Quæ simplex olim sederit, at, simul assis
Miscueris elixa: simul conchylia turdis;
Dulcia se in bilem vertent; stomachoque tumultum
Lenta feret pituita.
To sense it is obvious enough, without any need to insist on this advice, how impossible it is for very different aliments to undergo, within the same time, a perfect digestion: this mixture it is which is one of the causes that ruin the healthiest constitutions, and is mortal to weak ones: it cannot be too carefully avoided.
Another attention equally necessary, and almost equally neglected, is, a thorough mastication. This is a help to digestion, of which even the most vigorous stomachs cannot be long deprived, without a notable decline or diminution; and without which the digestion in weak ones is extremely imperfect. Nothing but a long and attentive observation could satisfy one of the infinite importance to health of a careful mastication. I have seen the most stubborn diseases of the stomach, and the most inveterate languors, dissipated singly by this attention. On the other hand, I have seen persons in good health fall into infirmities, when their teeth, being damaged, no longer suffered them to employ any but an imperfect mastication; nor recovered they their health, till, after a total loss of their teeth, their gums acquired such a hardness as to enable them to supply their function.
So many particulars, so many precautions, so many self-denying privations, will seem very fit to verify this line of M. Procope,
Vivre selon nos loix c’est vivre miserable.
By physic’s laws to live ’s a wretched life.
But is there any paying too dear for health? How amply are you satisfied for the sacrifices you make, by the enjoyment of it, and by the pleasures it throws into all the moments of your life? “Without health (says Hippocrates) there can be no enjoyment of any earthly good; honors, riches, and all other advantages are of no avail[109].”