CURRENT LITERATURE.
Fads of an Old Physician : a Sequel to "A Plea for a Simpler Life." By George S. Keith, M.D., LL D., &c. (A. and C. Black.)— There was much in Dr. Keith's " Plea for a Simpler Life " that seemed reasonable to a layman, and in this sequel the same line of suggestion is pursued. To trust much to the recuperative power of Nature, to suspect the virtue of the so-called " building- up system," to use alcohol very cautiously while finding a safe and powerful stimulant in hot water, and to urge the use of liquorice in cases of sleeplessness and dyspepsia,—these are some of the " fads " about which Dr. Keith discourses in these pages. Most of his peculiar ideas, he says, have been looked upon as " fads " by his medical friends, but be does not object to the term, " having observed that the faddist not unfrequently gains the day in the long run." Much that the author says on the evils of high living and the advantages of abstinence is weighty with good sense, but while accepting many of the arguments of Dr. Dewey, the famous American physician, he does not adopt his advice to give up breakfast altogether and to fast till the midday meal. It may be seasonable counsel in the States. "I have seen," Dr. Keith writes, " much overfeeding in this country, but never to such a degree and so generally as I have seen in America and in American steamers." One of Dr. Keith's " fads " is, " that a large amount of sound sleep is not essential for any one ; " another, less likely perhaps to be questioned, is " that the forced giving of food when it is not wanted is the cause of more misery, more aggravations of disease, and greater shortening of life, than all other causes put together." He would not even force food on an insane patient, believing that " rest is Nature's great cure for a damaged organ."
Previous page
