262 EATING AND DRINKING. 



Hunger is the best sauce, and the best cook. 

 We may pamper our appetites with luxuries, but 

 we shall never relish any thing unless we come to 

 it hungry ; and if we are hungry, the simplest 

 fare becomes a luxury. 



Labour and exercise in the open air are the 

 best promoters of appetite; when we have taken 

 these, we eat our meals with a relish, and they do 

 us good. It is a grievous error, however, to sup- 

 pose that eating a great deal is a proof of a healthy 

 appetite ; or that by eating much, we get more 

 nourishment. 



It is useless to eat more than the stomach can 

 digest, and no stomach can digest food when it is 

 overloaded. The undigested food, therefore, has 

 to be pushed into the bowels unprepared, and 

 there it excites all sorts of mischief; hence we 

 see that great eaters are in general thin, and pale, 

 and look unhealthy. 



It is advisable that most part of our food, 

 whether animal or vegetable, should undergo some 

 preparation before it is taken into our stomach, 

 that it may be softened, improved in flavour, and 

 rendered more digestible. This process is called 

 cooking. Vegetables are mostly boiled or stew- 

 ed; animal food either roasted, stewed, or boiled. 



We should not, when we are in health, take 

 food too often. The stomach is three or four 

 hours in digesting a meal ; and if we take another 

 before the previous one is removed from it, it in- 

 terrupts its actions, and deranges its functions. 



