e
followed by an era of misery for the unfortunate subject and his scarcely
happier family. Nervous and irritable, the slightest inconveniences are
magnified into terrible calamities, he constantly fears death, and his
sleepless nights become a saturnalia of gloomy thoughts and abject
fears.

Of course, not everyone guilty of dietetic sins goes through such sad
experiences, for the naturally strong frequently escape the consequences
of their rashness, particularly where they live in the rural districts
and take plenty of out-door exercise. Let not such, however, flatter
themselves that their disregard of hygienic laws will go unpunished.
After indiscretions in eating they will all, at one time or another, have
acute indigestion with diarrhoea; and how often does the previously well
and hearty man after indiscretion in eating wake up with a dull headache,
furred tongue, foul breath, and a general feeling of sluggishness and
mental depression?

Is it his liver? Our unscientific medical ancestors--at a loss to account
for the state of affairs in any other way--answered in the affirmative,
and, believing it was produced by a collection of bile in the liver,
called the condition "biliousness." How absurd modern science has shown
this assumption to be! We now know that the liver is rarely diseased,
and that it furnishes its secretion, called bile, for the purpose of
aiding digestion rather than hindering it, and that this substance is
rarely, if ever, produced in excess. It is undigested, putrefying food in
the intestinal tract that produces the trouble. Under such circumstances
one usually takes a dose of calomel, which, being perhaps the most
satisfactory and perfect purgative that we possess, relieves the
condition promptly by getting rid of the offending material; but the drug
does not act on the liver.

Unfortunately ill results of quite a different and a much more serious
character often follow in the wake of dietetic errors; in those who have
a tendency to consumption, particularly where they overwork, this dread
disease frequently makes its appearance as a consequence of bad eating
and drinking. Many, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that appear
in the latter half of life are produced in this way, and nothing is more
certain than that the peace, happiness and longevity of mankind could be
incalculably increased by the simple observance of what is known
concerning proper eating and drinking.

We will now c