A defence of the Graham system of living, or, Remarks on diet and regimen : dedicated to the rising generation.

Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A defence of the Graham system of living, or, Remarks on diet and regimen : dedicated to the rising generation. 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.)

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    temperate life ? Could you read calm health in his check, flushed with ungovernable propensities of hatred for the human race? Did Muley Isniael's pulse heal evenly, was his skin transparent, did his eyes beam with healthful- ness, and its invariable concomitants, cheerfulness and benignity? Surely, the bile-sutlused cheek of Bonaparte, his wrinkled brow, and yellow eye, the ceaseless inqui- etude of his nervous system, speak no less plainly the character of his unresting ambition, than his murders and his victories. It is impossible, had Bonaparte de- scended from a race of vegetable feeders, that he could have had either the inclination or the power to ascend the throne of the Bourbons. The desire of tyranny could scarcely be excited in the individual, the power to tyrannize would certainly not be delegated by a society neither frenzied by inebriation, nor rendered impotent and irrational by disease. Other countries and former times may furnish us with examples, full, complete, and convincing; yet, why ap- peal to them, save as to the beacons that experience has planted on every shore and in every age, to warn deluded man of the covert rocks of luxury, on which his unfor- tunate progenitors have wrecked their liberties, and all that renders life endearing!* While yet our own dear native land spurns the oppressor's rod, shall we not watch, with jealous eye, the slow insidious progress of luxury, lest she sap the foundation of our free institutions? He who prophesies the loss of our national freedom, may be deemed an ill-omened bird; but, alas! it scarcely needs a wizard's foresight to predict the slow, but cer- tain downfall of those institutions, to establish which our forefathers have bled; institutions which we all love, and in whose defence every sword would leap from ils scabbard, and every arm be doubly-nerved. We fear no enemy from without—let us draw aside; the flimsy curtain and exhibit an enemy within, more powerful, more confident of victory, more capable of achie) ing it, than the combined forces of European despots. Behold the perfidious foe—domestic luxury! She has accomplished the ruin of other states—she seeks the