I7 6 ANSWERS TO PRACTICAL QUESTIONS 



food ; in the summer, it relishes cooling, acid drinks, and 

 an unstimulating diet. 



1 8. Why is a late supper, injurious ? 



The system is wearied with the clay's labor, and the 

 stomach is unfitted to undertake the task of digesting a 

 meal as much as the body is to begin a new day's task 

 unrefreshed by sleep.* 



* " Being allowed for once to speak, I would take the opportunity to set 

 forth how ill, in all respects, we stomachs are used. From the beginning to 

 the end of life, we are either afflicted with too little or too much, or not the 

 right thing, or things which are horribly disagreeable to us ; or are otherwise 

 thrown into a state of discomfort. I do not think it proper to take up a 

 moment in bewailing the Too Little, for that is an evil which is never the 

 fault of our masters, but rather the result of their misfortunes ; and, indeed, 

 we would sometimes feel as if it were a relief from other kinds of distress if 

 we were put upon short allowance for a few days. But we conceive our- 

 selves to have matter for serious complaint against mankind in respect of the 

 Too Much, which is always an evil voluntarily incurred. What a pity that in 

 the progress of discovery we cannot establish some means of a good under- 

 standing between mankind and their stomachs ; for really the effects of their 

 non-acquaintance are most vexatious. Human beings seem to be, to this day, 

 completely in the dark as to what they ought to take at any time, and err 

 almost as often from ignorance as from depraved appetite. Sometimes, for 

 instance, when we of tfie inner house are rather weakly, they will send us 

 down an article that we could deal with when only in a state of robust health. 

 Sometimes, when we would require a mild vegetable diet, they will persist in 

 the most stimulating and irritating of viands. 



" What sputtering we poor stomachs have when mistakes of that kind occur ! 

 What remarks we indulge in regarding our masters ! " What's this, now ? " 

 will one of us say ; " ah, detestable stuff ! What a ridiculous fellow that man 

 is ! Will he never learn ? Just the very thing I did not want If he would 

 only send down a bowl of fresh leek soup or barley broth, there would be 

 some sense in it :" and so on. If we had only been allowed to give the 

 slightest hint now and then, like faithful servants as we are, from how many 

 miseries might we have saved both our masters and ourselves ! 



" I have been a stomach for about forty years, during all of which time I have 

 endeavored to do my duty faithfully and punctually. My master, however, 

 is so reckless, that I would defy any stomach of ordinary ability and capacity 

 to get along pleasantly with him. The fact is, like almost all other men, he, 

 in his eating and drinking, considers his own pleasure only, and never once 

 reflects on the poor wretch who has to be responsible for the disposal of 

 everything down stairs. Scarcely on any day does he fail to exceed the strict 



