en
years since I wrote the letter, which is found at page 23d, to Dr.
North. During this long period, and for several years before, amounting,
in all, to about nineteen years, I have not only abstained entirely from
flesh, fish, and fowl--not having eaten a pound of any one of these
during the whole time, except the very few pounds I used in the time of
the first visitation of our country with cholera, as before
mentioned--but I have almost entirely abstained from butter, cheese,
eggs, and milk. Butter, especially, I _never_ taste at all. The
occasional use of milk, in very small quantities, once a day, has,
however, been resorted to; not from necessity, indeed, or to gratify any
strong desire or inclination for it, but from a conviction of its happy
medicinal effects on my much-injured frame. Hot food of every kind, and
liquids, with the exception just made, I rarely touch. Nearly every
thing is taken in as solid a form and in as simple a state as possible;
with no condiments, except a very little salt, and with no sweets,
sauces, gravies, jellies, preserves, etc. I seldom use more than one
sort of food at a time, unless it be to add fruit as a second article;
and this is rarely done, except in the morning. I have for ten or twelve
years used no drinks with my meals; and sometimes for months together
have had very little thirst at all.[8]

And as to the effects, they are such, and have all along been such, as
to make me wonder at myself, whenever I think of it. Instead of being
constantly subject to cold, and nearly dying with consumption in the
spring, I am almost free from any tendency to take cold at all. During
the winter of 1837-8, by neglecting to keep the temperature of my room
low enough, and by neglecting also to take sufficient exercise in the
open air, I became unusually tender, and suffered to some extent from
colds. But I was well again during the spring, and felt as if I had
recovered or nearly recovered my former hardihood.

In regard to other complaints, I may say still more. Of rheumatism, I
have scarcely had a twinge in twelve or fourteen years. My eruptive
complaint is, I believe, _entirely_ gone. The weakness of my eyes has
been wholly gone for many years. Indeed, the strength and perfection of
my sight and of all my senses, till nearly fifty years of age--hearing
perhaps excepted, in which I perceive no alteration--appeared to be
constantly improving. My stomach and intestines perform their respec