THE REMEDIES OF NATURE. 313 



meal. Not only that the progress of digestion is thus interrupted, not 

 only that the body derives no strength from the inert mass of ingesta, 

 but that mass, by undergoing a putrid instead of peptic decomposi- 

 tion, vitiates the humors of the system it was intended to nourish, 

 irritates the sensitive membranes of the stomach, and gradually im- 

 pairs the vigor of the whole digestive apparatus. Hence the gastric 

 torments of poor overworked teachers, who (unlike happier servants 

 of the public) can not shirk their work, and have to snatch their din- 

 ner during a brief interval of the hardest kind of mental drudgery. 

 Hence the sallow complexion, the hollow eyes, and the weary gait of 

 thousands of city clerks, scholars, lawyers, newspaper drudges, and even 

 physicians. Housewives, after dinner, have generally the good sense 

 to rest awhile, often a very good while, and thus manage to digest 

 their food ; for, that their immunity is not a prerogative of their sex 

 is demonstrated by the chlorotic complexion of lady-teachers and 

 boarding-school girls, who have only an hour's recess physiologically 

 no recess at all, if the school-bell rings right after dinner. 



For those who have to drudge the whole afternoon, it would be 

 better to postpone the principal meal to the very end of the day, and 

 laugh at the supposed danger of "sleeping on a full stomach." For 

 what do those who add a supper to an undigested dinner ? only with 

 this difference, that their stomachs are obliged to dispose of an acidu- 

 lated melange. Animals, in a state of nature, nearly always sleep or 

 rest after a heavy meal ; only the homo sapiens disregards the prompt- 

 ings of his instincts, and relies on a dyspepsia-pill. 



In most cases, however, the matter could be compromised. Early 

 rising and an unmuddled brain would enable almost any man to go 

 home at 3 or 4 p. m., and counting-house clerks should consent to a 

 reduction of their wages rather than forego the same privilege ; at 

 five, a full meal of milk, farinaceous preparations, and nutritive vege- 

 tables, followed by a dessert of fresh or cooked fruit ; then a siesta 

 of two full hours, music, conversation, or, faute de mieux, an enter- 

 taining book ; then, the weather permitting, a ramble in the cool even- 

 ing air, or light gymnastics ; then rest in undress, an air-bath, and 

 open bedroom-windows. 



The genei-al adoption of that plan would soon dissipate a strange 

 and strangely prevalent fallacy : the supposed natural antagonism of 

 the brain and the stomach the alleged impossibility of combining 

 studious habits with a sound digestion. Eestricted to proper hours, 

 head-work is as stimulating as any other kind of labor, and promotes 

 digestion instead of hindering it. The nature-abiding habits of such 

 men as Boileau, Linnaeus, Cuvier, Goethe, and Humboldt, enabled them 

 to reconcile the mental strain of their enormous literary activity with 

 the enjoyment of almost uninterrupted health. 



Dyspeptics, therefore, need not shirk brain-work, but, as they 

 would shun the pills of a mercury-quack, they should beware of 



