Volume 2

Health lectures for the people.

Date:
1883-1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Health lectures for the people. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    186/600 (page 174)
    attention in this matter of healthy digestion. The work of digesting food really involves a large expenditure of nervous and muscular power, as well as a considerable expenditure of other powers not so readily demonstrated. Viewed in this light it can well be understood that no violent exertion should be indulged in immediately after a meal. The old proverb, After dinner rest awhile/' has thus a physiological justification, and I am fully persuaded that many who suffer from digestive troubles may rid themselves of such troubles by attention to this latter rule. In the fourth place, I regard the individual culture of health as being the only sure basis on which we can authoritatively speak, each with regard to his own wants and experience in the matter of foods, drinks, and digestion. Those philosophers who talk so glibly about the abuse of alcoholic liquors, ought to be reminded that their remarks might equally well be made to apply to the abuse of tea, coffee, and indeed to other foods and drinks. You cannot lay down laws for the million in this respect. Life can never be regulated by some mathematical rule of three^ as some ardent persons amongst us seem to think. It is not the experi- ence of the mass, but that of the individual, wisely formed and appreciated through a knowledge of health laws, which alone can serve as a guide in the choice of the foods and drinks which are most suitable for him. Lastly, I should not omit to mention that cheerful company at meals is by no means an unimportant addition to healthy diges- tion. It is, on the contrary, one which is too frequently over- looked, to the detriment, I am persuaded, of our health. It is true this may be a condition not always or readily attainable; but if a merry heart lives long, as the poet has expressed it, I for one can readily see a justification of the aphorism, in the fact that the happiness thus induced, must both act and react upon the healthy digestion of food. These, it appears to me, are the cTiief points to which our at- tention should be directed in connection with the nourishment of our frames; and to the intelligent enjoyment and personal cultiva- tion of such views, I am persuaded, we shall owe the possession and practice of a healthy and, because a healthy, happy life.