[p. 31]
change their respective ways for a single day, nay,
for a part of a single day, they suffer excessive discomfort.
Some, who lunch although lunch does not
suit them, forthwith become heavy and sluggish in
body and in mind, a prey to yawning, drowsiness and
thirst ; while, if they go on to eat dinner as well,
flatulence follows with colic and violent diarrhœa.
Many have found such action to result in a serious
illness, even if the quantity of food they take twice
a day be no greater than that which they have
grown accustomed to digest once a day. On the
other hand, if a man who has grown accustomed,
and has found it beneficial, to take lunch, should
miss taking it, he suffers, as soon as the lunch-hour
is passed, from prostrating weakness, trembling and
faintness. Hollowness of the eyes follows ; urine
becomes paler and hotter, and the mouth bitter ; his
bowels seem to hang ; there come dizziness, depression
and listlessness. Besides all this, when he
attempts to dine, he has the following troubles :
his food is less pleasant, and he cannot digest what
formerly he used to dine on when he had lunch.
The mere food, descending into the bowels with
colic and noise, burns them, and disturbed sleep
follows, accompanied by wild and troubled dreams.
Many such sufferers also have found these symptoms
the beginning of an illness.
PART 11
XI. It is necessary to inquire into the cause why
such symptoms come to these men. The one who
had grown accustomed to one meal suffered, I think,
because he did not wait sufficient time, until his
digestive organs had completely digested and assimilated
the food taken the day before, and until they
had become empty and quiet, but had taken fresh
