230 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



knowledge, and even more from the deficiencies of ordinary 

 vegetable cookery, it often produces bad effects. Dr. Salis- 

 bury proved by experiment that it was the consumption of 

 too much starch foods that produces the set of diseases which 

 he especially cures ; and when these diseases have become 

 chronic, the only cure is the almost complete abstention 

 from starchy substances, especially potatoes, bread, and most 

 watery vegetables, and, in place of them, to substitute the 

 most easily digestible well-cooked meat, with fruits and nuts 

 in moderation, and eggs, milk, etc., whenever they can be 

 digested. Great sufferers find immediate relief from an ex- 

 clusive diet of the lean of beef. I myself live upon well- 

 cooked beef with a fair proportion of fat (which I can digest 

 easily), a very small proportion of bread or vegetables, fruit, 

 eggs, and light milk puddings. The curious thing is that 

 most English doctors declare that a meat diet is to be 

 avoided in all these diseases, and many order complete 

 abstinence from meat, but, so far as I can learn, on no really 

 scientific grounds. Dr. Salisbury, however, has experiment- 

 ally proved that this class of ailments are all due to mal- 

 nutrition, and that this malnutrition is most frequently 

 caused by the consumption of too much of starch foods at 

 all meals, which overload the stomach and prevent proper 

 digestion and assimilation. My case and that of Mr. Bruce- 

 Joy certainly show that Dr. Salisbury has found, for the 

 first time in the history of medicine, a cure — not merely an 

 alleviation — for these painful and distressing maladies. This 

 personal detail as to my health is, I think, of general interest 

 in view of the large number of sufferers who are pronounced 

 incurable by English doctors, and it was here an essential 

 preliminary to the facts I have now to relate, which would 

 probably not have occurred as they did had my health not 

 been so strikingly renovated.^ 



^ In addition to the foregoing, I have suffered at intervals from diseases con- 

 tracted abroad, which have recurred in acute paroxysms, and sometimes threatened 

 to become serious. For years together they have given me much anxiety and 

 required constant care and attention. Since my general health has improved, 

 however, they have so much diminished as no longer to give me much trouble. I 

 have also suffered twice from severe eye troubles. My sight has always been 



