676 



DIETETICS DIKZ. 



flowers of rosemary, sage, balm, and mint, may be 

 used instead. At dinner all made dishes highly 

 spiced, such as curries, turtle-soup, &c., as pro- 

 voking appetite, are hurtful ; and the custom of late 

 dining does liarm, as it causes flushing of the face, 

 indisposition to all exertion, great oppression, at- 

 tended with quick pulse, dry clammy tongue, and 

 burning of the palms of the hands, &c. New bread, 

 too, cannot be eaten in any quantity with safety ; 

 ami there have been instances <>f its having even oc- 

 casioned death, while it is frequently the cause of 

 heartburn and flatulence, without being at all sus- 

 pected. The flesh of young animals seems to be 

 more easily digested than that of old ; excepting in 

 stomaclis subject to acidity ; and that of wild and 

 hunted animals is more easily dissolved than that of 

 tame. All sorts of fat meat being more nutritious 

 than lean, must be taken in smaller quantities. 

 Hence also, ham, bacon, and salted meats cannot be 

 eaten in same quantities as the tender flesh of poultry. 

 Fish may be considered as holding an intermediate 

 station between animal and vegetable food ; it has 

 the advantage of being easily soluble, and when 

 eaten without heating sauces or much butter, is a 

 healthy and agreeable food. It has been asserted, 

 and apparently with good reason, that the use of 

 much animal food blunts the sensibility and mental 

 perceptions of those who indulge in it : and it is well 

 known that Sir Isaac Newton, while engaged in 

 composing his work on optics, found himself obliged 

 to live entirely on vegetable food. Still it must be 

 admitted that even after a temperate meal of animal 

 food, the mind is fit for any degree of exertion. All 

 boiled vegetables are in general easy of digestion ; 

 raw vegetables and salads are rather more difficult, 

 but of course each individual must consult his own 

 experience in such cases. Fruit, if perfectly ripe, 

 is wholesome, but should be taken in the forenoon 

 rather than after a hearty meal. As to drinks, Dr 

 Fothergill's rules are admirable ; and as follows : 1. 

 The less quantity of fermented liquors we accus- 

 tom ourselves to, the better. 2. To abstain from 

 spirits of all kinds as much as may be. 3. Where 

 mild well brewed beer agrees, to keep to it as a be- 

 verage. 4. Where water does not disagree, to value 

 the privilege and continue it. But as it has been 

 already said of solids, it is oftener the quantity than 

 the quality, which proves hurtful ; and people, in the 

 early part of their lives, cannot be too careful to 

 guard against the first temptations to the love of wine 

 or spirituous liquors. It should never be forgotten 

 that excess in wine produces gout, apoplexy, palsy, 

 and sudden death ; and that the indulgence in spirits 

 will cause cancer of the stomach, schirrous liver, 

 dropsy, and madness. 



In all diseases attended with much fever or quick- 

 ness of pulse, the stomach loathes animal food, and 

 there is generally a great increase of thirst. To 

 quench which water either quite cold, or iced, or 

 tepid, or rendered acid, by the addition of orange 

 or lemon juice, tamarinds, apples, current jelly, 

 cream of tartar, vinegar, &c., may be freely indulg- 

 ed in. Infusions too of barley, sage, balm, &c., may 

 be taken. In chronic diseases attended with hectic 

 fever, milk is the most proper diet, being at once 

 nourishing and easily digested. The best food for in- 

 fants is, of course, their mother's milk ; but, in gene- 

 ral, they may be weaned with advantage at five or six 

 months, and whenever they begin to cut teeth, it is 

 proper to indulge them with a little animal food, 

 such as soft boiled eggs, and minced veal. Many 

 infants perish from having too much sugar given 

 them in their food, which creates acidity in their 

 bowels, and looseness, and even convulsions. When 

 infants are affected with eruptions and cutaneous 



complaints, they may often be cured by giving them 

 no sugar, and indulging them freely with gravy and 

 salt. Gout, corpulency, and many other most dis- 

 tressing diseases may be entirely conquered by diet 

 alone, independently of the use of medicine. 



DIETRICH, JOHN WILLIAM ERNST (who. from 

 eccentricity, often wrote his name Dietericy); a fam- 

 ous German painter of the eighteenth century. He 

 was born in 1712. His father, John George, was 

 also a skilful painter, and instructed his son till lie 

 was twelve years old, when he sent him to Dresden, 

 and placed him under the care of Alexander Thiele. 

 The picture of a peasant drinking, in the Dutch style, 

 executed by Dietrich while a boy, is in the royal 

 cabinet of engravings at Dresden. He successfully 

 imitated Raphael and Mieris, Correggio and Ostade. 

 His paintings are scattered through almost all Ku- 

 rope. In the Dresden gallery there are thirty-four 

 of them. Some of his designs are in the cabinet ot 

 engravings in that place, and some in private collec- 

 tions. He died in 1774. 



DIETSCH, BARBARA REGINA ; a distinguished 

 female painter of the celebrated family of artists of 

 that name. She was born at Nuremburg in 1716, 

 and died in 1783. Notwithstanding many invitations 

 to different courts, which her talents procured her, 

 she preferred to remain in the modest obscurity of 

 private life. Her sister, Margaret Barbara, was 

 born in 1726, and died in 1795. She painted flowers, 

 birds, &c. 



DIEU ET MON DROIT (French ; signifying God 

 and my right) ; the motto of the arms of England, 

 first assumed by Richard I., to intimate that he did 

 not hold his empire in vassalage of any mortal. It 

 was afterwards taken by Edward III., and was con 

 tinued without interruption to the time of William 

 III., who used the motto Je maintiendray , though the 

 former was still retained upon the great seal. After 

 him, queen Anne used the motto Semper eadem, 

 which had been before used by queen Elizabeth ; but . 

 ever since the time of queen Anne, Dieu et mon droit 

 has been the royal motto. 



DIEZ, JUAN, or JOHN MARTIN ; a Spanish par- 

 tisan officer, distinguished for his conduct during the 

 French invasions of his native country. He was the 

 son of a peasant, and born in the district of Valla- 

 dolid, hi Old Castile, in 1775. On the proclamation 

 of war against France, after the revolution, he again 

 entered the army, as a private, in the Spanish dra- 

 goons. He served till the restoration of peace, when 

 he returned home, married, and resumed his agricul- 

 tural employment. Patriotism and a love of enter- 

 prise drew him from his peaceful labours on the 

 invasion of the territory of Spain by Napoleon. In 

 1808, he placed himself at the head of a party of four 

 or five of his neighbours, and commenced hostilities 

 against the enemy, killing then- couriers, and thus 

 obtaining a supply of horses, arms, and ammunition. 

 After the atrocities committed by the French at 

 Madrid, May 2, a spirit of resentment was excited in 

 the country, and Martin, procuring associates, prose- 

 cuted his system of annoyance and extermination 

 against the French. At this period, he acquired the 

 appellation of el Empecinado, from the darkness ot 

 his complexion. With the increase of his band, he 

 extended his operations, and, besetting the roads, in- 

 tercepted the couriers of the enemy, seized their con- 

 voys, and harassed their small parties. At first, he 

 neither gave nor expected quarter ; but at length, 

 finding himself at the head of forty-eight well-armed 

 men, he no longer pursued that barbarous practice. 

 In September, 1809, with 170 men, all mounted, he 

 passed into the province ofGuadalaxara to check the 

 inroads of the enemy. He was afterwards employed 

 under the orders of the commander-in-chief of the 



