224 MORE POT-POURRI 



Athletics. 7 On Dr. Haig's recommendation, I deserted 

 the extreme strictness of the German cure, and I have 

 undoubtedly felt stronger for taking more skimmed milk 

 (separated would be better) and a little cheese, though 

 whenever I am less well I go back to the Kuehne diet. 

 It was the greatest satisfaction to me to find a man 

 whose years of study and scientific investigations en- 

 tirely corresponded with my own groping experiences. 

 If anybody now ever asks me about the matter, I say : 

 ' Read Dr. Haig's books, and then consult him or not, 

 as you like.' His tables of diet are so severe that I am 

 afraid they may tempt a great number of people to agree 



with the late Lord D , who, when sent a sample of 



sherry which was recommended to him as being essen- 

 tially wholesome, wrote back that he found it so bitter 

 and dry he much preferred the gout. 



Although it is rare to find a doctor who will recom- 

 mend strict dieting in chronic cases, I think it is becom- 

 ing equally rare for a doctor to make any objection if 

 the patient himself proposes it. He will not risk offend- 

 ing a patient by not giving him medicines and by greatly 

 reducing his food. One can hardly blame a doctor for 

 this, and it brings us to the conclusion that the initia- 

 tive in matters of diet and abstinence must come from 

 the patients themselves. 



Not many people seemed to take any interest in the 

 health allusions in my last book. Still, I received the 

 following letter, which, in a chapter bound to be unpop- 

 ular, the few who read it may find as interesting as I 

 did: 



' I have been specially interested in your health chap- 

 ter, for if there is one subject more than another which 

 ought to be thrashed out by the lay mind, it is health. 

 On it depends, to a great extent, the future progress of 

 mankind. As a rule, individuals lean to the idea that it 



