Therefore, what drink you take, (and the less the better), let it not be with your meals of solid food, but either some time before or some time after them.

Against these precepts, the same objections may be taken, and for them the same admissions be made, as in regard to the quantity of aliment. They are at once both right and wrong: they have some abstract correctness, but a great deal of prac tical inapplicability. It is not indeed true, as Dr. Paris well remarks, that the potation of water dilutes the gastric juice, and thereby interferes with the digestive process; since the efficient principle which exists in the secretion, is evidently not diffusible in that liquid; and we have before seen how readily a superfluous quantity of liquid ingesta is got rid of from the stomach by channels and modes which anatomy has not yet detected, nor physiology divined. At the same time, it must be admitted, that the habit of large libation with a meal is one which ought to be kept considerably in check; for even temporary distension of the stomach, when carried beyond a certain measure, is calculated to interfere considerably with the efficient exercise of its muscular energies; and liquids, moreover, from their superior diffusibility, are disposed to run readily over and about the solid mass, so as mechanically to prevent the immediate operation of the gastric solvent upon the food. But we should be doing injustice to our present topic, were we to withhold the following extract, which entirely coincides with our own sentiments on the disputed question of drink, and which, we think, will appear more accordant with the dictates of sober sense, than the hydrophobic commands of some modern dieteticians.

• Different aliments will require different quantities of liquid to assist their chymification. Animal food demands of course a greater quantity of drink than vegetable food; roasted than boiled meat; and baked still more than roasted. The next question to be considered, is, as to the most suitable period for taking liquids; and this is in some measure answered by the preceding observations. By drinking before a meal, we place the stomach in a very unfit condition for the duties it has to perform. By drinking during a meal, we shall assist the digestion, if the solid matter be of a nature to require it; and impede it, if the quantity taken renders the mass too liquid. Those physicians, therefore, who have insisted upon the necessity of a total abstinence from liquid during a meal, appear to have forgotten that every general rule must be regulated by circumstances. The best test of its necessity is afforded by the sensations of the individual, which ought not to be disregarded, merely because they appear to be in opposition to some preconceived theory. The valetudinarian who, without the feeling of thirst, drinks during a meal because he has heard that it assists digestion, and he who abstains from liquids in

opposition to this feeling, in consequence of the clamour which the partisans of a popular lecturer have raised against the custom, will equally err, and contribute to the increase of the evil they so anxiously seek to obviate. Dr. W. Philip has stated a fact, the truth of which my own experience justifies, that "eating too fast causes thirst; for the food being swallowed without a due admixture of saliva, the mass formed in the stomach is too dry." I may conclude these remarks by observing, that as hunger and thirst are, to a certain extent, incompatible sensations, it is probable that nature intended the appetite for food should first be satisfied, before a supply of drink becomes necessary; and if our food possesses that degree of succulence which characterizes digestible aliment, there will be no occasion for it. But under any circumstances, the quantity taken should be small; it is during the intervals of our solid meals, that the liquid necessary to the repair of our fluids should be taken; and both theory and experience appear, in this respect, to confirm and to demonstrate the advantage which attends a liquid repast about four or five hours after a solid meal. At about this period, the chyle has entered its proper vessels, and is flowing into the blood, in order to undergo its final changes. Then it is that the stomach, having disposed of its charge, receives the wholesome draught with the greatest advantage; then it is that the blood, impregnated with new materials, requires the assistance of a diluent to complete their sanguification, and to carry off the superfluous matter; and it is then that the kidneys and the skin will require the aid of additional water to assist the performance of their functions. The common beverage of tea, or some analogous repast, originally suggested, no doubt, by an instinctive desire for liquid at this period, is thus sanctioned by theory, while its advantages are established by experience.'

In respect of the material of which the solid portion of meals should be formed, this, as well as many other particulars in reference to meats and drinks, must be regulated by the varying circunistances of time, place, age, sex, condition in life, and modes of existence. The meat and ale which formerly constituted the breakfast even of ladies in high rank and station, would ill assort with the modern habits of those now moving in the same sphere; while the tea and toast of a London fashionable, would prove a sad substitute, to the labouring rustic, for his morning supply of fat pork. While we have sensation for our guide, it is scarcely possible to deviate to any very considerable extent, from the rule of propriety, with respect to the quantity or quality of the meal. It ought always too to be taken into account, that digestibility is rather a relative, than an abstract term. Fat, for instance, we should infer from experiment, is scarcely soluble in the human stomach; and yet, how much of it is daily received, not only with impunity, but with the most salutary effect, by the almost vegetating ploughman, whose fate is to toil and to exist.

It cannot, however, be denied, that some substances are more easy of digestion in the general way, than others; that some also, under certain limitations, possess more of a nutritive quality than do others; and the present pages might be considered as defective, did they not offer to the inquisitive reader something of a comparative estimate or classification of alimentary substances. To this comparison, then, of one substance with another, we now proceed; but it will be important for the reader to recollect, that nutritiveness and digestibility are not convertible terms; and that a substance may be wholesome or unwholesome, according to vulgar terminology, not only in reference to the varying circumstances and susceptibility of the recipient, but as it may be more nutritious in the one case, when it shall have been assimilated, or in the other, as it may be more easy of assimilation. Oils, for example, are highly nutritious, but they are not of easy digestion. It may be questioned, however, whether the excessive and almost exclusive attention which it has been fashionable of late to give to stomach complaints, may not have made us a little too fearful of oily and butyraceous substances as articles of diet.

- In respect of the fleshy or fibrous part of animal food, it will be found, that the older the animal, up to a certain point, the more easy of digestion will be its flesh. Mutton, which is decidedly the most digestible of all meats, will prove much more so than lamb, because the flesh from the younger animal of the same species is more stringy and with more difficulty divided, from the circumstance of a different arrangement of the fat amongst the muscular fibres. The same superiority is found, and from the same cause, in beef over veal: indeed, there are many stomachs which are incapable of digesting with facility any part of the calf, that will find beef, next to mutton, of the most easy assimilation. The sex too, as well as the age of the animal, modifies the digestibility of its flesh : the fibres of the male animal are denser, and therefore more nutritious than those of the female; while the flesh of the latter is more easily acted upon by the gastric fluid. According as the animal has been domesticated and tamed, or killed while running wild in the fields, will its flesh be found to differ as to its digestible and nutritious qualities: in the former case, hardness of fibre and higher nutritious quality characterize the meat; while in the latter, the flesh is softer, more digestible, but not so sustaining.

Fish, in the general way, is not so nutritious as the flesh of animals, but it is, for the most part, more easy of digestion, and its assimilation is usually accompanied by less of febrile excitement, than in the instance of what is more commonly

called animal food. Of the more nutritive species of this kind of food, we are told, that turbot, cod, whiting, haddock, flounder, and sole are the least heating. The whiting is particularly adapted for weak stomachs. Cod is more nutritive, but not quite so digestible. The process of crimping is said to improve the digestibility as well as the flavour of fish. Turbot, and especially sole, are easy of digestion, and the latter is particularly adapted for weak stomachs. Salmon, while it is nutritive, is oily and difficult of digestion. Salmon-trout is said to be less nutritive than the salmon itself, but, as being less oily and rich, it is more easily digested. Eels are very indigestible: when eaten, Dr. Paris says, they should always be qualified with vinegar. Shell-fish operates upon some stomachs in a very peculiar manner, causing the feeling of indigestion, attended with a disordered condition of the body's surface; and altogether, this species of aliment may be considered as not the most digestible. Oysters,' says Dr. Paris, enjoy a reputation which they do not seem to deserve: when eaten cold, they are frequently distressing to weak stomachs, and require the aid of pepper as a stimulant.'

Of birds, those which furnish white meat, afford less stimulating articles of diet than the browner ones; at the same time, the white meat is not so nutritive, nor does it afford that highly stimulating chyle, which game for the most part furnishes; the white meat is, however, best adapted for individuals with feeble digestion, especially for such as are liable to the production of much febrile irritation during the digestive process.

In considering the subject of farinaceous food, the common article of bread requires first to be noticed, which is usually made from ground wheat, and is found in the forms of white and brown bread; the latter containing the bran with the flour, the former consisting of the flour separated from the husks or bran. The former is aperient in its tendency; for, although the farina or starch of the wheat has rather an astringent quality than otherwise, such quality is counteracted by the bran of the brown bread; the scales of which are said to exert a mechanical action upon the bowels, and thus excite them into action. The astringent effect of white bread is often increased by the aluminous and other additions that are made to the flour, both before and after it comes into the hands of the baker; but these additions are probably magnified by public apprehension, and, except in a few flagrant instances, are not so material as we are apt to suspect.

In speaking of this article of food, Mr. Thackrah has the following remarks:

Substances which from their texture or consistence are but imperfectly pervaded by the gastric juice, must be difficult of digestion. Hence, new bread is particularly objectionable. Two soldiers, (mentioned by Schmucker) who had eaten immoderately of freshbaked bread, complained of great uneasiness at the stomach. To this, vomiting succeeded; the abdomen became hard and tumid; the pulse suuk, and death was the speedy result. On examination, the intestines, says Schmucker, were found extremely distended with air, and singularly contorted. A large bulk even of stale bread is improper. Its centre is not easily penetrated by the gastric juice. Hence, when the fluid is defective, oppression and flatulence are the common consequence. It is singular that bread, which we esteem the staff of life, should be scarcely known in many countries, and disliked in some. We are told, that the first threat used by the Persian to a disobedient child is, that he will give him bread to eat. I conceive that our estimate of bread is higher than its merits. It affords much less nourishment than many other substances, especially those of animal origin; and though less exciting, it is much more difficult to digest. Valuable as one among the articles of food,-valuable also as counteracting the too stimulating effects of flesh, it is still by no means to be regarded as the greatest and best support of man.'

The potatoe, next to wheat, is one of the most common among the farinaceous articles of food that is used in the British Islands; and it is a useful and important one. That which is called the mealy or floury potatoe is unquestionably more digestible than the wary kind, and mealy potatoes may, in many cases, prove an advantageous substitute for bread. Mashing interferes with their digestibility, partly by the mixture of butter, and partly by the process superseding the necessity of mastication.

Rice is the bread of the East, and it may with us be occasionally employed as an article of food when mixed with other materials; and sago, tapioca, arrow-root, &c. (all merely varieties of farina) may be used both dietetically and medicinally with occasional advantage. The legumina, or pulses, are only fit for individuals with strong digestive powers; both peas and beans are, however, comparatively easy of assimilation when taken very young. That nuts and chestnuts are highly indigestible, it is scarcely necessary to remark. Of esculent roots, the carrot is one of the most nutritive, from the quantity of saccharine matter that it contains; but it is not of so easy digestion as the turnip, which we regard as one of the most wholesome of vegetables, if we may for once be allowed the use of what we consider as an objectionable_term. The parsnip is also nutritive and not indigestible. Radishes are neither nutritive nor are they easily assimilated. Of the esculent herbs, watercress is one of the best. The lettuce contains a narcotic prin