A defence of the Graham system of living, or, Remarks on diet and regimen : dedicated to the rising generation.

Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A defence of the Graham system of living, or, Remarks on diet and regimen : dedicated to the rising generation. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    the only one calculated to secure, to the human family, the full possession of health, vigor, and a calm contented mind ; but, I unhesitatingly offer it as my opinion, sup- ported by many facts, that a healthy infant, untainted by hereditary disease—living in a mild, salubrious climate ; its muscular system invigorated and developed b\ natu- ral exercise ; its mental faculties properly cultivated ; its diet of the most simple kind, in such a condition as nature presents it, unaltered by fire, and unadulterated by foreign ingredients ; a calm and uniform temper pre- served ; and a strict attention to sleep, cleanliness, and clothing, and all other circumstances connected with tho welfare of the being—such an infant might arrive at ex- treme old age, without experiencing an hour's illness, and with his faculties but little impaired. I do not say that such would invariably be the result, but I have not the slightest reason to doubt it, and, with this conviction, I am solicitous that the experiment should be fairly tried, before it is pronounced chimerical, or rejected because it denounces some of the fancied pleasures of life. Lest I should be accused of ignorantly recommending a system of living, fraught with more evils than it is calculated to remedy, I deem it a duty to warn any one, who may be induced, by these remarks, to adopt it, that he will experience, for a limited time, a diminution of strength, (arising from the abstraction of a variety of powerful stimulants ;) if he has been more than usually addicted to the pleasures of the table, he may be over- come by debility or sickness; but, should he ascribe these effects to the real cause, and persevere for a few months, he will find his health materially improved. It would be irrational, however, to expect, that where the system has been laboring under severe chronic com- plaints, that any course of living would effect an imme- diate cure; when it has taken years to derange and break down the animal machinery, it is not the work of a moment to repair it; but why despair ? It is not diffi- cult to effect a cure; a rigid self-denial and steady perse- verance are alone requisite to restore the most wretched invalid to an enviable state of health.