410 NUTRITION. 



in nitrogenized matter. During the winter, the ordinary 

 diet, composed of meat, fat, bread, potatoes, etc., contains a 

 large amount of nitrogenized substance, as well as a con- 

 siderable proportion of the hydro-carbons; and in the 

 summer, we instinctively reduce the proportion of both of 

 these varieties of principles, the more succulent articles 

 taking their place. This is even more strikingly illus- 

 trated by a comparison of the diet in the torrid or tem- 

 perate and the frigid zone. Under the head of alimentation, 

 we have already rioted the prodigious quantities of food con- 

 sumed in the Arctic regions, and the effect of the continued 

 cold upon the habits of diet of persons accustomed to a tem- 

 perate climate. It is stated, on undoubted authority, that 

 the daily ration of the Esquimaux is from twelve to fifteen 

 pounds of meat, about one-third of which is fat. Dr. Hayes, 

 the Arctic explorer, noted that with a temperature ranging 

 from 60 to 70, there was a continual craving for a 

 strong, animal diet, particularly fatty substances. Some of 

 the members of the party were in the habit of drinking the 

 contents of the oil-kettle with evident relish. 1 



Under such conditions as those which surround inhabit- 

 ants of temperate regions, in passing into the frigid zones a 

 change in diet is imperatively demanded, in order to keep 

 the animal temperature at the proper standard ; but when 

 the climate is changed from the temperate to the torrid, the 

 habits of life frequently remain the same. It is a pretty 

 general opinion among physicians who have studied the sub- 

 ject specially, that many of the peculiar disorders that affect 

 those who have changed their residence from a temperate to 

 a very warm climate are due, in a great measure, to the fact 

 that the diet and habits of life are unchanged. 



The influence of alcoholic beverages upon the animal 

 temperature has been studied chiefly with reference to the 



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

 Journal of the Medical Sciences, Philadelphia, 1859, New Series, vol. xxxviii., 

 p. 114, et seq. 



