fluid was  formed to dissolve,
the  stomach becomes in danger of being digested
itself!!!
   Those who feel a gnawing, as they call it,  in
their stomach should not wait till the stated hour
of dinner, but eat a  little forthwith, that the stom-
 ach may have something to work upon.
   By too long  fasting,  wind  accumulates in the
 stomach, especially  of those who have  passed the
 meridian of life, and produces a distressing flatu-
 lence, languor, faintness,  giddiness, intermitting
 pulse, palpitation of the heart, Sic.

  * "A philosopher, being asked what was the best time to dine, answered,
 For a rich man, when he could get a stomach; for a poor man, when
 he could get meat." 
160     THE  ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.

  If the morning has been occupied by anxiety in
business,  or  the mind or body is  fatigued  by
over-exertion,  these symptoms  will   sometimes
come on about  an  hour or two before the usual
time of dining:  well masticating a bit of biscuit,
and letting  a strong peppermint lozenge dissolve in
the mouth as  soon as you feel the first symptoms
of flatulence,  will often pacify the stomach,  and
prevent the increase of these complaints.
  Dr. Whytt, whose observations on nervous dis-
orders  are valuable, inasmuch as they are (like
this work) the authentic narrative of experience,
says, " When my stomach has been weak, after I
have been  indisposed, I have  often found myself
much better for a glass of claret and a bit of bread
an hour or more before dinner,—and I have ordered
it in the same way to others, and  again in the
evening,  an hour or more before supper,  with
advantage."
  There is no doubt of the propriety of Dr.  W.'s
prescription ; the author's own feelings bear witness
to it.   When his circulation has  been  below par,
he has often taken a couple of glasses of sherry,
or a  tumbler of strong ale, an hour or half an hour
before  dinner, with the best  effect.  The process
of digestion cannot commence  until the circulation
is sufficient to stimulate the stomach to exert those
powers by  which the process  of  digestion is pro-
duced.  He has often sat down to dinner with no
idea  of eating;  but  after a glass  or two of wine,
his stomach has come with good temper, and hav-
ing made an excellent  meal, which has  digested
well, he has recovered from a languid indisposition
which had lasted the two or three days  preceding: 
■ PEPTIC PRECEPTS.
161
however, as a  constant practice, nothing can be
less  advisable.
  For those who are just  recovering  from  dis-
eases which have left them  in a state of great de-
bility, a glass of wine and a bit of bread, or  a cup
of good beef tea, are  perhaps as good tonics as
any; they not only remove languor,  but at the
same time furnish nutriment.
  In cases of convalescence, to prolong a medici-
nal course,  for the sake  of merely still further
strengthening, after the natural desire has returned
for wholesome  and substantial food, is a practice
that  appears to  me contrary to common sense,
although it be not altogether so to ordinary rou-
tine.   Under such circumstances, " to throw in the
bark" is, to those who are asking for bread, giving
a  stone.  It is  only what  nourishes that invigo-
rates.
   "  For physic—metaphysic (as a lady wrote to
her sick son), all depend  upon  the inspiration of
roast beef.  If you would do well, you must eat
and  digest like a ploughman; nay, if you would
walk well, write  well, think well," Sic. Sic.—Dr.
Beddoes on  Nourishment.
   "  Medicine, as  it is usually administered, inter-
feres with appetite before a meal, and with  diges-
tion after it."
   We have known weak  stomachs,  when kept
fasting beyond the time they expected, become so
exhausted, they would  refuse to receive any solid
food, until restored to good  temper, and wound
up by wine or other stimulus, as instinct proposed.
   Feeble persons, who are subject to  sudden at-
tacks of languor, should always travel armed with
                       02 
162      THE  ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.


a pocket  pistol charged with a couple of  glasses

of white wine, or " veritable eau  de  vie," a  bis-

cuit, and some strong peppermint or ginger lozen-

ges,  or see "  Tablettes de  Bouillon" (No. 252):—

when their stomach is uneasy from emptiness, &c,

these crutches  will  support  the  circulation,  and

considerably  diminish,  and  sometimes  entirely

prevent, the  distressing effects which invalids are

apt to suffer from too long a fast.*

   What a contrast there is  between the materials

of the  morning  meal A.  D. 1550,  when  Queen

Elizabeth's  maids of honour began the day with a

round of beef, or  a red herring, and  a flagon  of

ale,—and in  1828, when  the sportsman, and even

the  day-labourer, breakfast on  what  cooks  call

" Chinese soup," i.  e. tea!


  * " When four hours be past after breakfast, a man may safely taste
his dinner. The most convenient time for dinner is about eleven of the
clor.ke before noone. In 1570, this was the usual time of serving it in the
university of Oxford; elsewhere,  about noone. It commonly consisted
of boy led biefev with pottage, bread, and beere, and no more.   The quan-
tity of biefe was in value an halfe-penny for each  mouth: they supped
at five of the clocke in the afternoon."— Cogan's Haven of Health, 1584.
  Early hours were as genteel in Dr. Cogan's time as late ones are now.
  " Perhaps none  of our old English customs have undergone so tho-
rough a change as the hours of rising, taking refreshment, the number
of meals per day, and the time of retiring to rest.
  " The stately dames of Edward IV.'s court rose with the lark, des-
patched their din ner at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, and shortly after eight
were wrapt in slumber.   How would these  reasonable people (reason-
able at least in this respect) be astonished, could they but be witnesses
to the present distribution of time among the children of fashion ! Would
they not call the perverse conduct of those who rise at one or two, dine
at eight, and retire to bed when the morning is unfolding all its glories,
and Nature putting on her most pleasing aspect, absolute insanity V—
Warnkr's Antiq. Cul.
  "The modern hours of eating have arrived at an excess that is per-
fectly ridiculous.  Now, what do people get by this 7  If they make din-
ner their principal meal, and do not wish to pall their appetite by eating
before it, they injure their health.  Then in winter they have two  hours
of candlelight before dinner, and in summer they are at table during the
pleasantest part of the day ; and  all this to get a long morning for idle
people, to whom one would  suppose  the shortest morning would seem,
too long."—Pxb's Sketches. 
PEPTIC PRECEPTS.             163
   Swift has jocosely  observed, such is the extent
of modern epicurism,  that the " world must be  en-
compassed before a washerwoman can sit down to
breakfast," i.  e. by a  voyage to the East for tea,
and to the West for sugar.
   In the Northumberland household-book for 1512,
we are  informed that  "a thousand  pounds was
the sum annually expended in housekeeping;" this
maintained 166 persons.   Wheat was then 5*.  8d.
per quarter.
   "The  family  rose at six in the  morning; my
lord and my lady had set on their table  for break-
fast, at seven  o'clock  in the morning,—
             A quart of beer,
             A quart of wine,
             Two pieces of salt fish,
             Half a dozen red herrings,
             Four white ones, and
             A dish of sprats !!!
   " They dined  at ten, supped at four in the after-
noon,  the gates  were  all shut  at  nine, and  no
further ingress or egress permitted."
        " Time was, a sober Englishman would knock
          His servants up, and rise by five o'clock."
                                       Popb.
                     But now,
           " The gentleman who dines the latest
             Is in our street esteemed the greatest;
             But surely, greater than them all
             Is he who never dines* at all."
  * "A wag, on being told it was the fashion to dine later and  later
every day, said, he supposed it would end at last in not dining till to-
morrow."
  Dr. Paris remarks, " With regard to the proper period at which in-
valids should dine, physicians entertain but one opinion: it should be in
the middle of the day, or about two or three o'clock." Perhaps the old-
fashioned republican custom of our fathers of dining from twelve to one
o'clock is as wise and proper as any other.—[B.] 
164       THE  ART  OF INVIGORATING  LIFE.


  DINNERS AT NIGHT AND SUPPERS IN THE MORNING.

         A few Cautionary Hints to Modern Fashionables.

             " The ancients did delight, forsooth,
               To sport in allegoric truth;
              Apollo, as we long have read since,
              Was god of music and of med'cines.
              In prose, Apollo is the sun,
              And when he has his course begun,
              The allegory then implies
              'Tis time for wise men to arise;
              For ancient sages all commend
              The morning as the Muse's friend.
              But modern wits are seldom able
              To sift the moral of this fable:
               But give to sleep's oblivious power
              The treasures of the morning hour,
              And leave reluctant, and with pain,
              With feeble nerve, and muddy brain,
              Their  favourite couches late at noon,
              And quit them then, perhaps, too soon,
              Mistaking, by a sun-blind sight,
               The night for day, and day for  night.
              Quitting their healthful guide Apollo,
              What fatal follies do they follow !
              Dinners at night, and in the morn
              Suppers, serv'd up as if in scorn
              Of Nature's wholesome regulations,
              Both in their viands and potations.
              Besides, Apollo is M. D.,
              As all  mythologists agree,
              And skill'd in herbs, and all their virtues,
              As well as Ayton is, or Curtis.
              No doubt, his excellence would stoop
              To dictate a receipt for soup,
              Show  as much skill in  dressing salad,
              As in composing of a ballad,
              'Twixt health and riot draw a line,
              And teach us how and when to dine.
              The stomach, that great organ, soon,
              If overcharg'd, is out of tune,
              Blown up with wind that sore annoys
              The ear with most unhallow'd noise !
              Now all these sorrows and diseases
              A man may fly from if he pleases;
              For rising early will restore
              His powers to what they were before,
              Teach him to dine at Nature's call,
              And to sup lightly, if at all;
              Teach  him each morning to preserve
              The active brain and steady nerve;
              Provide him with a share of health
              For the pursuit of fame or wealth;
              And leave the folly of night dinners
              To fools, and dandies, and old sinners!" 
PEPTIC PRECEPTS.
165
    That distressing interruption of the circulation,

 which is called " nightmare," " globus hystericus,"

 " spasms,"  " cramp," or " gout,"  in the  stomach,

 with  which few who have passed the meridian of

 life*  are so fortunate  as not to  be  too  well  ac-

 quainted, arises  from the same  causes, which, in

 the day produce intermitting pulse, palpitation of

 the heart, Sic.

    The  author   is now in his forty-eighth year,f

 and  has  been  from his  tenth year occasionally

 afflicted with these disorders; frequently without

 being  able  to  imagine what  has produced them:

 sometimes he has not been  attacked with  either of

 these complaints for many months ; they have then

 seized him for a week or  more, and as unaccount-

 ably ceased.

    The nightmare has  generally come on about

 three o'clock in  the morning, at the termination of

 the first, or rather at  the commencement of  the

 second  sleep : quite  as often when he  has taken

 only a liquid or very  light supper, as when he has


  * " It is at the commencement of decline, i. e. about our 40th year, that
 the stomach begins to require peculiar care and precaution.  People who
 have been subject to indigestions before have them then more frequent
 and more violent; and those who have never been so afflicted begin to
 suffer them from slight causes ; a want of attention to which too fre-
 quently leads to the destruction of the best constitutions, especially of
 the studious, who neglect to take due exercise.  The remedy proposed
 is ipecacuanha, in a dose that will not occasion any nausea, but enough
 to excite such an increased action of the vermicular movement of the
 Btomach, that the phlegm may be separated and expelled from that organ.
  " The effects of it surpassed his most sanguine hopes; by the use of
 it, notwithstanding he had naturally a delicate constitution, he weathered
 the storms of the Revolution," &.c, and lived to be 84.
 The above is an extract from Dr. Buchan's translation of Mr. Dau-
 benton's Observations on Indigestion.  This treatise brought ipecacu-
anha lozenges  into fashion, as the most easy and agreeable manner of
 taking it: they should contain about one-sixth of a grain.
 t Dr. Kitchiner died February 27,1827, having scarcely completed his
48th birthday .—W.B.K. 
 166     THE ART OF  INVIGORATING  LIFE.

 eaten some solid food, and gone to bed soon after;
 and  most  frequently  after  he  has  dined*  out:
 not from the quantity, but the  quality  of the food
 and drink he has taken, and the change of the time
 of taking it.
   It is  occasioned by want of action in the system,
 and generally  preceded and  accompanied  by a
 distressing  languor  (which, if not removed, may
 proceed to  produce palsy or death),  caused either
 by depression of the  power of the heart by over-
 exertion of the body,  or anxiety of  the mind,  ob-
 struction of the peristaltic motion by an overload
 of indigestible matter, or interruption of the per-
 formance of the restorative process.
   It is  not to be prevented  by  abstinence: during
 the time that the author was trying the effect of a
 spare diet he was most frequently afflicted with it.
—See obs. on Sleep, Sic.  It is only  to be relieved
by stimulants, and in an extreme case by a quickly
 acting aperient,  Sic,.   See following pages.
   Some  persons are  peculiarly subject to night-
mare when  they lie on their back,—others, if on
their left side: when the author has any disposi-
tion to  this malady, it is  exasperated if he lies upon
his right side,   especially during the first part of
the night: it is  a good  custom to  lie one half of
the night on one side, and  the other  half on the
other.
  * Delicate people who are accustomed to dine at a certain hour, on
certain food, <fec. are generally deranged as often as they dine out, and
change the hour, &c.
  The author has a patient who never dines out without suffering se-
verely for several days after, not from over-eating or drinking, &c, but
 from the change of diet, and the time of taking it. His custom is, to
make a hearty meal off one dish at five o'clock, and drink with it some
 good, heartening home-brewed beer, and two or three glasses of cordial
 wine that has not been kept till it has lost its best qualities. 
PEPTIC PRECEPTS.
167
   When  this appalling  pause of the  circulation
 takes place, he  wakes with the idea that another
 minute of such suspended action will'terminate his
 existence.  His first recourse is, to force the action
 of the lungs, by breathing as quick and as deep as
 possible.   He feels very languid, and to prevent a
 return of the  fit drinks a couple of glasses of white
 wine, or half a wineglass of brandy  in  a wine-
 glass of peppermint water.
  Sometimes the disorder does not terminate with
 one paroxysm, but recurs as soon as sleep returns.
 When this is the case, get half a tumbler of hot
 water, add to it 50 drops  of sal volatile, or a wine-
 glass of peppermint water, and half that quantity of
 tincture of rhubarb,  or  a teaspoonful  of  Epsom
 salts, or  two or  three "peristaltic persuaders."
 He has sometimes found more  immediate  and per-
 manent relief from drinking a tumbler of water as
 hot as he could swallow it, than from any thing else.
 Persons who are subject to these  attacks should
have a nurse's lamp, or a semiumbra, standing on
 a table  near them, which will keep half a pint of
water hot all night.
  The symptom of security from a return of the
fit is  a  vermicular sensation,  betokening  that the
peristaltic motion  and the circulation are restored
to their regular pace again.
  The tremendous visitations of this  terrible disor-
der which the author has described above, he now
believes were brought on by intense mental labour;
for he first suffered so extremely in 1821, during
the last year that he was working at " the  Cook's
 Oracle,"  and to his restless and extreme anxiety to
 endeavour to render  that and this  present work 
168     THE ART  OF INVIGORATING  LIFE.
 worthy the unbounded confidence with which they

 have been received, he attributes the failing of his

 health at  that time; which,  since the completion

 of these works, he has perfectly recovered.

    His belief that many sudden and unaccountable

 deaths  in the night* have arisen from invalids  not

 knowing how to manage  this disorder, induced  the

 author to  relate his own  personal experience con-

 cerning  it, and the remedies which  he has found

 effectual to remove it


          " Non ignara mali, miseris succurrere disco."


    He never  could have investigated  and  written

 on  these subjects with half the  accuracy he has,

 had he not derived his knowledge  from his own

 personal experience, and from his  own sensations.

   The  author's case  is  very similar to what  Dr.

 Whytt relates  of himself in  his observations  on

 nervous, hysteric, and hypochondriac disorders,! by


  * " It is very probable, that people who are found dead in their beds,
 after going to bed well, usually die of the nightmare."—Dr. Clarke.
  t Dr. W.  says, " When the stomach is in a sound state, and digestion
 is  properly  performed, the spirits are good, and the body is  light and
 easy; but when that organ is out of order, a languor, debility, discon-
 tent, melancholy, watchfulness, or troublesome dreams, the nightmare,
 See. are the consequences. I have often been seized with a slight incu-
bus, attended with a faintness, as if the circulation was a good  deal
obstructed, before I was fully asleep, which has made me get up  sud-
denly.  While I lay awake I felt nothing of these  symptoms, except
some degree of uneasiness about my stomach; but when I was just
about to fall asleep, they began to return again."  " In this way I have
gone on for two or three hours, or more, in the beginning of the night.
At last, I found that a dram of brandy, after the first attack, kept me
easy the whole night."   " When affected with uneasy sensation from
wind, I have not only been sensible of a general debility and flatness of
spirits, but the unexpected opening of a door, or any such trifling un-
foreseen accident, has instantly occasioned an odd sensation about my
heart, extending itself to my head and arms, &c.  At other times, when
my stomach is in a firmer state, I have no such feeling, at least in a very
small degree, from causes which might be thought more apt to produce
them. Fainting, tremors, palpitations of the heart, convulsive motions, 
PEPTIC  PRECEPTS.
169
  which, Dr. Cullen, in his clinical lectures, says,
  " he has done more than all his predecessors."
    Mr.  Waller has written a very sensible essay on
  the  nightmare.   He says, " it most frequently pro-
  ceeds from acidity in the stomach," and " recom-
  mends  carbonate of soda to be taken in  the beer
  you  drink  at  dinner."  He  tells us,  " he derived
  his information, as to the cause and cure of this
  distressing disorder, from a personal acquaintance
  with it for  many years."
   How devoutly it is to be wished that all authors
  would follow good  old Sydenham and Mr. Waller's
  example, and give  us a register of the progress of
  those chronic complaints which they have them-
  selves  been  afflicted with, and the regimen, Sic.
 which they have found most effectual to  alleviate
 and  cure them; and, instead of writing what they
 think, write only what they know, as the painstaking
 Sanctorius, Spallanzani, Bryan Robinson, and the
 persevering and minutely accurately observing Dr.
 Stark have in their dietetical experiments.
   Dr. Whytt  has  immortalized himself by  the
 candid relation of his own infirmities,  and his cir-
 cumstantial account of the  regimen,  Sic. which
 enabled  him to bear up against them, which forms
 the most valuable  collection of observations on
 nervous  complaints  that experience and  liberality
 have  yet presented  to the  public.
   One page of personal experience is worth folios
 of theoretic fancies, or clinical cases, which can

aud all those disorders which are called nervous, &c. &c. are often
owing more to the infirm state of the first passages than to any fault
either in the brain or heart."
  Dr. Whytt died A. D. 1766, in his 52d year.
                        P 
170      THE ART OF INVIGORATING  LIFE.
 only be illuminated by the twilight of conjecture.
 They may be  faithful narratives  of the  accounts
 given  by patients ; yet, as these are very often im-
 posed upon by their imagination attributing effects
 to very different causes than  those which produce
 them, they are often extremely inaccurate deductions.
    The delicate and  the  nervous will derive the
 greatest advantage from  keeping  a register  of
 their health: they  should note and avoid whatever
 disagrees with them, and endeavour  to  ascertain
 what kind and  quantity of food,* exercise, occupa-
 tion, and pleasures, Sic. are most agreeable to their
 constitution, and take them at those regular periods
 which  appear most convenient to them.   However
 this advice  may excite the smiles of those who are
 swelling " in all the pride of superfluous health,"
 such methodical movements will considerably im-
 prove the enjoyment,  and  prolong the life  of the
 valetudinary and the  aged:  for whom instinct is
 the best guide in the choice of aliment.
   None but the most obstinately ignorant visionary
 would  dream of laying down absolute  rulesf for

  * " There Is no invalid that cannot make out from his own experience
 a list of foods, drinks, fruits, and vegetables, which incommode him soon
 after he has swallowed them.  I would most strongly advise every in-
 valid to make out such a list: and I am of opinion, that to mark all the
 familiar occasions of pain and pleasure, by a distinct memento, would
 answer as useful a purpose in the art of living, as buoys in that of navi-
gation."— Dr. Beddoes on Indigestion.
 f " Physicians appear to be too strict and particular in their rules of
diet and regimen ; too anxious  attention to those rules hath often hurt
those who were well, and added unnecessarily to the distresses of the
 sick.  Whether meat should be boiled or roasted, or dressed in any other
 plain way, and what sort of vegetables should be eaten with it, I never
 yet met with any person of common sense (except in an acute illness)
whom I did not think much fitter to choose for himself, than I was to
determine for him."—Dr. Heberden on Diet.
 " When the stomach is weak, it seems particularly necessary that
our food should be nutritive and easy of digestion. 
PEPTIC PRECEPTS.
171
governing the  caprice   and whims  of  the  infirm

stomachs of crazy valetudinarians.  Codes of diete-

tics* are almost useless:  the suggestions of reason

are often in  direct opposition to the desires  of ap-

petite.

   In most matters regarding the adjustment of that

supreme organ of existence, the stomach, " honest

instinctf comes a volunteer."    Ventriloquism sel-


  " I may further observe, that its qualities should be adapted to the
feelings of the stomach.
  " In proof of this proposition, numerous instances might be mentioned
of apparently unfit substances agreeing with the stomach, being digested,
and even quieting an irritable state of the stomach, merely because they
were suitable to its feelings.  Instances might also be mentioned  of
changes in diet  producing a tranquil and healthy state of stomach in
cases where medicines had been tried in vain."—Abernethy.
  * " A fool or a physician  at forty, is an  adage containing more truth
than is coipmonly believed.  He who has  not by that time learned to
observe the causes of self-disorder shows little signs of wisdom: and
he who has carefully noted the things which create disorder in himself,
must by his own experience possess much knowledge that a physician
at a pop visit ought not to pretend to."—Domestic Management.
  t " Grillus, who, according to the doctrine of transmigration, (a»Plu-
tarch tells us), had, in his turn, been a beast, discourses how much
better he fed and lived then than when he was  turned to man again, as
knowing then what food was best and most proper for him, which sar-
cophagists (flesh-eaters) in all this  time were yet to seek."—Evelyn's
Acetaria, 12mo.
  " Instinct than reason makes more wholesome meals."—Young.
  " My appetite is in several things of itself happily enough accommo-
dated to the health of my stomach: whatever I take against my liking
does me harm ;  but  nothing hurts me that I eat with appetite and de-
light."— Vide honest Montaigne's Essay on Experience.
  " The stomach gives information when  the  supplies  have  been ex-
pended, and represents with great exactness the quantity and quality of
whatever is wanted in the present state of the machine; and in propor-
tion as it meets with neglect rises  in its demand, and urges its petition
with a louder voice."—Dr. Wm. Hunter's Introductory Lecture.
  " Take food in proportion to the quantity of nourishment contained in
It, of which the stomach appears from instinct to be capable of judging."
.__r. Hunter on the Animal Economy.
        " Prompted by instinct's never-erring power,
          Each creature knows its proper aliment.
          Directed, bounded by this power within,
          Their cravings are well aimed : voluptuous man
          Is by superior faculties misled:
          Misled from pleasure—even in quest of joy.
                          Armstrong's Art of Preserving Health, 
172      THE ART OF  INVIGORATING  LIFE.
dom fails to make out  a fair title to be called " un-
erring."
   A due  respect to the  suggestions  of  instinct
every invalid  will find  highly advantageous.
   In incipient as well  as in chronic and confirmed
diseases, the calls of nature  should be assiduously
attended to; her suggestions are seldom improper,
whether  they point to warmth,  coolness,  sleep,
stimulus, abstinence, &c.
   Natural  longing has frequently pointed out food
by which acute  diseases  have  been  immediately
cured,  when  the most consummate   medical skill
was at  fault, and life at its lowest  ebb.     '
   It is  needless to insist upon the importance  of
diet and regimen in chronic disorders.
   Be content  with one* dish.  From  want of sub-
  " <5ur stomach is, in general, a pretty good judge of what is best for
it,—thousands have perished for being inattentive to its calls, for one
who has implicitly obeyed them."—Dr. Smith's Guide in Sickness.
  " In every case wherein we wish to preserve strength (as in most
chronical complaints), we should be extremely cautious in prescribing a
rigid regimen,—especially if it is intended to be long continued."—
" Things disagreeable to the palate seldom digest well, or contribute to
the nourishment of the body."—Falconer on Diet.
  " What is most grateful to the palate sits most easy on the stomach."
—Adair on Diet.
  " Longings directed by the pure guidance of instinct and not arising
merely from opinion, may not only be satisfied with impunity, but gene-
rally  be indulged in with advantage."—Withers on the Abuse of Medi-
cine.
  " Nothing is more common than for an invalid to inquire of his physi-
cian what dishes  are proper for him, and what are not so.  His doctot
might almost as reasonably be required to tell him what was most agree-
able to his palate, as what best agreed with  his stomach."—See  Dr. J.
Reid's excellent Essay on Hypochondriasis.
  * " As to the quality of food, although whatever is easy of digestion,
singly considered, deserves the preference, yet regard must be had to
the palate and to the  appetite, because it is frequently found, that what
the stomach earnestly covets, though of difficult  digestion, does never-
theless digest better than what is esteemed of easier digestion if the
stomach nauseates it: I am of opinion the patient ought to eat only of
one dish at a meal."—Sydenham. 
PEPTIC  PRECEPTS.
173
 mission  to  this salutary  rule  of  temperance,  as
 many men dig the grave with their teeth as with
 the tankard: Drunkenness is deplorably destructive,
 but her  demurer  sister Gluttony  destroys a hun-
 dred to her  one.
   Instinct generally speaks pretty plainly to those
 whose instruments of digestion are  in  a delicate
 state, and  is an  infinitely surer  guide than  any
 dietetic rules that can be contrived.
   That the  food which we fancy most sits easiest
 on the stomach  is a fact which the experience of
 almost every individual can confirm.
   The functions of digestion  go on merrily when
 exercised by aliment which the stomach asks for;
 they often labour in vain, when we eat merely be-
 cause it is the usual hour of dining;  or  out of ne-
 cessity, to amuse  the gastric juices, and

          " Lull the grinding stomach's hungry rage."
   To affirm that any thing is wholesome or un-
wholesome,—without considering the subject in all
the circumstances to which it  bears relation,  and
the unaccountable peculiarities of different consti-
tutions,—is,  with submission, talking nonsense.
   Let every man consult his stomach: to eat and
drink such things, and in such quantities, as agree
with  that perfectly well, is  wholesome for him,
while  they continue to do so :* that which satis-
  " Every animal but man keeps to one dish; herbs are the food of this
species, fish of that, and flesh of a third."—Spectator.
  " Be content with on.e dish at a meal; in the choice of that consult
your palate."—Mandeville.
  * " It is surprising how much the condition and disposition of the
stomach and intestines will vary in the same person at different times."
—Whytt on the Nerves.
                      P2 
174     THE  ART OF  INVIGORATING LIFE.
fies and refreshes us, and causes no  uneasiness
after, may safely be taken in moderation whenever
the appetite is  keen, whether it be  at  dinner  or
supper.
   What we  have been longest used  to is most
likely to agree with us best.
   The  wholesomeness, Sic. of all food depends
very much  on the quality of it and the way in which
it is cooked.
   Those who are poor in health must live as they
can; the  less  stimulus any of us use  the better,
provided it be sufficient  to properly carry on the
circulation: I sometimes  hold it lawful to  excite
appetite when it is feeble  by age, or debilitated by
indisposition.
   Those stimuli which support the circulation at
the least expense  of nervous irritation, and afford
the greatest  quantity of  nutriment, must be  most
acceptable to the stomach when it demands  re-
storative diet.
   A healthful impetus may be given to the system
by a well-seasoned soup, or a restorative  ragout,
at half the  expense to the machinery of life than by
the use of those spirituous stimuli which fan a
feverish fire, and merely quicken the circulation for
a few minutes, without contributing any material to
feed the lamp of life, which, if it be originally or
organically defective, or is impaired by  time or dis-
ease, will sometimes not burn brightly, unless it be
supplied with the best oil, and trimmed in the most
skilful manner.
   Good mock turtle,  see (No. 246, or  247*), will
agree with weak stomachs surprisingly well.
   (No. 87), (No. 89), (No. 240), and  (No. 244), 
PEPTIC  PRECEPTS.
175
(No. 489), and (No. 503) are very agreeable ex-
tempore restoratives, so easy of digestion  that they
are a sinecure to the stomach, and give very little
trouble to the  chylopoietic organs:  those whose
teeth are  defective, and those whose circulation is
below par, will find them acceptable foods.   " Ex-
perto crede."
   The reader  will  remember Baglivi,s chapter
" de Idolis Medicorum," wherein he  tells us, that
"physicians prescribe to others what  they like
themselves."  The learned Mandeville has favoured
us with five pages on the incomparably invigorating
virtues of  stockfish!!! a kind of  cod  which  is
dried without being  salted.
   The best  answers to  all  inquiries about the
wholesomes are the  following questions :—" Do
you like it ?"   " Does it agree with you V—" then
eat in moderation, and you cannot do very wrong."
   A general inquiry as to the wholesomeness of this
or that thing, without a particular consideration of
the constitution and habits of the person making it,
is as ridiculous as to ask whether the wind is fair,
without saying to what port you are bound!
   Those who  have long lived luxuriously, to  be
sufficiently nourished, must be regularly supplied
with food that  is nutritive  and drink  that is  stimu-
lating.*
   Spice and wine are as needful to the " bon vivanf
who is of a certain standing in the school of good
living, as its mother's milk is to a new-born babe.
   As we advance in age, the decrease of the energy

   * " Many people, to be sufficiently nourished, must be  supplied with
food exceedingly stimulating."—Stjhjvk, 
176     THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.

of life arises from the decrease of the action of the
organs of the body, especially of the chylopoietics ;
for in early life digestion is so intense and perfect,
that a child, after its common unexcitant meal of
bread and  milk,  is as hilarious and frolicsome as
an  adult person is after a certain  quantity of roast
beef and port.
   The infirm stomachs of invalids require a little
indulgence ;* like other bad instruments, they often
want oiling, and screwing, and winding up and ad-
justing with the utmost care, to keep them in tole-
rable order.  Although a  savoury sauce may not
be nutritious per se, still it  is relatively nutritive, as
its agreeable flavour promotes the taking of  nutri-
tive things, and  ensures that diligent attention of
the teeth to them which is  the grand foundation
of good digestion.
   The aged and infirm will receive a most salutary
stimulus from now  and then making a full meal of
a favourite  dish.   This is  not a singular notion of
my own, though it may not exactly agree with the
fastidious fancy of Dr. Sangradd's  disciples, that
starvation and phlebotomy are sovereign remedies
for all disorders.
   Those philanthropic  physicians, Dr: Diet, Dr.
Quiet, and  Dr.  Merryman, hold  the same doctrine
as the author of " The  Cook's Oracle."
   Excessive eating and drinking is certainly the

  * " Whosoever dreameth that no sick man should be allured to meat
by delightful and pleasant sauces, seemeth as froward and fantastical au
he that would never whet his knife.
  "Why hath nature brought forth such variety of herbs, roots, spices,
&c, fit for nothing but sauces, &c, but that by them the sick should be
allured to feed 1
  u Abstinence  is as dangerous as fulness and satiety is inconvenient."
—Dr. Mofkett. 
PEPTIC PRECEPTS.
177
most frequent cause of the disorders of the rich;
privation is the common source of complaints among
the poor: the cause of the one is the  cure of the
other; but where one of  the latter  dies of want,
how many thousands of the former  are destroyed
by indigestion!
  If strong spices and savoury herbs excite appe-
tite,  they (in an increased ratio) accelerate  the
action of the  bowels,  and hurry the food  through
the alimentary canal too rapidly to allow the ab-
sorbents to do their work properly.
  Salt is " aliorum condimentorum, condimentum,"
and the most salubrious and easily obtainable relish
which Nature has given us to give sapidity to other
substances;  and has this advantage over all other
sauces, that if taken to excess, it carries its remedy
with it in its aperient quality.
  Most  mischief is done  by the immoderate  and
constant use of the common condiments.  We have
seen some  puritanical folks, who are for ever boast-
ing that  they never  touch  made dishes, Sic. (one
would suppose they had the tongue of Pityllus*),
so bedevil  every morsel they put into their mouth
with pepper,  and mustard, Sic, that  they made
their common food ten times more piquante than the
burn-gullet bonne bouche of an Eastern nabob, or a
broiled  devil, enveloped  in  "veritable sauce d'en-
fer."—See (No. 355 and 538).
  We do not condemn the moderate use of spices,
but that  constant and excessive  abuse of them, by

  * " This gentleman had so cold a stomach," saith Suidas, " that he
made a sheath for his tongue, that he might swallow down his pottage
scalding hot; yea, I myself have known a Shropshire gentleman of the
like quality " —Dr Moffett. 
178     THE  ART  OF INVIGORATING  LIFE.
which the papillary nerves  of  the tongue  become

so blunted that  in a little  time  they lose all relish

for useful, nourishing food, and the epicure is pun-

ished with  all the  sufferings  of  incessant  and in-

curable indigestion, perturbed sleep, the  horrors of

the nightmare,  &c.  &c.    However,  enough has

been written by a thousand cautionists to convince

any rational creature  of the  advantage resulting

to both the body and the  mind from a simple  and

frugal fare.   The great source  of health  and longe-

vity lies in the following words :—

   "Be temperate  in  diet,  active in exercise, and

above  all keep  your mind tuned to  tranquillity, by

the  doctrines  delivered by our Lord and  Saviour

Jesus Christ, in  his  Sermon on  the Mount."—Read

Matt, chaps, v., vi., vii.

   No  regimen* can be  contrived  that will  suit

everybody.

  * " The chyle appears to be of the same nature from whatever aliment
it has been extracted.  If the medical people in different  countries were
questioned, each would probably approve of the diet used in their own,
and would find plausible arguments to prove its  superiority, with nu-
merous and admirable examples among their countrymen in support of
their theory.
  " An Englishman would  probably be of opinion, that wheat bread and
a large portion of animal food gives the strongest and most substantial
nourishment.  An Irishman or  a Scotsman would probably maintain
that a small portion of animal food, with plenty of potatoes and oatmeal,
is far better adapted to form a vigorous and hardy race. The Laplanders
live almost entirely upon  animal food.  The Hindoos, Gentoos, &c,
never taste any thing but vegetables."—Moore's Mat. Med.
  " In the course of a few years, the produce of several acres of land,
a number of large oxen, and many tuns of liquor are consumed by one
individual; while he continues nearly the same, whether he drinks the
pure stream, or beverage the most  skilfully compounded; whether he
feeds on a variety of articles produced from  the animal and vegetable
kingdom, or confines himself to one particular substance ; and whether
his food is prepared in the  most simple manner, or by the most refined
and artificial modes that luxury  has invented."—Code of Health.
  Facts relative to Diet.—" Dr.  B. Franklin, of Philadelphia, informed
me, that he himself, when  a journeyman printer, lived a fortnight on 
PEPTIC PRECEPTS.
179
          " Try all the bounties of this fertile globe,
           There is not such a salutary food
           As suits with every stomach."—Dr. Armstrong.

   " I knew  a black servant of Mr. Pitt, an Indian
merchant in America, who was fond of soup made
of rattlesnakes, in  which the  head, without any
regard to the poison, was boiled along with the rest
of the animal."—Dr. G. Fordyce on  Digestion.
   No food is so delicious that it pleases all palates.
   Nothing can be more correct than the old adage,
" One man's meat is another man's poison."
   It would  be as difficult for a Laplander, or  an
earth-eating  Ottomaque, or  a chalk  and  charcoal
eater, to convince our  good  citizens  that train-oil
and gutter-mud is  a more elegant and amusing relish
than their favourite turtle, as for the former to fancy
that the mock-turtle (No. 247) can be as agreeable
as  that  which custom has  taught them  to think
delicious.
   We all think that is best which we relish best, and
which agrees best with our stomach: in this, reason
and fashion,  all powerful as  they are on  most oc-
casions,  yield to the  imperative  caprices  of the
palate.*

bread and water, at the rate of ten-pennyworth of bread per week, and
that he found himself stout and hearty with this diet."
  " By Sir John Pringle I was told that he knew a lady, now 90 years
of age, who ate only the pure fat of meat."
  " Dr.  Cirelli says, that the Neapolitan physicians frequently allow
their patients in fevers nothing but water for forty days together."—Dr.
Stark on Diet, ire. 4to.  1788; a work well  worth the purchase of any
person curious upon this subject.  As is also Dr. Bryan Robinson on
Food and Discharges of Human Bodies.
  * See a curious chapter upon the "  Eating of Oysters," in Boyle's
works, 4to. 1772. 
180     THE ART OF INVIGORATING  LIFE.
                 Chacun & son Go&t.
 " The Irishman loves usquebaugh, the Scot loves ale call'd blue-cap,
   The Welchman he loves toasted cheese, and makes his mouth like
      a mouse-trap."

  Our Italian neighbours regale themselves with
maccaroni and parmesan, and eat some things which
we call carrion.— Vide Ray's  Travels.
  While the Englishman  boasts of his roast beef,
plum-pudding, and porter—
  The Frenchman feeds on his favourite frog, and
soup-maigre—
  The Tartar feasts on horse-flesh—
  The Chinaman on dogs—
  The  Greenlander preys on garbage and train-
oil—and each "blesses  his stars and thinks  it
luxury."  What at one time or place is considered
as beautiful, fragrant,  and savoury, at another  is
regarded  as deformed and  disgustful.—See  the
" Cook's Oracle and Housekeeper's Manual."

             " Man differs more from man,
              Than man from beast."
                         G. Colman, the younger.

  " Darius, having one day asked some of his
Grecian subjects what sum would induce them  to
eat  the  bodies  of  their deceased parents,  they
instantly replied, that no bribe should ever make
them do so  horrid an action.   Upon this, the same
monarch, in the  presence of the Greeks  too, de-
manding, by an interpreter, of some Calatian Indians,
how much they would take not to  eat (for that was
their custom), but to burn  their dead  parents :  he
was entreated, with loud and earnest exclamations,
not to compel them to do a deed which for ever 
PEPTIC PRECEPTS.
181
must destroy their peace of mind !   So justly, adds
the historian, does Pindar call custom the sovereign
of all.
   Celsus* very sensibly  says, that  " a healthy
man, under his own  government, ought  not to tie
himself up by strict rules, nor to abstain from any
sort of food;  but ought sometimes to fast, and some-
times to feast."    Sanis, sunt omnia sana.
   When the stomach sends  forth eructant signals
of distress for help  against indigestion, the peris-
taltic  persuaders (see page 192) are  as agreeable
and effectual assistance  as can be  offered;  and
for  delicate constitutions  and those  that are im-
paired by age  or intemperance,  are  a  valuable
panacea.
   They derive  and  deserve  their  name from the
peculiar mildness of their operation.!  One or two
very gently increase the  action of  the principal
viscera, help them to do their work a little faster,
and enable the  stomach to  serve with  an eject-
ment whatever  offends  it, and  move it  into the
bowels.
   Thus indigestion is easily and speedily removed,
appetite restored (the  mouths  of the  absorbing
vessels being cleansed), nutrition is facilitated, and

  * " A constant adherence to one sort of diet may have bad effects on
any constitution.  Nature has provided a great variety of nourishment
for human creatures, and furnished us with appetites to desire and or-
gans to digest them.
  " An unerring regularity is almost impracticable, and the swerving
from it, when it has grown habitual, dangerous; for every unusual thing
in a human body becomes a stimulus, as wine or flesh-meat to one not
used to them; therefore, Celsus's rule, with proper moral restrictions,
is a good one."—Arbuthnot on Aliment.
  t A pill is the mildest form of administering medicine, because of its
gradual solution in the stomach.  The same quantity of the same mate-
rial, taken in a draught, produces a very different effect
                         Q 
182      THE  ART  OF INVIGORATING LIFE.
strength of body*  and  energy of  mindf are  the
happy results.
   If an immediate operation be desired, take some
tincture of  rhubarb; as  a pill  is the most gentle
and gradually operating form for a drug—tincture
(in which it is, as it were, ready digested) is that in
which it works fastest.
   To  make  tincture  of  rhubarb.—Steep  three
ounces of the best rhubarb (pounded) and half an
ounce of carraway-seeds (pounded) in a bottle of
brandy for  ten days.   A table-spoonful in a wine-
glass of hot water will generally be  enough.
   Compound tincture  of senna  has  been recom-
mended to  those who have accustomed themselves
to the use  of spirituous liquors and high living.
Several similar preparations  are  sold under the
name  of Daffy's Elixir.
   Or take  as much Epsom salt  in half a pint of
hot water  as experience has  informed  you  will
produce one motion;  a  teaspoonful  (i. e. from one
to two drachms) will  generally do this,  especially
if it be taken in the morning, fasting, i. e. at least
half an hour before breakfast.
   The best way of covering the taste of salt is to
put  a lump  of sugar and a bit  of thin-cut lemon
peel|  into the hot water for a few minutes before
  * " Cacochymical bodies do not feed before they are purged."—Sir
John Floyer on Old Men's Health.
  t He that would have a clear head must have a clean stomach."—
Chbyne on Health.
  * Quintessence of Lemon-peel  (No. 418).—Best oil of lemon, one
drachm ; strongest rectified spirit, two ounces, introduced by degrees, till
the spirit kills and completely mixes with the oil. This elegant and use-
ful preparation possesses all the delightful fragrance and flavour of the
freshest lemon peel, for which  you will find it a satisfactory substitute.
A few drops on the sugar you make punch with will instantly impreg-
nate it with as much flavour as the troublesome and tedious method of
rubbing the sugar on the rind. 
PEPTIC PRECEPTS.            183
you stir the salt into it, to which you may add a
few grains of grated ginger; or put it into a basin
of mutton or veal broth which has not been salted.
   Epsom salt is a very speedy laxative, often act-
ing within  an hour; does the business required of
it with great regularity,—and is  more uniform in
what it does, and when it does it, than any aperient:
ten minutes after you have taken it, encourage its
operation by drinking half a pint or more of warm
water,  weak broth,  tea,  thin  gruel (No.  572),
with  some  salt  and  butter in it, or soda-water
(No. 481*).—See  Index.
   " Nil tarn ad sanitatem, et  longevitatem conducit^
quam crebrm et domestic^ purgationes."—Lord Ba-
con.—i. e.  " Nothing contributes so much to pre-
serve health and prolong life as frequently cleansing
the alimentary canal with gentle laxatives."
   We perfectly agree with Lord Bacon.   In  nine
of the cases out of ten  for which tonic medicines
are administered, mild aperients will not only much
more  certainly improve appetite, but invigorate the
constitution by facilitating  the absorption of  nutri-
ment, which in aged and debilitated people is often
prevented by the mouths of the vessels being half-
closed by the accumulation of viscid mucus, Sic.
   Aperient medicine does  enough, if it accelerate
or  increase the customary evacuation,—and does
too much, if it does  more than  excite one, or at
most  two, additional motions.
   Bowels which are forced into double action to-
day must, consequently, become costive to-morrow,
and constipation will be caused by the  remedy you
have  recourse  to,  to  remove  it ;  and  one  dose
creates a necessity for another, till the poor patient 
184     THE  ART  OF INVIGORATING LIFE.

wants physic  almost as often as he wants food.
This has given rise to a vulgar error, that the use
of even the mildest laxative is followed by costive-
ness.
   Rhubarb is particularly under this prejudice, be-
cause it  has been more  frequently employed  as a
domestic remedy,—and, unadvisedly, administered
in either too  little or too large  a dose.  It has,
however, been recommended  by a physician of
acknowledged ability and of  extensive experience.
   " If the bowels are constipated, they should be
kept  regular  by a pill of rhubarb of five  grains,
every morning."—Pemberton  on the  Abdominal
Viscera.
   People  are  often  needlessly uneasy about the
action of their bowels.   If their general health is
good, and they have neither headache nor other de-
ranged sensations, and they live temperately during
the second period of life, whether they have two
motions  in one day, or one in two days, perhaps is
not of much  consequence;—however,  that the al-
vine  exoneration should take  place  regularly,  is
certainly most desirable ; especially after forty-five
years of age,* when the  elasticity of the machinery
of life begins to  dimmish.
   To acquire a habit of regularity, Mr. Locke, who
was a physician as well as  a philosopher, advises,
that " if any person, as soon as he has breakfasted,
would presently  solicit  nature, so"as to obtain a
stool, he might in time, by a constant  application,

  * " I have observed that in mature age, and in the decline of life,
symptoms which are attributed to previous irregularities, to idiosyn-
crasy, to hereditary disposition, to disease, and to approaching old age,
frequently arise from constipation  of the bowels."—Hamilton on Pur-
gative Medicines. 
PEPTIC  PRECEPTS.
185
 bring it to be habitual."  He says, " I have known
 none who have been steady in the prosecution of
 this plan, who did not in a few months obtain the
 desired success."—On Education.
   " The  alvine  evacuation  is periodical, and sub-
 jected to  the power of habit:  if the regular call is
 not obeyed, the necessity for the evacuation passes
 away; and the call being again and again neglected,
 habitual costiveness is the consequence."—Hamil-
 ton on Purgatives.  Therefore, visit the customary
 retreat, and  endeavour to  promote  the natural
 evacuation  by moderate efforts,  either early in the
 morning or late in the evening :   however, these
 efforts  must be moderate, for ruptures and piles
 have not  seldom been  produced by straining too
 much.
   It will facilitate the acquirement  of this salutary
 habit to take at night such a dose  of a mild  ape-
 rient medicine, i. e.  of rhubarb, senna, or Epsom
 salt, as  experience has pointed out as just  sufficient
 to assist nature to produce a motion in the morning.
   Habitual costiveness is not  curable by drugs
 alone,—and is most  agreeably corrected by diet
 and  regimen, those most important, and only  ef-
 fectual, although much neglected  (because little
 understood)  means  of permanently  alleviating
 chronic complaints; for when food will produce the
 desired effect,  it is extremely preferable to physic.
             " Coquina est  optima medicina."
   Strong constitutions are generally costive*—that

  * " Astriction of the belly is commonly a sign of strong chylopoietic
organs."—Arbuthnot on Aliment.
  " Persons of the strongest constitution are most apt to  be costive."
—Barry on Digestion.
                      Q2 
186      THE  ART  OF INVIGORATING LIFE.

perfect and vigorous action of the  circulation and
absorbents which is the cause of their strength, is
also the cause of their constipation:—

          " Oportet sanorum sedes esse flguratas."

  Robust and active individuals perspire much more
than the weak and the indolent;  accordingly, the
proportion of the excretions of the former  by the
bowels  are  less  than of the latter, whose fluids,
not being duly determined to the  surface, are dis-
charged by the bowels.
  This ought to make them content,—but the con-
stipated  are for ever murmuring about a habit,
which, if managed with  moderate care,  is the fun-
damental basis of health and  long  life.  A little
attention to regimen will prevent it;  a simple laxa-
tive will remove it;  and neither will be often ne-
cessary for  those who observe a deobstruent  diet,
take proper exercise  in a pure air, sufficient liquid
food, and eat freely of butter, salt, and sugar.
  The peculiarity of most constitutions  is so con-
venient, that almost all costive persons,  by attend-
ing to the  effects  which various things produce
upon their  bowels, may find, in  their usual  food
and drink, the means of persuading the  peristaltic
motion to proceed with healthful celerity.
  Active exercise will often supersede  the neces-
sity of aperient medicine;  so great is  the power
of agitating the abdominal viscera in promoting the
due flow of the bile.
  The diet in the constipated state of body ought
to consist of a large  proportion of fluid aliment; 
PEPTIC PRECEPTS.            187
in severe cases it ought to be entirely of this kind,
with vegetables easy of solution.  What solid but-
cher's  meat is taken must  be  masticated slowly
before  swallowed, which will promote the flow of
saliva,  assist its comminution in the stomach, and
facilitate its passage onwards.
  A supper of thin gruel (No. 572), or roasted po-
tatoes,  with plenty of butter and salt,;—ripe fruits,
particularly grapes,—oranges, strawberries, rasp-
berries, mulberries, honey, treacle, roasted apples,
stewed prunes, figs,  raisins,  tamarinds,  French
plums, &c.—will  almost always produce  the de-
sired effect.
   Two or  three strong cinnamon or ginger lozen-
ges  (see page 192),  gradually dissolved  in the
mouth when the  stomach is empty, will act as an
aperient on many  persons.
   Salad oil  is a very pleasant  peristaltic  per-
suader.   By the  following means it  may be in-
troduced (as  a supper) to  the most delicate sto-
mach,  without any offence  to  the most fastidious
palate.
   Put  a table-spoonful of sherry into a wineglass,
on  this a  table-spoonful of olive oil,  on this  an-
other table-spoonful of sherry; or rub together  a
table-spoonful or two of oil, with  the yolk  of an
egg boiled hard (No. 547), add a little vinegar and
salt to it, and eat it at supper as a sauce to a salad
(No. 138*)  of mustard and cresses,  or lettuce,
radishes, button onions, celery, cucumber, &c.; or
cold boiled asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, carrot,
or  turnip,  kidney  or  French beans, or pease; or
pickled salmon  (No.  161),  lobster  (No.  176),
shrimps, herrings, sprats (No. 170**), ormackarel 
188      THE  ART OF  INVIGORATING  LIFE.

(No. 168), or as a sauce to cold meat, &c.  See
cold boiled salad (No. 372).
  You may give it an infinite variety of agreeable
flavours ; the ingredients  to  produce which are
enumerated  in (No. 372) of " the Cook's Oracle."
  Hypochondriac people are fond of taking medi-
cine at  certain times,- the spring and  fall, at the
full or the new moon, Sic, whether they want it
or not,  and tamper with what are termed  pre-
ventive medicines, till, by endeavouring to prevent
imaginary distempers, they die of real  ones.
  For those in health to attempt to improve  it by
taking physic is absurd indeed.  Remember the
epitaph  on the Italian count—
                   " I was well—
                Wished to be better—
                Took physic—and died."
  Hypochondriasis, spleen, vapours, the blue devils,
the bile, nervous debility, Sic are but so many dif-
ferent names for those disorders which arise either
from chronic weakness of the constitution, or an
inconsiderate management of it.  A man of strong
stamina will bear irregularities with impunity, which
will soon destroy a more delicate frame.
  We  do  not  laugh  at the  melancholy of the
hypochondriac,  or consider  his  complaints as
merely  the  hallucinations  of  un  malade  imagi-
naire;   but  trace  the  cause  of  them  either  to
indigestion  interrupting  the  functions of  the ali-
mentary canal, which a  gentle aperient would im-
mediately remove—or the ineffective performance
of the restorative process,  insufficiently  nutritive
diet—or depression  of the vital and animal func-
tions, from  anxiety or over-exertion of either the 
PEPTIvi PRECEPTS.
189
mind or the body; which  nothing but rest and
nutritive food can repair.
   Soon after we pass the meridian of our existence,
i. e. our thirty-fifth year, the machinery of life begins
to lose its elasticity, the circulation becomes more
and  more  languid, our senses become gradually
more and more obtuse, and all the functions of the
system are less perfectly performed; thus, various
new sensations  arise as the deteriorating process
of hardening   goes on, and  those  who  do not
consider the  cause of  them  become hypochon-
driac, &c.
   The author  of this  little treatise has had from
his youth to bear up against an extremely irritable
nervous  system; the means which  he has found
useful  to manage and support it he is now record-
ing for the benefit of other nervous invalids.
   We  advise our friends never to call in even the
gentle  aid of  peristaltic persuaders but when in-
stinct absolutely insists upon it;  some of the indi-
cations of which are, " a disagreeable taste in the
mouth—eructations—want of appetite—flatulence,
and  sensations of distention in the stomach and
bowels—pains in the stomach or  head—vertigo
—feverishness—restlessness—languor—peevish-
ness,"  &c.;  but these  will  often  disappear  by
taking  a liquid meal instead of a solid one, or using
more exercise.  Mr. Jones very sensibly observes,
" If  people will by no means rest from constantly
tampering with laxatives instead of using exercise,
the habit of using the lavement cannot be so de-
structive as it  irritates  only twelve inches of intes-
tine, and spares raking down  the other thirty-
nine feet." 
190     THE ART OF INVIGORATING  LIFE.
   Relaxed bowels* are often extremely unmanage-
able and difficult to regulate, and are the principal
cause  of that chronic weakness which is so gene-
rally complained of, and of many other distressing
nervous disorders.
   If the  bowels are unfaithful to the stomach, and,
instead of playing fair, let go their  hold of the
"pabulum vita" before the absorbents have properly
performed the process which that grand organ has
prepared for them—nutrition will be deficient; and
flatulence, Sic Sic,  giddiness, spasms, headache,
and backache,—what are called bilious and nervous
disorders, and all the diseases incident to debility,
will  attack you  on the slightest cause.
   Those who are afflicted with a relaxation of the
bowels are advised to a dry diet rather  than a liquid
one, and must submit to  a  regimen  diametrically
contrary to  that we  have recommended to  cure
constipation.
   " Since I lessened my drink I  have been much
more costive than I was before, and have for two
years past freed myself from a diarrhoea.   Costive-
ness generally attends dry food in other animals as
well as  men."—B. Robinson  on Food and Dis-
charges.
   Live principally upon  animal food sufficiently
cooked and  stale  bread; instead  of malt-liquor,
drink  beef-tea (No.  563), or well-made toast and

 * " People who have relaxed bowels have seldom strong thoughts or
strong bodies."—Lockk on Education.
 " The  cure for relaxed  nerves (the source of all chronic disorders)
must necessarily begin at the stomach.  He who attempts to cure a
nervous distemper without firm bowels, labours  in vain ; for it is im-
possible that the constitution of those who have slippery bowels should
ever be braced."—Chkyne on Long Life. 
PEPTIC PRECEPTS.
191
water* (No. 463), with about one-fourth part of wine
and a little sugar and grated nutmeg or ginger  in
it;  if the stomach be troubled with acidity or great
flatulence one-seventh  part of brandy, i. e. a com-
mon-sized wineglass (or two ounces) of brandy to
a pint  of water, may agree with it  better: what-
ever you eat  and drink should be warmed.
  Be watchful of the effects of the food which you
take, avoid whatever appears to irritate,  and  eat
only that which experience has proved acceptable.
  Irritable bowels are  excited to inconveniently in-
creased action by any  thing that the stomach has
not the ability to prepare  for them, and diarrhoea
is the consequence.
  The easiest  and most  effectual method of re-
storing tranquillity in the bowels is, to be  content
with a light diet  of gruel, broth, or  fish, &c, till
the return of a keen appetite assures you that the
stomach  has recovered its  powers, and being ready
for  action requires  its usual supply of solid food.
See Paregoric Elixir.
  When the bowels get a trick  of emptying them-
selves  too  often, a  teaspoonful of compound pow-
der of chalk in your tea,  or a wineglassful of the
following mixture, taken twice or thrice a day, will
generally cure them of it very speedily:
  *  To make Toast and Water.—Cut a bit of the upper  crust of bread
about twice the thickness toast is usually cut; toast it carefully, till it
be completely browned all over, but not at all blackened or burnt; put
this  into a jug, and pour upon it as much boiling water as you wish to
make into drink; cover the jug, let it stand till cold; the fresher made
the better.  Obs.—A roll of fresh, thin-cut lemon-peel, or dried orange-
peel, infused with the bread, is a grateful addition, and makes a very re-
freshing summer drink ; and when the proportion of the fluids is de-
stroyed by proftise perspiration, may be drunk plentifully.  Let a large
jug  be made early in the day; it will then become warm by the heat of
the air, and may be drunk freely with impunity. Cold water fresh drawn
from a well cannot be drunk without danger. 
192     THE ART OF  INVIGORATING  LIFE.
           R% Chalk mixture, six ounces,
             Tincture of cinnamon (No. 416*) one do.,
             Opiate confection, one drachm.
      Mixed together

   Or a more convenient, and sometimes an equally
efficacious remedy is, to make a drachm  of opiate
confection into 12 pills, and to  take two of them
twice or thrice a day.
   A conveniently  portable astringent, which will
keep good for several years, and one that I have fre-
quently  proved  the efficacy of,  is  the  following
powder:—•

          Compound powder of kino, one drachm,
      ---- Compound powder of chalk, half an ounce.
  Mix thoroughly together, and divide into six powders, one of which is
   to be taken once or twice a-day in one teaspoonful of brandy, and
   three table-spoonfuls of water.

   Tincture of cinnamon  (No.  416*) is one of the
best cordial tonics ;  see also (No. 569) and (Nos.
413 and 15).
   Strong pepperment lozenges  are  a very  conve-
nient portable carminative: as soon  as  they are
dissolved, their influence  is felt from the beginning
to the end of the alimentary canal;  they dissipate
flatulence so immediately, that  they well deserve
the name of vegetable aether; and are recommended
to singers and public speakers, as giving  effective
excitement  to  the  organs  of  the  voice,—as  a
support  against the distressing effects of fasting
too  long,  and to give energy to the stomach be-
tween meals.

            To make forty Peristaltic Persuaders.
   Take, Turkey rhubarb, finely pulverized, two drachms;
        Syrup (by weight), one drachm;
        Oil of carraway, ten drops (minims).
   Made into pills, each of which will contain three grains of rhubarb. 
PERISTALTIC PERSUADERS.        193
   The dose of the persuaders must be adapted to
the constitutional peculiarity of the patient: when
you wish to accelerate or augment the alvine ex-
oneration, take two,  three, or more, according to
the effect you desire to produce,—two pills will do
as much for one person as five or six  will for an-
other; they generally will very regularly perform
what  you wish  to-day, without  interfering  with
what  you hope will happen to-morrow  ;—and are,
therefore, as convenient an argument against con-
stipation as any we are acquainted with.
   The  mpst convenient opportunity to introduce
them  to the stomach is early in the morning, when
it  is unoccupied,  and has no particular business to
attend to, i. e. at least half an hour before breakfast.
   Physic  should never  interrupt the  stomach,
when it is  engaged in digesting food: the best time
to take  it  is  when  you  awake  out of your first
sleep, or as  soon as you awake in the morning.
Moreover, such is the increased sensibility of some
stomachs at that  time that half the quantity of me-
dicine will suffice.
   From two to four persuaders will generally pro-
duce one additional motion within twelve hours.
   They may be taken at any time, by the most deli-
cate females, whose  constiutions  are so often dis-
tressed by constipation, and destroyed by the drastic
purgatives they take to relieve it.
   " A knowledge how to regulate the alvine evacu-
ation, constitutes  much of the prophylactic part of
medicine;  hence, how  necessary it is to advise-
those  who  either  wish to preserve  good health, or
are in quest  of the lost treasure, to attend to this
circumstance,"—Hamilton on purgatives. 
194     THE  ART OF  INVIGORATING  LIFE.
   "How much it  behooves  those who have  the
 charge of young people, particularly of the female
 sex, to impress them with the propriety, nay, with
 the absolute necessity, of attention to  the regular
 state of the bowels ;  and to put  it in their power,
 by the use of proper  means, to guard against con-
 stipation ;  and at the  same time to watch over them,
 lest, through indolence, they neglect a circumstance
 which, promoting in  the  gay season of youth  the
 enjoyment of health and happiness, opposes a sure
 barrier against the inroads of chlorosis,  Sic, always
 a distressing, and sometimes  a fatal complaint."
   Therefore, let young people at school, &c. be pro-
 vided with  persuaders, and instructed  how to take
 them, if their bowels become inactive  and uneasy;
 especially when the weather changes from very cold
 to very hot, and vice versa, as it  sometimes does in
 August and September, when cholera, Sic prevail.
   Their agreeable flavour recommends them  as a
 convenient  aperient for  children, whose indisposi-
 tions most frequently arise from obstructions in  the
 bowels.  It is not always a very easy task to prevail
 upon a spoiled child to take physic ; therefore, we
 have made our pill to taste exactly like gingerbread.
   For infants too young to swallow a pill,  pound it,
 and  mix it with currant jelly, honey, or treacle.
   On the first attack of disease, it may generally
 be  disarmed by discharging the  contents of  the
 bowels ; but as soon as you perceive pain in your
 head,  bowels, back,  chest, side, Sic  go to bed,*
•and  send for your medical friend.
  * Old Macklin, that veteran of the stage, who lived  to the age of 99,
 whenever he felt unwell, always went to bed directly,  and took nothing
 but water gruel; and by  this regimen was generally speedily relieved
 from every slight indisposition. 
PERISTALTIC  PERSUADERS.          195
                    " Delay creates danger."


In every disorder*  the  main  point is carefully  to

watch and constantly to keep up the  activity of the

alimentary canal; for want of due attention to this,

millions (especially of children) have died of medi-

cable disorders!!

   For bilious  or livert complaints  (which  are now

the  fashionable names for all those deranged sensa-

tions of  the abdominal viscera which as often  arise

from the want as from the excess  of bile,  and per-

haps most frequently from indigestion),  and for ex-

pelling worms,']:  for which it  is  the  fashion to ad-

minister mercury §'(which, because  it  is  the  only


  * " There are three things which I consider as necessary to the cure
of disorder.
  " 1st. That the stomach should thoroughly digest all the food that is put
into it.  The patient, perceiving the necessity of obtaining this end,  be-
comes attentive to his  diet, and observes • the effect which  the quantity
and quality of his food and medicines have upon his feelings, and  the
apparent powers of his stomach.
  " 2dly. That the residue of the food should be daily discharged from the
bowels ; here, too, the patient, apprized of the design, notes what kind
and dose of purgative medicine best effect the intention, and whether it
answers better if taken at once or at intervals.
  " 3dly. That the secretion of bile should be right, both with respect to
quantity and quality.  In cases wherein  the secretion of bile has been
fbr a long  time deficient or faulty, I recommend unirritating and unde-
bilitating doses of mercury (i. e. pil. hydrarg.) to be taken  every second
or third night, till the stools become of the wet rhubarb colour."
  " Any kind of brown which dilution will not convert into yellow,  I
should consider as unhealthy."—Abernethv's Surg. Obs.
  t "A  popular hypothesis is now very prevalent, which  attributes
nearly all diseases to a disturbed state of the liver;  for which mercurial
drugs are lavished almost indiscriminately.  The folly  of expecting to
repel this or any other opinion which is favourable to the natural indo-
lence of mankind, is obvious, especially when it  is at the same time up-
holden by the empirical interests of greedy individuals."—A. Carlisle
on Old Age.
  X " It is a dubious question whether worms, or the violent purgatives
which are forced into the human stomach, by the decisive energy of
medical logic, to destroy and expel them, have been most destructive to
the human species."—Withers on the Abuse of Medicine.
  § " Mercury and antimony elaborated into poisons by chymistry (i. e.
calomel, emetic tartar, James's powders, &c.) have torn many a stomach 
196     THE ART  OF INVIGORATING LIFE.
remedy for one disease, people suppose  must be a
panacea for every disorder) and other drastic medi-
cines, which  are  awfully uncertain both  in their
strength and in their operation.
   Scammony and gamboge disorder the stomach;
hellebore occasions great anxiety with a sense of
suffocation;  colocynth  and jalap  produce  colic;
aloes affects  the rectum; elaterium is felt at the
extremities of the arterial system.
   If, instead of two or three times a week torment-
ing  your bowels with  such corrosive cathartics,
cholagogues,  hydragogues, phlegmagogues, &c,
you take one or two  gentle  persuaders twice or
thrice a day, they will  excite a gradual and regu-
larly increased  action  of the  viscera, restore the
tone of the alimentary tube, and speedily and effect-
ually cure the disorder without injuring the con-
stitution.
   There  is not a more universal  or  more mis-
chievous vulgar error than the notion  that physic
is efficacious  in proportion as it is extremely dis-
agreeable  to  take,  and frightfully violent  in  its
operation.
   Unless a medicine actually produces  more  dis-
tress in the system than the disorder it is adminis-
tered to remove—in fact, if the remedy be not worse
than the disease, the million have  no faith in it,
and are not satisfied that they can be perfectly cured
if they escape phlebotomy, unless  put to extreme

into rags, so that it could never bear common food after."—Cadogan
on Gout.
  " In persons who have avoided fermented liquors of every description
from their youth up, I have known the liver to become as much indu-
rated after the inordinate use of  mercurials as in any dram-drinker."—
Dr. Bbddoes. 
TONIC  TINCTURE.
197
pain, and plentifully supplied with black doses and
drastic drugs.  Many seem to have the best opinion
of that doctor who most furiously

       " Vomits, purges, blisters, bleeds, and sweats 'em."

To perfectly content them  that you have most pro-
foundly considered  their case, you must  to such
prescription add a proscription of every thing they
appear particularly partial to !!!
  People who in all other respects appear  to  be
very rational, and are apt  to try other questions by
the rules of common sense, in matters relating to
their  health surrender their understanding  to  the
fashion of the day;  and in the present century, on
all  occasions take calomel,* as coolly as in the last
their  grandfathers  inundated their poor stomachs
with tar-water.

          TONIC  TINCTURE (No. 569) IS

          Peruvian bark, bruised, half an ounce;
          Cascarilla bark,
          Orange peel, bruised, one ounce of each;
           Brandy, or proof spirit, one pint.

   Let these ingredients steep for ten days, shaking
the bottle every  day;  let it remain quiet two days,
and then  decant the clear  liquor.
   Dose ;—one teaspoonful in a wineglass of water
twice  a  day when  you feel  languid, i. e. when  the
stomach is  empty, about an hour before dinner, and
in the evening.    Twenty grains  of  the powder of

  * " Mercury is the most dangerous of all purges ; it sooner  exhausts
the irritability and vital power of the uitestines than any other metallic
oxide except arsenic."—Dr. Trottkr on Nervous Temperament.
                        R2 
 198     THE ART OF INVIGORATING LIFE.

 bark may be added to it occasionally.   If you  do
 not like the trouble  of making this, gel

          Half an ounce of tincture of Peruvian bark,
          An ounce of tincture of orange peel,
          And an ounce of tincture of cascarilla.
      And to this you may add,
         Two drachms of tinctura ferri muriati.
      Mix.  The dose a teaspoonful in a wineglass of water.

   To this agreeable aromatic  tonic we are under
 personal  obligations for  having put our stomach
 into  good temper, and procuring us good appetite
 and  good digestion.
   In low nervous affections arising from a languid
 circulation, and when the stomach is in a state  of
 shabby debility from age,  intemperance, or other
 causes, this is a most acceptable restorative.
   N.B. Tea made with dried and bruised  Seville
 orange-peel (in the  same manner as common tea),
 and drank with milk and sugar, has been taken for
 breakfast by nervous and dyspeptic persons  with
 great benefit.
   Chewing a bit of orange-peel or a little  orange
 marmalade twice a day when the stomach is empty
 will be found very grateful  and strengthening to it.


             STOMACHIC TINCTURES

   Two  ounces of cascarilla bark (bruised), or dried
orange-peel, or colomba root, infused for a fortnight
in a  pint of brandy, will  give you the tinctures
 called by those names.
   Dose;—one or two teaspoonfuls in a wineglass
of water, to be taken in the same way as the tonic
tincture. 
SODA WATER.
199
       TINCTURE  OF CINNAMON (No. 416*).

   This  excellent cordial is made  by  pouring a
bottle of genuine cogniac (No. 471) on three ounces
of bruised  cinnamon (cassia  will not  do).   This
cordial restorative was  much more in vogue for-
merly than it is now;  a teaspoonful of it  and a
lump of sugar in a glass of good sherry or Madeira,
with the  yolk of an egg beat up in it, was called
"balsamum vita."

  " Cur moriatur homo, qui sumit de cinnamomo ?"—" Cinnamon is
verie comfortable to the stomacke and the principall partes of the bodie."
  " Ventriculum, jecur, lienem, cerebrum, nervosque, juvat et roborat."
—" I reckon it a great treasure for a student to have by him in his closet,
to take now and then a spoonful."—Coqan's Haven of Health.

   Obs.—Two teaspoonfuls  in a wineglass of
water are a present and pleasant remedy in nervous
languors and in relaxations of the bowels;  in the
latter case five drops of laudanum  may be  added
to each dose.

             SODA WATER (No. 481).

   The best way of producing agreeable pneumatic
punch, as a learned chymist has called this refresh-
ing refrigerant, is to fill two half-pint tumblers half-
full of water, stir into one thirty grains of carbonate
of potash, into the other twenty-five  grains of citric
acid, both being previously finely pounded; when
the powders are perfectly dissolved  pour the con-
tents of one tumbler into the other, and sparkling
soda water is instantaneously produced. 
200     THE  ART OF  INVIGORATING LIFE.
   To  make double soda water, use  double the
quantity of the powder.
   Eight grains of ginger and three drachms of lump
sugar added to twenty-five of citric acid, and rubbed
well together in a mortar with thirty grains  of the
carbonate of potash, will give you ginger beer.
   Single soda water is a delightful  drink in sultry
weather, and may be very agreeably flavoured  by
dissolving a little raspberry or red currant jelly  in
the water (before you add the carbonate of potash
to it),  or  a little tincture  of ginger (No. 411),  or
syrup of ginger (No. 394), or syrup of lemon-peel
(No. 393),  or  infuse a  roll of fresh and thin-cut
lemon-peel and a bit of sugar in the water, or rub
down a few drops of (No. 408) with a bit  of lump
sugar,  with or without a  little grated ginger; a
glass of sherry or  a table-spoonful of brandy is
sometimes added.
  The addition of a teaspoonful of the tonic tinc-
ture (No. 569) will give  you  a very refreshing
stomachic;  and ten drops of  tinct. ferri  muriati
put into the water in which you dissolve the citric
acid, a fine effervescing chalybeate.
  The day after a  feast, if you feel fevered and
heated, you cannot  do better than drink a half-pint
glass or two of single soda water between breakfast
and dinner.
  Double soda water (especially if made with tepid
water)  is an excellent auxiliary to  accelerate the
operation of aperient medicine ; and if taken in the
morning fasting will sometimes move  the  bowels
without further assistance*
  If some  good cogniac  or   essence  of ginger
(No. 411) be added  to it, it is one of the best helps 
GRUEL.
201
 to set the  stomach to work  and remove the  dis-
 tressing languor which  sometimes  follows  hard
 drinking.


           ESSENCE OF GINGER (No. 411).

   The fragrant  aroma of ginger is  so extremely
 volatile, that it evaporates almost as soon as  it is
 pounded; the fine lemon-peel gout flies off pres-
 ently.
   If ginger is taken to produce an immediate effect
 ■—to warm  the  stomach, dispel flatulence, &c, or
 as an addition to aperient medicine, the following
 is the best preparation of it:—
   Steep three ounces of fresh-grated ginger, and
 two ounces of  fresh lemon-peel (cut thin) in a
 quart of brandy or proof spirit for ten days, snaking
 it up each day.
   N.B. Tincture of allspice, which is sometimes
 called essence  of bishop, for making mulled wine,
 Sic. extempore, is prepared  in the same manner.

               gruel (No. 252).

   1st. Ask  those who are to  eat it if they like it
 thick or thin;  if the latter, mix well together  by
 degrees, in a pint basin, one table-spoonful of oat-
 meal with three of cold water;  if the former, two
 spoonfuls.
   Have ready in the stewpan  a pint of boiling
water or milk, pour this by degrees to the oatmeal
you have mixed with the cold water, return it into
the stewpan, set  it on  the fire, and let it boil for
five minutes, stirring it all the  time to prevent the 
202       THE  ART OF TNVIGORATING^LIFE.

oatmeal from  burning at the bottom of the stewpan;
skim and strain it through a hair sieve.
   2d. To  convert this  into caudle, add a little ale,
wine, or brandy, with sugar,—and if the bowels are
disordered, a  little nutmeg or ginger  grated.
   Gruel may be  made with broth*  (No. 252), or
  * Portable Soup, or Glaze (No. 252).—Desire the butcher to break the
bones of a leg or a shin of beef of ten pounds' weight (the fresher killed
the better), put it  into a soup-pot (a digester is the best utensil for this
purpose) that will well hold it; just cover it with cold water, and set it
on the Are to heat gradually till it nearly boils (this should be at least
an hour);  skim it attentively while any scum rises, pour in a little cold
water to throw up the scum that may remain ;  let it come to a boil again,
and again skim  it carefully; when no more  scum rises, and the broth
appears clear (put in neither  roots, nor herbs, nor salt), let it  boil for
eight or ten hours, and then strain it through a hair  sieve into a brown
stone pan ; set the broth where it will cool quickly, put  the meat into a
sieve, let it drain, make potted beef (No. 503),  for it will be very accept-
able to many poor families.  Next day remove every particle of fat from
the top of  it, and  pour it through a tammis, or fine sieve, as quietly as
possible into a stewpan, taking care not to let  any of the settlings at the
bottom of  the stone pan go  into the stewpan, which should be of thick
copper, perfectly well tinned ; add a quarter of an ounce of-whole black
pepper to it; let it boil briskly, with the stewpan uncovered, on a quick
fire; if any scum rises, take it off with a skimmer; when it begins to
thicken, and is reduced to about a quart, put it iftto a smaller stewpan ;
set it uver a gentler fire till it is  reduced to the thickness of a very thick
syrup; take care that it does not burn—a moment's inattention now will
lose you all your labour, and the soup  will be spoiled.   Take a little of
it out in  a spoon and let it  cool; if it sets into strong jelly, it is done
enough; if it does not, boil it a little longer till it  does.  Have ready
some little pots, such as are used for potted meats, about an inch and a half
deep, taking care that they are quite dry.  We recommend it to  be kept
in these pots if it is  for home consumption,—the less it is reduced the
better is the flavour of the soup—if it be sufficiently  concentrated to
keep for six months. If you wish to preserve it longer, put it into such
bladders as are  used for German sausages: or if you prefer it in the
form  of cakes, pour it into a dish about  a quarter of an inch deep; when
it is cold, turn it out  and weigh the cake, and divide it with a paste-cutter
Into pieces of half an ounce and an ounce each, place them in a warm
room, and turn  them frequently till they are thoroughly dried.  This
will  take  a week or ten  days.  Turn them twice a day; when well
hardened, if kept in a dry place, they may be preserved for several years
in any climate.
   This extract of meat makes excellent " tablettes de bouillon" for those
 who  are obliged  to endure long  fasting.
   Obs.—The uses of this concentrated essence of meat are numerous.
 It is equally economical and  convenient for making extempore broths,
 ■auces, and gravies  for hashed or stewed meat, game, or poultry, &c. 
GRUEL.
203
(No. 490), or (No. 564), instead of water:  to make
crowdie,  see  (No. 205*),  and may be  flavoured
with  sweet  herbs, soup roots, and savoury spices,
by boiling them for a few minutes in the water you
  You may thicken it and flavour it as directed in (No. 329),- to make
gravy sauces, &c, take double the quantity ordered for broth.
  If you  have time and opportunity, as there  is no seasoning  in the
soup, either of roots, herbs, or spice, boil an onion with or without a bit
of parsley, and sweet herbs, and a few corns of allspice, or other spice
in the water you melt the soup in, which may be flavoured with mush-
room  catsup (No. 439), or eschalot wine  (No. 402), essence of sweet
herbs (No. 417), savoury spice (Nos. 421 or 457), essence of celery (No.
409), &.c, or zest (No. 256); these may be combined in the proportions
most agreeable to the palate of the eater, and are as portable as portable
Boup, for a very small portion will flavour a pint.
  The editor adds nothing to the solution of this soup but a very little
ground black pepper and some salt.
  Mem.—This portable soup is  a most  convenient article in cookery,
especially in small families, where it will save a great deal of time and
trouble.  It is also economical, for no more will be melted than is wanted;
so there is no waste.
  A shin of beef weighing  nine pounds produced  nine ounces of con-
centrated soup, sufficiently  reduced to keep for several months.  After
the boiling, the bones in this joint weighed two pounds and a quarter,
and the meat two pounds and a quarter.
  As  it is  difficult to obtain this ready made, of good quality—and we
could not find any proper and circumstantial directions for  making it
which on trial answered the purpose, and as it is really a great acquisition
to the  army and  navy, to travellers, invalids, &c.—the editor has be-
stowed  some time, &c. in endeavouring  to learn, and to teach how it
may be prepared in the easiest, most economical, and perfect manner.
  Those who do not regard the  expense, and like  the flavour, may add
the lean of ham, in the proportion of a pound to eight pounds of leg of
beef.
  It may also be flavoured by adding to it, at the time you put the broth
into the smaller stewpan, mushroom catsup, eschalot wine, essences of
spice or herbs, &c.; we prefer it quite plain; it is  then ready to be con-
verted in an instant into a basin of beef tea for an invalid, and any fla-
vour may be  immediately communicated to it by the Magazine of Taste
(No. 463).
  Mutton chops  delicately stewed, and good mutton broth (No.  490).—
Put a pound of chops into a stewpan with  cold water enough to cover
them and half a pint over, and an onion; when it is coming to a boil, skim
it, cover the pan close, and set it over a very slow  fire till the chops are
tender. If they have been kept a proper time, they will take about three-
quarters of an hour's very gentle simmering.  Send  up turnips with
them (No. 130)—they may be boiled with the chops— skim well, and then
send all up in a deep dish, with the broth they were stewed in.
  N.B.—The broth will  make an economist one, and the meat another
wholesome and comfortable meal.  . 
204    THE ART  OF INVIGORATING LIFE.

are going to make  the gruel with, or zest (No. 255),
pea powder  (No.  458), or dried  mint, mushroom
catsup (No. 439), or a few grains of curry powder
(No. 455), or savoury ragout powder (No. 457), or
cayenne (No. 404), or celery seed bruised, or soup
herb powder (No.  459), or an onion minced very
fine and bruised in with the  oatmeal, or  a little
eschalot wine (No. 402), or essence of celery (No.
409), or (No. 413), (No. 417), or (No. 420), &c.
  Plain gruel, such as is directed in the first part
of this recipe, is one of the  best breakfasts and
suppers that we can recommend to the rational
epicure,—is the most comforting soother  of  an
irritable stomach, and particularly acceptable to it
after a hard  day's work of intemperate feasting;
when the  addition  of half an ounce of butter and
a teaspoonful of Epsom salt will give it an ape-
rient quality, which will assist the  principal viscera
to get rid of their burden.
  " Water  gruel"  (says  Tryon, in his Obs. on
Health,) is " the king of spoonmeats,"  and " the
queen of soups," and gratifies  nature beyond all
others.
  In the " Art of Thriving" are directions for pre-
paring fourscore noble and wholesome dishes, upon
any of which a  man may live excellent well  for
twopence a day: the author's  obs. on water gruel
is, that " essence of oatmeal" makes " a noble and
exhilarating meal."
  Dr. Franklin's favourite breakfast was a good
basin of warm gruel, in which there was a small
slice of butter, with  toasted  bread and  nutmeg;
the  expense of this he reckoned at three halfpence.
  "Mastication  is  a  very necessary preparation 
PEPTIC PRECEPTS.
205
 of solid  aliment, without  which there can  be no
 good digestion."—The above  are the first lines in
 Arbuthnot's Essay on Aliment.
   This first act of the important process of diges-
 tion  is most perfectly performed when the flavour,
 Sic  of our  food is agreeable to our taste ; we natu-
 rally detain upon our palate  those  things  which
 please it, and the  meat we relish most is conse-
 quently most broken down by chewing,  and most
 intimately incorporated with the saliva: this  is the
 reason why what we desire most we digest best.
   Here is a sufficient  answer  to  the folios  which
 have sprung from the pens of cynical and sense-
 less scribblers, on whom nature not having bestowed
 a palate, they have proscribed  those pleasures they
 have not  sense*  to taste, or comprehend  the wise
 purposes  for which they were given to us, and

           " Compound for sins they are inclin'd to,
           By damning those they have no mind to."

   How large a share of the business of digestion
 is managed by mastication has been  shown by the
 experiments of Spallanzani.\

  * Men are but rarely " framed so in the prodigality of nature" as to have
 all their senses in perfection; very few have a single one that  approxi-
 mates  within many degrees of it; the eye of Raphael, the ear of Handel,
 or the  sensitive  touch of the blind girl who could/eeZ colours,  are pan-
 creatic faculties  which are seldom produced.
  The  following division of the senses is so excellent, that I copy it from
 the scarce book  referred to below :—
  " I distinguish the six senses by the character of noxious and inno-
 cent.  The first three—thinking, seeing, and hearing—are the innocent;
 the last three—feeling, tasting, and smelling—the noxious.
  " I pursue happiness, or systematic, pleasurable sensation, in the cul-
tivation of the first class, and in the control of the latter."—See the Life
of John Stewart the traveller.
  f " I took two pieces of mutton, each weighing 45 grains, and having
chewed one as much as I used to chew my food, enclosed them in two
separate spheres, and swallowed them at the same time.  These tubes
                           s 
206     THE ART  OF INVIGORATING LIFE.
   To chew long'and leisurely is the only way to

extract the  essence of our food,  to  enjoy the taste

of it, and to render it easily convertible into laudable

chyle, by the facility  it gives to the  gastric juices

to dissolve it without  trouble.

   The pleasure of the palate,  the health of the

stomach,  and the vigour of the whole system  are

equally promoted by  this salutary habit, which  all

should be taught to acquire in their infancy.

   The more tender meat is, the  more we may eat

of it; that which  is  most difficult  to  chew is of

course most difficult  to digest.

   From 30 to 40  (according to the tenderness of

the meat) has been calculated as the mean number

of munches that solid meat requires to prepare it

for its journey down the  red lane;  less will be

sufficient  for  tender,  delicate, and easily-digestible

white meats.
   The sagacious gourmand will calculate this pre-

cisely, and not waste  his precious moments in use-

less jaw-work, or invite an indigestion  by  neglect-

ing mastication.

   I cannot  give any positive rules for  this, it  de-



were voided at the same time ; of the masticated meat  there remained
only four grains, of the other there were eighteen left.
  "The necessity of mastication is sufficiently known.  There is, per-
haps, no person who has not,  some time or other, suffered from indiges-
tion for want of having chewed his food properly. The reason is ob-
vious.  Not to mention the saliva which moistens the food, and predis-
poses it to be dissolved, it cannot be doubted that when it is reduced to
pieces by the action of the teeth the gastric fluid penetrates, and attack-
ing it at more points, dissolves it more speedily than when it was whole.
This is true of menstrua in general, which always dissolve bodies sooner
when they have been previously broken to pieces.  This is also the rea-
son why, in other experiments, masticated bread and dressed flesh were
more readily dissolved than unchewed bread and raw flesh.  The boiling
had made it tenderer, and consequently disposed it to allow ingress to
the gastric fluid."—Spallanzani on Digestion. 
TEETH.
207
pends on the state of the  teeth;  every one, espe-
cially the dyspeptic, ought to ascertain the condi-
tion* of these useful working tools :

       "Dentequid horridius nigro, quid pulchrius albo?"

To use them with proportionate diligence  is  an
indispensable exercise, which every rational epicure
will most cheerfully perform who has any regard
for the welfare of his stomach :f in fact, to neglect
the teeth is to neglect the stomach.
   It has been recommended that those whose teeth
are  defective should mince their meat:  this will
certainly save trouble to both teeth and stomach;
nevertheless,  it  is advisable, let  the  meat   be
minced ever so fine,  to endeavour to mumble it
into a pulp before  it be introduced to the stomach,
on account of the  advantage derived  from  its  ad-
mixture with the saliva.
   " By experiment, I determined the quantity of
saliva  secreted  in  half an hour  to be, while  the
parts  were  at rest,  four drachms,—while  eating,
five ounces four drachms."—Stark on Diet.
   Mastication is the source of all good digestion:
with its  assistance  almost  any thing may be put
into   any  stomach  with  impunity;  without  it,
digestion is always difficult, and  often impossible:
and  be  it always remembered,  it is not  merely
what we eat, but what we digest well, that nour-
ishes us.

  * " Some savage nations file their teeth to a point.  I have seen them
in the head of an African negro thus pointed."—Spilsbury on the Teeth.
  t " Slave-dealers are well acquainted with the characteristic signs of
perfect health, any defect of which much diminishes the value of a slave
The want of a tooth makes a slave worth two dollars less."—Fihkb's
Medical Geography. 
208    THE ART  OF INVIGORATING  LIFE.

   The sagacious  gourmand is ever mindful of his
motto,—
       " Masticate, denticate, chump, grind, and swallow."

The first four acts he knows he must perform pro-
perly before he dare attempt the fifth.
   To  those who may inadvertently exercise their
masticative  faculties  on  unworthy  materials,  or
longer on worthy ones than nature finds convenient,
we recommend " peristaltic persuaders."
   When either the stomach or teeth are extremely
feeble, especial care  must be taken to  keep meat
till it is tender before it  is cooked, and call in the
aid of  the pestle and mortar.—And see Nos.  10,
18, 87, 89, 175, 178; from 185 to 250, 502, 542,
and especially 503.   Or  dress  in the usual way
whatever is best liked, mince it, put it into a mor-
tar, and pound it with a little  broth or melted but-
ter, vegetable, herb, spice, zest  (No. 255), Sic —
according  to  the taste,  Sic of the eater.  The
business of the stomach is  thus  very materially
facilitated.
   " Mincing or pounding  meat saveth the grinding
of  the  teeth; and therefore  (no doubt)  is more
nourishing, especially in age, or to them that have
weak teeth: but butter  is not  proper  for weak
bodies, and  therefore, moisten it in pounding with
a little claret  wine, and a very little cinnamon or
nutmeg."—Lord Bacon's Natural History.
   This is important  advice for  those who  are
afflicted with  " tic douloureux,"—the paroxysm of
which  is generally provoked by the exercise of
eating.  The  editor has known that dreadful disor-
der perfectly cured by the patient frequently taking 
TEETH.
209
  food thus prepared in small portions, instead of a
  regular meal.
    "With all,  'tis particularly convenient to keep
  one's teeth clean: I have known  ladies  watch a
  man in the mouth, as sharply as the most skilful
  jockey  does a horse at Newmarket."—The Ple-
  beian polished.
    The teeth should  be cleaned  after every meal
 with a " tooth preserver"  (i. e. a  very soft  brush),
 and  then  rinsed with tepid  water,—never neglect
 this  at  night;  nothing  destroys  the teeth so fast
 as suffering  food  to stick between  them:  those
 who observe this rule will seldom have any occa-
 sion for dentifrices,  essences  of  ivory,  indurating
 liquid enamels, &c.
    What havoc is often made with good teeth  by
 strong acids, lotions, and coarse tooth-powders,*
 whose mechanical  action alone  will  destroy the
 delicate  enamel!
   Plain  water is the best  lotion.
   But it is the rage just  now with some dentists
 to  recommend brushes so  hard  that they  fetch
 blood like a lancet wherever they touch:  instead
 of  "teeth preservers,"   these  should  rather   be

  * " I fastened  in a vice a  sound  and well-enamelled human tooth,
 placing the convex side uppermost. I then took a brush wetted and
 charged with a certain tooth-powder which I had bought for the purpose;
 and in less than an hour, by rubbing quickly with this brush and pow-
 der, I wore away entirely the enamel of the part which was exposed to
 their action.
  " Now it is well known, that a number of people brush their teeth
 with powders of this kind two or three times a week; and if we allow
 that the brush and powder generally act on the front of the teeth briskly
 for one-fourth of a minute each time, in the space of a month they act
 three minutes, or  in two years seventy-two minutes; that is to say, in
the space of two years the teeth have undergone a great deal more
brushing than was found sufficient to destroy the  finest and best enamel."
—T. Berdmore on the Teeth.
                        S2 
210    THE ART OF  INVIGORATING LIFE.
termed " gum-bleeders '."—Our predecessors knew
better, A. D. 1612.*
   The word dentist has  been defined, " One who
pulls out the teeth of others, to obtain employment
for his own."
   Not even a philosopher can endure the toothache
patiently: what an overcoming agony then it must be
to a grand gourmand !—depriving him of the means
of enjoying an amusement which,  to him, is  the
grand solace for  all  sublunary cares.   To alle-
viate, and indeed,  generally, to cure this mtolerable
pain, we recommend
 TOOTHACHE AND  ANTI-RHEUMATIC EMBROCATION.
                   (No.  567.)
                Sal volatile, three parts;
                Laudanum, one part.
Mix, and rub the  part in  pain therewith frequently.
If  the  tooth which aches is  hollow, f drop some
of this on a bit of cotton, and  put it into the tooth:
if the pain  does  not abate within an hour, take
out the cotton, and put another piece in, changmg
it every hour four or five times, till the pain ceases.
   In a general face-ache, or  sore  throat, moisten
a piece of flannel with it, and  put it to the part
affected; rub  any part afflicted with rheumatism
night and  morning, and  in the  middle of the day.
I have frequently cured old and inveterate rheumatic
affections with this liniment.

  * " Common barbor chyrurgions doe commit great errour in plucking
out of innumerable teeth which might well serve, and too much  curi-
ositie in rubbing the gummes; and taking away the flesh at the roote of
the  teeth, is a frequent cause of toothache."—Peter Lowe's  Chy-
rurgerie.
  t Decay of the teeth first appears as a small, white, opaque spot; and
filing this out sometimes  prevents further mischief. 
THE PLEASURE
                OF

MAKING  A  WILL.
" Finis coronat opus."
  Having endeavoured in the foregoing pages to
instruct my readers in " the  art of enjoying and of
prolonging life," I am desirous, at taking leave
of them, to give a few hints on  " the art of dying
honourably."
  Without tranquillity of mind it is in vain to ex-
pect health; and what thinking being  can enjoy
tranquillity of  mind while he reflects that death
may in  an instant plunge into misery those around
him, his contribution to whose happiness has con-
stituted a large part of his : yet how many, after
having  endured toil and anxiety for many years to
accumulate the means of providing for their fami-
lies, friends, and dependants,—from neglecting to
devote  a few hours  to  the  arrangement of  their
affairs,  have  frustrated the  purpose and intention
of a long life of labour!
  " Oh that they were wise, that they understood
this, that they would consider  their latter end."—
Deut. chap,  xxxii. 29.
  The  aversion that persons  have to think at all 
212
THE  PLEASURE  OF
 upon this subject is no less true than strange.   This
 must arise from a want of consideration of the im-
 portance of  the act to themselves,  as  well  as  to
 those who are dependent upon them.  The general
 inattention to this subject can only be attributed to
 the truth of the observation of the poet Young, that

         " All men think all men mortal but themselves."

   From innumerable  causes, which are beyond
 human control, there is, in fact, no condition that is
 not subject to sudden premature death,  even under
 the vigilant exercise of every prudential measure.
   " As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there
 is but a step between thee and death!"  Nay, not so
 much; for the strength whereby the step must be
 taken may fail before it  is  finished;  and a little
 change of weather, a small cold, a disappointment
 in diet, &c. will derange  your health;  and a fall,
 a bruise, a tile from a house, the throwing of a
 stone, the trip of a foot, the  scratch of a nail, the
 wrenching off a bit of. skin, the over-cutting of a
 corn, may destroy life.
  Such trifling accidents have often  done as  sure
 execution as  war, pestilence, and famine.  Sick-
ness and death are always within a moment's march
of us, and ready at  God's command to give the
blow.  " Boast not thyself of to-morrow;  for thou
knowest  not what a day may bring forth."  There-
fore, so arrange all your affairs, that when sickness
and sorrow come you may have nothing to  do in
this world but to compose your soul for  that which
is to come.
  "Modern Europe contains about  one hundred 
MAKING A WILL.
213
and forty-five millions  of inhabitants; and three
generations are extinguished every century: 528
human beings must die  every hour in that smallest
quarter of  the  world;  and  as  it  appears, from
annuity tables that one  person <of a hundred does
not reach the eighty-sixth  year  of existence, the
abbreviation of  life from  disease  is therefore  so
general, that only six of the 528  die  of natural
decay."—Dr. Jameson.
  It is difficult to suppose any rational creature so
void of consideration as to postpone the arrange-
ment of his  affairs, because he  is  young and
healthful
       " Be wise to-day, 'tis madness to defer."—Young.

  This most important business  can only be done
properly when the mind is at ease, and undisturbed
by  any anxieties about  the  body: it will be suffi-
ciently disturbed by contemplating the awful event
at a distance.   What a tremendous irritation must
it  not produce  when  postponed  till  "the last
hour!!!"
  What  a painful but  imperative duty it is to the
friends of a sick person to be obliged  at  such a
time, instead of soothing him with hope, to sink
his   spirits  with hints  that they  despair  of  his
recovery!!!
  The annihilating shock given  by the  communi-
cation that  you are  not only dying,  but-leaving
those you  love  defenceless and penniless   inihe
wide  world, probably exposed to  the horrors  of
ruinous litigation,—to a feeling and sensitive mind,
at such a  moment, is  sufficient  to hasten  if not
produce—death. 
214
THE  PLEASURE  OF
   Is  it not Avonderful that,  with all this intense
 stimulus of both " self-love and social"  to do this
 deed  of duty, any man should put it  off for one
 moment ?
   Even when the disposal  of property which the
 law makes in case any one  dies without  a will  is
 exactly what the person wishes; still who would
 forego the  satisfaction of leaving that consolation
 to his relatives, arising from their conviction that the
 provision made for their future comfort was also the
 premeditated desire of him for whom they mourn 1
  But how many cases are  there where the dis-
 posal ordained by the law may be the very last that
 it is the intention and duty of the person to dictate !
         " Affinity of hearts is the nearest kindred."

  Are not the claims of gratitude to those friends
 who have contributed most essentially to the com-
 fort of your life,—to those who have perhaps laid
 the foundation of your fortune,—as strong as those
 of relations who have never rendered you a single
 service in  the whole  course of your  existence1?
 whom perhaps you have  scarcely ever seen,—
whom you have found, as Hamlet says,  " less than
kind!"—folk  who  have  had  no  other anxiety
 about you, save that  arising from your apothecary's
report of your good health, and the probability of
your long enjoying it!!!
  Servants who have long served us diligently,—
the summer of whose  life we have reaped the ad-
 vantage of,—we are bound in equity to make some
 provision for during the winter of age.
  Those to whose faithful and careful superintend-
 ence  of our affairs we are in a great measure in- 
MAKING A  WILL.
215
debted for our own independence and those relaxa-
tions from business  without which we should not
have lived half our  days,—are  not  such  persons
fairly entitled to participate in the blessings of such
independence ?  They can have saved but  little by
many  years' service, compared with what we have
gained and accumulated in the same  time.
  An  honest man must feel it a  most  gratifying
act of justice to leave to such servants a remunera-
tion proportionate  to the  quantum of service ren-
dered, and to his  means of rewarding it.  This is
best done  by giving them an annuity for life, paya-
ble quarterly or monthly.
  "A bequest of  a  certain sum (without naming
the individuals) to each of  our  servants  who may
be dwelling with us  at  our decease, together with
the like  sum to each for every year he or she may
have lived with us  beyond the first year, would
perhaps  be but justice on our part."
  But how shall I touch upon the most powerful of
all claims  to our protection, the claims of him who,
as the law expresses it, has no  kindred,—who is
" nullius filius,"—who has  no protector but his re-
puted  parent!!!   The  slightest hint on this head
is sufficient,—
          " Unreasonable creatures feed their young."
                                  SllAKSPEARE.
          " Tis nature bids ; to nature's sacred voice
           Attend, and from the monster-breeding deep,
           The ravaged air, and howling wilderness,
           Learn parent virtues.   Shall the growling bear
           Be more a sire than thou? an infant once,
           Helpless and weak: but for paternal care
           Thou hadst not liv'd to propagate a race
           To misery, to resign to step-dame Fate
           Perhaps a worthier offspring than thy sire
           Tenderly reaTa."
                          Armstrong's  Economy of Love. 
216
THE  PLEASURE  OF
   A will made to provide for such a natural child,
 and to  exclude  the  pretensions  of  heirs-at-law,
 should be  framed with  the most careful attention.
 The testator must take every possible precaution to
 strengthen such an instrument. In the description of
 such a child, it is advisable to copy the register from
 the parish  books where  it was born and christened,
 and preserve the certificate thereof with the will.
   Young persons who  are  not  possessed of solid
 property should  avail themselves of the  opportu-
 nity afforded them by the life-insurance offices :—
 at a very easy rate  (in consequence of their  youth)
 they may leave sufficient to  secure from poverty
 and wretchedness those for whom, by the laws of
 God and man, they are bound to provide.
   But let  no man  attempt to make his own will,
 from  any  prescribed form that  may  be  recom-
 mended.   Is it  not wonderful  that  wills,  which
 professional  men conceive to be the most intricate
 part of their profession, and that which requires the
 strictest  attention and accurate estimation  of  the
value of words, should  ever be  attempted without
 their assistance ?   But,  as the poet says,

        " Fools rush in where wise men fear to tread."

   In these  transactions,  secrecy is  especially re-
 quisite.  Great attention should  be had, in the dis-
posing of estates by wills,  that no creditor may
remain unsatisfied,  and that peace  and harmony
may be preserved among children and other sur-
viving  relations,—that no child be preferred, to  the
impoverishment of the  rest,—that none be disin-
herited through caprice, or passion, or implacable
resentment. 
MAKING A WILL.
217
   Whenever the testator is  in  extremis, or con-
 siderably impaired in his faculties by age or sick-
 ness, witnesses  should  be sought for, of not only
 unblemished, but (if easily to be  had) of distin-
 guished reputation;  and in  such  circumstances
 more especially, bequests to charitable uses are to
 be discouraged, unless a  very  ample estate is to
 be disposed of.
   Have your will made by an able solicitor, who,
 if the devise be  of an  intricate  nature, will lay it
 before a counsel.  If you do not choose to acquaint
 him with the  names, &c. of those to whom you
 give your property, desire him to leave blank spaces,
 which you  may yourself fill up, adding to  their
 Christian and surname  their trade and place  of
 abode before you sign the will; for  there must not
 be any alteration or addition after.
   The  charge for making a will is trifling, com-
 pared to the comforting reflection thence arising,
 of having done your duty to the utmost to protect
 and  provide  for  all who are dear  to you.   This
 consideration must be  one of the  most powerful
 consolations on a death-bed  that an honest heart
 can feel.
   The  greatest care should be taken in the prepar-
 ing, execution, and attestation of wills.
   By publication is meant that the testator must
 declare to the witnesses that it is his last will.  A
will must be dated the day and year it is signed, Sic.
   In the publication of  a will it is  not necessary
that the witnesses should be made acquainted with
its contents.
   Mr. Sugden, in his  excellent Letters to a  Man
of Property, says,
                       T 
218
J THE PLEASURE OF
   " I am somewhat  unwilling to give you any in-
 structions for making your will, without the assist-
 ance  of your professional  adviser.   It  is quite
 shocking to  reflect upon the  litigation which has
 been  occasioned by men making their own wills.
 To put off making your will until the hand of death
 is upon you evinces either cowardice or a shameful
 neglect of your temporal concerns.   Lest, however,
 such a moment should arrive, I  must  arm  you in
 some measure against it.
   " If your estate  consists of what is called per-
 sonalty, as  money, goods, leasehold estates, and
 the like,  you may make your will yourself;  and
 any  two  persons  who  know your handwriting,*
 may, after  your  death, prove  it:  but it is  neces-
 sary to have two witnesses, in order that the exe-
 cution of  the will  may  be proved  without  diffi-
 culty."!
   Mr. S. further observes :
   " There  is one thing of which I must particularly
 warn you.   If you were to give  all your goods to
 me, I should take the entire interest in them, with-
 out further words ; but if you  were to  give me all
 your freehold or  copyhold lands,  without  saying

  * " A testament of chattels (i. e. a legacy of money, goods, or lease-
hold property), written in the testator's own hand, though it has neither
his name nor seal to it, is good ; provided sufficient proof can be had that
it is his handwriting."
  " It has been adjudged, that the testator's name, written with his own
hand at the beginning of his will, as,' I,  John Mills, do make this my
last will and testament,' is a sufficient signing, without any name at the
bottom."—Blackstone's Commentaries, book ii.  chap. 32.
  The mere Christian and  surname is not sufficient description; add to
this your place of abode, trade, &c.; thus, John Mills, of London-street,
 Fitzroy-square, in the parish of St. Pancras, baker. Those to whom you
 leave legacies should be equally particularly described.
  t In the State of New-York the witnesses must annex to their signa-
 tures their places of residence, under a penalty of fifty dollars; but the
validity of the will is not affected by the omission.—[B.] 
MAKING A WILL.
219
more, I should only take a life estate in them;  and
after  my death, they  would  go to  your  heir.
Thus, if you  wish to  give  my estate in Kent to
your wife, not for her life merely, but out and out,
you should give it to  ' her,  her heirs  and assigns
for ever.'   These words, heirs and assigns, I must
observe, enlarge the gift, so  as to invest the de-
visee with the  uncontrollable right in the  estate,
and make it  descendible to his heir, if he do not
otherwise dispose of it."
   The  usual  words  for  conveying  a fee-simple
(i. e. the absolute and entire interest in a freehold,
or an estate  for ever),  either by deed or Avill, are
" heirs  and assigns for  ever."
   If the devise be to a man and his assigns, without
annexing the words of perpetuity (i. e. for ever),
then the devisee shall only take " an estate for life."
   Where it is intended a man should have only an
estate  for life,  the usual  method, both in deeds
and wills, is to convey the estate by the  words,
" during the  term of his natural life."
   "When any  estate, or effects, or  annuity, is
given  to  a married  woman, it is generally  be-
queathed to some person in trust for her, or to her,
for her sole and separate use, with directions that
her receipt alone shall be a sufficient discharge for
the same;  thereby to  prevent what is given be-
ing subject to the control or debts of the husband."
   " If  any  legacy,  &c.  be  given  to a married
woman absolutely, without such restrictions, it will
be as if the same were given to the husband."
   In a legacy to  a single woman, the like precau-
tion should be made, in the case of her future mar-
riage. 
220
THE PLEASURE OF
   " Marriage and the birth of a posthumous child
amount to the revocation of a  will."—5 T. R. 49.
   By a codicil  any bequests or dispositions  of a
will may be altered, or revoked, new legacies given,
and other executors  appointed in  the  place  of
those named  in  the  will;  yet where the  altera-
tion is of  considerable importance  it is much bet-
ter to make a new will, which is always less lia-
ble to suspicion or misrepresentation.
   " If you have given  a person a legacy by your
will,  and  you  afterward  give  the same  person
another by a codicil, you must  declare whether
you mean it  to be in addition to the legacy in the
will or in lieu of it."—Sugden's Letters.
   The  sum  should be written in  words, not in
figures, which are easily erased or altered.
   Where there  is no  time  limited for paying a
legacy, the executor is not obliged to pay it till one
year after the testator's death.
   Quite as much care  must be taken in the prepa-
ration of  a codicil as of a will; because it  is often
made not merely to give  but to take  away, and
make null and void what has been  previously be-
queathed  by  a will:  therefore it should be  worded
and executed with  all possible  circumspection.
There should be as many copies  of a  codicil as
there are  of a will, with each of which it is  prudent
to seal up one.

         THE USUAL FORM OF A CODICIL.

 "Whereas I, Richard Roe, of Fleet-street, London, linen-draper, have
made and duly executed my last will and testament in writing, bearing
date the 17th day of March, 1621; now I do hereby declare this to be a
codicil to my  said will, and I do direct the same to be annexed thereto,
and to be taken as part thereof; and I do hereby bequeath  to my son, 
MAKING  A WILL.
221
Richard Roe (in my "said will named), the further sum of two hundred
pounds, in addition to what T have given him by my said will. And
whereas, I did in and by my said will give and bequeath unto John Fern
the sum of one hundred pounds, now I do hereby revoke the said legacy,
and do give unto him, the said John Fern, the sum.of ten pounds, and
no more; and I do hereby ratify and confirm my said will in all the other
particulars thereof.  In witpess whereof, I, the said Richard Roe, have to
this codicil set my hand and seal this    day of March, in the year of
our Lord 1822.
                               Richard Roe    The-piaceof
                                               the Seal.
Signed, sealed, published, and declared by the
  said testator, Richard Roe, as and for a codi-
  cil to be annexed to and taken as part of his
  last will and testament, in the presence of
  us, who, at his request, in his presence, and
  that of each other, have hereunto subscribed
  our names as witnesses thereunto.
                  Two witnesses for personal,
                  Three ditto for freehold and copyhold.
  [In the State or New-York two witnesses only are necessary for either
real or personal.—B.]

   Wills and codicils, whether  of freehold or per-

sonal property, should always  be attested by three

witnesses, who must be  entirely disinterested per-

sons,  who  reeeive no  benefit  from  them,  and

should be respectable  persons well acquainted with

business.

   It  is  too  commonly  supposed  that  the most

ignorant  person, even  a  marksman who  cannot

write his own name, will  do for  the witness to a

will.   Should circumstances make it necessary for

the witnesses to be examined  in  a court  of law,

what impotent  evidence  do  such  persons give in

many cases,  not probably  from  any intention of

fraud but solely arising from ignorance !—they are

easily so bothered by a shrewd counsel,  that  they

may be made to say almost any thing : this would

be in a great  measure prevented by the attestation

of a notary or solicitor.   This  is especially  recom-

mended in  any case  where the  capacity  of  the

testator is at all likely to be  questioned.

                        T2
 
222   THE PLEASURE OF MAKING A WILL.

  The choice of executors, guardians, and trustees
is  still  more important.  People cannot be  too
circumspect in the appointment of executors, who
should not be appointed without their entire con-
currence in the acceptance of the office:—to assist
them in the effectual  execution of which, make a
schedule of the debts you owe, and that are owing
to you; and  of your opinions of the value and best
mode of managing your property and the  peculiar
tenures thereof, in the form of a letter addressed
to your heir and to your executor.
  " To make assurance  trebly sure,"  although we
advise that the attorney should make the  will, the
testator himself should  write  and  execute three
copies of it, and then read them over carefully with
his  professional adviser.
  A copy should be given to the person most inter-
ested,—the executors, the solicitor, or proctor.
  An office should be instituted where every man
may (if he thinks fit) register and deposite for a
trifling  expense  the will he  intends  to  operate:
this would effectually prevent frauds.   There are
registrars for deeds ;  why not for the  security of
an  instrument of so much importance as a will ?*
  Lastly.—Read your will over once  a year, and
make a new one whenever you purchase  freehold
or copyhold  property, otherwise it will not pass to
the uses of your will, but go to your heir-at-law.

  [All the necessary information on the subject of wills may be acquired
by the citisen of New-York, by reading the first title of the 6th chapter
of the 2d part of the Revised Statutes, beginning at page  56 of the 2d
volume. But application to a lawyer is, after all, the safest plan.—B.]

  *  This is done in the surrogate's office in the State of New- York.—[B-] 
( 223 )
 EXTRACTS  FROM THE WRITINGS OP LEWIS
   CORNARO, A NOBLEMAN  OF VENICE,  ON
   HEALTH AND LONG LIFE.

  The justly celebrated Addison bestows the following eulogium on the
author of the works from which these extracts are taken.
  " Cornaro was  of an infirm constitution till about forty, when, by
obstinately persisting in the rules recommended in this book, he recovered
a perfect state of health, insomuch that at fourscore he published this
Treatise.  He lived to give a fourth edition of it, and after having passed
bis hundredth year died without pain or  agony, like one who falls
asleep. This book is highly extolled by many eminent authors, and is
written with such a spirit of cheerfulness and good sense, as are the
natural concomitants of temperance and virtue."

   I  have  undertaken  this little  book  the  more
readily, as many young gentlemen have  requested
it of me, moved thereto by  seeing their fathers drop
off in the flower of their age, and me so sound and
hearty at the  age of eighty-one.   They begged me
to let them know by what means I attained to such
excellent health and spirits, at my time of life.
   I  could not but think their curiosity very lauda-
ble,  and  was willing  to gratify  them, and at  the
same time do some service to my countrymen, by
declaring, in the first place, what led me to  re-
nounce intemperance  and  lead  a temperate  life;
secondly, by  showing the rules  I  observed; and,
thirdly, what unspeakable advantage  and  satisfac-
tion  I received  from  it; whence it  may be very
clearly seen,  how easy a thing it is for a wise man
to escape all  the curses of intemperance, and secure
to himself the  inestimable felicities  of vigorous
health and cheerful age. 
224
EXTRACTS from
   My constitution was naturally weak and delicate,
which ought in  reason  to have made  me  more
regular and prudent;  but being, like most young
men, too fond of what is usually called good eating
and  drinking, I gave the rein to my appetites.  In
a little time I began to feel the ill  effects of such
intemperance;  for  I  had scarce attained  to my
thirty-fifth  year before I was attacked with a com-
plication of disorders, by which my constitution
seemed, in a  short time,  to be so entirely ruined
that  I could hardly hope  for any other termination
to my sufferings than death.
   The best physicians in Italy employed all their
skill in my behalf, but to no effect.   At  last, they
told  me very  candidly, that there was but one  thing
that  could afford me a single ray of hope,—but one
medicine that could give me a radical cure, viz. the
immediate adoption of a regular and temperate life.
They added,  moreover, that now I had no time to
lose, that I must immediately choose a regimen or
death.
   This was a home thrust.   I could not bear the
thoughts of dying soon;  and  being  convinced of
their abilities and experience,  I thought the wisest
course I could take would  be to follow their advice,
how  disagreeable soever it might seem.
   I then requested  my physicians to tell me ex-
actly after what manner I ought to govern myself.
To this they  replied, that I should always consider
myself as an infirm person, eat nothing  but  what
agreed with me, and that in small quantity.  I then
immediately entered on this new course of life, and
with so  determined  a  resolution that  nothing  has
been since able to  divert me from it.   In a  few 
CORNARO'S WORKS.           225
days I perceived that this new way of living agreed
very well with me ;  and in less  than a twelvemonth
I had the unspeakable happiness to find that all my
late alarming symptoms were vanished, and  that
I was perfectly restored to health.
  No sooner had I begun to  taste  the sweets of
this new resurrection, but I made many very pleas-
ing reflections on the great advantage of temperance,
and thought within  myself, " If this virtue has  had
so divine an  efficacy as to cure me of such griev-
ous  disorders, surely it will help my bad constitu-
tion, and confirm my health.   I  therefore  applied
myself diligently to discover  what kinds of food
were most proper for me, and made choice of such
meats and drinks only as agreed with my constitu-
tion, observing it as an  inviolable law with  myself,
always  to rise with an appetite to eat  more, if I
pleased.   In a word, I entirely renounced  intem-
perance, and made  a vow to continue, the remainder
of my life, under the same regimen I  had observed.
A happy resolution! the keeping of which entirely
cured me of  all  my infirmities.
  I never before lived a year together without  fall-
ing, once at least, into some violent illness ;  but this
never happened  to me afterward:  on the contrary,
/ have always been  healthy ever since  I was tem-
perate.
  All changes,  though from the worst to the  best
habits, are at first disagreeable.  I found it  so: for
having  long accustomed myself to high  feeding, I
had contracted such a fondness for it, that  though
I was daily  destroying myself, yet did it, at first,
cost me some struggles to relinquish it.  Nature,
long used to hearty meals, expected them, and was 
226
EXTRACTS FROM
 quite dissatisfied with my moderate repasts.   To
 divert my mind from these little dissatisfactions, I
 used, immediately after dinner, to betake myself to
 some innocent amusement or useful pursuit.
   Besides the two foregoing important rules about
 eating  and drinking, I have very carefully avoided
 all extremes  of heat and cold, excessive fatigue,
 interruption of my usual  time  of rest, late hours,
 and too close and intense thinking.   I am likewise
 greatly indebted  for the  excellent  health  I  enjoy
 to that  calm and temperate state in which I have
 been careful to keep my passions.  The influence
 of the  passions on  the nerves  and health of our
 bodies is  so great that none can be ignorant of it.
 He, therefore, who seriously wishes to enjoy good
 health must learn to conquer his passions, and keep
 them in subjection to reason.  For let a man  be
 ever so temperate in diet, or regular in exercise,
 still some unhappy passion indulged to excess will
 prevail over all his regularity, and prevent the good
 effects  of his temperance.  No words, therefore,
 can  adequately express  the wisdom  of guarding
 against an influence  so destructive.
  However, I must confess to my shame that I have
 not been at all times so much of" a philosopher and
 Christian  as entirely to avoid these  disorders.  But
 I have reaped the benefit  of knowing, by my own
repeated experience, that these malignant passions
have, in general, a far less malignant  effect on bodies
that are rendered firm and vigorous  by temperance,
than on those  that are corrupted and weakened by
 gluttony and excess.
  It was hard also for me to avoid  every extreme
of heat and cold, and to  live above all the occa- 
CORNARO'S WORKS.
227
 sions of troubre which attend the life of man ; but
 yet  these things made no great impression on the
 state of my health, though  I  met with many in-
 stances of persons who sunk under less weight of
 body and mind.
   About five years ago I was over-persuaded to a
 thing which had like to have cost  me dear.   My
 relations, whom I love, and who have a real ten-
 derness for me,—my friends, with whom I was will-
 ing to comply in any thing that was reasonable,—
 lastly, my physicians,  who  were looked upon  as
 the  oracles  of health,  did all agree that I ate too
 little; that the nourishment I  took was not suffi-
 cient for one of my years.  It was in vain for me
 to represent to them that nature  is content with  a
 little; that with this little I  had enjoyed excellent
 health for so many  years; that to me the  habit of
 it was become a second nature; and  that it was
 more agreeable to  reason,  that as I advanced in
 years,I  should rather lessen than increase the quan-
 tity of my food; especially as the powers of the
 stomach must grow weaker from year to year.  To
 strengthen my arguments, I urged those two natural
 and  true proverbs,—that he  who would eat a great
 deal, must eat but a little—and that what we leave,
 after making a hearty meal, does us more good than
 what we have eaten.   But neither my proverbs nor
 my arguments could silence their  affectionate  en-
treaties.   Wherefore, to  please persons who were
 so dear  to me, I consented to increase the quantity
of food,  but with two ounces only.   So that, as be-
fore  I had always taken but  twelve ounces  of solid
food in a day, I now increased it to fourteen; and
as before I drank but fourteen ounces of wine in a 
228
EXTRACTS FROM
day, I now increased it to sixteen.   This increase
had in eight days' time such an effect on me, that
from being remarkably cheerful and brisk, I began
to be peevish and melancholy,  and was constantly
so strangely disposed  that I neither knew what to
say to others, nor what to do with myself.  On the
twelfth day I was attacked with  a  violent pain in
my side, which held me twenty-two hours, and was
followed by a violent fever which continued thirty-
five days, without giving me a moment's respite.
However, God be praised, I recovered, though in
my seventy-eighth year.
  Would  all men  but live regularly and temper-
ately, there would not be a tenth of that sickness
which now makes so many melancholy families,
nor any occasion for a tenth part  of those  nauseous
medicines which they are now obliged to swallow,
in order to carry off those bad  humours with which
they have filled their bodies  by over-eating and
drinking.   To say the truth, would every one  of
us but pay a'becoming attention to quantity and
quality of what he eats and drinks, and  carefully
observe the effects it has upon him, he would soon
become his own physician; and, indeed, the very
best he could possibly have.  A  physician may be
sometimes necessary; and, in cases of danger, the
sooner the better.   But for the bare purpose of pre-
serving  ourselves in good  health  there needs  no
better physician than  a temperate and regular life.
It is a specific and natural medicine, which pre-
serves the man, how tender soever his constitution
be, and prolongs his life to above a hundred years;
spares him the pain of a violent death, when  the
radical moisture is quite spent; and which, in short, 
               CORNARO'S  WORKS.            229

has all the properties that are fancied to be in pot-
able gold, which a great many persons have sought
after in vain.
   But, alas! most men suffer themselves to be se-
duced  by the charms of a voluptuous life.   They
have not courage enough to deny their appetites;
and being  over-persuaded by their inclinations, so
far as to think they cannot give up the gratification
of them without abridging too much their pleasures,
they devise arguments to persuade themselves that
it is more eligible to live ten years less than to be
upon the restraint, and deprived of whatever may
gratify their appetites.  Alas ! they know not the
value of ten years of healthy life at an age when
a man may enjoy the full  use of his reason, and
turn all his wisdom and experience to his own and
the advantage of the world.   Let fools and villains
undervalue life; the world  would lose nothing by
them, die when they will.   But it is a loss indeed
when wise  and good men drop into the grave.  Ten
years of life to men of that character might prove
an inestimable blessing to their families and country.
   Some, I know, are so unreasonable as to say
that it  is impossible to live such a regular life.  To
this I answer, Galen, that great physician, led such
a life, and  advised others to it as the best physic.
And a  great many famous men of past and present
times  have practised it, and thereby arrived to an
extreme old age.
   You will tell me that Plato, as sober a man as
he was,  yet  affirmed that  it is difficult for a man
in public life to live so temperately ;  being often in
the service of the state, exposed to the badness of
the weather, to the fatigues of travelling, and to eat
                       U 
230             EXTRACTS FROM
whatever he can meet with.  This cannot be de-
nied.  But then I maintain that these things will
never hasten a man's  death, provided  he accustom
himself to  a frugal way of living.   There is no
man in what condition soever but may  keep from
over-eating,  and  thereby  happily prevent those
distempers that are  caused by excess.
   It may likewise be  objected, that if any one who
is well is dieted like one who is sick,  he will be  at
a loss  about the  choice  of his diet when any dis-
temper comes  upon him.   To this I say, that Na-
ture, ever attentive to  the preservation of her chil-
dren, teaches us how we  ought to govern ourselves
in such  a case.  She begins by depriving us so
entirely of our appetites that we can eat little or
nothing.  At that time,  whether  the sick person
has been sober or intemperate, no other food ought
to be used than such  as is proper for  his condition
—such as broth, jellies, cordials, barley-water, Sic.
When  his recovery will admit him to use a more
solid nourishment, he must take less than he  was
used to before his  sickness; and notwithstanding
the eagerness  of his appetite, he must take  care of
his stomach till he is  perfectly cured.  Should he
do  otherwise  he  would  overburden  nature,  and
infallibly relapse  into the danger he had escaped.
But  notwithstanding this, I dare  aver, that he who
lives a sober and regular life will hardly  ever be
sick; or but seldom,  and for a short  time.  This
way of living preserves us from  those  bad humours
which occasion our infirmities, and, by consequence,
heals us  of all those distempers which they occa-
sion.   I  do  not pretend to say,  that everybody
must eat precisely as  little as I  do, or abstain from 
CORNARO'S WORKS.
231
fruit, fish, and other things from which I abstain,
because such dishes disagree with me.  They who
are  not disordered by such  dishes  are  under no
obligation to abstain from them.  But  they are
under the greatest obligations  to  feed moderately,
even on  the  most  innocent food,  since an over-
loaded stomach cannot digest. ■
   It signifies nothing to tell me that there are seve-
ral who, though they live very irregularly, yet en-
joy  excellent health and spirits, and to as advanced
an age  as those  who live ever  so soberly.   For
this  argument is founded on such uncertainty and
hazard, and occurs so seldom, as  to look more like
a miracle than the regular work of nature.  And
those who, on the credit  of their  youth and consti-
tution, will pay any regard to so  idle  an objection,
may depend on it that they are the betrayers and
miners of their own health.
   And I can confidently and truly affirm, that an
old man, even of a bad  constitution, who leads a
regular and sober life, is surer of a longer one than
a young man of the best constitution who lives dis-
orderly.   All, therefore, who have  a mind to live
long and healthy, and die without sickness of body
or mind, must immediately begin to live temper-
ately ; for such a regularity keeps the humours of
the body mild and sweet, and suffers no gross, fiery
vapours to ascend from  the stomach to the  head:
hence the brain of him  who lives in that manner
enjoys such a constant serenity, that he is always
perfectly master  of himself.   Happily freed from
the  tyranny of bodily  appetites   and  passions, he
easily soars above  to the  exalted  and  delightful
contemplation of heavenly objects.  By this means 
232
EXTRACTS FROM
his mind becomes gradually enlightened with divine
truth, and expands itself to the glorious, enraptur-
ing view of the power, wisdom, and goodness of the
Almighty.  And when, in process of time and after
a long series  of years, he sees the period of his
days drawing nigh, he is neither grieved nor alarmed.
Full of acknowledgments for the favours  already
received from God, he throws himself into the arms
of his  future mercy.   He is not  afraid of those
dreadful punishments which they deserve who have
shortened their days by guilty intemperance.  He
dies without complaining,  sensible that he did not
come into this world to stay for ever; but is a pil-
grim and  traveller to a far  better.   Exulting in
this faith and with hopes big with immortality, he
goes down to the grave in a good old age, enriched
with virtues and laden with honours.  His end is
calm, and he expires, like a lamp  when the oil is
spent, without convulsion or agony, and so passes
gently  away without pain or sickness from this
earthly and corruptible, to that celestial and  eter-
nal life whose happiness is the reward of the vir-
tuous.
  O blessed temperance!  How worthy art thou
of our highest esteem, and how infinitely art thou
preferable to an irregular and disorderly life!  Nay,
would  men but consider  the effects and conse-
quences of both, they would  immediately see, that
there is as wide a difference between them  as there
is between light and  darkness, heaven and hell.
  Some there are who tell us that old age is  no
blessing;  that when a man is pass seventy, his life
is  nothing but  weakness, infirmity, and misery.
But I can assure these gentlemen they are mightily 
CORNARO'S WORKS.
233
mistaken;  and that I find  myself, old as I  am
(which  is much beyond what they speak of), to
be  in the  most pleasant  and  delightful stage
of life.
  I remember all the follies  of which  I was guilty
in my younger days, and am perfectly sensible of
the many and great dangers  they exposed me to.
I know  with what violence young persons are car-
ried  away by the heat of their blood.   They pre-
sume on their strength, just as if they had taken a
sure lease of  their lives, and must  gratify their
appetites whatever  it  cost them,  without consider-
ing  that  they  thereby  feed  those  ill  humours
which do most assuredly hasten the  approach of
sickness and death ; two evils which, of all others,
are  most unwelcome and terrible to the wicked.
The first of these,  sickness, is highly unwelcome,
because it  effectually stops their career after this
world's  business and pleasures, which, being  their
sole delight and happiness,  must be inexpressibly
sad  and mortifying.   And the impatience  and
gloom of sickness is  rendered tenfold more insup-
portable to them, because it finds them utterly des-
titute of  those pious affections which alone can
sooth the  severity of  sickness and  charm the
pangs of pain. *  They had  never cultivated an ac-
quaintance with God, nor accustomed themselves
to look up to him as a merciful Father, who sends
affliction to wean  us from this scene of vanity.
They had never, by prayers and good works, en-
deavoured  to  secure his favour,  or  cherish  that
love which would make his dispensations welcome.
 So that, unblessed  with these divine  consolations,
the  season of  sickness  must be dark and melan-
                        U2 
234             EXTRACTS  FROM
choly indeed.   And besides all  this, their hearts
often  sink within them  at the prospect of death,
that ghastly king of terrors, who comes to cut them
off from all their  dear  delights  in this world, and
send their unwilling souls to suffer the punishment
which their own guilty conscience tells them is due
to their  wicked lives.  But from these two evils,
so dreadful  to  many (blessed be God), I have but
little to fear.   For, as  for death, I have a joyful
hope that the change,  come when it may, will be
gloriously for the better.  And besides, I trust that
he, whose divine voice I have so long obeyed, will
graciously support and  comfort his aged servant
in that trying hour. And as for  sickness, I feel but
little apprehension on that account; since by my
divine* medicine, temperance, I  have removed all
the causes of disease:  so that  I  am pretty sure
I shall never be sick, except it be from some intent
of Divine mercy, and  then I hope  I shall bear it
without a murmur, and find it for my good.
   Many have  said to me, " How can you, when at
a table covered with a dozen delicious dishes, con-
tent yourself with one dish, and that the plainest
too at the table ?   It must surely be  a great morti-
fication  to you, to see  so many charming things
before you, and yet scarcely  taste them."   This
question has been frequently put to me and with an
air of surprise.  I confess it has often made me
unhappy; for it proves that such persons are got to
such a pass, as to  look on the gratification of  their
appetites as the highest  happiness, not considering
that the  mind is properly the man, and that  it is in
the affections of a virtuous and pious mind a man
is  to look for his true and highest happiness. 
CORNARO'S WORKS. '          235
   When I sit down with my eleven  grandchildren
 to a table covered with various dainties, of which,
 for the sake of a light, easy stomach, I may not at
 times choose to partake, yet this is no mortification
 to me; on the  contrary, I  often  find myself most
 happy at these times.   How can  it otherwise than
 give me great delight, when I think of that goodness
 of God which blesses the earth with such immense
 stores of good things for the use of mankind. And
 must it  not  make  me very happy to think that I
 have got such  a  mastery  over  myself as never
 to abuse any of those good things, but  am per-
 fectly contented with  such a portion of  them as
 keeps me  always  in  good health.  O what a tri-
 umph of joy is this to my  heart!  What a sad
 thing it is that young people will not take instruc-
 tion nor get benefit from those who are older and
 wiser than themselves !  I may use, in this matter,
 the words of the wise man, " I have seen all things
 that are done under the sun."   I know the plea-
 sures of eating, and I  know the joys of a virtuous
 mind; and can say, from long experience, that the
 one  excelleth the  other as far as light  excelleth
 darkness.  The one  are  the pleasures of a mere
 animal;  the other, those of an angel.
   Some are so thoughtless as to say, that  they had
 rather be afflicted  twice or thrice a year with the
 gout, and other distempers, than deny themselves
 the pleasure of eating and drinking to the full of
 such things  as they like ;  that for their part, they
 had  rather eat  and drink  as they like, though it
 should shorten  their lives:  that  is,  " give them a
 short life and  a merry one."  It is really a sur-
prising  and sad thing, to see reasonable creatures 
236
EXTRACTS FROM
 so ready to swallow the  most dangerous absurdi-
 ties.   For how,  in  the  name  of common  sense,
 can the life of a glutton, or a sot, be a merry one 1
 If men could eat to excess, drink to silliness, and
 rust in sloth, and, after  all, suffer no other harm
 than the abridgment of  ten or a  dozen years of
 life, they might have some little excuse for calling
 it a merry life; though  surely it  cbuld appear so
 to none but persons of a sadly vitiated taste.  But
 since  an intemperate life  will surely sow in our
 bodies the seeds of such  diseases as will, after a
 few short years of feverish pleasure, make life a
 burden  to  us, with what face can any reasonable
 being call this a merry life ?
   O sacred and  most bountiful temperance ! how
 greatly am I indebted to thee for rescuing me from
 such fatal delusions ;  and for bringing me, through
the Divine  benediction,  to the enjoyment  of so
many felicities;  and which, over and above  all
these  favours  conferred  on thine old  man, hast so
strengthened his stomach, that he has now a better
rehsh for his  dry bread  than he had formerly for
the most exquisite dainties.
   My spirits are not injured by what I eat; they
are only revived "and supported by it.   I can im-
mediately on rising from  table set myself to write
or study, and never find that this application, though
so hurtful  to hearty feeders, does me any  harm.
And, besides,  I  never find myself  drowsy after
dinner, as a great many do:—the reason is,  I feed
 so temperately, as  never to  load my stomach or
oppress my nerves ; so that I am always as light,
 active, and cheerful after meals as before.
   It is true, indeed  (says he, in a letter to the 
CORNARO'S WORKS.          237
right reverend  Barbara,  Patriarch  of Aquileia),
that what I have to tell you is  no news;—but I
never told it you at  the age of ninety-one.   Is it
not a charming thing  that I am able to tell you,
that my health  and strength are in so excellent a
state that, instead  of diminishing with my age,
they seem to increase as I grow old ?  All my ac-
quaintance are surprised  at it; but I, who  know
the cause of this singular  happiness,  do  every
where declare it.
   I  must confess, it was  not without great  reluc-
tance that I abandoned my luxurious way of living.
I began with praying to God that he would grant
me the  gift of temperance,  well knowing that he
always  hears our prayers with delight.  Then con-
sidering, that when a man  is about to undertake
any thing of  importance, he may greatly strengthen
himself in it by often looking forward to the great
pleasures and advantages that he is to derive from
it,—just as the husbandman  takes comfort under
his toils by reflecting on the  sweets of abundance—
and as  the good Christian gladdens in the  service
of God when he  thinks  on the glory of that ser-
vice and the  eternal joys that await him,—so I, in
like manner, by seriously reflecting on  the innu-
merable pleasures and  blessings of health,  and
beseeching God to strengthen me in my good reso-
lutions, immediately entered on a course of tem-
perance and regularity.  And though  it was at
first highly disagreeable, yet I can truly say, that
in a very little time the disagreeableness vanished,
and I came to find great delight in it.
   Some  sensual  persons  give out, that I  have
troubled  myself to  no purpose  in composing a 
238
EXTRACTS FROM
treatise concerning temperance,  and that I have
lost my time in endeavouring to persuade men to
that which is impossible.  Now, this surprises me
the more, as these gentlemen must see that I led
a temperate  life many  years before  I  composed
this treatise, and that I never should have put my-
self to the trouble  of composing it, had not long
experience convinced me that it is a life  which
any man may easily lead, who really wishes to be
healthy and  happy.  And besides the evidence of
my own experience, I have the satisfaction to hear
that numbers, on seeing my treatise, have embraced
such  a life,  and  enjoyed from  it the very same
blessings  which I  enjoy.  Hence I conclude, that
no  man of good sense  will  pay any regard to so
frivolous an objection.   The  truth is, those  gentle-
men  who  make  this objection  are so  unhappily
wedded to the poor pleasure of eating and drinking,
that they cannot think of moderating it;  and as an
excuse  for themselves,  they  choose to talk at this
extravagant rate.   However, I pity these  gentlemen
with all my heart.
  Four years after this he writes,—I am now ninety-
five years of age,  and find myself as  healthy  and
brisk as if I were  but twenty-five.  What ingrati-
tude should I be guilty of, did I not return  thanks
to the divine Goodness for all the favours conferred
upon me.   Most of your old men have  scarce
arrived  at sixty but they find themselves  loaded
with infirmities : they are melancholy, unhealthful,
always full of frightful apprehensions  of  dying:
they tremble day and night for fear of  being within
one foot of the grave;  and  are so strongly pos-
sessed with the dread of it, that it is a hard matter 
CORNARO'S WORKS.           239
to divert them from the doleful thought.   Blessed
be God, I am free from their ills and terrors.  It is
my opinion that I ought not to  abandon myself to
that vain fear.
   This is a certain truth, that sharp, sour humours
on  the stomach  proceed from a  slow, imperfect
digestion; and that  but little  good  chyle  can be
made, when the stomach  is filled with fresh food,
before it  has carried off the former meal.   It can-
not, therefore, be too frequently  or  too earnestly
recommended, that  as the natural heat decays  by
age, a man ought to abate the quantity of what  he
eats and drinks; nature requiring but very little
for the healthy support of the life of man, espe-
cially of an old man.   Would my  aged friends but
attend  to this single precept, which has been  so
singularly serviceable to  me,  they would  not  be
troubled  with  one-twentieth of those infirmities
which now harass and make their lives so misera-
ble.   They would  be light, active,  and cheerful,
like me, who am now near my hundredth year.
   I know some persons are so weak as to excuse
their wicked  intemperance by saying, that "the
race is  not  always  to the swift, nor the battle to
the strong;" and that, therefore, let them  eat and
drink as they please they shall not  die until their
time comes.  How scandalously do  these men
misunderstand  Solomon, and abuse  truth ?  How
would  it startle us to hear our friends say, " that
let  them sleep and play as they please, they shall
not be beggars till  their  time comes."  Solomon
does indeed say that the race is not always to the
swift, nor the battle to the strong ; but he must be
no better than a madman, who thence infers, that 
240
EXTRACTS FROM
  it is not generally so.  For  the invariable  and
  eternal experience of mankind demonstrates, that
  ninety-nine  times in a hundred, the race is to the
  swift,  and the battle  to  the  strong—bread to the
  industrious,  and  health to the temperate.
    But it  is a matter of fact, and not to be denied,
  that though temperance  has the divine efficacy to
  secure  us  from violent disease and unnatural
  death,  yet it is not to be supposed to make a man
 immortal.  It is impossible but that time, which
 effaces  all  things,  should likewise  destroy that
vmost  curious workmanship of God—the human
 body.
   I hold that dying in the manner I  expect is not
 really death, but a passage of the  soul from this
 earthly life to a  celestial, immortal,  and infinitely
 perfect existence.  And I am so far charmed with
 the glorious  elevation for which I  think my soul is
 designed, that I can no longer stoop to those trifles
 which,  alas !  charm and infatuate sq great a part of
 mankind.  The  prospect of parting with  my fa-
 vourite enjoyments of this  life gives me but little
 concern.   On the contrary, I  thank God, I often
 think of it with secret joy, since by that loss I am
 to gain a life incomparably more happy.
   Oh!  who  then would be troubled, were he in
 my case ?  What good man,  but  would  instantly
 throw off his load of worldly sorrow, and address
 his grateful homage to the Author  of all his happi-
 ness, if he would but live as I do.   For, indeed, I
 am no angel, but  only a man, a servant of God, to
 whom a good and temperate life  is  so pleasing,
 that, even in  this world, he  greatly rewards those
 who practise  it. 
CORNARO'S WORKS.
241
   And whereas many embrace a holy and contem-
plative life, teaching and preaching the great truths
of religion, which is highly  commendable  (the
chief employment of such being to lead men to
the knowledge and worship of  God); O that they
would likewise betake themselves wholly to a regu-
lar and temperate life !  They would then be con-
sidered as saints indeed upon earth, as those primi-
tive  Christians were, who  observed so constant a
temperance, and  lived  so long.  By living like
them to  the age  of  one hundred and twenty, they
might make such a proficiency in  holiness, and
become so dear to God, as to do the greatest honour
and  service to the world; and  they would besides
enjoy constant health and spirits, and be  always
happy within  themselves:  whereas  they are now
too often infirm and melancholy.   If indeed they
are melancholy because they see God, after all his
goodness,  so  ungratefully requited; or because
they see men, notwithstanding their innumerable
obligations to love,  yet hating and  grieving each
other—such melancholy is truly amiable and divine.
But to be melancholy on any other  account,  is, to
speak the truth, quite unnatural to good Christians;
such persons being the  servants of God, and  heirs
of immortality:  and it is still more unbecoming
the  ministers  of  religion, who ought to consider
themselves, as of all others, in  the most important,
serviceable, and delightful employment.
   In short, if all religious people were strictly tem-
perate  and holy, how beautiful, how  glorious a
scene should we  then behold!   Such numbers of
venerable old men as should  create surprise.  How
many wise and holy teachers, to edify the people 
242
EXTRACTS FROM
by their wholesome  admonitions  and good exam-
ples ! How many sinners might receive benefit by
their fervent supplications !  How many blessings
might they shower upon the earth! and not as now,
eating and drinking so intemperately as to inflame
the blood and  excite worldly passions, pride,  am-
bition, and concupiscence, soiling the purity of their
minds, checking  their growth in holiness, and in
some unguarded moment betraying themselves into
sins disgraceful to  religion, and  ruinous  to their
peace for life.   Would they but feed temperately,
and that chiefly on vegetable food, they would, as
I do, soon find it the most agreeable, by the cool,
temperate humours it affords ;  and the best friend
to virtuous improvement, begetting gentle manners,
mild affections, purity of thought, heavenly-minded-
ness, and  delight in God.  This  was the life led
by the holy fathers  of old, who subsisted entirely
on vegetables, drinking nothing but pure water,  and
yet lived to  an extreme old age, in good health  and
spirits, always happy within themselves.  And so
may all in our days live, provided they would but
mortify the lusts of a corruptible body, and devote
themselves entirely to the exalted service of God :
for  this  is indeed the privilege  of every  faithful
Christian, as Jesus Christ left it, when he came
down upon earth to  shed his  precious blood, in
order to deliver us from the tyrannical servitude of
the Devil, and all through his immense goodness.
  To conclude,—since  length of  days abounds
with so many blessings, and I am so happy as to
have arrived at  that state, I feel myself bound, in
charity,  to  give  testimony in  favour of  it,  and
solemnly assure all mankind, that I really enjoy a 
conNARo's WORKS.           243
great deal more than what I now mention, and that
I have no other motive in writing  on this subject
than to engage them  to practise, all  their lives,
those excellent virtues of temperance and sobriety,
which  will bring them, like me, to a happy old age.
And therefore I never cease to raise my voice, cry-
ing out to you, my friends, may your days be many,
that you may long serve God, and be fitter  for the
glory which he prepares for his children.
THE  END. 
 
(245)
INDEX.
                             Page
 Abemethy's, Dr., obs. on exer-
   cise .......................  14
 ----on the reduction of food
   in the decline of life.......  36
 — on do. as the stomach be-
   comesweak...............  43
 ----in favour of resting after
   dinner....................  83
 ----on abstinence........... 145
 ----on diet................. 170
 ----on the cure of disorders . 195
 Abstinence, cheapest cure for
   intemperance.............. 145
 Actors,hints to,concerning their
   health ....................  80
 Air, on the change of.........  13
 ----Struve's obs. on, note...  56
 — do. on stagnant.........  97
 ----general obs. on change of 106
 ----not always advisable.... 108
 ----Beddoes, Dr., obs. on the
   change of................. 108
 Alcohol, proportion of, in wines
   and spirits................  133
 ---- Philip's, Dr., obs. on — 136
 Ale, obs. on..............  15, 136
 ----stale, how  to make  fresh   15
 Animal food.................   14
 ---- the best for strengthening  29
 Anxiety of mind, evils arising
   from...................  71,  73
 ----do. Sir J. Sinclair.......   71
 ----do. Dr. Whytt..........  ib.
 ----do. Mr. Colton..........   73
 Aperients, obs. on........... 142
 ----what the best.......... 181
---- what they  ought to  do ■. 183
---- Lord Bacon's obs. on....  ib.
—— Mr. Locke's do.......... 184
—— Dr. Hamilton's do....... 185
                         X2
                             Page
 Aperients, the best time to take 193
 ----for children............ 194
 Appetite, to refresh.......... 149
 ----varieties of............. 152
 ----Montaigne's obs. on, note 171
 Arbuthnot, Dr., quoted...... 9, 20
 ----obs. on mastication..... 204
 Arne, Dr., quoted in  favour of
  beer-drinking..............  27
 Art  of ingeniously tormenting  67
 —— invigorating life........   9
 Bacon's, Lord, obs. on aperients 183
 ----on  food for those whose
  teeth are defective......... 208
 Balsamum vita?.............. 199
 Barclay, Capt., quoted on train-
  ing ..................... 10,13
 ----his diet during  his extra-
  ordinary walk.............  16
 Barry, Dr., quoted on the siesta 157
 Baths, tepid................. 113
 ----obs. on,note........113, 114
 Beds, obs. on best sort of.....  77
 ----curtains................  76
 ----clothes.................  84
 ----do. in cold weather......  85
 ----room,obs.on...........  76
 ----ventilated..............  77
 ----do.  in hot weather...... ib.
 ----fire in..................  78
 ----situation of.............  96
 Beddoes,  Dr., obs. on change
  of air.................---- 108
 ----nervous diseases ....'...  67
 ----indigestion.............  83
 Beef, obs. on........  15, 23, 28, 29
----eaters preferred to sheep-
  biters.....................  28
----tea, how to make .... 80,.148
-— tea, a good tonic........148 
246
INDEX.
                            Page
Beef, on the digestibility of—  158
■---obs. on, by Dr.Bryan Rob-
  inson, the  editor, and  Sir
  Astley Cooper......... 157, 158
Beer, obs. on,... 15, 16, 23, 27,136
Bilious attack................  154
----disorders...............  195
Bishop, essence of...........  201
Blumenbach on the pulse.....   41
---- stomach................  142
Bons vivans, hints to.....109,175
Bouillon, tablettes de.........  159
---- how to make............  202
Bowels, constipated, how  to
  regulate...................  183
----relaxed,do..............  190
----irritable, cause diarrhoea  191
---- obs. to young people on..  194
Breakfas , obs. on............   21
---- ditto of  beef-tea,  recom-
  mended after  hard-drinking  148
---- of Queen Elizabeth, A.D.
  1550......................  162
----of a washerwoman in A.D.
  1828......................  163
Bread,liquid  ................  136
---- crust of, wonderful vir-
  tues of---'................  152
Brain, two ways of fertilizing   57
Brandy, how  much it  wastes
  in keeping.................  130
----where to buy it.........  134
Broths, in what degree nutritive  28
----excellent mutton........  204
Brown's, Dr., obs.  on Materia
  Medica....................  11
----do. on fish, note........   28
Cadogan's, Dr.,  obs. on  chronic
  diseases...................  70
—— do. exercise  ............ 109
----address to him, quoted... 152
Calcavella wine............. 139
Calomel, effects of............ 197
Carlisle, Sir A., quoted, on bil-
  ious or liver complaints .... 195
Catarrh, cause of............ 100
Cellar,  the temperature  of a
  good...................... 129
----the management of...... 130
Cheese, obs. on.............. 154
Cheyne, Dr., on exercise.....  14
----do. on sleep.............  73
■—- do. on the  advantages of a
  clean stomach............. 182
Chimney sweeping...........  68
----boards..................  76
Chronic disorders, the common
  cause of...................  52
----Dr. Heberden's obs. on .. 104
----importance of regimen in 172
Chyle, Dr. Moore's obs. on--- 178
----Sir John Sinclair's do---  ib.
Cinnamon lozenges aperient.. 187
----tinctureof.............. 192
----how to make............ 199
Claret, obs. on............... 139
Clothes, obs. on..............  84
----how to adjust to a nicety  85
----disorders arising from the
  change of.................  87
----J. Stewart's obs. on......  89
----tight and thin, very inju-
  rious ......................  93
----Dr. Heberden's obs. on
  using additional clothing  in
  winter.................... 106
Coat, obs. on................  89
----great, where to keep.....  92
Codicil to a will, form of..... 220
Cold food and drink bad for the
  dyspeptic and gouty........  79
Cold the frequent cause of pajsy  96
----easy way to get rid of a, 99,100
----weather, Dr. Heberden's
  obs. on the influence of..... 102
Colton's obs. on intemperance  32
Complexion the best criterion
  ofhealth..................  18
Condiments, excessive use  of
  common  .................. 177
Convalescents, hints to....... 161
Cooper, Sir Astley, quoted on . 158
Corks, obs. on................ 130
Corpulency, to reduce...  28,  44,»47
----by walking, sparring, and
  riding.....................  45
----by fasting and purging...  52
----panacea for  ............ Ill
Cornaro, extracts from his writ-
  ings  ...................... 223
----a compendium of his sys-
  tem in his own words.......  35
----liked newwine.......... 131
Cosmetic.................... 112
Costiveness, habitual,  how to
  cure  ...................... 185
----habitual, how to cure by
  granes..................... 191 
INDEX.
247
                            Pago
Costiveness,  how  to  cure  by
  s upper or breakfast......... 187
Crowdie, how to make........ 203
Cucumber, how to eat........ 153
Custom, advantage of........  19
----Dr. Armstrong's obs. on    56
----Struve's do..............  55
Darwin, Dr., quoted on dining
  at regular hours............ 158
Death,  sudden,  in the night,
  common cause of.......... 1G8
Death-bed, one of the most pow-
  erful consolations on a......213
Diarrhrea  ................... 191
----rules for those subject to  ib.
Diet, general rule for........  31
----Spallanzani's experiments
  on........................  27
----Dr. Stark'sdo...........  28
----the proportion of meat to
  drink......................  49
----temperance in, the source
  ofhealth................. 17S
---- the same will not suit
  everybody.................  ib.
----facts relative to.......... 179
----from Code of Health, note  ib.
Digestibility of various foods.. 158
Digestion, process of, how long
  about  ....... ........... 157
----Barry and Spallanzani's
  obs. on  ...................  ib.
----when it goes on merrily.. 173
----how exquisitely perfect in
  children................... 176
Dinner, obs. on..............  23
----a banian................  25
----best time for............ 159
----hour of, A.D. 1570....... 162
----for a halfpenny.........  ib.
----Dr. Cogan's obs. on.....  ib.
.----Mr. Warner's do.........  ib.
----Mr. Pye's...............  ib.
----account of in the Northum-
  berland household-book  for
  1512  ..................... 163
----hour of, in 1828, verses on  ib.
----at  night, and supper in the
  morning................... 164
Dining out, obs. on........... 139
----bad effects from......... 165
Dogs, obs. on................  66
Doors, double............  76,129
Driukers, three sorts of .. v. • 134
                            Fags
Drinkers, advantages of water  137
----hints to hard............  148
Drinking, the economy of.___  135
Duellists, hint to, note........  68
Dyspeptic disorders, the  com-
  mon cause of............ 35, 69
----persons should have warm
  food.......................  79
----a nap after dinner bene-
  ficial to....................  82
----when extreme, remedy for  150
----hint to..................206
Ear, instance of a fine one ....  42
Eating, good.................  154
Economy of drinking........  135
Eggs, how nutritive—;......  28
Ennui, remedy for...........  69
Epicurism, modern, Dr. Swift's
  obs. on....................  163
Epitaph on an Italian count...  188
Epsom salts.................  182
----the most agreeable way to
  take......................  ib.
Essence of meat, how to obtain  203
----of oatmeal..............  204
Exercise, the indispensable im-
  portance of................   13
----obs. on,  by Mr. Abernethy   14
----Dr. Cheyne on..........  ib.
----must be increased, <fec...   30
----neglect of, the great cause
  of indigestion..............   35
----obs. on the importance of,
  by Cowper................  109
----do. by Cadogan.........  ih.
----do. by Sir  Charles  Scar-
  borough...................  ib.
—^r- do. general obs..........  110
—— do. by Armstrong..-. 110, 111
Eudiometer, obs. on..........  107
Eyes, the economy of.........  44
Falconer, Dr., quoted on diet..  26
Fasting a day, effect of.......  51
----too long, the bad effects of,
  and how to avoid them, 156, 159,
                             16J
Fashionable society,  disorders
  of ........................  70
Fat, what makes animals.....  52
Feasting,  intemperate,  to re-
  move  the disorders  arising
  from......................  147
Peet, when cold, obs. on......  89
----should be kept very clean  112 
248                       INDEX.
                             Page
 Fish, not so nutritive as flesh..  28
 ----shell, do................  ib.
 Fire, how to stir.............  67
 ----obs. on.................  96
 ----when to light...........  97
 ----on management and plan
  of lighting of..........100,101
 Fitzgerald, Mr., quoted.......  70
 Flatulence, the common cause
  of, and to prevent and remove  80,
                         155, 156
 Flannel waistcoats, obs. on air-
  ing and changing of........  87
 Food, what easiest of digestion  29
 ----test of the relative restora-
  tive powers of" meat, poultry,
  and fish...................  27
 ----scaleofdo..............  ib.
 ----gelatinous..............  28
 ----what most invigorating ..  29
 ----the editor's own experience  ib.
 ----how important to health..  43
 ----for those whose teeth are
  defective.................. 208
 Forty winks, a nap of...... 24, 58
 Forty, a man at.............. 171
Franklin, Dr., his economical
  project....................  63
----his favourite breakfast... 204
Garters, obs. on..............  94
 Gin, proportion of spirit in — 133
Ginger lozenges.............. 154
----aperient do.............. 191
----tincture of, how to make,
  preferable and  more conve-
  nient than the powder......201
Goose, roasted, how invigorat-  ..
  ing .......................  28
----the Latin for it.......... 154
Gourmand's motto........... 208
Gout, a cheap receipt to cause
  sleep to those troubled with  12
Grillus, good effects of his trans-
  migration ................ 171
Grog, the strength of.........  75
Gruel, various ways of making
  and flavouring............. 201
----Tryon's obs. on......... 204
Hatching, curious anecdote of   58
Health, happiness, and longevi-
  ty, Pope's recipe for........  37
—— influence of cold on..... 102
Heartburn, remedy for....... 147
Heart, palpitation of......155,165
                             Page
 Heat, external, promotes diges-
  tion ....................... 143
 Heberden, Dr., his obs. on regi-
  men  ...................... H«
 Heidelberg tun..............  128
 Henderson's obs. on wine 129, 131
 Horizontal refreshment.......  24
 Hot water, a useful remedy for
  flatulence, &c..............  79
 ----heartburn .............. 147
 Hours, early ones, how health-
  ful........................   62
 ----late, the bane of the deli-
  cate and nervous..........  ib.
 Huffeland's obs. on keeping the
  skin clean as a  preservative
  to health..................  112
 Hunter, J., on indigestibility of
  dressed and raw meats.....   27
 ----quoted on the jail-fever  ..  104
 Human frame  compared to a
  watch.....................  151
 ----life, three stages of......   31
 Hypochondriasis, the cause of  188
 Jackson, Mr., teacher of spar-
  ring, good to reduce  corpu-
  lence .....................  45
 ----his rules for training —  14
 Jameson's, Dr., obs.  on the
  changes of the human body  32
 Ice after dinner.............. 151
 Jellies, in what degree nutritive 28
 Inebriation, how to' relieve the
  indisposition arising from... 147
 ----when doubly debilitating  148
 Indigestion, obs. on..........  43
 ----common cause of........  35
 ----how to relieve.......... 145
 ----do. when extreme....... 150
 ----often caused by anxiety.. 154
 ----Daubenton recommends
  ipecacuanha for............ 165
 Instinct, the best guide in the
  choice of aliment.......... 173
 ----Dr. Heberden's obs. on  .. 170
----Mr. Abernethy's........  ib.
 ----from  domestic manage-
  ment...................... 171
----from Evelyn............  ib.
----from Young............   ib.
----from Montaigne.........  ib.
----from Dr. W. Hunter ....   ib.
 ----from Dr. Armstrong.....  ib.
----from Dr. Smith ......... 172 
INDEX.
249
Instinct, from Falconer....... 172
----from Dr. Adair.........  ib.
----from Dr. Withers.......  ib.
----from Dr. Reid..........  ib.
----from Dr. Sydenham.....  ib.
----from Spectator..........  ib.
----from Dr. Mandeville---  ib.
Intemperance, how to cure the
  chronic complaints occasion-
  ed by ..................147,172
Jockey, to waste a...........  28
Jones, Sir W., his andrometer   33
Irish and Scotch whiskey..... 138
Lamb, obs. on...............  28
Lamps, nursing, their utility in
  the  night..............."... 167
----where to set............  ib.
Lavement, do................ 189
Lemon-peel, how to make quint-
  essence of................. 182
Life, how to live all the days of 9, 36
---- the meridian of........19, 38
----divided into three stages .  31
----calculation,  showing the
  rate of self-consumption —  38
----do. of the expectations at
  various ages...............  40
----do. note at the foot of....  70
----what the great art of---  57
----literary men not long-lived  58
----a country...............  69
----ensurance, how useful  to
  young persons............. 216
Lip, under, plump and rosy,
  the  most certain criterion  of
  health ....................  18
Liquid bread................. 136
Liver, how to render healthful  52
----complaints of............ 195
----Carlisle's obs. on........  ib
Lobsters  ...................  28
Locke's, Mr., obs. on the advan-
  tages of acquiring a habit  of
  regularity of body......... 184
Longings, especially  in acute
  diseases................... 172
----Withers's obs. on.......  ib.
Luncheon, obs. on — 22,156, 160
Lungs, do................... 107
Madeira..................... 130
----obs. on................. 139
Magnesia, an  uncertain medi-
  cine  ...................... 147
Mastication, how important  to
  digestion..................  74
                            Page
Mastication,  Dr. Arbuthnot's
  obs. on...................204
---Spallanzani's............ 205
----calculation  of the mean
  number of munches requisite 206
Materia Medica,  Dr. Brown's
  obs. on....................  11
Mathematical valetudinarian, a
  calculation of..............  20
Matrimony, obs. on  ..........  58
---- best ages for............  ib.
Mattress of horsehair........  77
Meat, under-done............  26
----over-done..............  ib.
----thoroughly done, most di-
  gestible ...................  "27
----do.  Spallanzani's  experi-
  ments on, to prove, quoted..  ib.
----essence of..............202
----minced, recommended by
  Lord Bacon................208
Midnight, one hour's rest before
  worth two after............  62
Mind, how important the tran-
  quillity of.................  14
----the vigour of, decays with
  that ofthe body............  44
----exertion of, more exhaust-
  ing than that ofthe body.. 56,63
— anxiety of, paralyzes  di-
  gestion ....................  57
----do. common cause of indi-
  gestion ....................  35
Mock turtle recommended .... 174
Mountain wine, obs. on....... 148
Mulled wine, to  make extemp. 201
Mustard, Dr.  Trotter  on the
  effects of, note............. 152
Mutton, obs. on...........14,23
----digestibility of.......... 158
----chops, delicately stewed.. 203
----broth, excellent.........  ib.
Nap of forty winks.........24, 5S
----anecdote of Peter the Great
  napping after dinner........  69
Nervous disorders, Dr.Trotter's
  obs. on temperament  of.... ■ 152
----obs. on.................  71
----Dr. Whytt's obs. on.....160
----people should keep a regis-
  ter of their health.......... 178
Xightmare, chief cause  of.....
----obs. on, 165, and following
  pages
----the author's case of...... 165 
250
INDEX.
                            Page
Nightmare, remedies for......  167
---r Dr. Whytt's case of.....  168
----Dr. Waller's Essay on - •  169
Noisy neighbours, hints to . 64, 68
----actionable nuisances.....   66
Northumberland   household-
  book ......................  163
Nuisances, actionable........   66
Opium, obs. on..............   74
Orange-peel, for nervous people 198
Oysters, obs. on.............   28
----not so nutritive as  sup-
  posed.................. 28, 153
Palpitation of the  heart, the
  cause and cure of......  155, 165
----oftener arises from  indi-
  gestion  than  from organic
  disease  ...................  154
Parkyns, Sir Thomas, preferred
  beef-eaters to sheep-biters ..   28
Parrots......................   66
Party walls, their thinness ... _ 63
Pastry......................"15
Peppermint lozenges.....  155, 192
Peptic precepts..............  141
Peristaltic persuaders........"181
----how to make............  192
----when to take............  193
----for children.............   ib.
Perspiration, the panacea for
  corpulence................  Ill
Peter Lowe's Chyrurgerie quo-
  ted .......................210
Physic, curious definition of..   12
Pianofortes............... 66, 67
Pills, the advantage of...  181, 182
Pityllus, his tongue, note to. -.  177
Plums,  French, obs. on  the
  aperient effects of..........  187
Port, the contents of a pipe of .  127
----obs. oh.................  128
----how to purchase........  134
Position, the influence of, in
  alleviating disease.........   79
Prawns.....................   28
Puddings....................   15
Pulse, an uncertain index.....   18
----scale of its pace at  vari-
  ous ages..................   40
----when languid...........   60
----intermitting, cause of---  165
Purgatives, bad  effects of vio-
  lent.............. 142,195,196
Ragout, a restorative, when ad-
  visable....................  174
                             Page
Ratcliffe, Dr., quoted on flatu-
  lence...................... 155
Regimen,  Dr. Tode quoted in
  favour of..................  10
----Dr. Heberden's obs. on .. 171
----Dr. Armstrong's........ 179
----Celsus................. 181
----Dr. Arbuthnot..........  ib.
----importance of, in chronic
  complaints................ 172
Relaxed bowels, obs. on...... 190
----Locke on...............  ib.
----Cheyne on..............  ib.
Restoratives, extempore..  174, 175
----various,   their   relative
  power.....................  27
Rheumatism, remedy for.....210
Rhubarb, tincture of.......... 182
----pill, recommended by Dr.
  Pemberton................ 184
Riding, useful to reduce corpu-
  lence......................  45
Robinson, Dr.  Bryan,  extract
  from his Essay on Food and
  Discharges................  48
----his own regimen........  49
Ruling passions..............  71
Ruptures....................  94
Salad oil, remedy for constipa
  tion....................... 187
Salads...................... 151
----sauce for...............  ib.
Saliva, Stark's obs. on........ 207
Salt, the best sauce......  138,177
Sanctorius,  the proportion of
  his meat to his drink.......  48
Sauces, recommended  by Dr.
  Moffett.................... 176
Scotch and Irish whiskey — 138
Scribblefast, Counsellor,  his
  case......................  65
Scudamore's, Dr., experiments
  on the powers of digestion,
  quoted.................... 157
Second courses, obs. on...... 151
Senna, tincture of............ 182
Senses, few people  have one
  perfect.................... 205
----Mr. Stewart's division of,
  into noxious  and innocent  ..  ib.
Shellfish....................  28
Sherry, the contents of a butt of 127
----analyzed for the author.. 133
----obs. on................. 140
Siesta, obs. on the............  79 
/
INDEX.
251
                            Page
Siesta, recommended.........   80
----do. by Sanctorius.......   82
----do. Blundeville.........   ib.
----do. Dr. Barry...........   ib.
----do. Cruickshank........   ib.
----do. Dr. Darwin.........   83
----do. Dr. Harwood........   ib.
----do. Dr. Adair...........   ib.
----do. Mr. Abernethy......   ib.
----do. Enslish proverb.....   ib.
----do. Waller..............   ib.
----do. Lord Bacon.........   84
Semi-siesta, obs. on........ 24, 82
Singers, hints  respecting their
  health.....................   81
----do. their voice...........  192
Skin, to keep  clean, a great
  preservative of health......  112
Sleep, obs. on............. 55, 79
----Dr.  Struve's obs. on  the
  importance of..............  59
----time required to......59, 61
----Stoehlin's anecdote of Pe-
  ter the Great napping after
  dinner....................  69
----Dr. Cheyne's obs. on —  73
----exercise, the best source of 74
----other means of inviting..  75
Slippers, best, note...........  90
Soda water, various ways of
  making....................  199
----obs. on.................  151
Soup, how to season..........  148
----mock turtle.............  174
----of rattlesnakes..........  179
----portable,  to make........  202
Sparring, the  exercise  of, re-
  commended ...............  45
----weight reduced in an hour  47
Spasms in the stomach, how to
  manage...............  155,  159
Spallanzani, his experiments
  on the digestibility of meat
  under-done, raw, &c.......  27
----quoted, on the  necessity
  of  mastication  to  promote
  digestion..................  205
Spice and wine..............  175
Stark, his experiments on diet  28
----obs. on the saliva.......  207
Stays,  tight,   prejudicial   to
  health.....................  94
Stewart's, John, the traveller,
  obs. on clothes.............  89
----do. on the senses........  205
                            Page
Stockfish recommended by Dr.
  Mandeville................  175
Stomach,  how much  it will
  hold, note.................  142
----warmers, where to be had  143
----must occasionally have a
  holyday...................  149
----centre of sympathy......  150
----wind in the.............  155
----put out of temper by fast-
  ing too long...............  159
----Dr. Hunter says, tells the
  head what it wants........  171
----Dr.Smithdo............  172
----Dr. Adair do............   ib.
----let it have what it asks for 173
----Dr. Whytt's obs. on how
  much its disposition varies .   ib.
----of invalids requires screw-
  ing up....................  176
----Cheyne's  obs. on the im-
  portance of a clean one.....  182
----tinctures for the.........  198
Study, effects of excessive —   56
----Dr. Jamieson's note.....   57
Sugar and lemon, how to use,
  to supersede the taste of salts 182
Sunshine, preferred   by  Dr.
  Franklin to candlelight.....   63
Supper......................   25
----the best  for those who
  dine late..................   ib
----do. for those who  dine
  early......................   ib.
----obs. on its influence on
  sleep......................   74
----obs. on a solid one......   ib.
----. best for the dyspeptic —   75
Sweet wines................  140
Swift,Dr.,on modern epicurism 163
Tablettes de  bouillon, how  to
  make.....................  202
Tar-water...................  197
Tea, how to make milk tea -..   21
----time....................   24
Teeth, to take care of.........  207
----filing of,  Spilsbury on,   ib.
----the value of.............   ib.
----food for those whose teeth
  are defective...............  208
----preservers..............209
---ache, remedy  for........  210
----appearances of decay in..   ib.
Temperature of a room, to pre-
  serve it regular............   98 
\
252
INDEX.
 Temperature, for sitting-rooms  99
 ----the influence of, in allevi-
   ating disease..............  79
 ----obs., <tc................  9"
 Tewahdiddle, the  most agree-
   able anodyne..............  75
 Thermometer, where  to  be
   placed.....................  85
 Thriving, the  art of, quoted... 204
 Tic douloureux, obs. on......208
 Time, the economy of........  58
 Toast and water, to make .... 190
 Tonic medicines............. 161
 ----tincture................  197
 Training,Capt.Barclay'sobs.on  10
 ----do. quoted..............  13
 ----principal rules for.......   ib.
 ----Mr. Jackson's do........   14
 ----diet ordered............   ib.
 ----time required to  screw a
   man up to his fullest strength  17
 ----criterion of good condition  18
 ----first preparation for.....   20
 ----on the mode  of cookery,
   &c. most invigorating......   27
 ----food must be taken warm  26
 ----do. and thoroughly done .   27
 ----Hunter's obs.  on do......   ib.
 ----Spallanzani's experiments
   to prove it.................   ib.
 ----diet in wasting a jockey..   28
 Trotter, Dr., obs. on wine---  137
 ----quoted on nervous tempe-
  rament .............  . 152, 154
 Valetudinarians,  maxim  for,
  from Comus...............   60
 Veal,obs.on.................   28
Vegetables undressed........  153
Ventriloquism........... 155,  171
Vinegar, destructive to the sto-
  mach, note................ 152
Vinum Britannicum......... 136
Voice, when the falsetto begins
  tofail.....................  42
----what the  power of, de-
  pends upon................  81
Wadd on corpulence, quoted, 44, 46
Waistbands, obs. on..........  94
Walking.how it reduces weight  46
Watercresses................ 153
                             Pagt
 Water-drinking, advantages of 137
 Weather, wet................   93
 ----effects of  cold and windy   96
 ----note on, by Dr. Beddoes .  ib.
 ----temperature  of  various
   sorts of....................   97
 Wesley, Mr. Charles, his  ex-
   traordinary ear............  42
 Whiskey.................... 138
 Wholesomes, the........  175,177
 Whytt.Dr.,quotedon the nerves 173
 ----his case of nightmare  ... 168
 Will, the pleasure of making.. 211
 ---- hints on making  ........215
 ---Mr. Sugden's cbs. on....  218
 ----there should be three  co-
   pies written by the testator . 222
 ----office to register  and  de-
   posite recommended.......   ib.
 Windows,  double............  76
 ----curtains................   ib.
 V/ind in the stomach.........  155
 Wine, obs. on...............  127
 ---port, how old it ought to be 128
 ----the art of preserving ....  130
 ---white, why preferable to
   red................... 129,  139
 ----whento bottle..........  128
 ---new, objection to........  131
 ----do. to make old.........  132
 ---Comaro's  obs. on old---  131
 ---proportion  of alcohol in-.  133
 ----do. in brandy..........  ib.
 ----do. in gin..............  ib.
 ----recommended by St. Paul 135
 ----on icing................  ib,
 ----drinking strong, destroys
  hunger, from  Hippocrates ..  136
 ----no man must drink it ha-
  bitually before thirty.......  137
 ----Dr. Trotter's obs. on.....  ib.
 ---silly rule of  some people
  about drinking........ 135,137
----three sorts of drinkers of 134
----sweet ones, tent, <fec. how
  made ..................... 140
 Worms, remedy for.......... 195
Young, his obs.  on time......  37
----on sleep................  55
 ----on wine...............  128
THE  END.
17. 
 
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE
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