310 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



gradually lose their native brightness as well as their amiable 

 temper. 



But the same observations oblige me to say that its deleterious 

 physical effects have often been considerably overrated. The gastric un- 

 easiness, even after a hearty meal of meat (fat pork, perhaps, excepted), 

 yields readily to exercise in open air. Meat does not interfere with the 

 digestion of other food, and, above all, it j^roduces no ruinous after- 

 effects ; its frequent use rarely becomes a morbid necessity. Besides, 

 flesh undoubtedly contains many nutritive elements, though in a less 

 desirable form than we might find them in vegetable substances. By 

 dint of practice the system can be got to accept part of its nutriment 

 in that form, and if we are reduced to the choice of starving on starch 

 and watery herbs, or getting fat in an abnormal way, the latter is 

 clearly the preferable alternative. As a rule, though, children during 

 their school years had better stick to dairy products, farinaceous prep- 

 arations, and fruit ; hot-headed boys, especially, can be more effectu- 

 ally cured with cow's-milk than with a cow-hide. 



The objections to flesh-food, however, do not apply to eggs, and 

 not in the same degree to mollusks and crustaceans. On the banks of 

 the Essequibo, in eastern Venezuela, I have seen troops of capuchin 

 monkeys (Cebus pa7iiscus) engaged in catching crabs, though in captiv- 

 ity those same relatives of ours would rather starve than touch a piece of 

 beef. The dog-headed baboon visits the seashore in search of mollusks, 

 and the South American marmoset, like John the Baj^tist, delights in 

 grasshoppers and wild honey, though otherwise a strict vegetarian. 

 The mediaeval distinction between flesh and fish is not wholly gratuitous, 

 either ; carp, trout, and their congeners are, happily, almost as digesti- 

 ble as potatoes, for it would be a hopeless undertaking to dissuade a 

 young Walton from boiling and devouring his first string of perch. 

 On journeys, especially in cold weather, children may be occasionally 

 indulged in such wayside delicacies as codfish-balls, oiled sai;dines, 

 and ham-sandwiches. 



THE SABBATH, 



By Peofessok JOHN TYNDALL, F. E. S, 



n. 



THE moods of the times the "climates of opinion," as Glanvil 

 calls them have also to be considered in imposing disciplines 

 which affect the public. For the ages, like the individual, have their 

 periods of mirth and earnestness, of cheerfulness and gloom. From 

 this point of view a better case might be made out for the early Sab- 

 batarians than for their survivals at the present day. Sunday sports 



