I have drawn up an "Alcohol Table" (see Chap. VIII.) - the result of many careful analyses of each article, so as to present a fair average result - from which it can be seen at a glance what quantity by measure of any of the ordinary fermented liquors represents one ounce by weight of absolute alcohol. The table includes a statement of the proportion of carbon, and of some other matters, contained in fermented liquors, besides the alcohol. But it must always be remembered that different kinds of fermented liquors represent many other influences for good or evil, in a dietetic point of view, in addition to those possessed by the alcohol, all of which require consideration in selecting the particular beverage suitable to any given case. I have therefore devoted some pages to a consideration of the general and special properties of fermented liquors. (See Chap. VIII.)

It will be observed that I have omitted alcohol from all the Tables of Normal Diet, leaving it to be added in any form and quantity that circumstances may render most advisable. (See Chap. III.) According to my own experience, based upon long and careful observation, an average-sized adult man, taking moderate exercise, may drink with advantage enough fermented liquors each twenty-four hours to represent from one to two ounces avoirdupois of absolute alcohol provided it be always diluted to the extent of ten fluid ounces (half-a-pint imperial) of water, or some other unfermented liquor, to each ounce avoirdupois of absolute alcohol, and that it be taken when there is food in the stomach. (See Chap. III. - Meals.)

Regimen, or the regulation of habits, could not be fully discussed without involving physiological and other details which would have far over-run the limits of this book. I have, therefore, contented myself with laying down, as concisely as possible, such rules as my own experience, added to that of others, has taught me are most necessary and most suitable to the generality of persons. They must, of course, be modified to suit peculiar constitutions, idiosyncrasies, and other circumstances, and to meet the various conditions of disease. (See Chap. VI., "On some Principles of Diet in Disease.")

In connection with the Rules for Maintaining Vigorous Health, I have introduced an article "On the Importance of Proper Hours for Meals;" also a number of valuable suggestions "On House Drainage," for which I am indebted to an experienced architect. (See Chap. I.) On the subject of exercise and training, in addition to the rules I have laid down, I advise everyone to read " A System of Physical Education," by Archibald Maclaren, of the Gymnasium, Oxford, an admirable treatise issued from the Clarendon Press; also Dr. Roth's works "On the Prevention and Cure of Chronic Diseases by Movements"; "On Scientific Physicial Training" etc.)

As a necessary part of a work like the present, having for its object the preservation of health, I have added a chapter (Chap. X.) "On Disinfection," with rules for preventing the spread of the "Catching Diseases." It is one of the opprobria of the present day that these diseases are culpably propagated by the negligence of the heads of families to insist upon precautions now well known to be capable of preventing contagion and infection. And in Chapter IX (Special Recipes, Directions, And Appliances For The Sick-Room). will be found some "Special recipes, directions, and appliances for the sick-room."

In concluding these preliminary remarks I must not lose the opportunity of expressing my opinion upon a matter regarding which there is great misapprehension, and, I regret to say, intentional misrepresentation. I refer to the subject of pseudo-medical-dogmas, such as are involved in the terms Allopathy, Hydropathy, Homoeopathy, Kinesipathy, etc., and in such expressions as "a stimulating system," "a depleting system," "similia similibus curantur," "contraria contraribus curantur," and the like.

I disclaim them all, and I feel sure that in this statement I express the sentiment of the majority of thinking medical men. It is utterly unworthy of the professor of a science and art so great as medicine, to "pin himself" to such narrow dogmas and rules of thought and practice as are indicated by one and all of these expressions.

The practice of rational medicine - having for its subject not only that most complex and wonderful fabric the animal organism, but that organism endowed with all those attributes which place man but "a little lower than the angels" - demands that there shall not be anything excluded from its service, and that every science and every art shall combine, at its bidding, to assuage the suffering and to save the life of Nature's highest earthly creature.

Every honest and intelligent practitioner of rational medicine, knows that there are remedies of unquestionable potency, the action of which could never have been discovered by any such dogmas as "contraria contraribus curantur" or "similia similibus curantur." On the other hand, he knows that there are remedies the action of which may appear to be explained by one or other of these principles, but that the more intimately we become acquainted with the occult properties of medicines and the occult physiology of diseases, the more plainly do we see that these apparent explanations of the modus operandi of remedies are absurdly superficial and incorrect. He will not, then, refuse to benefit his patient by the use of the one remedy because he cannot explain its action, or of the other because it appears to act by similarity, or of a third because he thinks it acts by contrariety. Again, he knows that the same disease may assume such different phases, in different constitutions, at different times, and in different places, that in one case it may require "stimulation," in another "depletion," that at one period of the same case "water treatment" may be advisable, at another "gymnastic," at another "mechanical," at another "climatic." And he claims these, and all other means beneficently placed within our reach which can protect health or benefit the sick, as the legitimate weapons in the armoury of rational medicine.

Every theory, every system, every dogma, must give place, at last, before the fact, once unquestionably proved, that such or such a remedy is best for such or such an occasion.

Therefore, in my opinion, all men who "pin their faith" on narrow dogmas stamp themselves thereby as unfit for the practice of rational medicine.