Thence he started for London; and, desirous of testing the best way
of sustaining physical strength during long marches, and urged
perhaps also by economical considerations, he resolved to make the
journey on foot. His West Indian and American experience had taught
him that spare diet consisted best with pedestrian efficiency, and
it was accordingly his practice, during this long walk, to abstain
from animal food until the close of day, nor often then to partake
of it. He would walk some fourteen miles before breakfast--a meal of
tea and bread; rest then for an hour or an hour and a half; then
pace on until bedtime--a salad, a tart, or sometimes tea and bread,
forming his usual evening fare. He found that on this diet he arose
every morning at dawn with alacrity, and could prosecute without
inconvenience his laborious undertaking. By way of experiment he
twice or thrice varied his plan--dining on the road off beefsteaks,
and having a draught of porter in the course of the afternoon; but
the result justified his anticipations. The stimulus of the beer
soon passing off, lassitude succeeded the temporary strength it had
lent him; and, worse than all, his disposition to early rising
sensibly diminished.
His stay in London, which he reached in this primitive fashion, was
not long. His kind friend Dr Stuart, who had exchanged into the
Royal Horse-Guards, gave him the shelter of his roof; but so poor
was Mr Jackson, that, although ardently desirous of improving
himself in his profession, he was unable to attend any one of the
medical schools with which London abounds.
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