Note (18) — CANTO THIRD.
Reading edition
“The Brazilians, when first discovered by the Europeans, lived the most natural, original lives of mankind, so frequently described in ancient countries, before laws, or property, or arts made entrance among them; they lived without labor, farther than for their necessary food, by gathering fruits, herbs, and plants; they knew no drink but water; were not tempted to eat or drink beyond common thirst or appetite; were not troubled with either public or domestic cares, nor knew any pleasure but the most simple and natural.” (Sir John Sinclair’s Code of Health, Vol. IV. p. 333.)
“The chief food of the Japanese is rice, pulse, fruits, roots, and herbs; but mostly rice, which they have in great plenty and perfection, and dress in so many different ways, and give to it such variety of tastes, flavor, and color, that a stranger would hardly know what he was eating.” (Mod. Universal History, Vol. IX. p. 62.)
“The philosophers of India eat nothing but rice, fruits, and herbs.” (Bartolomeo’s Voyages, by Johnson, p. 287.)
“The four most ancient orders of priests, the Rahans, the Bramins, the Magi, and the Druids, confined themselves to vegetable food, as did also the Athenian prince, Triptolemus, who established the Eleusinian mysteries, and prohibited by law all injury to animals.”—(Monthly Magazine, February, 1812, p. 21.)
If it should be deemed necessary to explain my motives for any seeming digression from my subject, in introducing matter that will no doubt be considered by some as wholly unconnected with the duties of a practical dentist, I would say, that it is my settled opinion, that whatever affects the general condition of the system, must, in a greater or less degree, affect the health of the teeth.
I have myself suffered much, in former years, from debility and other forms of indisposition, induced, I am persuaded, by gross and improper diet. For the last year I have abstained from all exciting drinks, have utterly relinquished the use of tea and coffee, have abstained from animal food of every name and nature, and by this course of conduct have found my health to be so much benefitted, that I feel it a duty as well as a pleasure, to endeavor to impress upon the reader the necessity of living more frugally, if he wish to enjoy that health of body and that tranquillity of mind which none can enjoy, for any great length of time, but such as live in accordance with the rules prescribed by all profound philosophers, both of ancient and modern times.
On this subject, and for the foregoing reasons, I have selected such passages from various distinguished authors as I have found true by experience, in the hope that this cloud of witnesses in behalf of temperance, health, and happiness, may influence some of my readers to sacrifice at least one debasing appetite on the altar of truth and reason.