A treatise on the composition and medical properties of the mineral waters of Buxton, Matlock, Tunbridge Wells, Harrogate, Bath, Bristol, Cheltenham, Leamington, Malvern, Isle of Wight, Brighton, and the Beulah Spa, Norwood ... / by Sir Charles Scudamore.
- Date:
- 1833
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A treatise on the composition and medical properties of the mineral waters of Buxton, Matlock, Tunbridge Wells, Harrogate, Bath, Bristol, Cheltenham, Leamington, Malvern, Isle of Wight, Brighton, and the Beulah Spa, Norwood ... / by Sir Charles Scudamore. 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.
171/230 (page 159)
![“If longevity be regarded as a criterion of health, which, in an unqualified sense, it certainly is not, it would be easy to shew, by some splendid living examples, that a rigid abste- miousness has not been the prominent virtue of the aged. Of Cornaro it may be worth while to remark, since it is not generally known, that he w'as a wine-bibber : an early edition of his work represents this hero with a plump capon before him on the table, and a bottle of wine at his elbow. [Luigi Cornaro, overo Discorsi della Rita Sobria. Paris. 1646.] If, however, the exemplars of longevity have not been remark- able for temperance, neither have they been notorious sen- sualists. But how many of the aged, who have lived, as the phrase is, all the days of their lives, have been remarkable for an independence of habit, opposed to a slavish adherence to the rules and formularies, and a total indifference about !the ‘ juvantia et lsedentia’ of our modern gastronomists !” There is some truth expressed in this spirited criticism on the rules of the dieter, but, I must think, mixed with a great Sdeal of questionable doctrine. I would directly oppose the following sentiment:— “ The restrictions necessary to the recovery of health are seldom favorable to its pre- servation.” A good appetite, or that which, from the pleasure to the palate, “ vient en mangeant,” and a well-spread table, pretty constantly lead to injurious ex- cess, gradually tending to weaken the powers of the sto- mach, and certainly to produce fulness of habit, and de- generacy of the general health. I do not think that the example of Cornaro has been fairly quoted. His excesses in early life brought about that loss of health which awakened his fears, and induced him to practise those rules of exceed- ing moderation and care which were productive of the hap- piest results, crowning his virtue with the reward, not merely of longevity, which, without health, would be no blessing, but of that greatest of possessions, “ a sound mind in a sound body.” It will often be a valuable part of the plan of drinking the Cheltenham waters, to suspend the course after about three weeks, and then go to Malvern for a week or ten days ; and, upon its health-inspiring hills, gain increase of tone in the constitution ; when, with greater advantage, another fortnight](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21987579_0173.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
