of the Stomach. 281 



€1* drinks, let these be immediately laid aside. The cus- 

 tomary drinks in the morning and evening are, in this 

 country, teaj coffee, and chocolate. Of these, tea of a 

 moderate strength^? mixed with a considerable quantity 

 of milk and sugar, is perhaps usually the least apt to give 

 trouble. Souchong tea is far less hurtful than the green 

 teas. Coftee I have found, after repeated and abundant 

 trials, uniformly to become highly acid in my own stom- 

 ach. Chocolate made out of the cocoa merely, or with 

 the addition of aromatics and sugar only, furnishes a very 

 healthy and palatable drink. Most of the chocolate man- 

 ufactured in this country, is very impure, and when pre- 

 pared for drinking, is covered with oil, and wholly unfit 

 for a debilitated stomach. Bryan Edwards, in his His- 

 tory of the West-Indies, observes — " The cakes which 

 are generally used under this name in England, appear to 

 me to be composed of not more than one half genuine co- 

 coa ; the remainder I take to be Jiour, and Castile soap.'''' 

 Whether that generally used in this country, is prepared 

 of the same materials, I know not ; but it is a very sus- 

 picious circumstance, that the chocolate made here, is 

 usually sold considerably cheaper, than the cocoa, out of 

 which it is m^de. Some adulteration or improper mix- 

 ture must be the cause of it. The Spanish chocolate, 

 and that which may be prepared in private families, out 

 of the cocoa, may be had free from these evils. 



Condiments, common salt, pepper, mustard, and horse 

 radish may be used in moderate quantities, with advan- 

 tage. Pickles, ketchup, and other sauces, and all ex- 

 pressed vegetable and melted animal oils should be whol- 

 ly laid aside. I know of no food so injurious to a debil- 

 itated stomach, as melted animal oils. It would have 

 been easy to have treated this part of the subject, in a 

 more scientific way ; but I have purposely avoided, as 

 far as seemed proper, all technical terms, wishing to make 

 the subject intelligible to such persons, as have not turn- 

 ed their attention to medical studies. 



To the foregoing observations, it will be proper to add 

 several other general ones, relative to the same subject. 



All persons suffering from Chronic Debility of the 

 Stomach, should be particularlv attentive to masticate 



I 



