MARCH 229 



of the loss of health, but the mysterious ways in which 

 remedies may have injured us are wrapped in as com- 

 plete darkness as is the origin of most of the diseases 

 from which all classes suffer. 



I wonder if other people have noticed, as I have done 

 throughout my life, that the families where medicines 

 are least in use are those of doctors themselves. This 

 want of faith in drugs on their part was one of the first 

 things which, years ago, opened my eyes. 



What strikes me is, how few people are really well ! 

 And if they could put side by side the pleasure of eating 

 food which is harmless, and the better health and 

 strength this would bring, compared with the pleasure 

 of eating large dinners and the feeling of the following 

 morning thrown into the balance, I believe the bird-in- 

 the-hand pleasure would lose most of its attractions. It 

 has been a real surprise to me, though apparently doc- 

 tors know it well, how vast a number of people would 

 much rather be ill, or even die, than be convinced that 

 the food they like does them harm. The young, espe- 

 cially, seem to think that one of the chief pleasures of 

 life would be removed if they did not eat what they pre- 

 ferred, quite forgetting that fruit and sugar and many 

 other good things are quite harmless — nay, beneficial — 

 to the non- meat -eater. "What we do daily soon ceases 

 to be the penance that abstinence once a week was sup- 

 posed to inflict. It may be said that 'starving,' with 

 many people, does not make them feel well. All I can 

 say is, it is very seldom tried on the right lines; at any 

 rate, not for long enough time to give it a chance. 



It is curious how things repeat themselves. Sydney 

 Smith says, in one of his letters : 'All gentlemen and 

 ladies eat too much. I made a calculation, and found I 

 must have consumed some wagon -loads too much in the 

 course of my life. Lock up the mouth, and you have 



