The code of health and longevity, or a general view of the rules and principles calculated for the preservation of health, and the attainment of long life / by Sir John Sinclair.

  • Sinclair, John, Sir, 1754-1835.
Date:
1816
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The code of health and longevity, or a general view of the rules and principles calculated for the preservation of health, and the attainment of long life / by Sir John Sinclair. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    sumption, and it may be of use to old and decayed people* * * §; but it is too rich for common aliment, as it becomes op- pressive, and at last cloying to many stomachs, on account of its oily quality. To the young and sedentary, any im- moderate use of it is at all times improper. Indeed, unless the nut is properly prepared, and the liquor is made fresh and good, it has a greasy or rancid taste, and disagrees with almost any stomachf. To the corpulent, and to those employed in mental pursuits, it is highly pernicious. It yields so much nourishment, that it may supply at once the place of victuals and drink. When it was first introduced among the Europeans, whole volumes were written on its manifold virtues ; which reputation, however, it has gradu- ally lost, since it became more common];. Cocoa is used as a substitute for chocolate, but impro- perly; for it is only the husky part of the chocolate nut, mixed with a little of the nut, and some dross and dust. Very weak chocolate is equally digestible, and a more cleanly food§. 8. Beef Tea.—This is a very simple article, being made by boiling some meat in water, and drinking the decoction; or by pouring boiling water over a certain proportion of raw Und lean meat, cut in small pieces, or well beat, as for steaks, and seasoning it to the palate. This species of liquid food is often beneficial to delicate constitutions. 9. Broths and Soups.—Among the articles of liqu id food, broths and soups ought not to be omitted. If properly made, they serve both for meat and drink, and it is evident that less drink is necessary, when the solid food is diluted with water. There is a prejudice against the use of broths in England. It is said that they are only calculated lor cases where the powers of digestion are weakened; and that the flesh and vegetables used in broths, will not afford so much nourishment, as if they were taken in their solid form, and mixed with saliva, in the act of mastication||. It is also said, that food of this nature gives the stomach too little to do; and that the meat itself, (the substance being extracted out of it), is left in that undigestible state, as to * It is oserved, that chocolate-makers are troubled with dry asthmas, and disorders in the lungs; but it is not owing to the efHuvias of the cho* eolate, but to the fumes of charcoal used in the making of it. f Mackenzie’s History of Health, p. 377. f Falk’s Guardian of Health, p. 155. § Adair’s Medical Cautions, p. 222. jj Darvvin’s Zoonomia, vol. ii. p. 668.