CONDITION OF THE SYSTEM. 245 



intervals. The nervous prostration is increased by large quantities 

 of stimulating food taken frequently. That the brain may be ex- 

 cited to a natural and healthy action and so impart the needed stim- 

 ulus to the digestive organs, open-air exercise should be combined 

 with cheerful conversation. 



Food before Retiring Nothing should be eaten for at 

 least three hours before going to bed. Unpleasant dreams or colic- 

 pains are frequent effects of going directly to bed after a hearty 

 meal. The reason of this is, the brain becomes partially dormant 

 by sleep and thus fails to afford the digestive organs the requisite 

 nervous stimulus. As a consequence the food lies undigested on 

 the stomach, producing local oppression and irritation. 



A physician of our acquaintance was called on by a famous 

 hunter of the Virginia mountains for a prescription for nightmare 

 not to cure, but to cause it. His old woman, he said, complained 

 mightily of it, but he thought she was shamming to excite sym- 

 pathy. He would like to have it once, just to know what it was. 

 The doctor directed him to go home, spend the next day in hunting, 

 and just before going to bed at night to eat as much as he wanted 

 of bacon and cabbage. When his rueful face next appeared in the 

 physician's office, he said, "Doctor, I know all about it, and the 

 old. woman wasn't shamming a bit." 



Small Quantities of Food Only those should be taken 

 of a mild, unstimulating character, when the general system is 

 feeble and the digestive organs weak. To a half-famished man, or 

 one recovering from dangerous illness, this rule is imperative. Too 

 much food will then almost certainly kill. The weak stomach, after 

 its long inaction, is as unfit for hard labor as are the muscles. Un- 

 der these circumstances knowledge and prudence, rather than appe- 

 tite, should direct the giving of food. It is a popular fallacy that 

 "food never does harm when the appetite calls for it." The animal 

 and vegetable broths are a convenient form of food in cases of great 

 prostration, when the system needs immediate nourishment, be- 

 cause liquids are more rapidly removed from the stomach by absorp- 

 tion. 



The Skin and Digestion It is an important fact, though 

 few people seem to know it, that the condition of the skin exerts a 

 powerful influence on the digestive organs. The action of the 

 stomach and its associate organs is diminished whenever free per- 

 spiration is checked, either by want of cleanliness or chills. Many 

 liver and stomach complaints owe their origin to this cause. Many 

 diseases of the alimentary canal, also commonly called "summer- 

 complaints," might be prevented by attention to clothing and bath- 

 ing. 



Tight Clothing Impairs Digestion The ribs are raised, 

 and the central part of the diaphragm lowered from one to two 

 inches at each full drawing of the breath. This depression is accom- 

 panied by a relaxation of the outer abdominal walls. When the 



