DIGEbTION AND FOOD. 91 



grerous than that of condiments. The stomach gradually 

 loses its power, until it becomes incurably dyspeptic, and la 

 unable to digest the ordinary food. 



197. The use of all stimulants, both of spices and alcohol, 

 at first sharpens and then destroys the natural sensibility of 

 the tongue and mouth. The healthy appetite of those who 

 are unused to stimulants is simple, and wants simple things. 

 They have a refined taste, and nice discrimination of the 

 different flavor of various kinds of food, and a keen relish 

 for what they eat, although it is neither prepared with spice, 

 nor accompanied with spirits or wine. But those who are 

 accustomed to highly-seasoned dishes are not satisfied with- 

 out them. All simple dishes are insipid. Their taste is so 

 blunted that these do not excite it. And, in the old and 

 habitual drunkard, this sensibility is so deadened that nothing 

 short of a very active or even pungent stimulant will reach 

 and satisfy it. 



198. A man who for years had drunk tea and coffee, 

 and occasionally wine, and habitually eaten spices, suddenly 

 ceased to use them, and drank only milk and water, and ate 

 no other condiment than salt with his food. After eight 

 months' practice of his simple diet, the sensibility of his 

 tongue became so exalted, and he gained so nice a discrimi- 

 nation of taste, that he could distinguish and enjoy the vari- 

 ous flavor of water from different wells, as readily as he had 

 distinguished between the various kinds of wine, tea, and 

 coffee. The enjoyment of the mere taste and appetite is not 

 in proportion to the stimulating power of what we eat and 

 drink, but in the ratio of the quickness of the sensibility. 

 And the water-drinker, while in the mere act of drinking, 

 enjoys his pure water more than the wine-drinker does his 

 wines, or the spirit-drinker his stronger and more stimulat- 

 ing drinks. " Happy are the young and healthy," says the 

 shrewd Dr. Kitchener, " who are wise enough to be con- 

 vinced that water is the best drink, and salt the best sauce." 



199. From this examination of the structure and uses 

 of the digestive organs, and of their purposes, powers, and 



