GRINDING OF FOOD. 103 



palatable, or at least to convert by the science of cooke- 

 ry, into something he can take into his stomach. 



The most active ingredients in the vegetable and ani- 

 mal kingdoms, and even slow poisons, are in common use 

 as condiments, for what otherwise would be wholesome 

 food ; and notwithstanding man is the most anxious of 

 all animals to procure long life, and is perpetually invent- 

 ing new and improved methods to prolong his earthly 

 existence, yet in practice no animal shows so little wis- 

 dom on that very point for which he is so anxious, as the 

 Lord of Creation. All the inferior animals are taught 

 either by instinct or experience to avoid deleterious 

 aliment, and to select such food as is most congenial, and 

 wholesome, and in the wild state most animals would 

 starve rather than touch the food which man prepares 

 for himself. Indeed, no being which the Creator has 

 brought into existence, except the dog and the swine, 

 could long exist on the scientific compounds which man 

 has invented to gratify the artificial cravings of his 

 omnivorous appetite. These animals having been, from 

 time immemorial subjected to human power, the one his 

 companion, and the other the object of his cravings, 

 have finally like their masters, acquired indiscriminate 

 appetites. But notwithstanding the pernicious effects of 

 luxurious indulgence, it will be shown, in another place, 

 that man requires a variety of nutriment. 



GRINDING OF FOOD. 



Animals which are furnished with jaws and teeth r 

 prepare their food for the stomach by mastication. But 

 there are several tribes which are not provided with 

 such an apparatus, and which, as they take solid food, 

 require some internal means of breaking it in pieces, 

 before it enters the stomach. All the birds which live 

 on seeds, as well as the lobster and crab are provided 

 with an apparatus for this purpose. 



The part which performs this office in the birds is 

 well known under the name of gizzard. That which 

 performs the same functions in the lobster is very differ- 

 ent in its construction, though equally efficacious in ha 

 operations. 



