It may seem hard that the man who in youth has known the pinch of poverty, who remembers how the cut of mutton, with a supply of potatoes and greens, scarcely sufficed for a vigorous appetite, should find that in the prosperity of later life an eight-course dinner of delicacies fails to tempt him; but that, nevertheless, his physician warns him that the attack of gout from which he is suffering means that he is eating too much, and that his diet must be lowered. Is life, then, never to give satisfaction? Must youth always know desire and old age satiety? Must the poor muscle-worker never have enough food to give energy to his frame, and must the rich idler have so much to eat that disease is the consequence? To find the happy mean, to live according to sweet reasonableness and knowledge, is the aim of the teachings of science, and if to these are added the principles of Christian communism, the wealth of later life will not lead to self-indulgence, but to the mitigation of the sufferings of those who want the means of life. Of this result, all know many splendid examples. I recall one of a gentleman, now in possession of a very large income, who told me that in his youth he lived on a salary of 10s. a week. He early made up his mind that to eat little and drink less would be his rule in life. To this resolution he has adhered, though fortune has come to him. Nearly an octogenarian, he is still a man of untiring vigour of body and mind. Simple in life, he dispenses his great fortune as a custodian for his Master, while living amid the refinement and cultured surroundings proper to an English gentleman.

In advanced life tissue change is slow, digestion is less active, and the ability to assimilate food is greatly diminished. As middle age is passed and old age approaches, the intake of food, particularly of nitrogenous and fatty foods, must be steadily diminished. Sir Henry Thompson, who has written forcibly on this subject, says: "As we increase in age, less energy and activity remain, and less expenditure can be made, less power to eliminate at fifty than at thirty, still less at sixty and upwards. Less nutriment must, therefore, be taken in proportion as age advances, or rather as activity diminishes, or the individual will suffer. If he continues to consume the same abundant breakfasts, substantial lunches, and heavy dinners, which at the summit of his power he could dispose of almost with impunity, he will in time either accumulate fat, or become acquainted with gout and rheumatism, or show signs of unhealthy deposit of some kind in some part of the body, processes which must inevitably empoison, undermine, or shorten his remaining term of life. He must reduce his intake because a smaller expenditure is an enforced condition of existence. At seventy the man's power is still further diminished, and the nutriment must correspond thereto if he desires still another term of comfortable life. And why should he not? Then at eighty, with less activity, there must be still less ' support'. And on this principle he may yet long continue to live." 1

The kinds of food which the elderly should particularly diminish are the nitrogenous and fatty varieties. Growth has ended, tissue change is slow, the energy which induced activity is gone, and nitrogen is no longer required to build up, after the ceaseless wear and destruction of the body. To persist in taking nitrogenous or meaty foods after middle age is passed, is to throw a burden on the kidneys which they are not able to bear, and the diseases of gout, rheumatism, renal cirrhosis, and apoplexy are the result.

1 Diet in Relation to Age and Activity. By Sir Henry Thompson.

In old age, the power of fasting is not so great as in earlier life; and the meals, while being smaller, should therefore be more frequent, the intervals between them being short. A small amount of alcohol with food is also often beneficial to the aged. The long fast of the night, during which sleep is not sound, is ill borne, and a glass of milk, or a cup of beef tea, may often be taken in the night with advantage. It is difficult to lay down any fixed rules for the dieting of the old, for age is not according to length of years, but to the number of infirmities. We all know men of seventy-five who are as active, physically and mentally, as others of sixty. Sir Henry Thompson's rule is the best, namely, to diminish the intake of food as activity diminishes. As age increases, let the quantity taken be less, and let fish and poultry take the place of butcher's meat, and farinaceous foods of highly-flavoured dishes. Saccharine will be found a useful substitute for sugar, and cream for oily fatty foods. A nourishing stimulant to be highly recommended, and which may be taken between meals, is an ounce of dry cherry brandy mixed with a wineglassful of cream.