Fletcherism: What It Is; Or, How I Became Young at SixtyFletcher, Horace
Science
Fletcherism: What It Is; Or, How I Became Young at Sixty
Fletcher, Horace
Mastication; Nutrition
Dr. Anderson tried more careful mastication than usual, and paid more
attention to the thorough enjoyment of his food with the same pleasant
results that come to everybody when making the trial, no matter how
moderate and temperate they have been before. It is equivalent to
putting a little keener edge on appetite than usual. Children and even
fine ladies will perk up a little when they are conscious of being
noticed, and the human senses are human in more ways than one.
Dr. Anderson was pleased with the revelation as a pleasure promoter,
but did not notice that he was forgetting to take his daily
prescription of stimulant. He was a medical man, past forty, beginning
to slack up a little in his elasticity and strength. He was reaching
that age when even the most temperate and careful begin to be a little
lenient with themselves. His doctor friends were in the habit of
prescribing a little stimulant to counter-balance this expected decline
in energy and he took their advice. It was the medical fad of the
period.
At first, Dr. Anderson ordered for himself one small drink of good
medicinal whisky a day, and the effect was as expected. By and bye,
however, a little more was needed, and this increasing demand continued
its insistence until three drinks were no more efficacious than one had
been at first. When I was introduced to him he had begun on his fourth
drink daily, and yet burned it up in his exercise without feeling it
much.
A couple of weeks after he began to check up my test by personal
experience, which is the only scientific way, he all at once
remembered, one day, that he had forgotten to take his whisky, and yet
he was fitter than usual. I had not mentioned my own experience in this
regard to him, I believe, as when we were together he kept me busy with
the exercises of the 'Varsity crew, and I had little chance to give
him accounts of my full experience. Besides, it did not occur to me
that it would interest him who seemed to be moderation and temperance
personified. And so he was, according to the scientific estimate of
the time, but Nature has another standard of temperance, and under her
strict guidance very little but good spring water is needed or desired.
HOW TO ENJOY WINE
To illustrate this and also suggest a way of letting Mother Nature
prove that I represent her correctly in this important matter, I will
give an account of an actual happening.
I was lecturing in Buffalo, New York, in America, and was invited to
address the members of the sumptuous Buffalo Club. I dwelt especially
on Fletcherizing as a means of getting the good and the best out of
food and drink, and yet for little cost, and at the close of the
lecture a dozen or more of the audience asked me to demonstrate my
point as above. I was happy to do this, and called for a pint of the
choicest still wine, with cordial glasses. The request caused a smile
among some of my hosts who were proud of being "one bottle" consumers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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