234 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



dry sherry after dinner, and before retiring to bed a cup of Lie- 

 big's beef tea and a biscuit may be taken. 



During the day brisk walking exercise to an extent short of 

 fatigue should be indulged in, or riding or cycling, as the case 

 may be. 



Such an individual in a few days would find himself a differ- 

 ent person. Slight ailments of this kind, and errors of malnutri- 

 tion, are much better treated by diet than by medicine. Of 

 course, there are certain habits that are not conducive to long 

 life, such as immoderate indulgence in the passions, whatever 

 they may be, and the abuse of alcohol. There is no reason why a 

 man should not enjoy, in moderation, all the good things of this 

 life, and really the enjoyment of them means taking them in 

 moderation. The man who enjoys wine is the man who takes just 

 sufficient to do him good, and the man who drinks wine to excess, 

 and suffers the next morning from headache as a consequence, 

 can not be said to do so. Excess in alcoholic stimulants in early 

 life means sowing seeds that will bear bitter fruit in mature age 

 — if the individual lives to see it. The habit of " nipping " is con- 

 ducive to shortening life more than any other habit. It stimu- 

 lates the different organs of the body into unnatural activity, and 

 the result is that certain of them, such as the liver and the heart, 

 by the work thrown upon them, become, through the enlargement 

 and engorgement of their tissues with blood, diseased after a 

 time. This leads to their being useless as organs of elimination 

 or of healthy structure, with the result that, when middle age is 

 just over, the individual becomes prone to such complaints as 

 Bright's disease, dropsy, cirrhosis of the liver, and other vital in- 

 dications of decay. These habits are acquired in early life. The 

 wind is sown then and the whirlwind is reaped later on. It is 

 seldom that the young will learn the importance of, if I may so 

 express it, training for old age, but there are exceptions to this 

 rule. Only a few days ago a man came to consult me ; he be- 

 longed to the luxurious classes, and, though only twenty-three 

 years of age, seemed to have the forethought of a man of sixty. 

 A fine, handsome young fellow of nearly six feet, he said to me : 

 " Doctor, as most of my family have died young through becom- 

 ing excessively fat, I want to know what I am to do to avoid this. 

 I am already heavier than I should be." Now, a man in the full 

 enjoyment of health and bodily vigor, who had so much fore- 

 sight, and who wished to learn the means of attaining green old 

 age, which he saw would be sapped by a hereditary tendency to 

 obesity, undoubtedly deserves to do so, especially as the particu- 

 lar condition that he dreads can be so easily benefited without 

 debarring him almost every luxury within his reach. 



If more people followed this example, how many years longer 



