John Bernhard Smith

“ So that they will deny all intemperate desires with as great pleasure, as they before delighted in what is falsely stiled good eating and drinking; for nothing of that is good, which is injurious to health. It is custom only that makes men hanker after gluttony and drunkenness, and a contrary custom will make men abhor it as much: And therefore it is a wonder the rich do not strive to attain to it; for
A fatal error ’tis in men of wealth,
To feed so high as will destroy their health.
Temperance being that which will enable them to live most at ease, and enjoy their wealth the longest ”

“ And I have observed, that when in fevers the patient can relish no other drink, yet water is always drank with pleasure, as it also will always be after the eating of sweet things, that spoil the relish of other drinks; which is one excellence peculiar to water, and shews it to be most agreeable to the nature of mankind, tho’ now so much slighted. And, besides this, it is a drink that will not turn sour in the stomach, as all fermented drinks will do, to the increase of distempers already begun there, by acidity or sourness. ”

“ Nature in some may, a long time, withstand the abuses offered to it, but at last it will yield to its enemies; and those who live the longest in an intemperate course, might, from the strength of their constitution, have lived much longer, had they ate less, and used themselves to drink more water; which drink, as it is most friendly, and longest will preserve the life of a strong constitution, so it is absolutely necessary for those that are weak and sickly, and are naturally subject to the gout, the stone, shortness of breath, wind, ill digestion, and such like. ”

“ And a spare diet he describes to be this, that we never eat at once till the appetite is fully satisfied, and never to eat till we have an appetite; and men never have a true appetite till they can eat any ordinary food: And he adviseth to keep constantly to a plain diet, for those, he says, enjoy most health, and live longest, that avoid curiosity and variety of meats and drinks, which only serve to entice to gluttony, and so work our ruin. ”

“ And it hath been observed, that froward children have been made much more quiet, by washing their lower parts every morning with water, to wash off the salts of their urine, which usually stick in the pores of the skin, and are fretful and uneasy; and nothing cures their soreness about those parts like it. Nor is there any thing more effectual to cure men who are gauled by riding, than to wash themselves well when they go to bed with cold water; and washing the bare breast every morning with cold water, will make those hardy who before were apt at every turn to take cold. ”

“ And indeed I have found by long experience, that nothing causeth so good a digestion as fair water; but this requires time to free us from the uneasiness that an ill digestion causeth, whereas vomiting is an immediate remedy, and frees a man from it upon the spot. ”

“ Rule for diet after fifty.
Two meals a day is said to be sufficient for all persons after fifty years of age, and all weak people; and the omitting of suppers does always conduce much to the health of the weak and aged: since, if no supper be eaten, the stomach will soon free itself from all tough, slimy humours wherewith it is slabbered over on the inside, and thereby the appetite will be renewed, and digestion made more strong. Moreover, all that are troubled with sweating in the night, any ill taste in their mouths, belching and troublesome dreams, must avoid suppers ”

“ And if, through neglect, a cough should become troublesome, the use of water, avoiding all wine and strong drink, will contribute much to the cure. Some order the water to be drank warm, but others say, that the drinking it cold vastly excells the using it hot in a cough. It is said by Van Heydon, that some may think it strange to advise water in such diseases, which most account to proceed from crudity or indigestion; but he says, that, in any disease where the case is dangerous, the use of water is the only friend to nature; cold being a preventer rather than a cause of crudity ”

“ And as for strains and sprains in the joints, cold water affords the best and most speedy remedy, as Van Heydon affirms; who saith, that, by bathing in cold water, all harm so received may by this remedy be cured more safely and more speedily than by any other, without loss of time, cost or trouble; for no more is to be done, as I have often found, than, as soon as can be, to put the part into a vessel of cold water for about two hours, which will prevent all swelling and pain, by repelling or keeping back the humours that otherwise would flow to the part. ”

“ Having read over an old book written by Sir Thomas Elliot, intituled, The castle of health, he there declared from his own experience, that in the county of Cornwall, tho’ it was a very cold quarter, the poorer sort, which in his time did never, or but very seldom, drink any other drinks but water, were strong of body, and lived to a very great age. ”

“ As it also should be when men arrive at the time of becoming children again in old age, that is, in an helpless state, which should be prevented as much as can be, by a cooling, moistening diet, in opposition to the hot, dry, and withered state of age; for it is heat and dryness that are the cause of most old men’s miseries, especially the wasting of the substance that fills the parts with moisture, and keeps the body plump and smooth; they who stile wine the old man’s milk, being greatly mistaken, for milk cools and wine heats. ”

“ Which experience I discover for the sake of others in the same circumstances, being certain, that the stomach sympathizeth with the mind, and this becomes the cause of that uneasy sensation perceived there, for which, cold water I have found to be the best remedy in myself, and I believe others may find the same benefit, who wilt make use thereof upon the like occasion. And it gives also relief to people under frights, which sometimes have been very fatal, even unto death. ”

“ And as they gorge them with food, so they vainly think to cherish them with strong drink, than which nothing can be more pernicious to the health of children, whose diet should be little and often, and their drink cooling. ”

“ All which instances corroborate the new way of curing fevers, so lately discovered in this city by Dr. Hancock; who also saith, he has had long experience of curing common colds with cold water; and this is done by drinking a large draught of water at going to bed, another in the night, and another in the morning: which, he saith, will soon thicken and sweeten, and digest that thin sharp rheum that provokes coughing to no purpose; for the rheum, when thin, is hard to be brought up; but, when thickened, it will come up easily, and the cough will soon go off. ”

“ Dr Keill, treating of the stomach, in his Abridgment of the anatomy of human bodies, saith, that water seems the fittest to promote the digestion of food; all spirituous liquors having a property by which they hurt, rather than help digestion; the sad effects of which they are sensible of, he saith, who by a long use thereof have lost their appetites, hardly ever to be restored without drinking water, which seldom faileth of procuring a good appetite and a strong digestion. ”

“ And indeed, washing with water will free mankind from a troublesome itching in any other part of the body, let it be never so private; as Cook, in his Observations on English bodies, doth expresly declare from experience. And Wedelius affirms, that violent itching in a man’s cod was so cured by him; and, if the other sex would make use of it, a single life would be less uneasy than it seems to be to some. ”

“ That men in health may prevent diseases, it was advised, that one meal should not be eaten, till the other, which was eaten before, was passed off clean out of the stomach; which never is done till the appetite of hunger is found to call for another supply: By means of which constant observation, the food will be converted to good chyle, and from good chyle, which is a milk-like substance, good blood will be bred, and from good blood generous spirits will be produced, on which a healthy constitution will ensue ”

“ But it is a question whether the saltness of the water contributes any thing to this cure, since Boerhaave, the present professor at Leyden, affirms, that when men bitten by a mad dog are arrived to the fear of water, called an hydrophobia, they may be cured by blinding the patient’s eyes, and throwing of him into a pond of water often, till he seems not to be afraid of it, or but very little, and then force him to drink large quantities. ”

“ And Van Heyden saith also, in his Treatise of help for the rich and poor, that there is not any greater remedy for the gout than drinking water, not only by young, but old men; many of whom, he saith, have drank cold water for many weeks, which hath succeeded so well, though they were far gone in years, that they found great ease thereby, without that offence to the stomach, or hindrance of digestion, which some did not seem to fear. ”

“ Temperance prolongs life.
It was said by Dr. Curtis, that tho’ those who use a spare diet cannot well bear long labour; yet such people, when their exercise is suitable to their strength, do live longer than those of a robust constitution, that think large feeding adds strength; especially such as, being strong, use no exercise proportionable to it, to consume the superfluities which a full feeding doth occasion: So that the only way for those to live long, who have much wealth, and need not labour for a livelihood, is to live temperately ”

“ And he certainly, who useth the most simple meats and drinks, avoideth the snare of provoking his appetite beyond the necessities of nature; whereas variety enticeth to a fresh desire of every dainty, till at last the stomach is gorged, and made uncapable of performing a good digestion; and this produceth those crudities which are the cause of all diseases, and of so many sudden deaths. ”

“ Browne, that madness and melancholy, with all their retinue, may find better effects from the use of bathing in cold water, than from other violent methods, with which people so afflicted are now treated; for, says he, that which will make a drunken man sober in a minute, will certainly go a great way towards the cure of a madman in a month. ”

“ Some indeed, from an extraordinary strength of nature, have been hard drinkers, and yet die old; but for one who does this, perhaps an hundred are destroyed by it before they come to half the time of life: and generally we shall find, that very strong and healthy constitutions, at the long-run, are ruined by riot and excess, there being no certain safety in any way of living, but that of temperance and moderation. ”

“ All men find by experience, that, in the morning before they have eaten, they are light and pleasantly easy in their bodies; but, after they have indulged their appetites with plenty of food, they find themselves heavy and dull, and often sleepy: which sufficiently shews, that those full meals are prejudicial to the welfare of the body ”

“ Prat, in his treatise of mineral waters, shews it to be his judgment, that, if people would accustom themselves to drink water, they would be more free from many diseases; such as tremblings, palsies, apoplexies, giddiness, pains in the head, gout, stone, dropsy, rheumatism, piles, and such like: which diseases are most common among them that drink strong drinks, and which water generally would prevent. ”

“ The stomach being the place where diseases have their origin, when that part therefore is weak, and out of order, and cannot make a good digestion, if much is eaten, raw and crude humours must needs be bred, and bad humours cannot produce good blood. ”

“ And, indeed, if we consider how many diseases and pains proceed from a sizey, thick blood, which cannot pass as it ought to do through the finest pipes that convey the blood to the parts, pure water, without minerals, drank to the quantity of a quart or three pints in a morning, will attenuate or thin the blood sufficiently: Nothing, as Boerhaave affirms, being a greater diluter of thick blood, than warm water drank in great quantity. ”

“ It hath been objected by some few, that drinking of water maketh them costive: which well considered, is an argument that it strengthens the bowels; for all fluxes proceed from weak bowels, and are an enemy to the strength of the bodily members, no persons being in health, as Dr. Baynard affirms, but those who evacuate figured excrements, which weak bowels never do; so that firm excrements tend most to strength, provided there be an evacuation one in a day, which is enough for them who through temperance live wisely, and do not destroy themselves by gluttony. ”