Domestic medicine : or, the family physician. A treatise on the prevention and cure of diseases, by regimen and simple medicines: With an appendix, containing a dispensatory for the use of private practitioners / by William Buchan.
- Buchan William, 1729-1805.
- Date:
- 1817
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Domestic medicine : or, the family physician. A treatise on the prevention and cure of diseases, by regimen and simple medicines: With an appendix, containing a dispensatory for the use of private practitioners / by William Buchan. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
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![CHAP. III. OF ALIMENT. i ] NWHOLE80ME food, and irregularities of diet, occasion many diseases. There is no doubt but the whole constitution of body may be changed by diet alone. The fluids may be there- by attenuated or condensed, rendered mild or acrimonious, coagulated or diluted, to almost any degree. Nor are its ef- fects upon the solids less considerable. They may be braced or relaxed, have their sensibility, motions, &c. greatly increased or diminished, by different kinds of aliment. Avery small at- tention to these things will be sufficient to shew, how much the preservation of health depends upon a proper regimen of thediet. Nor is an attention to diet necessary for the preservation of health only ; it is likewise of importance in the cure of diseases, livery intention,in the cure of many diseases, may be answered by diet alone. Its effects, indeed, arc not only always so quick as those of medicine, but they are generally more lasting: be- sides, it is neither so disagreeable to the patient, nor so dan- gerous as medicine, and is always more easily obtained. Our intention here is not to inquire minutely into the nature and properties of the various kinds of aliment in use among man- kind, nor to shew their effects upon the different constitutions of the human 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, and to point out their influence upon health. It is not indeed an easy matter to ascertain the exact quan- tity 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 extremes. Mankind were never intended to weigh and measure their food. Nature teaches every crea- ture 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 with regard to the quan- tity, yet the quality of food merits a farther consideration. There are many ways by which provisions may be rendered un- wholesome. Bad seasons may either prevent the ripening of grain, or damage it afterwards. These, indeed, are acts of Pro- vidence, and we must submit to them ; but surely no punish- ment can be too severe for those who suffer provisions to spoil by hoarding them, on purpose to raise the price, or who pro- mote their own interest by adulterating the necessaries of life *. * The poor, indeed, arc generally the lira who suffer by unsound provisions ;](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21722092_0073.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
