68 AUMEOTATION: 



pensable that the demands of the system be regulated by 

 exercise and proper habits of life, so that the tastes and the 

 digestive powers may be always in a physiological condition. 

 But this is not always the case ; the incessant activity and 

 the preoccupations of the mind frequently react on the body, 

 and artificial appetites are easily engendered ; while fancies 

 and prejudices may become so much a part of the organiza- 

 tion that the natural instincts are almost buried. An almost 

 universal tendency to tempt the appetite with food in as 

 palatable and attractive a form as possible has led to a high 

 development of the art of cooking. The preparation of food 

 by cooking has three great objects : one to render it as pala- 

 table as possible ; another to save and utilize articles which, 

 without skilful preparation, would be lost ; and another, the 

 most important in a physiological point of view, to improve 

 alimentary substances as regards digestibility. 



There can be hardly any doubt but that the intelligence 

 of man is, in the main, correct in recognizing certain arti- 

 cles, such as tea, coffee, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, etc., 

 as capable of temporarily supplying the place of some of the 

 true alimentary principles, or of diminishing the demand for 

 nourishment by retarding destructive assimilation. 1 Extraor- 

 dinary physical effort, and, most of all, severe mental exer- 

 cise, create demands which are not a part of mere animal 

 existence. It must be regarded as fortunate for the develop- 

 ment of truth and the progress of the world, that man is 

 not made to pass his life in accordance with what might be 

 considered as purely physiological laws. He is the only 

 being in creation which ever seems to demand that unusual 



1 Actual experiment has demonstrated the value of tea, coffee, and occasion- 

 ally alcohol, within moderate limits, as accessory alimentary principles. In this 

 statement, an exception might be made with regard to alcohol, the abuse of which 

 constitutes one of the greatest of human vices. But this does not alter the physi- 

 ological fact of its value in nutrition, when properly used. The same may be said 

 of tobacco, though its influence is less decided. Tea and coffee, also, are open 

 to the objection of being frequently used to excess. 



