s, with a bitter to increase appetite, and
occasionally a stomachic, bound together with syrup or soap. Practically
all contain aloes, and very rarely a minute quantity of a digestive ferment
like pepsin. Taken occasionally as purges, most digestive pills would be
useful, but none are suited to continuous use, and the price is, as a rule,
out of all proportion to the primary cost, while one or two are, frankly,
barefaced swindles.

The analyses of the British Medical Association give the following as the
probable formulae for some well-known preparations:

Beecham's Pills.............................Aloes; ginger.
Holloway's Pills............................Aloes; ginger.
Page Woodcock's ............................Aloes; ginger; capsicum;
cinnamon and oil of
peppermint.
Carter's Little Liver.......................Aloes; podophyllin;
Pills liquorice.
Burgess' Lion Pills.........................Aloes; ipecacuanha; rhubarb;
jalap; peppermint.
Cockle's Pills..............................Aloes; colocynth; jalap.
Barclay's Pills.............................Aloes; colocynth; jalap.
Whelpton's Pills............................Ginger; colocynth; gentian.
Bile Beans..................................Cascara; rhubarb; liquorice;
peppermint.
Cicfa.......................................Cascara; capsicum; pepsin;
diastase; maltose.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XIII

DIETING

"Simple diet is best; many dishes bring many diseases,"
--Pliny.

"Alas! what things I dearly love--
puddings and preserves--
Are sure to rouse the vengeance of
All pneumogastric nerves!"
--Field.

The man who pores over a book to discover the exact number of calories
(heat units) of carbohydrates, proteins and fats his body needs, means
well, but is wasting time.

In theory it is excellent, for it should ensure maximum work-energy with
minimum use of digestive-energy, but in practice it breaks down badly, a
weakness to which theories are prone. One man divided four raw eggs, an
ounce of olive oil, and a pound of rice into three meals a day.
Theoretically, such a diet is ideal, and