The large fruits--Apple, Pear, Peach, Quince, etc.--The smaller fruits--Strawberry, Cherry, Raspberry, Currant, Whortleberry, Mulberry, Blackberry, Bilberry, etc., 308-309 CLASS III. ROOTS. The Common Potato.--The Sweet Potato, 309-311 CLASS IV. MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES OF FOOD. Buds and Young Shoots.--Leaves and Leaf Stalks.--Cucurbitaceous Fruits.--Oily Seeds, etc., 311-312 VEGETABLE DIET. CHAPTER I. ORIGIN OF THIS WORK. Experience of the Author, and his Studies.--Pamphlet in 1832.--Prize Question of the Boylston Medical Committee.--Collection of Materials for an Essay.--Dr. North.--His Letter and Questions.--Results. Twenty-three years ago, the present season, I was in the first stage of tuberculous consumption, and evidently advancing rapidly to the second. The most judicious physicians were consulted, and their advice at length followed. I commenced the practice of medicine, traveling chiefly on horseback; and, though unable to do but little at first, I soon gained strength enough to perform a moderate business, and to combine with it a little gardening and farming. At the time, or nearly at the time, of commencing the practice of medicine, I laid aside my feather bed, and slept on straw; and in December, of the same year, I abandoned spirits, and most kinds of stimulating food. It was not, however, until nineteen years ago, the present season, that I abandoned all drinks but water, and all flesh, fish, and other highly stimulating and concentrated aliments, and confined myself to a diet of milk, fruits, and vegetables. In the meantime, the duties of my profession, and the nature of my studies led me to prosecute, more diligently than ever, a subject which I had been studying, more or less, from my very childhood--the laws of Human Health. Among other things, I collected facts on this subject from books which came in my way; so that when I went to Boston, in January, 1832, I had already obtained, from various writers, on materia medica, physiology, disease, and dietetics, quite a large parcel. The results of my reflections on these, and of my own observation and experience, were, in part--but in part only--developed in July, of the same year, in an anonymous pamphlet, entitled, "Rational View of the Spasmodic Cholera;" published by Messrs. Clapp & Hull, of Boston. In the summer of 1833, the Boylston Medical Committee of Harvard University offered a prize of fifty dollars, or a gold medal of that value, to the author of the best dissertation on the following question: "What diet can be selected which will ensure the greatest health and strength to the laborer in the climate of New England--quality and quantity, and the time and manner of taking it, to be considered?"