cy occurs, followed
by a host of ills.

Nervous dyspepsia is a very obstinate complaint, but if tackled resolutely,
it can to a great extent be mitigated; but let it be emphasized at once,
that medicines, patent or otherwise, are useless. If dyspepsia be
aggravated by other complaints, these should receive appropriate treatment,
but the assertions so unblushingly made in patent-pill advertisements are
unfounded. The very variety of the advertised remedies is proof of the
uselessness of all.

Set aside certain periods three times a day for meals. Fifteen minutes
before meal times, sit in a comfortable chair, relax all your muscles,
close the eyes, and try to make the mind a blank. _Rest_!

Then eat the meal slowly and thoroughly. Conversation may lighten and
lengthen a meal, but avoid politics, "shop" and topics of that type. What
is wanted at table is wit, not wisdom.

Water may be drunk with meals, provided it is drunk between eating, and not
while masticating, for it has decidedly beneficial effects upon the
digestive functions. Water is usually forbidden with meals because if
patients drink while eating, the water usurps the functions of saliva, and
moistens the bolus, which is then swallowed with little or no mastication.
If you cannot drink between mouthfuls, then drink only between meals.
_Never drink while food is in the mouth!_

After the meal, lie down on the right side for half an hour, _resting_, and
so directing all available nerve-energy to getting digestion well under
way.

Indifferent appetites must be tempted by wholesome dishes made up in a
variety of enticing ways. Fats are good, but must be taken in a tasty form.
Eat fruit deluged with cream.

The crux of digestion is to

"_Chew_! CHEW!! and KEEP ON CHEWING!!!" for until food is thoroughly
masticated there will be no relief. The only part of the whole digestive
process placed under the control of consciousness is mastication, and,
paradoxically, it is the only part that consciousness usually ignores.

A healthy man never knows he has a stomach; a dyspeptic never knows he has
anything else, because he will not _eat_ his food, but throws it into his
stomach as the average bachelor throws his belongings into a trunk.

A varied, tasty diet, thoroughly chewed and salivated, with rest before and
after meals, is the only means of curing dyspepsia, for no medicine can
supply and properly distribute nerve-energy.

Digestive pills are all purgative