The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-10-23 00:00:00

AIR. ABERNETHY ON MEDICINE AND DIRT.

(From the Lance I.
When patients apply to ate, and I see that their complaints arc
chiefly of the nature I have been describing, I tell them that I am
no physician, and I ofllnd them stoutly when I tell them that they
have their health it. their own keeping. If a man were to do as
t'erne.ro slid, he would he rewarded for it by a long and happy life.
iCernaro was given over by his physicians at the age of thirty-five ;
he saw that there was not the least chance of recovery, if he con.
Unwed to ',wallow the trash they were in the habit of giving him,
and that there was no good in putting food into hie stomach. dins
stomach could not digest it ; what did it do there? why, it played
the very devil with Cornaro's bowels. So, said he, •• I dropped
the visa pursued by my physicians. and adopted a regimen of my
own. The principal ',entity of Comaru's life was the happy state
of mind in which his eistiteleed temperance preserved him. He
limited hinirrlf to twelve ounces of toed for cash day ; this was of a
nutritious kind, and no indoccurent could prevail on him to ex.
reel d. Yoe enioycl the simplest food with the greatest relish, for
Voloaro'iu appetite was rather keen, (ii laugh) so that he used to
say, when eating a dry crust of brcad, " t) ! haw delicious it is,
it is endelieinus, that jaw almost tempted to exceed my allow-
ance " yet he never did. Ile 'rims. between eighty and ninety.
•'the society of niy friends is delightful, and even the company of
children is amusing to me. and when not otherwise engaged. I read
roe, book,. limit the infirmities of age increasing upon nie, and
becoming more feeble, my friends advised me to increase my diet,
whirls I did to feurteeit ounces. But, f the time I began to in.
erranterrant it. I was diesatisfied with 'myself, and felt that it was pro-
daring mischief in my stomach, and I had not rontinu • long
%elms I wart n!uligeul to return to my fornice allowance." Imo,
L iiserer, codd not live for ever, and we find thilf, to pme of
10 , death, lie might be said to have enjoyed perfect b h. Ile
ir..-t down to the grave at the advanced age of one h red and
ti -t ;as the account is given by his niece, who was . nun at
Ptina.
Now, what I propose as a diet, is Cornaro's diet, and it is no
Imeifitl system. The diet should always be of a moderate quan-
tity, it should not be wholly vegetable or animal, but it idlolll.l be
of a nntritious kind. 'the dirt I have taken the liberty to recoil'.
r m I to the public is I:mimeo's, with a few conundrums of my own,
r. IM. Franklin mays. Ido not pretend to have adhered to such a
s irt as (ornaro did. Oh ! no; I acknowleslge_tayself to have been
a sinner ; and I rememhcir once having been IW-g irregularly, and
Saving bets taking butter and sauces and swemmeate, sed inulidg.
irg a pampered appcti'e, things that turned aeuLanti rancid on my
stomach ; I was ached with pain iii Inv bowele.hull head-ache, and
"ss.l• sore throat ; and 1 11. d a friend of mine, a physician, to look
taro my throat, and there was a long discussion as to that sort of
r aanelle it was to he ; one said one thing and the second another;
I in I smiled and saki, if you do not know what it is, I know what
will cure it ; an I took a disco( calomel and jelap, and lived upon
toast and 'eater for alintlt ten days, and
I Rut Cul of soy sore throat
snit fever together. It is of great importsrce that the functions of
the alimentary canal should be regularly performed, suit the quality
el the seeretinas and excretions attended to as well as the quantity.
Frery old woman knows how neressary it is to attend to this if she
wishes to keep herself in a cumutOrtnble state of health, and dine.
ft". she 'Mart up some gentle laxative compound, such as a little
seems tea with Sallie Manna, or perhaps shit a little tincture of
ii'inMels, and she takes sufficient of this to act ut a given time, and
ut it should fail of its usual effect, why, she adds a little more to
th ; dale, or takes a smaller quantity of It in four hours, and thus
o—.- end is answered perfectly well. All men should partieularly
:wend to this subject, especially those who have sedentary vccupa.
done. or who are advancing in years.
Th., Poetic:l fhtetor, as ( call him, Dr. Heroin, has said, that as
Mete are moral errors to be corrected, so there are also physical
errors to be corrected, as dime of diet, habits, and so on. Now, I
do ;my. that the public are indebted to we for what knowledge they
loneness as to the importance of attending to the digestive organs in
Pie trentment of venous !oral diseases, stud of the advitntages to be
derived from alterative dines of mercury in these aflbetions. Of
what importarce is the liver in the animal economy? surely it is
of quint importance ; is is the largest organ in the bodye and if hs
tunction is disturbed. the result you way expect to find in obsery.
frit the functions of oilier organs asatietated with it in office hit-
-1 'et a blue pill, in cases of this kind, will sometimes do
wonders, if the regulation of diet be at the same time zetenulod to.
Mercury, when exhibited in small dines, and influencing the secre-
tion of such an important organ without disturbing the function of
any, has been calliel, when thus employed, alterative. 31eulical
rum, in common with others, hove committed a very natural error ;
they imagined that, as small doses of mercury did good, that Lager
ilsw• s et mercury must do more good, Iva! therefore they found
thenisi Ives mistaken.
Th i public have said that I never recommend meilieire, and
rotTiiag has been more wrongly said. limit if it be supposed that I
dive reliance on medicine merely, without attention to other lir-
coms;srees, they nay be right. For example, how comfortable,
who." the stormed feels weak and the appetite digs, is the exhlbi.
hoe of a took, curb as an infusion of columba or cast-media ; then
agail there am the mineral acids, they are very valuable, especially
it combination with the former; then there is the decoction of sir.
esearilla, it couple a very beneficial influence in an irritable state
of the system, and it appears to me to do so by acting on the nerves
of the stomach, and thus produces a tnunpullizing effect. Three
is a variety of medicines which have, front their influence on the
liver and mat-ming its secretion' been called Anti-bilious, but
I s' wind call them Pro-bilious. When a person hail palpitations
of the heart, and uneasiness and flatulency and distension, a dose
of a niriliCine called carminative will anittll the 10....•,..: ',her, se
the Mitt. Cattinef, for esample, and you know Meru are many
Jilitis • but all I could say to you of thuit medicines has been said
by others.

MEETllfial or C'RRDITORS
AT TR'S IRAIIIIRUIPTe COURT, IDASSIONALL-STRRIT,

TIIIII_ DAY.

THIRD IiZETIRGIS. a
ilarard, D. Hackney, novchant . - . . II
Hyde, N. Naassu.gtrcet, Soho, jeweller . . - le
J o'corn, E. (Hey, thoucteterehire, clothier . - - 8
111•Cortsiark, J. Juhileo•placc, Commercial-reed, victualler . le
314/regor, W. ',owe? Fore-street, Lambeth, brewer (enlarged) 111
Itualition, L. Noble-street, Foster-lane, wholeasie druggist It
icrirtmor, 11. sen., U. jun., and 11'ilati, J. Kentish-build-
-
togi,, hop-factors • . - .
114a/ding, 31. linden-street, Stepney, baker

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