356 THE TREATMENT OP DISEASES. 



in a single surfeit, or in that habitual indulgence, to excess of which so many of us 

 are guilty, is especially injurious. Drinking too much fluid of any kind at a meal 

 is mischievous, by over-diluting the gastric juice and impairing its solvent power. 

 Imperfect mastication of food, either from carelessness or hurry, or owing to th& 

 pain of bad teeth, is another cause. Indigestion may arise from an improper 

 arrangement of the meals ; some people, for example, take only one meal in the- 

 twenty-four hours, whilst others huddle all their food into the stomach at four or 

 five periods within seven or eight hours, and then leave it idle for sixteen or 

 seventeen hours. The error most frequently committed is that of not allowing a 

 sufficient time to elapse between the meals to permit of the stomach doing its work 

 and getting a proper rest. The stomach is a long-suffering organ, but still you 

 must not impose on its good-nature ; it must have time to perform one task before 

 it can set about another. It is just as bad to allow too long an interval to elapse 

 between the meals as too short a one, and many cases of severe and obstinate 

 dyspepsia have been induced by the habit of going withoiit anything to eat from an 

 early breakfast to a late dinner. A very marked effect of long-fasting is familiar 

 to all under the title of having " overstayed the appetite," and it has been found 

 that the secretion of gastric juice is greatly diminished by long abstinence from 

 food. 



Much has been urged respecting the injudicious admixture of foods as a cause of 

 dyspepsia. Of the frequently injurious influence of a mixture of many different 

 kinds of even wholesome articles of diet there can be no doubt. It is impossible, 

 however, to make any very positive assertion on this point, for within certain limits 

 variety is undoubtedly conducive to health, and the too strict limitation to one or 

 two kinds of food is frequently quite as detrimental as excessive heterogeneous 

 indulgence. Eating indigestible or unwholesome food is, as every one knows, one 

 of the commonest causes of dyspepsia. In addition to substances which may be 

 regarded as generally more or less injurious there are many which become injurious 

 only from the circumstances or condition under which they are taken. For 

 example, there are many people who can eat pastry in the middle of the clay, but 

 who don't dare touch it for supper or at a late dinner. 



Want of bodily exercise, excessive labour, inordinate intellectual exertion., 

 mental anxiety, and general debility, are all prominent factors in the production 

 of dyspepsia. The nervous irritability of many literary and scientific men has its 

 origin in dyspepsia. Sedentary pursuits, with over-mental labour, will soon disturb 

 the digestive functions, for, as has been very justly said, one digests with the legs 

 almost as much as with the stomach. There can be no doubt that in many cases 

 dyspepsia may be traced to excessive indulgence in tea or coffee, or alcoholic liquors, 

 to the inordinate use of condiments, to immoderate smoking, or even to the practice 

 of taking large quantities of snuff. 



We must now consider the symptoms of dyspepsia. They vary very much both 

 in nature and severity, one individual suffering severely when his dinner " disagrees " 

 with him, whilst another experiences merely a slight depression. In chronic cases, 

 however, there will usually be loss of appetite, pain, or a feeling of weight and 

 fulness in the chest or stomach, flatulence or wind, nausea or vomiting, costiveness 



