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without any disease, with a voracious appetite, he eats frequently and largely to recover his lost strength. For a time all is sunshine; his vigour increases daily; when, suddenly and unexpectedly, his appetite fails, he becomes again unwell, and fever, or some other mischief, assails him.

Any sudden transition from established habits, with regard to the quantity and quality of food, is injudicious. Individuals ought not to leap at once from the situation which causes pain, or creates alarm, but should quietly descend by safe and gradual steps. After long fasting also, great caution must be observed in the indulgence of aliments. When a famine occurred in the city of Bochara, those, who had lived on roots and herbs, died, because they filled themselves immoderately on their return to bread and meat. The advantages, derivable from rendering food grateful to invalids, are so striking, that the most digestible aliment, if it excite aversion, is more injurious than that which, though otherwise objectionable, gratifies the palate. If feelings of disgust or aversion are produced, the stomach will never act with healthy energy on the ingesta; while, in cases of extreme dislike, they are either rejected, or discharged almost unchanged. On the contrary, the gratification which attends a favourite meal is, in itself, a specific stimulus to the digestive organs, and especially in weak habits.

Conduct to be pursued previous and subsequent to Meals. Exercise in the open air is essential to the well-being of every person; but its degree must be regulated by individual circumstances. The interval between breakfast and dinner is the period for active exertion, while the enjoyment of it, when unattended with severe fatigue, will invigorate all the functions. This, too, is the period for the mind to direct its energies successfully, recollecting that the valetudinarian or dyspeptic ought never to take his principal meal in a state of fatigue. But the reverse of this salutary rule is practised by numbers, and by none more tenaciously than by the invalid merchant, the banker, the attorney, and the government clerk. Nay, dyspeptic patients have been restored to health by pursuing a different conduct. Remember that moderate exercise prior to dining is salutary; and that it is the abuse of it which is decried. Every one should inhale the open air anteriorly to a full meal, and undergo suitable exertion without consequent fatigue. Horse exercise is unquestionably beneficial, but it should not supersede that of walking. The occupation of digging is salutary; and especially to dyspeptics by agitating the abdominal organs. Constipation of the bowels is one of

the great evils arising from sedentary habits; and this may, to a certain degree, be remedied, by standing for a definite period, instead of sitting, before a desk.

"If exercise be useful during the period of sanguification, pure air is no less so; and I shall take this opportunity of entering my protest against the introduction of gas into the interior of our houses. Carburetted hydrogen is a deadly poison; and even in a state of great dilution, it is capable of exerting a very baneful effect upon the general system. I have been consulted on several occasions for pains in the head, nausea, and distressing languor, which evidently had been produced by the persons inhaling the unburnt gas in the boxes of our theatres."

After relating the great sufferings and apparent danger of Sir Humphrey Davy, produced by the voluntary inspiration of carburetted hydrogen gas, the author concludes thus :

"After this proof of the poisonous nature of carburetted hydrogen, -after the cases of sickness and headach which have occurred, in consequence of its inhalation at the, theatre, am I not borne out in my opinion, that its introduction into our apartments is fraught with danger?"

206.

Of the Influence of different Aliments in modifying the Appearances of the Discharges of the Body. The external characters of the feculent discharges may be said to announce the healthy or diseased state of the digestive functions, with as much certainty as the pulse does that of the sanguiferous. system. But, to deduce safe conclusions from such data, the nature and extent of the changes produced in these discharges by different aliments and medicines, must be well understood. The air has also the effect of altering the colour of the fæces, and hence they should be inspected without delay. This applies with great force to the stools of infants, which, perfectly yellow when voided, speedily assume a green appearance; and probably from the spontaneous decomposition of the bile.

Certain green vegetables, particularly spinach, impart a green hue to the fæces, that may be mistaken for vitiated bile; and beet-root will likewise give a colour. Pale-coloured evacuations, as if the bile were imperfectly secreted, may arise from drinking a considerable quantity of milk. Where the food has been of a very complicated description, the fæces will generally assume a crude and diversified character, owing, perhaps, to the several parts not having undergone the same degree of digestion. Where much stimulant drink has been used, and the person subjected to long fasting, or much labour, or has perspired profusely, the fæces acquire a hardened state. It is

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essential to know, that certain parts, both of animal and vegetable substances, pass through the alimentary canal without any change: e.g. the skin and seeds of fruits, &c. Cheese is also very apt to eject itself altogether undigested; and that formed into a ball by the action of the intestines, or a portion of caseous matter actually formed there from the drinking of milk and coagulated by the gastric juices, has been mistaken for an intestinal concretion. Concretions of oat-seeds are not unusually evacuated by the inhabitants of Scotland and Lancashire, where the oat-cake is in common use among the lower classes. The spawn of lobsters, a very indigestible substance, has also occasioned similar deceptious appearances. Magnesia, when repeatedly taken, will, by the assistance of a little animal mucus, become consolidated into masses of formidable magnitude. Certain medicines likewise change the colour of the excrements; iron imparts a black, and magnesia a white appearance. These circumstances* ought to be attended to, where it is an object to ascertain the state of the biliary secretion by the colour of the stools; and it would be judicious, on such occasions, to restrict patients to a diet that has no power to alter the appearances of the alvine discharges. The intelligent author has now brought to a conclusion his history of Alimentary Substances. It will readily be perceived, he observes, that the terms digestible and indigestible, as applied to particular species of food, are but relative in their import, and depending upon the circumstances which he has endeavoured to investigate. The theory of digestion, and the history of Alimentary Substances, are, in his opinion, so intimately connected with the diseases to which our organs are

The author has very properly directed attention to the colour of the alvine discharges, which is, at times, a great source of fallacy. Doubtless the colour of them is occasionally indicative of morbid conditions, yet the discolouration is often produced by various aliments, fluids, and medicines ; and, if this fact be overlooked, incorrect opinions may be formed, and improper treatment recommended. Port wine and claret will make the stools of a black appearance in those unaccustomed to their use; and so will bottled London porter, unquestionably, from the intermixture of certain noxious ingredients. Again, the fine yellow colour of the evacuations, believed to arise from the exhibition of the blue pill, or calomel, can be generated by eating dried French plums, or prunes, as we have ascertained in numerous instances; while the apparent bilious tinge of a coated tongue may easily be caused by chewing a little gingerbread. Such are the trifles, recorded by Dr. Paris and ourselves, which sometimes unknown, and sometimes forgotten, mix themselves with the practice of physic, and create theories that are begotten on error, and founded upon misconception, and slope the way to the cures of diseases which never had any existence. This is, indeed, a fertile subject, and ma, hereafter, be resumed.-Rev.

exposed, that, without a thorough knowledge of the former, we cannot expect to understand the phenomena of the latter, nor to establish a rational and successful system of treatment for the prevention and cure of Dyspepsia. He now proceeds to the third division of his work, which will embrace the history of Indigestion in all its forms and stages, and in which he hopes to turn the principles, already developed, to a practical advantage.

PART III.-Of Indigestion.

Dyspepsia and indigestion are here considered as synonimous terms; and, notwithstanding the distinction of Dr. Philip, with obvious propriety, since the word indigestion is evidently a literal English translation of the Greek compound dyspepsia.

"I define indigestion to be a primary disease, in which one or more of the several processes by which food is converted into blood, are imperfectly or improperly performed, in consequence either of functional aberrations, or organic lesion. This definition may, perhaps, be opposed,

Dr. Paris has created no little confusion here by attempting too much. If the definition had terminated with "functional aberration" all would have been well; but, by including " organic lesion," it involves a contradiction, and comprises a singular error in pathological reasoning. What! is indigestion defined to be always a primary disease, and yet, sometimes, a consequence of organic lesion? To say indigestion is a consequence of functional aberration is intelligible enough, because such aberration constitutes the disease itself. In the first instance, indigestion is universally understood to be a functional, and consequently a primary disorder. True it does occasionally excite organic lesion of some part or other, although not so frequently as is usually represented, but in no manner will this admission assist the definition in discussion. For if indigestion should occasion organic mischief, that mischief will be the consequence, and not the cause of that malady; or, if the indigestion be generated by organic lesion, as the author affirms it sometimes is, why then it is not a primary, but a secondary disease. In fact, indigestion must be, in its early stages, invariably a functional disturbance; for, if it were the reverse, it could not, without absurdity, be called indigestion, since such an indigestion would be a mere symptom of an organic affection. Diseases are designated according to their actual nature, and not to their obvious indications. If a man suffer from simple irritability of the stomach, such is its right name, here it is certainly primary; while, if the irritability be an indisputable symptom of a diseased pylorus, such would be the distinctive appellation. So is it with indigestion, a primary and functional disorder, commonly ending favourably; yet, at times, giving rise to structural disease, which is, and ever must be, under the circumstances dwelt upon, a consequence of indigestion, and not indigestion a consequence of it, agreeably to this notable definition. But it may be alleged, the indigestion is apparent, while the organic lesion, however existing, may be thoroughly masked, and consequently unsuspected. Granted! yet this allegation will avail the author nothing. What produced

on the ground of its too comprehensive signification; but I may observe, that however extensive may be the series of symptoms which are thus included under one general head, they will afford, when viewed collectively, sufficient evidence of their relation with the digestive process; although, on a loose and hasty observation, they may not present any general principle of dependency and connexion; if they appear disunited, let the practitioner suspect that he has never viewed them with sufficient reference to that physiological harmony which subsists between the organs in which they arise. Acidity of stomach and urinary depositions are equally indicative of deranged digestion; but the mind that is not acquainted with the relations of the stomach and kidneys, or with the connexion which subsists between the formation of perfect chyle and the discharge of natural urine, will not be disposed to arrange symptoms, so apparently remote in their reliance, under one common head." 214.

"From the universal sympathy which the stomach entertains for every part of the living body, its functions may become impeded or perverted from the existence of diseases which originate in organs with which it has no immediate connexion; an affection of the head, or even a disease in the urethra, may create sickness, loss of appetite, or a suspension in the digestive process; but such phenomena are not to be confounded with the primary symptoms of dyspepsia; they are affections of sympathy or induction, and will require very different treatment.""I am strongly inclined to think that physicians of the present day are too apt to accuse the alimentary functions of offences which should be charged on other organs." 215.

1. Imperfect Chymification. The symptoms which arise from this cause are generally those which first indicate the approach of indigestion, and they frequently recur at intervals, for a considerable period, without occasioning any constitutional disturbance, or even a degree of local distress sufficient to awake alarm. In some cases, indeed, they are only produced by particular aliments, or under peculiar circumstances; but in others, they follow the ingestion of every species of food, although their violence is usually influenced by the quality and quantity of the meal. In this latter case, a morbid state of the stomach exists, which ought to be remedied without delay. We must ascertain whether a peculiar idiosyncrasy of the

the indigestion? What occasioned the organic lesion? Which had the priority? The indigestion? Then Dr. Paris is wrong, for it generated the organic lesion, whereas he maintains the direct contrary! Was it the organic lesion? Here Dr. Paris is equally wrong, since with what propriety can he define indigestion, and without any qualification whatsoever, to be a primary disease, when the exciting cause of it is organic lesion.— Rev.