

vii ENGLISH HABITS OF DIET 63 



turns sour, produces heartburn, and should therefore be used 

 sparingly. Butter also is often difficult of digestion, especially 

 when toasted, fried or in sauces. Dinner, about noon, 

 usually demands a well-covered table. Animal food supplies 

 the chief part, and vegetables and puddings should be in 

 smaller quantity ; the latter if rich, sweet and baked often 

 cause suffering. Fruit should not be taken after a plentiful 

 meal but in the forenoon. Men should drink during the meal 

 what health and inclination require, and not sit over the 

 bottle afterwards. Wine after a full meal gives a temporary 

 flow of animal spirits, but rather opposes the necessary 

 assimilation of the food ; a mere diluent is preferable. No 

 spirits should be taken, and the less of fermented liquors of 

 all kinds the better ; " where water does not disagree, value 

 the privilege and continue it." The novel practice of taking 

 tea or coffee as a separate repast in the afternoon, before the 

 digestion of the last meal is finished, is injurious, but an 

 unsweetened cup without solids may be drunk soon after 

 dinner. Suppers, he writes, are now discouraged among the 

 affluent, but it is a better practice for some, especially for 

 those who have to give attention to business, to take two 

 moderate meals, rather than a single large dinner. The 

 supper should be light ; liquids are often ill borne. 1 



THE USE OF COFFEE 



Fothergill wrote a further notice of coffee. This beverage 

 had been brought into Europe from Turkey in the middle of 

 the seventeenth century, and coffee-houses after the manner 

 of the east had become common in London. Duties and 

 licenses were imposed to restrict them, and in 1675 Charles II. 

 tried to shut them up as " Seminaries of Sedition," but they 

 throve and multiplied in spite of all. The supply of the 

 berries was a source of no little wealth to the Arabians, but 

 the plant was sent to Europe about 1690, and in 1727 the 

 cultivation was introduced into the West Indies. In Fother- 

 gill's time most of the coffee consumed in England came from 

 those islands, but it was inferior (especially that from the 

 English islands) to the Mocha product. Fothergill attributes 

 this to the high duties charged, altogether is. lod. per lb., 

 discouraging its culture. He urges the reduction of the duty 



1 The Remarks on the Sick Headache were read before the Society ot 

 (Licentiate) Physicians, an unrevised paper ; the diction is wanting in order 

 and style. Med. Obs. & Inq. vi. 103 ; Works, ii. 320, and iii. 219. 



