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proportional weight to the rest of the body is said to be as 1 to 18, and at about four or five years of age it attains the proportion which is afterwards maintained, that of 1 to 36. The mesenteric glands are very large and distinct; they are more vascular than at any other period of life, and their function appears to be connected with the elaboration of the chylous fluid after absorption by the lacteal vessels, and prior to its discharge into the blood. If a non-nutritious diet be administered, low organised or strumous product is very prone to occur in these parts, and the same result is found if the system be exhausted from other causes. Again, stimulants and irritating food so disorder the mucous membrane, that acute hyperæmia in these mesenteric glands quickly follows. They may even be felt through the abdominal parietes, and when diarrhoea and general exhaustion exist at the same time, the malady is very apt to be mistaken for organic and incurable "tabes;" and although the enlargement may be merely hyperamic, there is great liability to the deposition of inorganic product of a strumous kind. If health be restored, the old diseased glands will be found in subsequent years as a semi-cretaceous mass.

In youth, whilst growth is rapidly advancing, the digestive organs are taxed to furnish materials, not only to maintain ordinary wear and tear, but to supply that which is needed for additions to the frame; and if the blood be rendered unhealthy, and growth

impeded, then, there is a greater tendency to the deposition of strumous product, and all its attendant degenerative changes. Many instances of consumption have arisen from the nourishment during months of residence at school being of an improper kind, or so unsuited to the taste, that it was altogether refused; functional integrity soon becomes disturbed, growth is defective, and low organised deposit takes place under a very slight exciting cause. A large quantity of suitable nourishment is essential at this period for the natural activity of youth and the healthy development of the frame, as much as the system can digest and assimilate; whilst stimulants, and a diet which panders to the appetite rather than supplies requisite material for the growing organism, should be avoided.

In an ordinary state of health malt liquors and wine are both unnecessary and injurious; and if the system be exhausted by disease, more than usual care is required in their administration.

During the strength of manhood there is less energy, but greater uniformity in the process of digestion. The development of the system has attained its maximum, and the functional activity is less powerful than during infancy and youth, but more so than in the declining steps of advancing years. The lungs are fully developed, and the larger quantity of air inspired, and of carbonic acid exhaled, indicate a condition of system capable of bearing vicissitudes of temperature more easily. Longer

intervals suffice to elapse between the meals, and larger quantities are taken. Dr. Edward. Smith has educed some very interesting facts, especially bearing upon digestion in ordinary adult life, that, "in the morning hours digestion and assimilation are performed in their most natural and therefore most healthful manner, and that period especially demands an abundant supply of nutriment;" and to quote again from the same talented author, "that the rate of pulsation and respiration, and the evolution of carbonic acid were found to be the greatest in one or two hours after breakfast, and at about four or five hours after the meal it was reduced to the lowest point of the working day, a point about ten pulsations higher than that of the lowest period of the night." But although digestion is more active at the earlier part of the day, and least so in the evening, still it is an unwise plan for those who are engaged in pursuits involving much intellectual and physical fatigue, to allow the whole afternoon and evening to elapse without partaking of some sustaining diet; it is not sufficient to take a substantial mid-day meal, without anything of a really nourishing kind afterwards, for the sleep is less refreshing, in consequence of greater exhaustion during the night. The processes of digestion are often, and that very properly, lost sight of, and doubtless much irregularity and indiscretion are borne with impunity, still, the penalty is afterwards paid; irregu larity and excess cannot be continued without future

detriment; and many of the forms of severe dyspepsia are produced and perpetuated by inattention to the simplest rules of diet or regimen.

The quantity of food required by the system ranges from twenty-two to forty or even forty-five ounces of solid food, and eighty to ninety-five ounces of fluid. The solid part must contain albuminous substances, fatty substances, also carbo-hydrates and salts, the second and third forms being especially used in the system for maintaining animal heat. Still these alone will not suffice, unless some fresh vegetable food or fruit be commingled; and we frequently find that disease is caused or aggravated by the avoidance of vegetable diet altogether. This fact we have often witnessed in those who from actual or supposed weakness of the stomach refrain from all fresh vegetable substances, as requiring greater digestive power.

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Dr. Parkes in his work on Hygiene,' quoting from Moleschott, gives the following table, as showing "the water and food required daily for a working man of average height and weight;" but in those who take more generous diet, the albuminous and fatty substances may be half as much more:

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and again, that 104 grains of nitrogenous substances equal to 3.671 ounces is the lowest amount a working man ought to have. The least amount for active life, according to Dr. Parkes, is 14 to 1.5 ounces of dry nitrogenous substance, but with this weight and strength are lost.

Still the quantity and even the quality may be all that is desired by the physiological chemist, but the stomach may refuse to receive it, or to deal with it in a friendly manner, because the palate is offended, and the sameness and character of the diet is opposed to the tastes and wishes of the patient; the idiosyncracies of diet are best known to individuals themselves, and in abnormal states of disease these peculiarities become marked with increasing distinctness.

In advanced years the activity of life gradually lessens, and the physical organisation presents corresponding change. The arterial vessels which carry the supply to every gland gradually become opaque and rigid ; the glands themselves waste, and are comparatively inactive; and although the higher powers of mind and thought may remain still in their full strength, it is impossible to hide the habiliments of age. The drier and more shrivelled aspect of the skin is an indication that the minute sudoriferous glands are inactive; and, the mucous membrane of the alimentary tract, a mere inversion of the external investment, is likewise wasted, it becomes much thinner, its glands smaller, and in fact,

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