Diseases > Domestic medicine

DOMESTIC MEDICINE. 413
produce its proper effects. They are likewise apt to
imagine that they labour under diseases from which
they are quite free ; and are very angry if any one
attempts to set them right, or laugh them out of
their ridiculous notions.
Regimen.—Persons afflicted with nervous diseases
ought never to fast long. Their food should be solid
and nourishing, but of easy digestion. Fat meats
and heavy sauces are hurtful. All excess should be
carefully avoided. They ought never to eat more at
a time than they can easily digest; but if they feel
themselves weak and faint between meals, they
ought to eat a bit of bread, and drink a glass of
wine. Heavy suppers are to be avoided. Though
wine in excess enfeebles the body, and impairs the
faculties of the mind, yet taken in moderation, it
strengthens the stomach, and promotes digestion.
Wine and water is a very porper drink at meals ; but
if wine sours on the stomach, or the patient is much
troubled with wind, brandy and water will answer
better. Every thing that is windy or hard of diges¬
tion must be avoided. All weak and warm liquors
are hurtful, as tea, coffee, punch, &c. People may
find a temporary relief in the use of these, but they
always increase the malady, as they weaken the stomach
and hurt digestion. Above all things, drams are to
be avoided. Whatever immediate ease the patient
may feel from the use of ardent spirits, they are sure
to aggravate the malady, and prove certain poisrns
at last. These cautions are the more necessary,as most
nervous people are particularly fond of tea and ardent
spirits; to the use of which many of them fall victims.
Exercise in nervous disorders is superior to all
medicines. Riding on horseback is generally es¬
teemed the best, as it gives motion to the whole
body, without fatiguing it. I have known some