ng chiefly on
horseback; and, though unable to do but little at first, I soon gained
strength enough to perform a moderate business, and to combine with it a
little gardening and farming. At the time, or nearly at the time, of
commencing the practice of medicine, I laid aside my feather bed, and
slept on straw; and in December, of the same year, I abandoned spirits,
and most kinds of stimulating food. It was not, however, until nineteen
years ago, the present season, that I abandoned all drinks but water,
and all flesh, fish, and other highly stimulating and concentrated
aliments, and confined myself to a diet of milk, fruits, and
vegetables.

In the meantime, the duties of my profession, and the nature of my
studies led me to prosecute, more diligently than ever, a subject which
I had been studying, more or less, from my very childhood--the laws of
Human Health. Among other things, I collected facts on this subject from
books which came in my way; so that when I went to Boston, in January,
1832, I had already obtained, from various writers, on materia medica,
physiology, disease, and dietetics, quite a large parcel. The results of
my reflections on these, and of my own observation and experience, were,
in part--but in part only--developed in July, of the same year, in an
anonymous pamphlet, entitled, "Rational View of the Spasmodic Cholera;"
published by Messrs. Clapp & Hull, of Boston.

In the summer of 1833, the Boylston Medical Committee of Harvard
University offered a prize of fifty dollars, or a gold medal of that
value, to the author of the best dissertation on the following question:
"What diet can be selected which will ensure the greatest health and
strength to the laborer in the climate of New England--quality and
quantity, and the time and manner of taking it, to be considered?"

At first, I had thoughts of attempting an essay on the subject; for it
seemed to me an important one. Circumstances, however, did not permit me
to prosecute the undertaking; though I was excited by the question of
the Boylston Medical Committee to renewed efforts to increase my stock
of information and of facts.

In 1834, I accidentally learned that Dr. Milo L. North, a distinguished
practitioner of medicine in Hartford, Connecticut, was pursuing a course
of inquiry not unlike my own, and collecting facts and materials for a
similar purpose. In correspondence with Dr. North, a proposition was
made to unite our stock of materials