( fucceeded accordingly, his pains were relieve'd, and THE GOUT OVERCOME.* Doctor Taylor, of Croydon, CURE'D HIMSELF, ENTIRELY and ABSOLUTELY, of the most violent, conftant, and habitual epilepfy, that, perhap, ever was known, after haveing, in vain, try'd all the methods and medicines advise'd by the most eminent phyficians of his time, by A TOTAL DIET of MILK, WITHOUT BREAD, or any OTHER VE GETABLE. Doctor Cheyne, fpeaking of the disorders of a disease'd liver, fays, Were there any art or medicine to turn or make choler (aduft, black, yellow, or green) an innocent, acid, active, liquor onely (as it is in the animals that live onely on vegetables), it would infalliblely cure these disorders.‡ ""Tis wonderful," he fays, "in what fprightlynefs, ftrength, activity and freedom of fpirit, Dr. Cheynes Esfay on the gout, p. 20. + Idem, English malady, p. 253. He has an entire chapter "Of nervous cafes, requiring a ftrict and total milk, seed, and vegetable diet," in which he relates fome remarkable cures (Ibi, p. 184); and mentions, throughout his book, many cafes of patients relieve'd from their complaints by vegetable food. Englifb malady, p. 187. a low (i. e. vegetable) diet wil preserve those that have habituateëd themfelves to it. My worthy friend, mister Web, is ftil alive. He, by the quickness of the facultys of the mind, and the activity of the organs of his body, fhews the great benefit of a low diet, liveing alltogether on vegetable food and pure element.”* "Here is doctor Taylor," fays doctor Johnfon, "by a refolute adherence to bread and milk, with a better appearance of health than he has had for a long time pass'd." This doctor Taylor was a different perfon from the one allready mention'd, being vicar of Afhburn, and upward, at that time, of fourfcore. "The milk of those women," fays Rousseau, "who [nurse children and] live chiefly on vegetables, is more sweet and falutary than that of carnivorous females. Form'd out of substanceës of a fimilar nature, it keeps longer, as it is less fubject to putrefaction: and, with refpect to its quantity, every one knows that pulfe and vegetables increase the quantity of blood more than meat; and why not, therefor, that of the milk? I cannot believe," ads he, "that a child, who is not wean'd too foon, or should be wean'd onely * Esfay on bealth, p. 32. + Letters to mistress Thrale, II, 224. with vegetable nutriment, and whose nurse, allfo, should live entirely on vegetables, would ever be fubject to worms. "Under their abftemious mortifying diet, the Bannians maintain as good a habit of body, are as comely and proportionable as other people, and live to reckon as many years as thofe that pity their spare food. But, in their thoughts, they are often more quick and nimble, by that courfe of liveing they choose to delight in, which renders their spirits more pure and subtle, and thereby greatly facilitates their comprehension of things. In a word, they keep their organs clear, their fpirits lively, and their conftitutions free from thofe diseafees, which a grofser diet is apt to create in these warm climates."t The common diet of the Otaheiteans is made up of, at least, nine tenths of vegetable food; and it is, perhap, oweing to this temperate course of life, that they have fo few diseafees. They * Emilius, I, 54. "Can it be fuppofe'd that a vegetable diet should be the best adapted for a child, and animal food for its nurfe? There is an evident contradiction in the no tion." Ibi, 56. "Nor is this to be wonder'd at, fince animal fubftancecs, when putrefy'd, are cover'd with worms, in a manner never experience'd in the fubftance of vegetables." Ibi, 53+Ovingtons Voyage to Suratt, p. 317. Cook's Voyages, II, 148. feldom eat flesh; their children, and young girls, never any; and this, doubtlefs, ferves to keep them free from all our diseafeës.* Nothing, in fact, is fo light and easey to the ftomach, most certainly, as the farinaceous or mealy vegetables; fuch as peafe, beans, millet, oats, barley, rye, wheat, fago, rice, potatos, and the like; but bread, after all, is the lightest and propereft aliment for human bodys.‡ That a vegetable diet promotes longevity is inferable from feveral inftanceës. The great Aurungzebe, from his ufurpation of the throne, never tafteëd flesh, fish, nor ftrong liquors, and live'd in good health to near a hundred years. That of old Parr, who dyed at the age of 152 years and 9 months, was old cheese, milk, coarse bread, fmall-beer, and whey: and his historian tels us, he might have live'd a good while longer, if he had not change'd his diet and air.§ Old Henry Welby, who live'd at his house, in Grubftreet, forty-four years, unfeen by any, did not, in all that space, tafte either flesh or fish. He dye'd in 1636, aged 84. In July 1737, was *Bougainvilles Voyage. + Cheynes Essay on bealth, p. 65. Dr. Arbuthnots Esfay concerning aliments, p. 51. § Cheynes Essay on bealth, p. 62. See Morgans Phoenix Britannicus, p. 369, liveing in St. Margarets work-house, Weftminster, Mary Patten, age'd 136 years, whose onely food was milk.* On the 25th of December 1772, dye'd at Brusfels, age'd 101, Elifabeth de Val, who never ate a bit of flesh, or tafteëd of any kind of broth or foup, dureing the whole course of her life. A few years ago, dye'd at Coombe in Northhumberland, Jofeph Ekins, age'd 103; who never knew a weeks ilnefs, and fubfifted entirely on bread, milk, and vegetables, for the last thirty years. A fhepherd dye'd, not long fince, at Gompas, in Hungary, in the 126th year of his age. His manner of liveing was extremely fimple: he never ate any meat, but fubfifted entirely on milk, butter, and cheese, and had never been il in his life.§ One great advantage, according to doctor Cheyne, a vegetable diet has over an animal one, is, that, in the weakeft digestions, and the most dangerous and obftinate distempers, the patient may allways fil his belly, and fatisfy his hunger, * Gentlemans Magazine, VII, 449. The trustees, it is fay'd, had her picture painted, to fucceed her when the dye'd. + Scots Magazine, XXXIV, 696. From a newspaper. § Morning poft, January 28, 1800. |