Page:Athletics and Manly Sport (1890).djvu/181

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ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT.

Sidney Smith, writing to Lord Murray, said, half playfully, "If you wish for anything like happiness in the fifth act of life, eat and drink about one half of what you could eat and drink. Did I ever tell you my calculation about eating and drinking? Having ascertained the weight of what I could live upon so as to preserve my health and strength, and what I did live upon, I found that, between ten and seventy years of age, I had eaten and drank forty horse-wagon loads of meat and drink more than would have preserved me in life and health! The value of this mass of nour-

    fat. The same may be said of thick soups, sauces and spices, puddings, pies, cakes, all sweets, milk, and even water, if drunk to excess. Alcoholic and malt liquors are notorious fat-producers. The majority of those people who use them continuously and in considerable quantities, sooner or later show an increase in fat. Here a question arises: Is the fat produced by alcoholic liquors, such as whiskey, brandy etc., of the same character as that put on by malt liquors? It would appear that there is a difference. Malt liquors do not degenerate the system of the indulger as does alcohol, which has rightly been termed 'the genius of degeneration.' Malt liquors have nutritive properties, and they contribute to bodily support. The beer-drinker is fat and florid, and within certain limits his fat is wholesome. He has an excess of blood, and suffers from what is known as plethora, while the tippler of alcohol, sooner or later, suffers from anœmia, or poverty of the blood. The following is a modification of the various regimens which have been advised by different physicians who have closely studied the disease. This list is generally accepted by the profession.

    "Foods which may be eaten: Beef tea, mutton broth,