THE FARMER AT HOME. 123 



changes by which it is to be fitted for nourishing all parts of the living 

 body, 



DILUENTS. Watery liquors which are believed to increase 

 the fluidity of the blood, and to diminish the acrimony and viscidness 

 of several of the secreted or excreted fluids. Simple water-gruel, 

 weak tea, and a great variety of such liquors, are much used as 

 diluents. Such drinks are especially required in febrile diseases, both 

 as removing the irritation caused by thirst, and as diluting the acri- 

 mony of the contents of the stomach and bowels, and as facilitating 

 the perspiration. In various diseases of the stomach and bowels, 

 diluents are very useful, by mixing with the bile and other fluids, and 

 rendering them more mild. They may also assist in digestion, by 

 rendering the chyme and the chyle thinner and more easily absorbed 

 by the lacteals. As watery fluids pass off readily by the kidneys, they 

 are of great utility in diseases of the urinary organs and of the bladder. 

 Though it may seem a good rule, to let the salutary instinct of nature 

 for diluents in feverish disorders be gratified, yet, as a large quantity 

 of fluid w T ill, for a time, distend the blood-vessels, and so increase the 

 action of the heart and arteries, it may be prudent to restrain the appe- 

 tite of thirst in those inflammations where we combat the disease by 

 large bleedings. It will be better, in such cases, to allay thirst by very 

 small quantities of fluid, or by eating fruits either fresh or preserved. 

 The temperature of diluting fluids is to be regulated by the state of 

 the body at the time of giving them. In the cold or shivering stage 

 of a disease they should be hot ; when the heat is great and the skin 

 dry, they should be cold ; and in most other cases they should be 

 tepid. See Gunn's Domestic Medicine. 



DINNER. Is the principal meal in modern times, and the one 

 at which luxury is chiefly indulged in. Much disease arises from the 

 mismanagement of dinner, both as to time, and to the quantity and 

 variety of food taken. Physicians cannot lay down any general rule 

 for the time at which persons should dine ; the hour when nature 

 requires it, and the period which is most adapted for it, as furnishing 

 a supply of aliment before the exhaustion of the powers has proceeded 

 too far, would seem to be two or three o'clock ; but individuals vary 

 in their habits, in the kind of breakfast they take, and in their powers 

 of digestion ; all which are to be taken into account by the medical 

 man who gives his advice on the subject. Some persons much 

 troubled with indigestion, are relieved by the simple expedient of 

 taking their dinner sooner or later, as they find upon trial what time 

 agrees best ; and much may be done to relieve stomach complaints 

 by diminishing the quantity of food and drink taken at dinner. Late 

 copious dinners are really nothing else than heavy suppers, and in all 

 likelihood will produce restlessness, nightmare, and various unplea- 

 sant symptoms. The dinners of children should always be in the 

 middle of the day. 



