"'The stomach," says Souvestre, "is a slave which is obliged to accept everything imposed upon it; but finally avenges its wrongs with the slyness and cruelty of a slave."
The eminent French author has happily expressed an important physical fact. There is something unique and pitiable about the position of the stomach in the human body. Upon no ether organ except the lungs can you impose anything from the outside world. Phe lungs need pure fresh air only, and air in some form is the only thing they ever receive. On the other hand, the stomach is general receptacle, entirely at the mercy cof its owner as to what shall be put into it, when, where, and how much. A man can throw into it anything that can be swallowed—every variety of food, any sort of drink, any amount of both, up to the bag's elastic capacity; and, if he wants to, he can put a layer of pebbles on top, and finish off with prussic acid.
The point is, as M. Souvestre says, that this most important of all our organs is our slave. Tt cannot resist, it cannot call the police, it has no recourse to the Jaw; it just takes what comes, and abides its time. But how to take care of the health, how to prevent the outbreak of ailments, is a problem much more complex than it seems to be.
Nevertheless, when the enslaved and outraged stomach turns against its owner, with the scourge called dyspepsia, it must not be assumed, off-hand, that the owner really intended to drive his servant to desperation.
Mr. A. Vortlada, of Dan Strest, Burghers-drop, Transvaal, sent a letter on 4th April, 1904, this very year, r.member, to the agents, at Port Elizabeth, for Mother Seigel's remedies, telling briefly the story of his sufferings; of how -he really expected death, of how his stomach had tyrannised over him, how i affected his kidneys and how he was finally cared. He says:—" For leven years I suffered from kidney trouble which afterwards affected my liver, and T can safely say there was not a sound place in the whole of my system.
"T always bad a great deal of trouble in passing anything from the stomach and also urinary trouble. T began to lose appetite. At nights I could only lay awake and wish fo? morning to arrive, and when % did arrive there was no relief. "I became so weak that my legs could not bear the weight of my body, and in fact my condition became very serious. Doctors were called in but I became no better, so I prepared myself for the worst. Hearing of Mother Seigel's Syrup I made up my mind that it would be the last remedy I would try, and after using five bot-ties of the Syrup my condition began to improve wonderfully, and I do not believe there is any person quite as grateful Yours faithfully, A. Vorriupa.""
That is the news from Burghersdorp, but now you shall hear from Johannesburg. On the 29th of March, 1904 (this very year, again, remember), E. Peterson, who lives at Tower End, Main Street, Johannesburg, wrote a letter to the agents for Mother Seigel's remedies describing his own case. He, too, was a slave to the outraged stomach. He says:—" For three years I suffered greatfy from biliousness and indigestion. When T sat down to tableT could eat hardly anything. Attacks of vaunting made me quite weak, and I was surprised at the change i effected in my condition. On rising in the morning I was seized with dizziness and had on several occasions to go back to bed again. I tried various remedies, but remained in quite the same condition, "While at Cape Town, during the war, I heard of the wonderful qual ties of Mother Seigel's Syrup, and I decide to give it a trial. After the first bottle the dizziness and bilious festing left me, and continued using the Syrup until T felt completely cured."
It is better never to be sick, but when we do fall 1 it is a grand fact that a cure is at hand in the form of Mother Seigel's Syrup, which soothes the stomach and transforms it once more into a willing and faithful servant—not a rebellious slave.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.