“We may compare,” says Doctor Kitchener, “the human frame to a watch, of which the heart is the main _spring_, the stomach the _regulator_, and what we put into it, the _key_, by which the machine is set a-going; according to the quantity, quality, and proper digestion of what we eat and drink will be the action of the system: and when a due proportion is preserved between the quantum of exercise and that of excitement, all goes well. If the machine be disordered, the same expedients are employed for its re-adjustment, as are used by the watch-maker; it must be carefully cleaned and then judiciously oiled. To affirm that such a thing is wholesome, or unwholesome, without considering the subject in all the circumstances to which it bears relation, and the unaccountable idiosyncrasies of particular constitutions is, with submission, talking nonsense. Every man must consult his stomach; whatever agrees with that perfectly well, is wholesome for him, whilst it continues to do so whenever natural appetite calls for food.” Celsus spoke very right when he said that a healthy man ought not to tie himself up by strict rules, nor to abstain from any sort of food; that he ought sometimes to fast, and sometimes to feast. When applied to eating, nothing is more true than the proverb-- “_Bonarum rerum consuetudo pessima est._--SYRUS. “_The too constant use, even of good things, is hurtful._” It is certainly better to restrain ourselves, so as to _use_, but not to _abuse_, our enjoyments; and to this we may add the opinion of doctor Fothergil, which the experience of every individual confirms, namely, that “the food we fancy most, sits easiest on the stomach.” What has been so far stated on the choice and quantity of food to be taken at a time, of course, relates only to persons in a state of health; the diet of the delicate, the sickly, and the infirm, must be regulated by the physician, and even the aged require particular kinds of food. “Experience[17] has fully convinced me, (says an eminent Physiologist), that the latter stages of human life, are often abridged by unsuitable diet.” [17] Carlisle on the disorders of Old Age, ps. 2 and 27. This book exhibits an excellent view of the most suitable diet for aged, weak, and sickly people. “The most numerous tribe of disorders incident to advanced life, spring from the failure or errors of the stomach, and its dependancies, and perhaps the first sources of all the infirmities of inability, may be traced to effects arising from imperfectly digested food.” EXTRAORDINARY GREAT EATERS, AND OBSERVATIONS ON ABSTINENCE. In some persons, an extraordinary great appetite seems to be constitutional. _Charles Domery_, aged 21 years, when a prisoner of war, at Liverpool, consumed in one day 4lbs. of Raw Cow’s Udder. 10lbs. Raw Beef. 2lbs. Tallow Candles. ------ Total 16lbs.