MEDICINE. 439 



craving for salt. Herbivorous animals, like horses and cattle, 

 and carnivorous animals, like dogs and cats, illustrate this 

 principle in a similar manner. Therefore the quantity of 

 added salt should vary proportionately to the amount of 

 vegetable food consumed. " The due admixture of food- 

 grains belonging to different classes will secure the necessary 

 mineral ingredients, provided an allowance of at least 230 

 grains of common salt be added to the daily ration of a man 

 having a body weight of 105 lb." {Church). With a diet 

 consisting chiefly of meat, the necessary amount of soda 

 would of course be much less, say, from one-eighth to one- 

 sixteenth of an ounce, supposing that no bread, potatoes or 

 other starchy food was eaten. Common salt (chloride of 

 sodium) furnishes not only soda to the system, but also 

 chlorine, which is one of the constituents of gastric juice. 



With respect to medicine for getting down weight, we may 

 rest assured that purgatives, such as Epsom salts, should be 

 employed only when time is of supreme importance ; because 

 they reduce the strength, and any advantage that may be 

 gained from their use in clearing the system of impurities 

 may be obtained by other means which have little or no 

 lowering action. In this respect, we are concerned principally 

 with the question of guarding the body from the hurtful effects 

 of an excess of waste nitrogenous products, which we may do 

 by the judicious consumption of green vegetables and fruit. 

 It is always well to have the advice of a doctor, as regards 

 taking medicine. Sodium salicylate in doses of, say, 1 5 grains 

 two or three times a day, now and then, has often a good 

 effect in relieving depression. 



PERMANENTLY KEEPING DOWN WEKiHT. 



Whether a man wants to keep light for ordinary purposes 

 or for race riding, he cannot hope to continue the effort for a 

 long time, unless he does so under healthy conditions ; for if 



