SOUTHEEN CULTIVATOE. 
course. Nothing, indeed, will be likely to efiect a lasting i 
change in his conduct until death, or the dread of death 
is staring him in the face i And now it is too late. Alas ! 
“ The life of all his blood 
Is touched corruptibly,” 
He falls to rise no more ! He becomes the victim of Hy- 
pochondriasis. The prey of an overwhelming despon- 
dency. The picture of despair. 
“And with a green and yellow melancholy he sits, 
Like patience on a monument smiling at grief.” 
A sad picture truly. And there are man)?- such. A little 
care, abstinence and self denial might save many from a 
similar fate. But in general, people are more anxious to 
know what will cu?-e the complaint than what will prevent 
it. The latter is not diuicult, while the former is exceed- 
ingly so. And it is better, alv/ays, to avoid disease, if we 
can, than to be cured by the best medicine or the best 
physician in the world. 
We cannot understand the nature of these disorders of 
the digestive apparatus which so frequently afilict our 
race, unless we know something of what healthy diges- 
tion is. Something of the physiology of digestion. But a 
mere glance at some of the more prominent circumstances 
<jonnected with this subject is all that our present limits 
will allow. 
The contact of food with the mucus surface of the 
stomach immediately causes a fluid to flow from it, like 
the outpouring of saliva from the presence of food in the 
mouth. This is called gastric juice, a secretion peculiar 
to the stomach, and is alv/ays acid. The food is dis- 
solved by the chemical agency of the gastric juice, from 
without inwards until the whole mass is completely bro- 
ken down and converted into a uniform pulp, of a semi- 
fluid consistence, called ; which is also acid. In 
this state it passes out of the stomach to be mixed with 
the bile, the pancreatic and other juices concerned in the 
formation of chyle. This is digestion. Now the gastric 
juice being the natural solvent of the food, it is evident 
that healthy digestion cannot take place without an ade- 
quate supply of the natuml solvent, for without this, the 
food cannot be converted into chyme, and if there be no 
chyme, there can be no digestion, because the other se- 
cretions concerned in the process were designed to action 
chyme, not on crude undissolved portions of food ; hence 
the whole process is defeated at the outset, from a want of 
healthy gastric juice. A scanty secretion of the gastric 
juice may result from various causes. Thus, it is well 
known that long continued watchfulness, or excessive 
fatigue, or great mental excitement will prevent the feel- 
ing of hunger and destroy, for a time, the power of diges- 
tion. A scanty secretion of the gastric.juice results also 
from indolent and sedentary habits, **and from the habitual 
consumption of more food than the system requires. It 
often happens in the upper classes of society, that the se- 
cretion of the gastric juice is only relatively deficient. Tne 
stomach can digest tbod enough to nourish the body,„but 
not enough to- satisfy tlie .pampered appetite. "When the 
gastric juice has dissolikd 'q certain quantity of food, it is 
saturated, and cap dissolve no more. If, then, a man eats 
too much or tod oflbn, the gastric juice will be inadequate 
for the complete and easy digestion of the foodAvilliom any 
fault fairly attributable to the stomach. The organ is simply 
overtaxed. Again-, itis well known that an acid and an 
alkali cannot exist together in solution witliout mutual 
decomposition. When, therefore, a full meal is taken, 
which has been saturated with an alkali, the acid of the 
gastric juice is neutralized or so weakened that digest.cn 
is either prevented altogether, or rendered very uuTc..!. 
and impertect. In all tliese, and many otb w • > c 
heahhy action of the gastric juice, is \ , 
with, and indigestion is the r v ■' T o r; , < . . 
being digested and passing out bf the stomach in two or 
three hours, remains fijr a muc.a longer time. By and bye, 
fermentation sets in; acids are formed; gasses are evolved. 
•Sometimes the food undergoes common putrifactive 
changes. Distention and a distressing sense of uneasi- 
ness of the stomach come on, with severe headache — oft- 
en with a feeling of chilliness — frequent eructations of 
sulphurretted hydrogen — belchings — as of rotten eggs I 
This is indigestion. 
The great difficulty in the cure of dyspepsia arises from 
the impossibility of enforcing proper dietic rules which 
are absolutely necessary, and without which it is vain to 
hope for success. Dr. Watson has truly said: “We 
preach in vain upon these topics.” Nevertheless, if you 
would avoid the complaint, or cure it, the quantity of food 
taken at one time umst be restricted within the limits of the 
powers of the stomach for complete and, easy digestion. This 
rule is absolute, amd' cannot be dispensed with. Yon must 
adopt it early, adhere to it with unfljnching firmness and 
never allow yourself to violate it on any account whatever. 
Unless you do this, all else will be unavailing. You will 
never repent of eating too little. In the next place, you 
should interpose an interval five or six hours betweeu 
meals, in order that the stomach may have time to per- 
form its work, and an hour or two to rest in, before anoth- 
er task is imposed upon it. A continual teasing of the 
stomach with bits of food is very injurious. Have your 
food well cooked, and let it be simple in its kind — avoid 
condiments and all high seasoning ; and make your meals 
principally of one dish. Never allow your food to be 
poisoned with alkalies, cream of tartar, or any other drug. 
Of all the modern errors in cooking, this one of drugging 
one's food, is certainly the most nonsensical, but not the 
least injurious. The lavish use of alkalies is a fruitful 
source of dyspepsia at the present day. It is now no un- 
common thing to see children affected with the complaint 
almost as soon as they are weaned and begin to eat bread. 
They usually eat as much as the stomach can manage, if 
the food were pure ; but when it is saturated with an alka- 
line substance, by which the acid of the gastric juice is 
neutralized, it will evidently prove too much for the 
weakened powers of the stomach to master. 
We were designed for active beings, and a life of indo- 
lence and sloth i:3 the infraction, of a natural law which 
is sure to bring penalty of some kind or other. Bodily 
fatigue should be avoided ; but moderate exercise, with 
agreeable occupation of the mind, promote digestion, im- 
provq^l^ general health, and contribute greatly to the 
preservliion of both the bodily and the mental powers. 
Drink plentifully of fresh air; bathe frequently in cold 
water afid rujp. well with a coarse towel. Never wear 
flannel next fhelfskin. Cultivate habits of cheerfulness ; 
endeavor to malte yourself as agreeable to yourself and 
others as possiole, and do not torture yourself with the 
notion that “all the ills which flesh is heir to” have been 
bundled together and laid exclusively'upon your shoul- 
ders. Look around and see if there be not others as bad 
or even worse off than yourself Perhaps you can do 
something for them. It may be you can in some way re- 
lieve their - sufferings to some extent, and, if so, greatly 
lessen your own itiiseries by doing good to others. 
In general, dyspeptic people are always wanting to 
take medicine; and jiTiedicine they must, and will have, of 
some sort or other. They can never be persuaded that 
they can ever get well unless they are continually swal- 
!ovv?ing drugs. The)? arr expecting, it would seem, to find 
some medicine that will cure them, and at the same time 
allc^v liiem to go on in the indulgence of those habits 
'.vhi. li h u e g. n-. rateu liie disorder. But such medicine 
1'. . t y a b- n discovered, anfl assuredly never will be. 
d. d ;■" d- are of little use in these disor- 
tne so-ict observance of proper dietic 
