The second way in which the stomach may be debilitated, is by taking food too highly stimulating or seasoned; and this even produces much worse effects than an over dose with respect to quantity. The tone of the stomach is destroyed, and a crude unassimilated chyle is absorbed by the lacteals, and carried into the blood, contaminating its whole mass. Made dishes, enriched with hot sauces, stimulate infinitely more than plain food, and bring on diseases of the worst kind: such as gout, apoplexy, and paralysis. "For my part," says an elegant writer, "when I behold a fashionable table set out in all its magnificence, I fancy I see gouts, and dropsies, fevers, and lethargies, with other innumerable distempers, lying in ambuscade among the dishes." All times of the day are not equally fitted for the reception of nourishment. That digestion may be well performed, the functions of the stomach and of the body must be in full vigour. The early part of the day therefore is the proper time for taking nutriment; and, in my opinion, the principal meal should not be taken after two or three o'clock, and there should always be a sufficient time between each meal to enable the stomach to digest its contents. I need not remark how very different this is from the common practice of jumbling two or three meals together, and at a time of the day likewise when the system is overloaded. The breakfast at sunrise, the noontide repast and the twilight pillow, which distinguished the days of Elizabeth, are now changed for the evening breakfast, and the midnight dinner. The evening is by no means the proper time to take much nourishment: for the powers of the system, and particularly of the stomach, are then almost exhausted, and the food will be but half digested. Besides, the addition of fresh chyle to the blood, together with the stimulus of food acting on the stomach, always prevents sleep, or renders it confused and disturbed, and instead of having our worn out spirits recruited, by what is emphatically called by Shakespeare, "the chief nourisher in life's feast," and rising in the morning fresh and vigorous, we become heavy and stupid, and feel the whole system relaxed. It is by no means uncommon, for a physician to have patients, chiefly among people of fashion and fortune, who complain of being hot and restless all night, and having a bad taste in the mouth in the morning. On examination, I have found that, at least in nineteen cases out of twenty, this has arisen from their having overloaded their stomachs, and particularly from eating hot suppers; nor do I recollect a single instance of a complaint of this kind in any person not in the habit of eating such suppers.