The code of health and longevity, or a general view of the rules and principles calculated for the preservation of health, and the attainment of long life / by Sir John Sinclair.

  • Sinclair, John, Sir, 1754-1835.
Date:
1816
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The code of health and longevity, or a general view of the rules and principles calculated for the preservation of health, and the attainment of long life / by Sir John Sinclair. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    selves. Even water is found to be nutritious*, more espe- cially if it contains calcarcpus matter. Milk is certainly very nourishing ; and wine and malt liquors have that qua- litv to a considerable extent. ’9. In the last place, our liquid food tends, more than our solid, to stimulate the languid powers, to enliven the spirits, and to cheer the heart. When the body is ex^ hausted by fatigue, how refreshing is a single draught of a wholesome beverage ! When the mind is borne down with care, how rapidly is it exhilarated by a cheerful glass! And, when the whole frame labours under the pressure of disease, there is no medicine so likely, in certain cases, to restore it to its former health and strength, as the genuine juice of the grape. Nothing, therefore, can be more salutary to the human frame, than liquid food, if the quality is good, and if it is used in moderation ; nor more destructive, when mingled with improper substances, or carried to excess. *Sect. II. The different Kinds of Liquid Food commonly used. The liquors commonly used, are of four different sorts: 1. Simple fluids. 2. Those which are compounded with water, but unfermented. 3. Fermented liquors; and, 4. Distilled or ardent spirits. Each of these will require sepa- rate consideration. 1. The simple Fluids.—There are two simple fluids used as food: 1. Water; and, 2. Milk. 1. Water. Water, in its common state of purity, (for by distilla- tion it can be rendered more pure), is a fluid perfectly clear and transparent, without colour or smell, possessed of lit- tle elasticity, and only, in a very small degree, compres- sible. It is usually united to atmospheric air, and to car- bonic acid gas. If deprived of those two substances, (which is the case when w'ater is recently boiled), it becomes vapid for to them it owes what may be called its taste. To their presence, also, many of those beneficial effects which it * See an interesting experiment, from Cheync’e Essay on Health, meu- fioned in Part II. Chap. V. Sect, 2, note. w •