As experience is the best guide to knowledge, I may be allowed to add, that, when travelling on the Continent in health and strength, I suffered more from feverish fatigue and stomachic discomfort, induced by ignorant infringement of the laws of digestion, than I ever afterwards did, even from more continued exertion when travelling as an invalid under a better regulated system of diet. I did not, in either case, make any exception to the meals which awaited our arrival at the inns, or to the hours at which they were served. The chief difference was, that, when well, I ate till my appetite was fully satisfied, under the notion that, in travelling, a full diet is necessary to enable one to withstand the fatigue; and that, as an invalid, on the other hand, I ate more sparingly, and, if the regular meal was much later than usual, had recourse to biscuit, fruit, or a slice of cold meat, as an intermediate refreshment, to prevent the stomach becoming exhausted from too long a fast. Following the dictates of experience, I have long adhered to the latter plan, and am convinced that few who have tried both will long prefer the former. CHAPTER II. ON THE PROPER QUANTITY OF FOOD. Quantity to be proportioned to the wants of the system--Appetite indicates these--Cautions in trusting to appetite--General error in eating too much--Illustrations from Beaumont, Caldwell, Head, and Abercrombie--Mixtures of food hurtful chiefly as tempting to excess in quantity--Examples of disease from excess in servant-girls from the country, dressmakers, &c.--Mischief from excessive feeding in infancy--Rules for preventing this--Remarks on the consequences of excess in grown persons--Causes of confined bowels explained--And necessity of fulfilling the laws which God has appointed for the regulation of the animal economy inculcated. The next important step in the regulation of diet, is to determine the QUANTITY which ought to be eaten. To ensure easy digestion and sound health, the quantity of food ought always to be proportioned to the wants of the system; but this can be done only by a constant reference to the individual’s constitution and circumstances, and not by attempting to lay down any standard as admitting of universal application.