Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. I.djvu/180

Rh not merely for my own sake, but for yours, because I am convinced that nothing would suit you and your weakness so well as these airy, light, almost spiritual, and wonderfully effective medicines. These little white nothings of powders and globules, which taste like nothing, look like nothing, operate powerfully and quickly, often within half or a quarter of an hour. And, finally, I beg of you to make the trial of them, if this winter, as is generally the case with you in the winter, you find yourself out of health, both body and mind; make the trial of them, and throw all other medicine out of the window. Pay attention also to diet, and that you do not eat anything which disagrees with you. My doctor maintains that my disorder proceeds from the stomach, and is of the kind very common in this country, and which is called dyspepsia. He has prescribed for me a very exact diet; that I am not to eat fat or greasy meat, nor roast meat, nor highly seasoned, no preserves, nor many other things. I was for a long time obstinate, and insisted upon it that my stomach was the best part about me. I have, however, since then remarked, to my astonishment, that certain food operates upon my condition; that, for instance, I wake in the morning with a sensation of misery if I eat preserves in the evening; and that, on the contrary, I am quite well in the morning when I eat nothing sweet or fat in the evening. The difficulty is for me, here in this country, to adhere to any fixed regimen, but I am becoming more and more convinced that the diet here is unwholesome, and is not suited to the climate, which is hot and stimulating. They eat hot bread for breakfast, as well as many fat and heating dishes, besides roast pork, sausages, omelets, and such like. In the evening, especially at all suppers, they eat oysters stewed, or as salad, and peach-preserve or peach-ice. Oysters, cooked in every possible way, are very much eaten by all, and precisely these, and the other