102 THE HOME, FARM AND BUSINESS CYCLOPEDIA.. 



animals are furnished with teeth calculated by their broad and flat sur- 

 faces, as well as by the lateral movement of the jaws in which they are set, 

 to mince down the herbage and grain eaten by them. But the carnivorous 

 animals, with wide-opening jaws, have long and sharp fangs to seize and 

 tear their prey. These peculiarities of structure mark sufficiently the 

 designs of nature with respect to the kinds of food required by the two 

 different classes of animals for their support. 



The human intestinal canal being of medium length, and the human 

 teeth being a mixture of two kinds, it necessarily follows that man 

 was designed to eat both vegetable and animal food. As no animal can 

 live agreeably or healthy except in conformity with the laws of its consti- 

 tution, it follows that man will not thrive unless with a mixture of animal 

 and vegetable food. The followers of Pythagoras argued, from the cruelty 

 of putting animals to death, that it was proper to live on vegetables alone, 

 and many eccentric persons of modern times have acted upon this rule. 

 But the ordinances of Nature speak a different language ; and, if we have 

 any faith in these, we cannot for a moment doubt that a mixture of animal 

 food is necessary for our well-being. On the other hand, we cannot dis- 

 pense with vegetable food, without injurious consequences. In that case 

 we place in a medium alimentary canal, a kind of food which is calculated 

 for a short one, thus violating an arrangement of the most important 

 nature. A balance between the two kinds of food is what we should 

 observe, if we would desire to live a natural and consequently healthy 

 life. 



RULES CONNECTED WITH EATING. In order fully to understand how to 

 eat, what to eat, and how to conduct ourselves after eating, it is necessary 

 that we should be acquainted in some measure with the process of nutri- 

 tion that curious series of operations by which food is received and assi- 

 milated by our system in order to make good the deficiency produced by 

 waste. 



Food is first received into the mouth, and there the operations in ques- 

 tion may be said to commence. It is there to be chewed (or masticated), 

 and mixed with saliva, preparatory to its being swallowed or sent into the 

 stomach. Even in this introductory stage, there are certain rules to be 

 observed. Strange as it may appear, to know how to eat is a matter of 

 very considerable importance. 



Many persons, thinking it all a matter of indifference, or perhaps unduly 

 anxious to dispatch their meals, eat very fast. They tumble their meat 

 precipitately into their mouths, and swallow it almost without masti- 



