.CHAPTER I.

OF THE POWER WHICH MAN HAS AT HIS COMMAND FOR THE AMELIORATION OF HIS PRESENT

CONDITION.

IN the contemplation of the present condition of man, it must be observed that he has the power of greatly alleviating the evils of his state. The source from which those evils have sprung being sufficiently intelligible to enable him to do so with great effect. That source existing originally in the deviation of man from the kind of aliment naturally required for the integrity of his constitution; and which has operated on him by occasioning physical and mental infirmity, followed by an endless train of misfortunes, limiting the period of his existence to a few years. The influence of the disorder greatly involving, though less severely, the rest of the animal world.

One of the chief causes of man's being more liable to disease than the lower animals, arises from the circumstance of nature no longer presenting his food in a state fitted for his immediate reception. Man cannot, like the sparrow, eat wheat fresh and ripe from the ear: it must first undergo an artificial process, during which it becomes contaminated with earthy matter, from the machinery used in its trituration, from the atmosphere, from vessels in which it is kept, from water and other matters mixed with it in the process of making it into bread; and it is liable to contamination from other accidental and intentional causes: whereas the integrity of the health

of man's body requires that he should receive his nutriment in a state of absolute purity, as originally presented by the vegetable. Hence the greatest circumspection is necessary in these matters. Man has not now a greater innate tendency to disease than any other animal, but he is more afflicted with infirmity from these causes, and others brought into existence by his own operations, to the ill effects of which he himself is the most exposed.

Animals with whose habits man has not directly interfered, and which have not been so much affected by changes resulting from his operations, enjoy a singular immunity from disease; and there is an admirable uniformity, consistency, and propriety in their conduct, according to the conditions of their existence. But when man interferes with the natural habits of animals, and occasions them to deviate from their usual and proper food, they then become vicious, and their bodies diseased. For example, if horses be fed on flesh they soon fall into a diseased condition of body, and an alteration takes place in their dispositions; they become vicious and dangerously savage: it is the same with swine; indeed it is an unerring rule with respect to animals. And it is very remarkable, that when animals are deprived of their natural food, and kept much on that used by man, and also constrained to habits resembling his, with regard to confinement and in other respects, they commonly become affected with the same kinds of diseases as those which afflict man. Thus dogs kept much in-doors are very liable to pulmonary affections, especially asthma, and many others of man's diseases. Hogs kept principally in sties, and fed on

culinary refuse, are very frequently affected with consumption, diseases of the skin, and various others like those which afflict man. Monkeys, parrots, and other animals, under similar circumstances, always present illustrations of the same rule.

Nothing can be more conspicuously evident than that man's physical and mental conditions have invariably sunk to a lower degree, in proportion as circumstances have occasioned him to deviate more widely from his natural food, or that which the integrity of his constitution requires. Hence it is seen that certain kinds of food have an invariable tendency to elevate and improve man's physical and mental state, by rendering him less liable to disease, and consequently extending the duration of his existence; while certain other kinds as constantly tend to depress and deteriorate, in every respect, the condition of man, and to shorten his life.

These facts with respect to certain kinds of food have been known and acknowledged in all ages, though little attended to; they, however, show how much man has it in his power to improve his condition, and to maintain a higher and more perfect bodily and intellectual state than that which is, and always must be, the result of what has been, and is still, the general routine with respect to the affairs of this department of the business of life. Man should be more careful to fill his stomach with the kinds of food most proper for the nourishment of his body, as it is upon its suitableness that the correct workings of his physical and mental machines depend. Now that art has taken so much of this business from the hands of nature, it ought to exercise more circumspection.

Since man has become omnivorous, it appears that his constitution has been so changed as to render him more than naturally capable of omnivorous feeding; and this circumstance has evidently led to the opinion that he was designed to be an omnivorous feeder, but such is totally and entirely incompatible with the system of nature, and therefore the idea is utterly untenable. The earth having ceased to produce man's natural food in sufficient abundance for his support, he has, by the conditions brought into existence by his own works, been reduced to the necessity of becoming an omnivorous feeder, or a feeder on many substances not suitable for his nourishment: he has consequently become the victim of a vast number of diseases; but the catalogue of his complaints, and the amount of his infirmity, might be wonderfully diminished, if he would direct his attention more vigorously to the propriety of his diet; which, hitherto, has been one of the things of which he has thought least. All Scripture shows, and common sense declares, that attention to the maintenance of health constitutes one of the chief and greatest duties of man, as may be seen by the following passage, and many others : ECCLESI-A cheerful and a good heart will have a care of his

ASTICUS

xxx. 25. meat and diet."

CHAPTER II.

OF FRUIT, AND FARINACEOUS FOOD.

THE fresh fruits of hot countries are more strengthening to man, render the body more healthy, vigorous, and active, and the intellect more powerful and brilliant, with more alacrity and cheerfulness, than a diet consisting in great part of animal food.

This rule applies principally to the most nutricious fruits, as grapes, figs, dates, pomegranates, and many others, taken fresh from the trees, and still possessing that life-inspiring principle, which it is the property of these fruits, when the produce of their own climate, to impart to the human body. The ancients particularly noticed the invigorating properties which the fig possesses; it consequently constituted a considerable part of the food of the athlete. When these fruits have been long gathered, and have lost the major part of their natural vitality, which resides principally in their exquisite acidity, they become too saccharine: they are then heating to the body, burdensome to the digestion, and unfit as a common article of food for man; though still very useful when judiciously combined with other substances, and taken in small quantities.

History presents numerous examples of families having been brought up, and continuing to live for many years on fruits, farinaceous substances, and vegetables and it stated that they have been endowed, both physically and mentally, with singular health and vigour, with unusually perfect developement of body, and with an improved, or more than