and drinking,
is scarcely less so. But does he secure to himself the most pleasure who
thinks most about it? Most certainly there is pleasure--_much_ pleasure
in the anticipation of good. We may, by aid of imagination, then, feast
upon the same dish half a dozen times. Yet, does not this--I repeat the
idea--tend to determine an increased amount of blood and of nervous
energy to the stomach, and to aggravate the disease? Let the reader
ponder this question.

My own most deliberate conviction is, that the stomach, in general, is
best managed, and the greatest amount of gustatory enjoyment secured,
when it is subjected most fully to good habits; that this organ, being
blind and deaf, is best served when directed by the wiser head; or, to
express the same truth in a better way, instead of asking the stomach at
any time what it will have, _we should ask the head what is right_, and
follow its directions. If the stomach is pleased, why, very well; if
not, let it go without being pleased. Give it what you think is right,
all things considered, and think no more about it. If it rebels, give it
a smaller quantity. If it still complains, lessen still more the
quantity, and perhaps diminish the frequency of your meals. There is no
danger of starving to death, as every one must be convinced who has read
carefully the two preceding chapters. When the system is really in a
suffering condition for want of nutriment, then the stomach will be able
to receive more, and dispose of it. If you give it what is right for it,
there will be no want of appetite--at least, very long. Nay, more; the
mere animal or gustatory enjoyment of that food which the head tells us
is right, and to which we conscientiously adhere, will, in the end, be
far greater than in the case of continual inquiry and anxiety and
anticipation and agitation about it.

Dyspepsia, I know, has a great variety of causes--as many, almost, as it
has forms. And yet I do not believe it can often be induced by other
causes alone, as long as the stomach is treated correctly. Give to that
organ, habitually, what is exactly right for it, both as regards quality
and quantity, and I do not believe we shall hear any more, in this
world, about dyspepsia.

But he who would confine his stomach to food which his head tells him is
right, will not surely put mince pie into it. He must know that such a
strange compound, however agreeable, will in the end be destructive, not
only of health, b