Observations on the preservation of health in infancy, youth, manhood and age. With a brief account of the principal British and continental spas and watering places / [John Harrison Curtis].

  • Curtis, John Harrison, 1778-approximately 1860
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the preservation of health in infancy, youth, manhood and age. With a brief account of the principal British and continental spas and watering places / [John Harrison Curtis]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    184/232 (page 146)
    But there are also important differences between the two extreme periods ot life, lhe period of infancy is om of rapid growth, of great vital and nervous activity : that of old age, on the contrary, is one of decay, one m which all the functions are slow; the circulation of the blood is carried on languidly, digestion proceeds with difficulty, the mind loses its acuteness, the senses their vigour. While the characteristics of infancy mark it distinctly as one of increase and progression, those of old age plainly declare it to be the last act of man s eventful history. These physiological differences render needful corre- sponding changes of treatment. And first as to food. The organs of mastication are imperfect, or wholly wanting, in both the extreme periods of life; in both, the digestive organs are weak and liable to derangements. Hence most of the rules laid down as to the diet of the young are applicable here. Broths and other liquid food, with sufficient farina- ceous matter, should be taken by the aged ; and all their nourishment should be of the most digestible kind. A moderate proportion of the safest condiments may lie used; for the appetite, becoming more languid, may with advantage be now and then gently stimulated by some- thing piquant. In regard to drink, the use of fermented liquors, more especially wine, is allowable now, when the system requires an additional stimulus. But spirituous liquors, always injurious, are peculiarly so to the aged. “ If they do appear at first to strengthen those who fly to them for relief, it is but to bring them to a state of weakness almost incurable. Their use should be forbidden at the board where we wish temperance and health to preside. Their flavour may be exquisite ; but they owe it to essential oils, or other principles which have a most pernicious influence over the human frame. Thus,