6 NUTRIENTIA. Art. I. 2. 1. 2. 



flefh in fmall quantities bruifed to a pulp be more advantageouf- 

 ly ufed in fevers attended with debility than vegetable diet ? 



That flefh, which is of the darkeft colour, generally contains 

 more nourifhment, and ftimulatcs our veflels more powerfully, 

 than the white kinds. The flefh of the carnivorous and pifciv- 

 orous animals is fo flimulating, that it feldom enters into the 

 food of European nations, except the fwine, the Soland goofe 

 (Pelicanus Bailanus), and formerly the fwan. Of thefe the 

 fwine and the fwan are fed previoufly upon vegetable aliment ; 

 and the Soland goofe is taken in very fmall quantity, only as a 

 v/het to the appetite. Next to thefe are the birds, that feed up- 

 on infects, which are perhaps the mod flimulating and the mod 

 nutritive of our ufual food. 



It is faid that a greater quantity of volatile alkali can be ob- 

 tained from this kind of flefh, to which has been afcribed its 

 flimulating quality. But it is more probable, that frefh flefh 

 contains only rhe elements of volatile alkali. 



2. Next to the dark coloured flefh of animals, the various tribes 

 of fhell-fifh feem to claim their place, and the wholefome kinds 

 of mufhrooms, which mud be eftcemed animal food, both for 

 their alkalefeent tendency, their flimulating quality,and the quan- 

 tity of nourifhment, which they afford •, as oyfters, lobflers, crab- 

 fifh, fhrimps ; mufhrooms •, to which perhaps might be added 

 fome of the fifh without fcaies ; as the eel, barbolt, tench, fmelt, 

 turbot, turtle. 



The flefh of many kinds of fifh, when it is fuppofed to have 

 undergone a beginning putrefaction, becomes luminous in the 

 dark. This feems to fhewa tendency in the phofphorus to ef- 

 cape, and combine with the oxygen of the atmofphere ; and 

 would hence fhew, that this kind of flefh is not fo perfectly an- 

 imalized as thofe before mentioned. This light, as it is fre- 

 quently feen on rotten wood, and fometimes on veal, which has 

 been kept too long, as I have been told, is commonly fuppofed 

 to have its caufe from putrefaction •, but is neverthelefs mofl 

 probably of pliofphoric origin, like that feen in the dark on 

 oyfter-fhells, which have previoufly been ignited and afterwards 



pofed to the funfliine, and on the Bolognian ftone. See Bo- 

 tan. Gard. Vol. I. Cant. I. line 182, the note, and additional 

 note X. 



3. The flefn of young animals, as of lamb, veal, and fucking- 

 pics, fupplies us with a fliil lefs flimulating food. The broth 

 of thefe is faid to become four, and continues fo a confiderabic 

 time before it changes into putridity ; fo much does their fleih 



tke of the chemical properties of the milk, with which thei 

 •re nouriflied. 



4. T: 



