132 THE TREATMENT OF DISEASES. 



bread, plainly-cooked mutton, white fish, poultry, game, eggs, a moderate amount of 

 vegetables, weak tea, cocoa, or coffee, answers better than anything. It is not 

 very pleasant at first if you have been accustomed to gratify your appetite ; but 

 it is nothing when you get used tc it. In time you will learn to laugh at people who 

 eat anything that is put before them, without regard to their internal economy. 

 You simply pick what experience has shown you is best for you; and who can 

 blame you 1 If you did otherwise, people would only laugh at you behind your back, 

 and think you stupid. If your liver is weaker than other people's perhaps your 

 headpiece is stronger, so they have not much to boast about after all. At all events, 

 it is a great thing to be able to talk rationally after dinner, and not to be reduced 

 to a condition of semi-torpidity. Sometimes it is necessary to cut down the actual 

 quantity of food taken; but this is not usually the case. In obstinate cases it 

 sometimes proves beneficial to take the principal meal of the day the first thing in 

 the morning, when the digestive powers are strongest. 



As a rule, the very strictest caution has to be observed with regard to drinkables. 

 Malt liquors, port, champagne, Madeira, Burgundy, have all to be given up, and 

 must be reserved strictly for the use of your friends. Claret or a small quantity of 

 spirits largely diluted will probably suit you better than anything ; but sometimes, - 

 alas ! even these may have to be given up. A man need never despair as long 

 as his doctor leaves him gin and seltzer, only it must be a large quantity of seltzer 

 to very little gin. The gin is useful in this way, that it carries off a great deal by 

 the kidneys, and serves to rid the blood of much effete matter, which might other- 

 wise prove injurious. Most people get on well without any stimulant at all ; 

 and it is the opinion of many who speak from personal experience that those who 

 have much brain-work to do would be better if they did altogether without 

 alcohol, or, at all events, took it in the very strictest moderation. Even for persons 

 who for years have been indulging largely, there is very little risk in abandoning 

 stimulants. Unless there is a weak heart, the only inconvenience experienced 

 is a sinking at the pit of the stomach and a craving for alcohol, which a repetition 

 of the stimulant has only temporarily relieved and has rendered more persistent. 



Plenty of fresh air is very essential in every case in which there is anything 

 wrong with the liver. An excess of fresh air will indeed often counteract the bad 

 effects of too large a quantity of food. Out-door exercise quickens the flow of blood 

 through the liver, and prevents the accumulation in the system of materials which 

 would probably prove injurious. Sea air is especially efficacious in this respect, and 

 many sufferers from liver derive immense benefit from residence at the sea-side and 

 from sea-bathing, although, unfortunately, the good effects of sea air are often more 

 than counterbalanced by unhealthy lodgings and badly-cooked food. 



The free use of soda and seltzer water is useful in helping to eliminate morbid 

 materials from the system. Many people derive considerable benefit from drinking 

 a tumbler of cold water while dressing in the morning, and before going to bed at 

 night. The action of the skin should be maintained by frequently bathing the 

 entire body with tepid water. 



In most cases of functional derangement of the liver, great advantage is derived 

 from the frequent use of aperient medicines, whether there be a tendency to 



