From "Chocolate": The Quantity Which Is To Be Drunke

Excerpted from Chocolate: or, An Indian Drinke.  The Wise and Moderate Use Whereof Health is Preserved and Sicknesse Diverted

 

There remaines to be handled in the last Point, of the Quantity, which is to be drunke: at what Time; and by what persons: because if it be drunk beyond measure, not onely of Chocolate, but of all other drinkes, or meates, though of themselves they are good and wholsome, they may be hurtfull.

And if any finde it Opilative, it comes by the too much use of it; as when one drinkes over much Wine, in stead of comforting, and warming him- selfe, he breeds, and nourisheth cold diseases; because Nature cannot overcome it, nor turne so great a quantity into good nourishment.

So he that drinkes much Chocolate, which hath fat parts, cannot make distribution of so great a quantity to all the parts; and that part which remaines in the slender veines of the Liver, must needs cause Opilations, and Obstructions.

To avoid this inconvenience; you must onely take five or six ounces, in the morning, if it be in winter; and if the party who takes it, be Choler- ick, in stead of ordinary water, let him take the distilled water of Endive. The same reason serves in Summer, for those, who take it physically, having the Liver hot and obstructed. If his Liver be cold and obstructed, then to use the water of Rubarb. And to conclude, you may take it till the Moneth of May, especially in temperate dayes. But I doe not approve, that in the Dogdayes it should be taken in Spaine, unlesse it be one, who by custome of taking it, receives no prejudice by it. And if he be of a hot Constitution, and that he have neede to take it in that season, let it, as is said before, be mingled with water of Endive; and once in foure dayes, and chiefely when he findes his stomacke in the morning to be weake and fainting. And though it be true, that, in the Indies, they use it all the yeare long, it being a very hot Countrey, and so it may seeme by the same reason it may be taken in Spaine.

What is now "commonly considered to be the result of experience, will be recognized in the next generation, as no such result at all"

Excerpted from Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Medical Essays: Homeopathy Currents in Medical Science Border Lines of Knowledge

A medical man, as he goes about his daily business after twenty years of practice, is apt to suppose that he treats his patients according to the teachings of his experience.

No doubt this is true to some extent; to what extent depending much on the qualities of the individual. But it is easy to prove that the prescriptions of even wise physicians are very commonly founded on something quite different from experience. Experience must be based on the permanent facts of nature.

But a glance at the prevalent modes of treatment of any two successive generations will show that there is a changeable as well as a permanent element in the art of healing; not merely changeable as diseases vary, or as new remedies are introduced, but changeable by the going out of fashion of special remedies, by the decadence of a popular theory from which their fitness was deduced, or other cause not more significant. There is no reason to suppose that the present time is essentially different in this respect from any other.

Much, therefore, which is now very commonly considered to be the result of experience, will be recognized in the next, or in some succeeding generation, as no such result at all, but as a foregone conclusion, based on some prevalent belief or fashion of the time.

There are, of course, in every calling, those who go about the work of the day before them, doing it according to the rules of their craft, and asking no questions of the past or of the future, or of the aim and end to which their special labor is contributing. These often consider and call themselves practical men. They pull the oars of society, and have no leisure to watch the currents running this or that way; let theorists and philosophers attend to them. In the mean time, however, these currents are carrying the practical men, too, and all their work may be thrown away, and worse than thrown away, if they do not take knowledge of them and get out of the wrong ones and into the right ones as soon as they may.

Sir Edward Parry and his party were going straight towards the pole in one of their arctic expeditions, travelling at the rate of ten miles a day. But the ice over which they travelled was drifting straight towards the equator, at the rate of twelve miles a day, and yet no man among them would have known that he was travelling two miles a day backward unless he had lifted his eyes from the track in which he was plodding.

It is not only going backward that the plain practical workman is liable to, if he will not look up and look around; he may go forward to ends he little dreams of.

Louvre: statues of artists with more than ideas

As I stood in the plaza of The Louvre museum in Paris, I was struck by the artists, thinkers, and leaders around the building.

And it reminded me again, that they don't erect statues for people who just have good ideas -- but for people who took action and made an impact on the world.

These are the innovators we celebrate for centuries.

Last-minute Valentine's Day Idea: Free E-Book Of Classic Chocolate Available For Download From SBI Publishing

Just in time for Valentine's Day, a free e-book edition is available of the classic 17th century book Chocolate: or, An Indian Drinke by author and physician Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma.

This e-book is one in a series entitled Innovation Classics dedicated to collecting and publishing the best – or perhaps the underappreciated – innovation writing of the past. Chocolate can be downloaded at no charge from the website of SBI Publishing, a unit of STINSON Brand Innovation.

From Valentine's Day to Halloween through to Christmas, chocolate is always there to celebrate a holiday. Back in the 1630s, Ledesma explained chocolate's role in health and wellness, as well as its history, culture and sensory pleasures. While we know now that overindulging leads to calorie concerns, the right amounts of the right kinds of chocolate can actually make one feel and even look better. Further, clinical research shows that eating chocolate and natural cocoa may improve vascular health, blood pressure, cognitive health, blood flow and skin health.

In this book, you come to appreciate chocolate well beyond the health and nutrition aspects. You understand the early fascination with chocolate that is now such a part of people's lifestyles, holding a special place in holidays and celebrations.


Giving the gift of chocolate has been associated with Valentine's Day for generations. During Valentine's week, consumers will buy more than 58 million pounds of chocolate candy, which equates to approximately $345 million in sales, according to Nielsen data.

Click here to download The Innovation Classics series of e-books at no charge.

5 e-books released as Innovation Classics series

Innovation Classics is a new series of e-books dedicated to collecting and publishing the best – or perhaps the underappreciated – innovation writing of the past. The first set of Innovation Classics includes well-known stories:

• No Animal Food by Rupert H. Wheldon
• Notes on Nursing by Florence Nightingale
• Chocolate: Or, An Indian Drinke by Capt. James Wadsworth
• Medical Essays by Oliver Wendell Holmes
• Grappling with the Monster by T.S. Arthur

In the “Editor’s Introduction” to each e-book, we explain how the book relates to current health, science, and technology innovation.

The Innovation Classics series of e-books in pdf format can be downloaded at no charge by visiting our website. Click here to download your free e-books.