THE PHILOSOPHY OF DIET. 825 



both. And where the question is not one of virtue, but of sheer 

 fancy or gratification of the appetite, even he who can afford to in- 

 dulge those delights will be wise to make a choice. At the time I 

 speak of there was not much smoking. Cigars were not much in fash- 

 ion ; the pestilent heresy of the cigarette t\ &s not yet dreamed of ; 

 the sober pipe was mostly used, generally in that form known as a 

 "long clay," and taken sedately after work was over, as a wholesome 

 aid to reflection. No doubt there were exceptions, men who fuddled 

 themselves over pipes and spirits, or beer ; but broadly speaking the 

 use of tobacco then was the exception rather than the rule, certainly 

 among the upper classes of society, and both stomach and brain were 

 thus better able to support the tax laid upon them. 



The whole duty of man in this matter lies, as the wise Greeks saw 

 it lay in all matters, in moderation. It is hard to believe that if a man 

 be in a healthy state he need seriously vex his soul on the quantity of 

 starch in his potato, or the relative proportions of hydro-carbons or 

 carbo-hydrates necessary to a perfect diet. If he finds boiled meat 

 more to his taste than roast, white more than brown, if whisky suit 

 him better than brandy, or wine better than either, I can not think 

 it necessary that he should go about very painfully to divorce himself 

 from his liking. And if he finds water most palatable of all bever- 

 ages, in Pindar's name let him gratify his taste, if he can do so in 

 safety from those numerous and nameless diseases that we are told 

 lurk in the pure element. Let him only be moderate in all things 

 in water as in the rest, for I take it, to swallow inordinate quan- 

 tities of water, cold, or after the latest fashion, hot, can be no more 

 wholesome to the human stomach than excessive doses of a stronger 

 drink. 



I am thinking of those whose habits must be chiefly sedentary, of 

 those who have to work for their livelihood, to earn it by the per- 

 petual exercise of their brain. And in our time, when once the golden 

 term of youth is passed, these men form by far the most part of the 

 community ; men to whom the power of work is life itself happy 

 are they if it mean only their own life and w T ho must watch that 

 power as jealously as ever fabled miser watched his gold. What they 

 should eat and drink, and whether they should smoke, sure am I that 

 they, and only they, can decide. Probably they will find that a fixed, 

 unswerving rule is not the best, but that, as Bacon says, " The great 

 precept of health and lasting is that a man do vary and interchange 

 contraries." For myself I find that when living existing rather, I 

 would say in London, a stimulating diet is more necessary than when 

 I work in the fresh air and quiet of the country. A moderate amount 

 of wine seems to me needful to balance the impure atmosphere of our 

 great Babylon, to keep body and mind to the mark, jaded as they are 

 by the unending din and bustle of human life. But the fresh breezes, 

 the spacious air, the sunlight, all the beauty and the rest of the coun- 



