E. F., a young man, twenty-six years of age, and a clerk in one of the public offices, applied to me under the following circumstances. Previous to the attack of which he complained, he had enjoyed very good health, although his bowels were constitutionally sluggish, and he had been in the habit of taking, occasionally, a purgative pill to excite them into action. He was attacked with a sense of oppression in the region of the stomach, accompanied with an uneasiness in his head, and great depression of spirits. His skin was harsh and dry, his tongue furred on the back part, and his appetite was greatly impaired. He awoke in the morning with a parched mouth, and a feeling of lassitude which he had never before experienced. His urine deposited large quantities of lithic acid: he was unable to give me any satisfactory account of the appearance of his alvine evacuations; I however desired that measures might be taken in order to obtain the necessary information. I directed him to take a pill composed of five grains of the compound extract of colocynth, and two grains of calomel, at night, and a draught of senna, with sulphate of magnesia, in the morning.

It produced four copious evacuations of highly offensive matter, of a greenish hue, and mixed with a quantity of undigested matter, like soft soap.

He experienced a feeling of relief, but still his uncomfortable sensations were not removed. After an interval of three days the dose was repeated; the evacuations were more healthy in appearance, but his symptoms were rather aggravated by the medicine. His head felt heavy, and his ideas were confused. His pulse was perfectly natural. I directed him to take three grains of the pit. hydrargyri, with two grains of the powder of ipecacuan, every night, and to take each morning a draught composed of three fluid-drachms of the infusion of senna, six fluid-drachms of mint-water, and a drachm of tartrate of potass. His diet and habits he had told me were perfectly regular, and that his occupation would not allow him to alter the hour at which he took his dinner. At this period I lost sight of him for several weeks; his friends had persuaded him to apply to some other practitioner, who, as I afterwards learnt, had directed a very proper plan of medicine for his cure; but he daily became worse, lost flesh, and suffered much from uneasiness in his head: he had, at his own desire, been cupped, but the operation afforded no relief. On his return to me, I found him labouring under all the symptoms of protracted dyspepsia, and the greatest depression of spirits.

I told him that nothing short of a complete revolution in his habits would cure him; that it was in vain to expect relief from medicine, unless its administration was associated with a strict adherence to such a plan of regimen as I should propose. He reluctantly consented to obey my injunctions. I learnt from him that his usual habit was to breakfast at nine o'clock, to proceed to his office at ten, where he continued till five o'clock, after which he walked for two hours, and dined at seven, or sometimes later. I was satisfied that this plan had gradually debilitated his digestive organs, and rendered them inadequate to the healthy performance of their functions. His mind had been exhausted by the duties of the morning, and his body by the fatigue consequent upon exercise at so unfavourable a period. I desired him to dine at three o'clock, to take some tea at six, and to walk for an hour afterwards: the only medicine which was directed for him was a draught of a saline aperient every morning. He continued this plan of diet for six weeks, and was perfectly restored to health.