sum of money per annum, which others waste in artificial drinks; and in drugs to cure the diseases which these drinks induce. The water drinker enjoys an exquisite sensibility of palate, and a relish for plain food that the wine drinker has no idea of. Happy those who are wise enough to be convinced that water is the best drink, and salt the best sauce.-DR. KITCHENER. A multitude of other quotations might have been made, precisely of the same kind, from Sweetin, Bolerhave, Celcus, Cooper, Parr, Sydenham, Haller, Stahl, Hufeoand, Galen, and Hippocrates, corroborated by 5000 medical men in America. Indeed the experience of persons in all ages confirm the voice of God in nature, and in the Bible, that " ALL THAT DRINK WATER SHALL BE COMFORTED." MR. PRIESSNITZ is of opinion that all persons may drink water without the slightest risk, in any quantity, only observing one rule; viz. never to drink so much as to be inconvenienced by it; and after a little practice, you will be able to determine how much you can take with advantage. The general rule should be about from twelve to thirty glasses per day. The patient should cease drinking, for the time, when it produces shivering, and should produce reaction, by exertion. Dr. Wilson tells us, that when he was at Grafenburg, in 8 months he took 500 cold baths, 400 Sitz baths, and reposed 480 hours in a wet sheet, and drank about 3,500 tumblers of cold water. He drank upwards of 30 glasses one morning before breakfast,* and meant to have taken a few more, * CAMPBELL, in his Travels in Africa, speaking of a MR. CAMVER, who dined with him and his companions in their tent, says, he can drink nothing but water indeed he is the greatest water drinker he ever heard of. I saw him drink three pints of water at but was so hungry he could stay no longer. On some persons, drinking water produces diarrhea, which though it alarms them, proves to those who understand the mode of its operation, that it has disturbed bad humours which were lodged in the stomach, and shows the propriety of continuing and even increasing its use. All times of the day are proper for drinking water, but the morning before breakfast is the best, especially if taken with exercise in the open air, as this stimulates the action of the water. It should be always taken fresh from its source, and as cold as possible. If you have not the convenience of a good spring or pump to which you can repair, keep your water in a decanter, having a good stopper, in which it will remain longer cold, and preserve its fixed air. Much as water may be despised through our ignorance of its value, it is the only fluid provided by the Creator for the drink of innumerable animated beings, who inhabit every part of the air, the earth, and the seas; and hence it might be reasonably inferred, that it is an agent in the promotion of health, strength, and longevity, of incalculable value. After many experiments, botanists have found that the Cow eats 276 of kinds of grass and herbs; the horse of 262; the goat of 449; sheep of 387; and swine of only 72. But though deriving their nourishment from these various kinds of solid food, water is their only diluent, (excepting the filthy hog,)* the only supper the preceding evening, and he assured us he drank a pailful always during the night. WHITLAW says, of all the abominable feeding creatures the swine may be said to be the chief; it is more liable to disease, and entails more misery on the human race than any other animal; we think with him, it would be no loss to man, if the whole breed of them had shared the fate of the Gadarcan herd. Eating swine's flesh is the cause of most of our cutaneous diseases. provided to quench their thirst, for cooling the fever to which they are occasionally subject, and for repairing the waste of the circulating fluids. Water alone as a drink is necessary to maintain the courage and strength of the lion; and the bulk and sagacity of the elephant. The bear, whilst roaming amidst Icebergs, and the camel while travelling over burning sands, and beneath a burning sky, have no other drink to protect them from the effects of cold in the one case, and of heat in the other. It is one of the greatest blessings bestowed upon man : "the DEITY is the manufacturer; the ocean the raw material; the sun the generator of the vapour; the sky the condenser; electricity and attraction the distributors, in showers and dews, so finely attenuated as to be respired through the pores of the most delicate plants; Rivers and Lakes are so abundantly distributed, as to support, not only the whole vegetable, but also the whole animal creation. It checks and extinguishes the most destructive aliment, and finds its level between the tops of mountains, and the tops of houses. It wants neither steam-boat or locomotive to be transported. It cleanses and beautifies all nature, and is so salubrious to man, that it neither disorders the stomach, excites the passions, or maddens the brain: it is so necessary to all life that the humblest insect exists not without it. The loftiest monarch of the forest, and man the monarch of all, in its absence, drop their heads on the parched ground and die. In allusion to its cheering and refreshing virtues, the sacred record says, "As cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." It is made a grand emblem of greater blessings: hence says Jehovah, "I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground." It was a "bottle of water" that Abraham gave to his handmaid Hagar to drink, when he sent her away from his dwelling; it was water with which the Almighty supplied her in the desert, and by which he graciously preserved her son Ishmael from death. When God engaged to supply the wants of his faithful ones by the prophet Isaiah, it is not luxuries that he promises, but simply "bread and water." Isaiah xxxiii. 16. A similar, but enlarged promise was given to the children of Israel in the days of Moses; Exodus xxiii. 25. When God threatened the Jews, in Isaiah 3, 1. it was to take away their "whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water." It was water that Elijah asked of the widow of Zarepheth; and that was provided for him by the Angel. We read of the well of which Jacob drank, and his children, and his cattle; and when the children of Israel in their journies through the wilderness, were fed with bread from heaven, God, who could have given them wine, ale, tea, etc., had it been better for them, gave them water from the rock. And among the chief blessings of the land of Canaan, they were told by Moses, it was, " a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths of water that spring out of the vallies and hills." The mighty Sampson was a water drinker, and when ready to faint, "God clave a hollow place in the jaw bone, (his weapon with which he smote the Philistines,) and there came water thereout, and when he had drank his spirit came again and he revived." Elijah drank of the brook Cherish, and Obadiah fed the prophets of the Lord with bread and water. Among the offences which Eliphaz unjustly charged upon Job, we find him saying. "Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink;” and as a striking illustration of the invigorating nature of water, the prophet Isaiah speaks of the smith while working at the forge as fainting for want of it. God himself is called "the Fountain of living water," as is also the enjoyment of the redeemed in glory. The following verses are copied from the Metropolitan Magazine, and form a happy contrast to the bacchanalian songs so frequently inserted in different journals. SONG OF THE HOREBITE. O! WATER for me! bright water for me, It comes o'er the sense like a breeze from the sea, Oh! water, bright water for me, for me! Fill to the brim! Fill, fill to the brim ! Fill again to the brim! again to the brim! |