The Creator indeed has obviously never intended that we should be bound down to the rigid observance of a very strict order in diet; but, to fit us for the ever-varying circumstances in which we are placed, has wisely and benevolently allowed us considerable latitude, and made appetite to vary in the extent and earnestness of its demands in proportion to the waste to which we are subjected for the time. It is astonishing how rapidly a healthy frame accommodates itself even to great changes, when temperance is duly observed, and a proper regard is paid to the intimations of appetite. In suiting my own mode of life to the circumstances under which I have at various times been placed, I have repeatedly, even as an invalid, made sudden changes in the hours of eating, with no further injury than temporary discomfort; but then I always adhered to the general principles above insisted on. It was by some of these experiments that my attention was first drawn to the great influence of the accessary conditions in retarding or promoting digestion. At one time, on altering my place of residence from Aix to Marseilles, I changed at once from breakfasting at eight o’clock, dining at two, and taking tea in the evening, to breakfasting at eleven, and dining at six. For the first few days I felt uncomfortable in waiting so long in the morning; but by following the plan of taking a cup of coffee and a crust of bread soon after rising, and attempting no considerable bodily exertion till after breakfast, every feeling of inconvenience ceased, and the system completely adapted itself to the change. Three months afterwards I embarked on the Mediterranean, and again passed at once to breakfasting between seven and eight o’clock, dining about noon, and taking tea in the evening, which I continued to do for some time after arriving in Italy. On my way home the hours of eating were never two days the same, and yet I did not suffer. If breakfast was early I ate it with relish. If it was late, I had recourse to a biscuit, or some dried fruit early in the morning, to sustain the system in the mean time, and was ready for it when it came. In the same way, if dinner was to-day at one o’clock, I took it when it was offered, and had recourse to some refreshment in the evening: if to-morrow it was postponed till eight o’clock, which sometimes happened, the refreshment came in the forenoon, and a moderate meal was taken in the evening.