versal and entire abstinence from flesh, but who would greatly diminish the quantity used, maintain that sedentary people and some invalids should dispense with it, but that men engaged in active business or hard labor, and some invalids when their stomachs are reduced to a typhoid or inactive state, require the strength and stimulus of animal fibre. To this it is replied, that the more active can better resist and work off the bad effects of the stimulus of meat than the sedentary can, but that even they would do better without it, when accustomed to a pure vegetable diet; and as for the argument for the beneficial effects of animal food in the case of invalids, that it is a physiological and medical error.

As I have no wish to influence your mind upon this question any farther than the simple truth may do it, I merely state the argument in brief as it stands on both sides, leaving you to decide for yourself. But as I am not to presume that many of my readers will conclude to abandon entirely what are sometimes called the "flesh-pots of Egypt," I may venture a suggestion respecting an animal diet. Meat should be gently and thoroughly cooked, so as to be made tender, and never scorched, or crisped, or rendered dry and tough. It should never be eaten more than once a day, usually at noon, and in small quantities, well di

luted with vegetables. It is better to avoid gravies; or at any rate to have them very simple, and to use them sparingly. Never use but one kind of meat at a meal. The Jews have a good rule also, never to eat butter when they eat meat.

The different kinds of meat as to simplicity, by which I mean the absence of stimulus, are as follows The most simple are wild birds; next, venison and mutton; next, barn fowls; next, fish and oysters; next, salted pork, boiled and in small quantities; next, veal and fresh pork; next, beef, &c. It is better, as a general rule, to take no dessert. This rule is of special importance if you take much meat; the stomach is then incapacitated to bear it.

If you subsist upon a vegetable diet, you may indulge in a much freer use of pies, puddings, fruits, &c. But these too should be simple. In the multiplicity of ways of cooking potatoes, squashes, rice, sago, tapioca, indian meal, flour, macaroni, apples, pears, and numerous other vegetables and fruits, together with good milk or cream, there is no difficulty in having a large variety and a delicious table furnished from a pure vegetable diet. I know in Boston two distinguished literary gentlemen, two medical gentlemen of the highest rank in their professions, and several merchants of various classes, some more active and some less,

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who have taken no animal food for more than two years, and their health has been constantly improving.

I would only add upon this point, that it is very undesirable to contract notions, whims, and oddities about eating; or even to think very much about it. Adapt your food to your constitution, employment, and situation; eat prudently of some part of what is set before you, with a thankful heart; live in a natural, rational, common-sense way - and I think you will do pretty well as to this matter.

It may not be superfluous to add, that it is well to spend a few moments before meals in unbending and diverting the mind, and not to go to the table with it oppressed with care or intensely engaged in any study or business. The food should be eaten slowly and should be thoroughly masticated, in order that it may be perfectly permeated by the solvent and gastric juices which are essential to digestion.

Also agreeable company and conversation at table helps to promote digestion, and to give a healthy tone to the secretions. A meal taken in solitude, especially if the mind is in an unsocial or an oppressed mood, will not do you half the good that it would if taken in a cheerful and social manHence Providence has constituted the social board; and instead of ordaining that the husband should first take his own meal in selfish solitude,

ner.

and then the wife, and then the children if anything remains, as the heathen do, he has instructed them to come together around the same board, to participate socially of his gifts with happy hearts. "For thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands; happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house; thy children like olive plants round about thy table."

When

As to the quantity to be eaten, if a man is in perfect health, his appetite is the best guide. But the stomach is so frequently more or less in a morbid state, that this guide must be followed with some caution. Most people eat too much. you have eaten so much as to feel oppressed, heavy, dull, you may know that you have transgressed. Be careful next time. People should always leave off eating at the point when they feel refreshed, and can go directly to their business or study, not only with unabated but with increased vigor and delight. How many almost spoil their afternoons by their dinners!

DRINK. If you subsist upon a vegetable diet, you will require less drink than if you take much animal food. The former keeps the system cool and even in its temperament; the latter tends to a febrile action, which creates thirst. Most people drink too much. A morbid thirst may be pro

duced by over-drinking, as well as a morbid appetite by over-eating.

The best drink beyond a question, both at meals and at all other times, is pure cold water. The water should be perfectly pure, fresh, and cold. The colder the better; only take the less. It is best to use ice-water, if convenient, through the whole year. It should be taken in small quantities; for it is quite a stimulant and a tonic, although of a kind which does not produce any reaction when taken with due moderation. Milk may be taken at meals in connection with water, if desired; or a tumbler of pure milk may be substituted for it to advantage.

Coffee and green tea are powerful narcotic stimulants and tend strongly to undermine the tone of the stomach, produce dyspepsia, induce dejection of spirits, affect the brain, &c. Like the little book in the apocalyptic vision, their primary effect is highly delightful, but their secondary effect is sad. The same is true in a far more limited extent of black tea. Chocolate and cocoa are a fine beverage, when taken weak and well diluted with. milk, having the evil tendencies of tea and coffee in a much slighter degree, though sometimes producing heaviness. Some take a dish of hot water seasoned with sugar and milk. This is a delicious cordial to those who love it, and probably the best of all drinks excepting pure water. But all warm