decay of the muscles, attributed to the actual communication of the peculiar putrefactive process from the decaying flesh to the living muscle. Considering all these things, we are led to advocate the eating of a very small amount of meat, if any. Although vegetable substances are not so readily rendered unwholesome by cooking and keeping, decayed vegetable substances are also highly injurious to the system, often producing fever and violent disorder of the stomach and nerves. Pickled, salted and smoked meats are all more or less unwholesome. Boiled, roasted and baked meats retain the juices and are, therefore, more savory and more healthy than if fried or stewed. Condiments may be either aids or impediments to digestion. Common salt seems necessary to the higher forms of animal organism, and without its introduction into the system in some manner with the food, the gastric juice cannot be perfect and the secretion of bile would be incomplete. It also seems to expedite the admission of nourishment to the body, and it is said that a glass of milk and water with a small teaspoonful of salt is the best refreshment that a fatigued or famished person can take. Spicy condiments are useful where weakness exists in the stomach and bowels, but a too abundant employment of them is apt to produce this state, on the same principle that the abuse of stimulants deadens natural sensibility and weakens the nerves. Some kind of bitter exists, with some aromatic, in the food of all herb-eating animals, and is too generally absent from our aliments, To supply this, instinct often prompts man to seek beverages that contain something of this kind, as in malt liquor, flavored with hops, which are not, however, the best things for the purpose, and it is certain that a fermented fluid is not the proper vehicle either of the bitter or of the aromatic. Infusions of balm, sage, thyme or peppermint as a common drink are often used, it is said, with satisfaction to the stomach and advantage to the health, especially by those having a fond. ness for intoxicating liquor. All the spicy bitters contain large proportions of carbon and hydrogen, and chemically tend to promote the action of the lungs and the excretory organs. This simple formula has been successfully used to cure a taste for intoxicating drinks: Steep an ounce of quassia chips in a pint of vinegar for a few minutes; filter and bottle when cold. A teaspoonful in a small glass of peppermint tea or in water, taken every morning before breakfast. Acids and those which nature has provided, as lemon juice, should be the principal ones used-stimulate the salivary glands and the stomach, and promote the conversion of glutinous and fibrinous substances into chyle by exciting a direct digestive fermentation. If used in large quantities, however, acids are highly injurious in consequence of their favoring the excessive action of oxygen on the tissues, thus producing extreme leanness, and sometimes destroying the substance of the stomach. Mustard, onions and all the cruciferous plants contain nitrogen and sulphur, and they are said to act favorably on the kidneys and skin, as well as on the bowels, and to furnish materials that encourage or promote the growth of the hair. The importance of our drink is evident, when we consider that nine-tenths of our food consists of fluid, and that every drop of fluid taken into the stomach must be conveyed into the blood and be conducted into every part of the body before it is naturally removed from the system. And when we reflect on the fact that pure water alone is the proper solvent of nutritious substances, and that whatever is added to the water we drink has a direct effect on the chemical process of digestion and of life, we shall understand how careful we should be in our choice of fluids. We know that everything admitted into the blood is first dissolved in water, and that it then acts not only on the blood, but also on the minutest parts of the organization wherever the blood flows, so that the whole body is influenced by the beverage we use. The influence of a stimulant is almost instantly felt in consequence of its direct effect on the nerves of the stomach, and thence on the brain; but stimulants have another effect in the course of circulation. Physiologists have proved by experiments that stimulating substances being injected into the veins, produce a dilatation of the capillary vessels by diminishing their vitality, which, of course, is immediately followed by an accumulation of blood in those vessels, terminating either in some disturbance of function, some permanent stoppage, or some degree of inflammation there. Hence the congestions of the drunkard, the permanent debility of his brain, his liability to disorders of the intestines, his thickened stomach, his hardened liver and his coarse, distempered skin and bad disposition. Tea and coffee contain principles highly conducive to the vigorous action of the brain, and are considered harmless if used moderately. Cocoa is agreeable to the taste, and is said to be favorable to digestion. But however advisable certain medicated drinks may be for invalids, "Nothing like simple element dilutes The food, or gives the chyle so soon to flow Is best." As the saliva contains ingredients of value in digestion, and as a certain proportion of air is to be blended with the food, and it is an important office of the saliva and other fluids generated in the mouth to entangle the air in the act of masticating, it is most necessary that the process be slowly carried on. Hasty eating or drinking is always attended with some violence to the nerves at the entrance to the stomach, and the habit, therefore, irritates the heart and is apt to produce disorder of the brain, It also deprives us of delicacy of perception as to the quality of food, and the enjoyment of the blessing of taste and flavor, and causes us to take delight only in the quantity. Too much care cannot be taken by parents to teach their children to eat moderately and deliberately and to drink sparingly (of milk or water only) at table, and thus guard against gluttony and drunkenness in the future. Obesity is a disease arising either from venous congestion and obstruction or from the digestive powers being great and indulged beyond the requirements of the body. It is to be overcome by a rigid control of the appetite and by special and persistent exercise. Thirst should be resisted as much as possible, or, if very great, it should be appeased by sipping water flavored with lemon juice. The healthy stomach can digest everything in the way of good food, if well prepared; and everything in fresh or wellpreserved fruits, grain and vegetables, if well cooked and eaten moderately, is nutritious. Nuts are also exceedingly healthy, and might, we think, with advantage supply the place of at least a portion of our meat diet. Dr. Oswald says that two meals a day are enough for any one, that he gets along with one and a half, The Greeks and Romans, during the prime of their republic, contented themselves with one meal a day. It is said of Sir Isaac Newton that "when he applied himself to the investigation of light and color, to quicken his faculties and enable him to fix his attention, he confined himself all the time to a small quantity of bread, with a little sack and water, without any regulation, except that he took a little whenever he felt his animal spirits flag." The Spanish peasant works every day and dances half the night, yet eats only his black bread, onion and watermelon. The Smyrna porter eats only a little fruit and some olives, yet he walks off with his load of a hundred pounds. The coolie, |