27B A WORD OR TWO TOUCHING EVERY MAN'S MASTER. 



are condensed into the smallest possible space ; but to -what effect ? 

 we need but look at their adust and haggard countenances for an 

 answer. The stomach thus overloaded, leaves much of its contents 

 undigested, which cannot fail to act as a foreign body, unless we 

 consider man capable, like the graminivorous animals, of directing 

 the digestive powers of his stomach on his undigested cud. A diet 

 of animal matter thus condensed, contains too great a quantity of 

 stimulus in too small a compass, and, as a permanent stimulant, must 

 wear out the springs of life much sooner than a diet containing less 

 nourishment in a larger bulk. Much of what we take into the 

 stomach affords no nourishment, and is only useful by the stimulus 

 of distension which its bulk produces. The stasis of undigested food 

 in the stomach becomes sensible by a sense of weight at the pit of the 

 stomach, loss of appetite, and eructations, &c. &c. ; the energies of 

 the stomach are now solicited by the gentle means of tonic remedies, 

 which generally consist of a pure alcohol, and a vegetable bitter ; 

 these tonics, from a constant repetition, are in themselves a fruitful 

 source of disease. To dwell further on this class, is as unnecessary 

 as it is useless to attempt a cure without a return to a regular life 

 and plain living. In the statesman, the merchant, the mechanic, the 

 artizan, we find it, in every stage and form, its proximate cause the 

 same, though its remote cause very different. The ambition of the 

 statesman, the anxiety, nay, the avarice, of the merchant, the dis- 

 appointment of the mechanic, and the poverty of the artizan, so 

 engross the attention of the waking and sleeping man, as to leave 

 no moment of relaxation for the digestive powers to make up for the 

 wear and tear incident to the different callings and pursuits. In the 

 statesman and merchant, the brain perpetually on the rack, has all 

 the energies of life directed on it to support the mind, to the total 

 suspension of digestion, whilst with the mechanic and artizan, the 

 physical exhaustion of their several callings suspends digestion, and 

 converts the best diet into a poison, thus arriving at the same goal, 

 though by different routes. To the late Mr. Abernethy, the profes- 

 sion and the public are much indebted, for the bold, clear, and ener- 

 getic manner in which he pointed out the stomach, as the point de 

 depart of the majority of those ills to which flesh is heir. 



It may now be asked, what system we propose to substitute for 

 those which have come under our displeasure ? We candidly con- 

 fess we have none if the word System mean, as it generally does in 

 books on dietetics, a vast deal of professional learning. Years of 

 experience and close observation have proved to us the futility of 

 every attempt to establish dietetical rules which shall apply to all 

 cases. The appetites, the desires, and the passions of men, are as 

 different as their physiognomies, and each is endowed with different 

 aptitudes, either for mental or physical exertions. Customs and 

 habits which have been growing for years, cannot with impunity be 

 changed in a moment. " Sua cuique constat tempories, et mutatio 

 periculosa est."* A sudden transition from a diet to which, from 

 infancy, we have been accustomed, to one of a different kind, will 



* Abinus de ortu et progressu medicinae. 





