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vifions; but it is dill more inhofpitable to encou- 

 rage any to make fuch an ufc of what is provided 

 for them as to endanger health or life, not to men- 

 tion the fcandalous wade which muft be caufed by 

 it. Still more blameable is the practice of encou- 

 raging gluttony by wagers, or "offers of reward. 

 They who do this are in fact highly criminal, and 

 in no fmall degree guilty of the fatal confequences 

 which fo often follow fuch brutal difplays of ap- 

 petite. Moderation is not only neceffary in what 

 regards the quantity of food, but alio as it regards 

 the time in which it is confumed. It is neceflary 

 to the proper digeftion of our food, and of courfe 

 to the nouriftiment of the body, that it be taken in 

 gradually, and its texture broken down by chewing. 

 It would fcarcely be credited, were it not known 

 as a facl:, that the folly of gluttony has prompted 

 wagers not only on the quantity of food, but alfo on 

 the time in which it Ihouldbe fwallowed; by acce- 

 lerating which, all the bad effects of an enormous 

 quantity of victuals muft be greatly aggravated. 

 Meat, thus (wallowed, muft be of courfe in large 

 pieces, fcarcely acted on by the teeth, and of diffi- 

 cult digeftion. The fudden diftention of the fto- 

 mach, by the introduction of a large quantity of 

 meat (o nearly at the fame time, muft weaken its 

 tone, by overftretching its fibres; and this has fome- 



times 



