Discourses on a sober and temperate life : wherein is demonstrated, by his own example, the method of preserving health to extreme old age / by Lewis Cornaro ; translated from the Italian original.

  • Cornaro, Luigi, 1475-1566.
Date:
1836
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Discourses on a sober and temperate life : wherein is demonstrated, by his own example, the method of preserving health to extreme old age / by Lewis Cornaro ; translated from the Italian original. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

    17/94
    divert me from it. The consequence was, that in a few days I began to perceive, that •uch a course agreed with me very well; and by pursuing it, in less than a year, I found myself (some persons, perhaps, will not believe it) entirely freed from all my complaints. Having thus recovered my health, I be- gan seriously to consider the power of tem- perance, and say to myself, that if this vir- tue had efficacy enough to subdue such grievous disorders as mine, it must have still greater to preserve me in health, to help my bad constitution, and comfort my very weak stomach. I therefore applied myself diligently to discover what kinds of food suited me best. But, first, I resolved to try, whether those, which pleased my palate, agreed or disagreed with my sto- mach, in order to judge for myself of the truth of that proverb, which I once held for true, and is univerally held as such in the highest degree, insomuch that epicures, who give a loose to their appetites, lay it down as a fundamental maxim. This pro- verb is, that whatever pleases the palate, must agree with the stomach, and nourish the body ; or whatever is palatable must be equally wholesome and nourishing. The issue was, that I found it to be false: for, though rough and very cold wines, as like- wise melons and other fruits, sallad, fish,