The quantity of solid meat consumed at the English table, and the use of heavy malt liquors, together with strong wines not sparingly taken, may be contrasted with the extenuated dishes of the French, and their beverage of lemonade, vin ordinaire, and weak though grateful wines.
I am aware that the French generally eat a greater variety, and take a larger quantity of food than the English; but their meats are stewed, their soups are not heavy, and their vegetables are well dressed. Oil is a plentiful ingredient in many of their dishes, and they scarcely use spices. Altogether their food appears calculated to pass the digestive organs readily; and when the nature of the liquors and some other circumstances are considered, the total regimen is not, I apprehend, so much suited to produce repletion and its evils, as that commonly pursued in this country.
In London, the extreme lateness of the hours both for dining and evening amusement is obviously unfavourable to the constitution. In Paris, fashion in this respect is more rational; and the custom of remaining a short time at the dinner table, after the repast, and the period of conviviality consequently being abridged, much difference of result must follow in regard to the health of the inhabitants of these great cities. The French people are far less inclined to be sedentary than the English, and appear to be active and cheerful both by nature and habit. I conclude, therefore, from these and other causes which might be mentioned, that the medical system of practice must, of necessity, vary considerably in the two countries.
Paris is altogether less humid than London; and the superior clearness of its atmosphere is in great measure to be attributed to the use of wood fires.
A general notion is entertained that the water of Paris is deleterious to strangers, as producing disorder of the stomach and bowels. Not denying the fact of such indisposition occurring to those who visit Paris for a short time, I may still question the nature of the cause.
I have examined the filtered[12] water of the Seine, and obtained the following results:
Its specific gravity is 1.0002.
Solution of muriate of barytes added to the water produces an immediate but slight milkiness.
Oxalate of ammonia causes, in a few seconds, a considerable milkiness.
Nitrate of silver does not occasion any immediate change; but, after standing several minutes, an effect is just perceptible.