Domestic medicine, or, A treatise on the prevention and cure of diseases by regimen and simple medicines : containing observations on the comparative advantages of vaccine inoculation, with instructions for performing the operation, an essay, enabling puptured [sic] persons to manage themselves, with engravings of bandages, which every person may prepare for himself, and a family herbal / by William Buchan, M.D. of the Royal College of Physicians, Edingburgh ; to which are added, such useful discoveries ... as have transpired since the demise of the author.
- Buchan, William, 1729-1805.
- Date:
- 1823
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Domestic medicine, or, A treatise on the prevention and cure of diseases by regimen and simple medicines : containing observations on the comparative advantages of vaccine inoculation, with instructions for performing the operation, an essay, enabling puptured [sic] persons to manage themselves, with engravings of bandages, which every person may prepare for himself, and a family herbal / by William Buchan, M.D. of the Royal College of Physicians, Edingburgh ; to which are added, such useful discoveries ... as have transpired since the demise of the author. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.
![or A1J31ENT. Tiiey amy be braced or relaxed, have their sensibility, motiouj, &-c. greatly increased or diiniuishetl, by different kinds of aliment. A very small attention to these things will be sufficient to shew how much the preservation of health depends upon a proper regimen of the diet. Nor is au attention to diet necessary for the preservation of health nnly: it is likewise of importance in the cure of diseases. Every intention in the cure of many diseases may be answered by diet alone. Its effects, indeed, are not always so quick as those of medicine, but they are generally more lasting: besides, it is neither so disagreeable to the patient, nor so dangerous as medicine, and is always more easily obtained. Our intentioji here is not to enquire minutely into the nature and properties of the various kinds of aliment in use among mankind; nor lo shew their effects upou the different constitutions of the humaji body; but to mark some of the most pernicious errors which people are apt to fall into, with respect both to the quantity and quality of their food, aud to pomt out their influence upon health. It is not indeed an easy matter to ascertain the exact quantity of food proper for every age, sex, and constitution : but a scrupulous nicety here is by no means necessary. The best rule is to avoid all ex- tremes. Mankind were never intended to weigh and measure their food. Nature teaches every creature when it has enough ; and the calls of thirst and hunger are sufficient to inform them when more is necessary. Though moderation is the chief rule vnth regard to the quantity, yet tlie quality of foodmerits a farther consideration. There are' many ways by which provisions may be rendered unwholesome. Bad seasons may either prevent the ripening of grain, or damage it after- warJs. These, indeed, are acts of Providence, and we must submit to them ; but surely no punishment can be too severe for those who suffer provisions to s]ioil by hoarding them, on purpose to raise tlie price. The poor, mdeed, are generally the first who suffer by unsound p; jvisions; but the lives of the labouring poor areof great importance to the state: besides, diseases occasioned by unwholesome food often prove infectious, by which means they reach people in every station ; it is therefore the mterest of all to take care that no spoilt provisions of any kind be exposed to sale. Animal, as well as vegetable food, maybe rendered unwholesome by being kept too long. All animal substances have a constant tend- ency to putrefaction ; and, when that has proceeded too far, they not only become offensive to the senses, but hurtful to tlie health. Diseased animals and such as die of themselves ought never to be eaten. It is 1 common practice, however, in some grazing countries, for sei-vants and poor pet pie to eat such animals as die of any disease or are killed by accident. Poverty, indeed, may oblige peopie to do this; but rhey had better eat a smaller quantity of what is sound and whole- some: It would both afford a better nonrishment, and be attended nith less danj/er. The injunctions given to the Jew^, not to eat any creaUire which](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21441017_0041.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
