Indigestion is the result of irregular, hasty, or unwholesome meals, and likewise meals in quantity beyond that required by genuine hunger and health.  It is the mother of many evils, some one of which will be sure to visit, in time, all who violate themselves as above indicated.

Many there are who, troubled with a cough, sore throat, and general debility, think they have the consumption, whereas it is, at the outset, nothing but indigestion.  They will go on eating heartily, and continue their pie and cake, these being so pleasant to the palate; they say, “one piece will not do harm,” “one swallow never made a summer,” and thus they continue till complete prostration takes possession of them.

The use of stimulants at or after a meal may be done with advantage in some cases, but it should only be taken when the physician so advises.  We have heard of consumption being cured by the free use of whisky; but should the habit of using it become an uncontrolled one, we question whether the life of the individual is worth the saving at this cost to community and friends.  Some of the most eminent among the faculty recommend it, while others do not.  When cod-liver oil is freely used, a spoonful of whisky ought, perhaps, to accompany it.  If cream, butter, or the fat of mutton or beef be freely eaten at the noon or morning meal, and they are about as useful as the oil itself, stimulants are not so much needed, except that of

EXERCISE,

which is really one of the medicines most needed by consumptives, dyspeptics, and hosts of others who are complaining.  A daily dose of the saw-horse or wash-tub isn’t bad for weak lungs and bodies, or for strong ones who wish to continue thus.  Take a thoroughly well person, accustomed to an active, out-of-door life, shut them up and confine them to a bed, and a tolerable invalid will soon be the result.  The converse of this holds good, namely, take an invalid who is able to walk about the house, but feeble in spirit and body, if exercised daily out of doors, a gradual return to health is apt to follow.  The strong, to continue the growth of their powers, must give themselves constant practice.  The story of the man who commenced to lift the calf, and continued the task daily till after it had grown to be an ox, illustrates this.  Moderate and constant labor is the law of both life and health.

There are two classes who need counselling—­those who overwork either mind or body or both, and there are many such, especially among those who conduct the multitude of our public journals.  No profession is so exacting or exhausting as is theirs, or so generally thankless, and none so greatly influential for good or evil.  These classes are, however, small compared with those who die for the want of a proper amount of physical exercise.