134 Mr. Luckcock on the Nuir 



It further appears, that out of these 

 408 persons, 72 receive pay, being 

 more than 17 per cent, of them : whilst 

 in the first list presented above only 2 

 out of 44, or 4^ per cent, appear on 

 the pay-list ; in the second list above, 

 10 out of 88, or about 11^ percent, 

 are paid : in the third list above, 60 

 out of 27C, or near 22 per cent, receive 

 pay; and from your Supplement it 

 appears, that 192 persons out of tlie 

 whole body, undoubtedly, must be 

 influenced by the pay dispensed by the 

 crown, being more than 29 per cent, 

 of the whole 658 individuals. 



London; Britannicus. 



Feb. 5, 1822. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



AN important paper has been lately 

 pretty generally circulated, on 

 "the comparative nutritive properties 

 of food," said to be the joint production 

 of Messrs. Percy and Vauquelin, two 

 members of the French Institute. I 

 am not sure if you have it in your 

 Magazine ; though, even if it should 

 be there, I request its repetition, for 

 the sake of introducing a few remarks, 

 .sliould you think them worth the 

 insertion. 



Every lOOlbs. arc found to contain 

 as follows of nutritious matter: — 



Bread SOlbs, 



Butchers' meat 35 — 



FiPticli beans (in llie grain) 92 — 



BioacI do. 89 — 



Pease 9^ — 



Lentils 94 — 



Greens and turnips, of solid, > ^^^^ „ 



nutritious substance • • • • J 



Carrots •• • 1 -l — 



Potatoes 25 — 



Thus lib. of good bread, is equal 

 to 24 or 3lb. of potatoes ; 751b. of do., 

 and 301b. of meat, are equal to 300 of 

 do. ; or ^Ib. of do., and 5 oz. of do., to 

 31b. of do. : lib. of potatoes is equal to 

 41b. of cabbage and 3lb. of turnips ; 

 lib. of rice, broad beans, or French 

 beans, (in the grain,) is equal to 31b. 

 of potatoes. 



the fifty questions, the minorities only 

 having been recorded as to the other 

 tliirty-six questions. In the present ses- 

 sions I hope and entreat that efforts may 

 be made to record the votes on both sides 

 of every important question which may be 

 decided, and tliat the practice will become 

 annual of publishing similar abstracts to 

 those which now your Journal contains. 

 1 



itive Properties of Food. [March 1, 



Such are the terms used in the state- 

 ment from which I copy ; and a sub- 

 ject of more vital or universal interest 

 cannot well be imagined, as no human 

 being can exist to whom it will not 

 apply, either to the state of his health 

 or his pocket; but this universality 

 renders it necessary that it should be 

 well explained and understood. In 

 the first place, though there is no 

 reason to doubt the quarter in which 

 the paper originated, yet a few corro- 

 borating facts would be more satisfac- 

 tory than the mere ipse dixit of nobody 

 knows who ; and, it would be well to 

 have it stated, what additional infor- 

 mation was connected with the original 

 statement. The authors may, or they 

 may not, have displayed the basis or 

 principles on which their theory is 

 founded ; and, till this is made known, 

 no person who habitually thinks for 

 himself can give his assent to it, how- 

 ever high and respectable the authority 

 from which it emanates. The most 

 penetrating minds are sometimes de- 

 luded in their calculations and hypo- 

 theses, or entangled in the mazes of an 

 exuberant imagination. One great ■ 

 man asserts, that the saltness of the 

 ocean proceeds from the perpetual 

 th(mgh insensible supply of this mine- 

 ral, which is wasJied down in the fresh 

 water of the rivers. Another has cal- 

 culated, (ashe thinks incontrovertibly,) 

 how many hundreds of centuries will 

 be necessary to increase the diameter 

 of our earth the sixteenth part of an 

 inch, by the accumulation of the solar 

 rays. Another talks of a comet being 

 10,000 times hotter than red-hot iron. 

 jMost of our philosophers agree, that 

 the attraction of the moon is suffi- 

 ciently powerful to distort the form of 

 the earth by the elevation of the equa- 

 torial seas, ajid yet this prodigious 

 power is not capable of moving the 

 smallest particle of the floating eider- 

 down. An innumerable throng still 

 remains in spite of the growing intelli- 

 gence of the times, who will pertina- 

 ciously maintain the absurd doctrines 

 of Trausubstantiation and theAthana- 

 sian creed. And our courts of (soi- 

 disant) justice are still bigotedly and 

 barbarously punishing the body for 

 fancied errors of the head. So invete- 

 rate are early prejudices, and so faith- 

 ful in delusion is that mind which 

 takes even truth upon trust, and with- 

 out examination. F'or these reasons, 

 I wish to be informed, what I am to un- 

 derstand by the term "nutritious 

 matter," 



