terly unfit for culinary
purposes."

CHAPTER XCV.

FAITH AND WORKS.

In the autumn of 1856, a fine young man, a clerk in a large mercantile
house in Boston, came to me with complaints not unlike those of
thousands of his own age and sex, and begged for relief; but was
surprised when he learned that I treated all such cases as his without
medicine. Added to the surprise, moreover, was a degree of mortification
at the idea of attempting to cure himself by a change of habits,
especially of dietetic habits, which, in a boarder in a family, might be
observed. He would have been much better pleased to take medicine, so
concentrated that a few drops or a few small boluses or pills could be
taken a few times a day unperceived--than to run the risk of awakening
suspicions of diseases to which he was unwilling to make confession.

And herein, by the way, comes out the secret of such a wonderful
imposition on our young men, by what I have elsewhere called land-sharks
in the shape of physicians. The fondness of young men for secret
cures,--or, at least, their money, which is the thing most wanted after
all,--leads them, almost directly, into the mouths of these monsters.

My young patient, however, had faith in me; and, after the first shock
of surprise and the first feelings of mortification were over, resolved
to follow my directions, and did so. He came to me, it is true, several
times, and said he could not endure it; that he was losing flesh very
fast, and that he was already so weak that he could scarcely walk to his
desk. I comforted him as well as I could, told him there would be a
change soon for the better, and kept him on through the tedious months
of December, January, and February, when his strength began to return,
and his flesh to be restored. Between March and May, he gained
twenty-one pounds; and in June, he was in as good health as he ever had
been before in his life. And yet he took not a particle of any thing
medicinal, from first to last.

If you desire to know, in few words, what he _did_ do, I will tell you.
First, he took a long walk, regularly,--sufficiently long to induce a
good deal of muscular fatigue,--as the last thing before he went to bed
which was at an early hour. Secondly, he used a cold hand-bath, followed
by much friction, daily. Thirdly, he abandoned tea and coffee (tobacco
and rum he had never used), and drank only water. Fourthly, he abandoned
all animal food and all concentrat