128 ALIMENTATION. 



Climate has an important influence on the quantity of 

 food demanded by the system. It is generally acknowl- 

 edged that the consumption of all kinds of food is greater in 

 cold than in warm climates, and almost every one has experi- 

 enced in his own person a considerable difference in the ap- 

 petite at different seasons of the year. Travellers' accounts of 

 the quantity of food taken by the natives of the frigid zone are 

 almost incredible. They speak of men consuming over a hun- 

 dred pounds of meat in a day ; and a Russian admiral, Sarit- 

 cheff, mentions an instance of a man who, in his presence, ate 

 at a single meal a mess of boiled rice and butter weigh- 

 ing twenty-eight pounds. 1 Though it is difficult to regard 

 these statements with entire confidence, the general opinion 

 that the appetite is greater in cold than in warm climates is 

 undoubtedly well founded. Dr. Hayes, the Arctic explorer, 

 states, from his personal observation, that the daily ration of 

 the Esquimaux is from twelve to fifteen pounds of meat, 

 about one-third of which is fat. On one occasion he saw an 

 Esquimau consume ten pounds of walrus-flesh and blubber 

 at a single meal, which lasted, however, several hours. The 

 continued low temperature he found had a remarkable effect 

 on the tastes of his own party. With the thermometer rang- 

 ing from 60 to 70 Fahr. there was a continual craving 

 for a strong animal diet, particularly fatty substances. Some 

 members of the party were in the habit of drinking the 

 contents of the oil-kettle with evident relish. 2 



Necessity of a Varied Diet. 



In considering the nutritive value of the various aliment- 

 ary principles, the fact that no single one of them is capable 

 of supplying all the material for the regeneration of the or- 

 ganism has frequently been mentioned. The normal appetite, 



1 COCHRANE, A Pedestrian Journey through Russia, etc. CONSTABLE'S Miscel- 

 lany, Edinburgh, 3829, vol. i., p. 194. 



2 HAYES, An Arctic Boat-Journey, Boston, 1860, pp. 257-259, and American 

 Journal of the Medical Sciences, July, 1859, p. 114 et seq. 



