NATURE AND DESTINATION OF FOOD. 485 



and whales, from which the Esquimaux and the Greenlander derive their sup- 

 port, have an enormous quantity of fat in their massive bodies: this fat is as 

 much esteemed as an article of food among these people, as it would be thought 

 repulsive by the inhabitants of southern climates; and by the large quantity of 

 it they consume, they are able to support the bitterness of an Arctic winter, 

 without appearing to suffer more from the extreme cold, than do the residents 

 in more temperate climates during their winter. On the other hand, the ante- 

 lopes, deer, and wild cattle, which form a large proportion of the animal food 

 of savage or half-cultivated nations inhabiting temperate or tropical regions, pos- 

 sess very little fat; and the comparatively small supply of carbon and hydro- 

 gen, whose combustion is required to keep up the bodily temperature of the 

 inhabitants of those regions, is derived from the flesh of those animals, in the 

 manner that will be presently explained. Every one knows how much less 

 vigorous the appetite becomes, during the heat of summer, than it is during 

 the colder portion of the year; and this is a natural result of the diminished 

 demand for the fuel required to maintain the temperature. And one great 

 means of preserving the health, during a prolonged residence in a hot climate, 

 is to attend to the dictates of Nature, in regard to the quantity of food ingested; 

 instead of endeavouring (as is the prevalent practice) to stimulate the appetite 

 by artificial provocatives. 



644. The maintenance of the bodily temperature in Carnivorous animals, 

 appears to depend upon the combustion of the carbon and hydrogen set free 

 by the disintegration of their Nervous and Muscular tissues : this disintegra- 

 tion taking place with much more rapidity, in consequence of their almost 

 unceasing activity, than it does in the Herbivorous animals, which lead com- 

 paratively inactive lives. Every one who has visited a menagerie, must have 

 noticed the continual restlessness of the Tigers, Leopards, Hyasnas, &c., which 

 keep pacing from one end of their narrow cages to the other ; and it would 

 seem as if this restlessness were a natural instinct, impelling them to use mus- 

 cular exertion sufficient for the metamorphosis of an adequate amount of tissue, 

 that enough carbon and hydrogen may be set free for the support of the respi- 

 ratory process. And we see a corresponding activity in the Human hunters 

 of the swift-footed Antelope and agile Deer, which answers a similar purpose; 

 and which is remarkably contrasted with the stupid inertness of the inhabitants 

 of the frigid zone, which is only occasionally interrupted by the necessity of 

 securing the supplies of food afforded by the massive tenants of their seas. 

 The nutrition of the Carnivorous races may, then, be thus described. The 

 bodies of the animals upon which they feed contain flesh, fat, &c., in nearly 

 the same proportion as their own; and all, or nearly all, the aliment they con- 

 sume, goes to supply the waste in the fabric of their own bodies, being con- 

 verted into its various forms of tissue. After having remained in this condition 

 for a certain time, varying according to the use that is made of them, these 

 tissues undergo another metamorphosis, which ends in restoring them to inor- 

 ganic matter; and thus give back to the Mineral world the materials which 

 were drawn off from it by Plants. Of these Materials, part are burned off, as 

 it were, within the body, by union with the oxygen of the air, taken in through 

 the lungs ; and are discharged from these organs, in the form of carbonic acid 

 and water: the remainder are carried off in the liquid form by other channels. 

 Hence we may briefly express the destination of their food in the following 

 manner: 



Food consisting of ^ T . . , f Carbonic acid and Water 



albumen, fibrine, I Convert- \ ^ m " .t An< I thrown off by respiration. 



and other azotized f ed into i rgamzed ( et > 1 Urea and biliary matter, &c, 

 compounds J * ph mto [thrown off by other excretions. 



41* 



