126 ANIMAL FUNCTIONS, 



exclusively to a single article of food* for a certain 

 length of time ; as bread, or milk, or meat, each of 

 which in its turn was his sole nutriment. But the result 

 showed that the system is invariably brought into a 

 state of extreme debility by such a course of diet, and 

 that there is not a single article of food, not even the 

 most nutritious, that is capable of sustaining the vigor of 

 the body, or of even maintaining life itself, for any con- 

 siderable period of time, at least under ordinary exer- 

 cise. A lamentable proof of this, was exhibited in the 

 experimenter above named, who by confining himself 

 to a single article of diet, for a considerable length of 

 time, as already stated, finally so ruined his constitution 

 as to bring on premature death. 



Dr. Magendie's experiments. Dr.Magendie of Paris, 

 resumed the experiments of Dr. Stark, so far as to con- 

 fine various animals to a single article of diet, which 

 although it contained an abundance of nutriment, was 

 not always that on which animals naturally subsist. Thus 

 dogs, which are in the domestic state, are omnivorous ani- 

 mals, when fed on white sugar and water alone, soon 

 become emaciated, lose their appetites and sight, and 

 perish for want of nutriment. If fed on white bread 

 and water, the same result follows. Rabbits, which eat 

 hay, cabbage, corn, barley, and carrots indiscriminately, 

 cannot live for any length of time when confined 

 exclusively to one of these articles. 



It is a curious and instructive fact, that when an ani- 

 mal has become emaciated by living on a single article 

 of food, although it will then receive other kinds of food 

 with avidity, yet it does not gain its strength, but con- 

 tinues to waste away, and finally, dies at about the 

 same time it would have done, had the exclusive diet 

 been continued. 



Experiments of Sir A. Cooper.- Sir Astley Cooper 

 has lately made a variety of experiments on the facility 

 with which many substances usually employed in diet 



What were the results of Dr. Magendie's experiments on animals? 

 What fact is stated about the inability of animals to thrive on other food 

 after being long confined to a- single article ? 



