The error, however, is unhappily not confined to the young, but extends generally to all whose pursuits are of a sedentary nature. There are numerous persons, especially in towns and among females, who, having their time and employments entirely at their own disposal, carefully avoid every thing which requires an effort of mind or body, and pass their lives in a state of inaction entirely incompatible with the healthy performance of the various animal functions. Having no bodily exertion to excite waste, promote circulation, or stimulate nutrition, they experience little keenness of appetite, have weak powers of digestion, and require but a limited supply of food. If, while inactive and expending little, such persons could be contented to follow nature so far as not to provoke appetite by stimulants and cookery, and to eat and drink only in proportion to the wants of the system, they would fare comparatively well. But having no imperative occupation and no enjoyment from active and useful exertion, their time hangs heavily on their hands, and they are apt to have recourse to eating as the only avenue to pleasure still open to them; and, forgetful or ignorant of the relation subsisting between waste and nutrition, they endeavour to renew, in the present indulgence of appetite, the real enjoyment which its _legitimate_ gratification afforded under different circumstances. Pursuing the pleasures of the table with the same ardour as before, they eat and drink freely and abundantly, and, instead of trying to acquire a healthy desire for food and increased powers of digestion by exercise, they resort to tonics, spices, wine, and other stimuli, which certainly excite for the moment, but eventually aggravate the mischief by obscuring its progress and extent. The natural result of this mode of proceeding is, that the stomach becomes oppressed by excess of exertion--healthy appetite gives way, and morbid craving takes its place--sickness, head-ach, and bilious attacks, become frequent--the bowels are habitually disordered, the feet cold, and the circulation irregular--and a state of bodily weakness and mental irritability is induced, which constitutes a heavy penalty for the previous indulgence. So far, however, is the true cause of all these phenomena from being perceived even then, that a cure is sought, not in a better regulated diet and regimen, but from bitters to strengthen the stomach, laxatives to carry off the redundant materials from the system, wine to overcome the sense of sinking, and heavy lunches to satisfy the morbid craving which they only silence for a little. Some, of course, suffer in a greater and others in a less degree, according to peculiarities of constitution, mode of life, and extent of indulgence; but daily experience will testify, that, in its main features, the foregoing description is not over-charged, and that victims to such dietetic errors are to be met with in every class of society.