Page:On diseases of the stomach (IA ondiseasesstoma01habegoog).pdf/100

88 ON THE GENERAL TREATMENT the spring, and the least at the autumnal season; and he infers, that the greater quantity of effète material during the summer months leads to the frequency of diarrhoea and intestinal diseases.

Amidst the multitudinous occupations of ordinary life there are some which tend in a greater degree than others to induce gastric complaints. Sedentary pursuits, especially when associated with late hours, and with pressure upon the stomach, greatly impair healthy digestion; and too often the necessities of the system are disregarded, and insufficient time allowed for meals, or they are taken at too long intervals. Again, several hours spent in a hot and oppressive atmosphere, con- taining an excess of carbonic acid, produces a sense of exhaustion and oppression, and the organic functions become less energetic. Some professional duties involve great irregularity as to the hours at which food is taken, and the strong and vigorous system can alone bear with these repeated disturbances without injury.

As to numerous mechanical occupations, some are injurious from pressure upon the scrobiculus cordis, and from constrained position, as with the shoemaker, the tailor, the hand-loom weaver; in others the air is loaded with dust, but in these the respiratory organs suffer more severely than the digestive; and, lastly, the exhaled fumes may be of a poisonous character, as with lead, mercury, phosphorus, &c.

Many of those whose trade requires the tasting of