LETTERS TO BROTHER JOHN. 289 



whether these articles have been thoroughly and 

 minutely broken down by the teeth, or only imper- 

 fectly so? Sir Richard Jebb, when his patients 

 asked him what diet they should use, was in the 

 habit of replying, " Why, my dear madam, don't 

 eat the fender and fire-irons, because they are deci- 

 dedly unwholesome ; but of any other dish you may 

 freely partake." 



But, to those who, from any cause, cannot take 

 bodily exertion, some attention to diet may be 

 necessary. Even here simplicity and quantity, 

 rather than quality, form the grand consideration. 

 They cannot well take too little food ; and wine and 

 other strong drinks are wholly inadmissible. And 

 let them only reflect on the mechanism of nutrition; 

 on the manner in which our food nourishes us 

 what becomes of it after we have eaten it ; and they 

 cannot but clearly see that this advice is sound and 

 wholesome doctrine. 



Authorities without proof are of little value ; 

 otherwise, I could quote them in abundance, from 

 all sorts of authors, in all ages of the world. But if 

 you will not believe the evidence of such arguments 

 as I have already adduced, neither would authori- 

 ties convince you, though their name were Legion. 

 I shall, however, conclude this Letter with four, 

 o 



