The obvious practical inference to be deduced from a consideration of the principle under discussion is, that rest of body and tranquillity of mind for a short time both before and after eating are necessary, and conducive to healthy digestion. If we have been engaged in severe and fatiguing bodily exertion, or anxious meditation, just before sitting down to a meal, the blood which was flowing copiously through the vessels of the muscles or the brain to keep up their unusual action, still continues to do so, because a sufficient interval has not elapsed to allow the excitement to subside, and a new distribution to take place towards the organs concerned in digestion. The consequence is, that the stomach does not receive blood enough to carry on its increased action, and furnish gastric juice with sufficient rapidity, or in sufficient quantity, to mix with the whole of the food; and that the nervous energy, already partially exhausted by over-excitement in the remoter organs, is imperfectly supplied to the stomach, the tone and action of which are thus so far impaired as to render it no longer able to carry on digestion with its usual success. Accordingly, when we are fatigued with mental or bodily labour, we are naturally impelled to seek repose before sitting down to table; and if we yield to this instinctive prompting, and refresh ourselves by a rest, we not only enjoy better what we eat, but also digest it with an ease and comfort unattainable by swallowing our food the moment our labour is at an end--and hence the wisdom and advantage of appropriating half an hour to any light occupation, such as dressing, before sitting down to dinner. If, however, we have previously been engaged only in very moderate exercise, an interval of repose is not required, because then there is no undue excitement elsewhere to retard the necessary flow of blood and nervous energy towards the internal organs.