Digestion during sleep is more productive of corpulence than strength. Hence it is, that it is preferable for athletes to quicken digestion by walking. Watching, at night more especially, promotes digestion of the food.

(54.) The size of the body is increased by eating sweet and fatty substances, as well as by drinking, while, on the other hand, it is diminished by eating dry, acrid, or cold substances, and by abstaining from drink. Some animals of Africa, as well as sheep, drink but once every four days. Abstinence from food for seven days, even, is not of necessity fatal to man; and it is a well-known fact, that many persons have not died till after an abstinence of eleven days. Man is the only animal that is ever attacked with an insatiate[1] craving for food.