ADAPTATION OF FOOD TO CLIMATE. 147 



stances, the saline bodies, the fat, etc., which will 

 require a number of ounces more. 



b. In very cold climates, the amount of necessary 

 food, especially of that which furnishes carbon to 

 keep up the heat of the body, is vastly augmented. 

 The Esquimaux, and other savage tribes living in the 

 arctic regions, eat quantities of fat, tallow, and oil, 

 which would be considered quite incredible, were it 

 not for the concurring testimony of numerous travel 

 lers. Several pounds of such food at a time, a dozen 

 or two of tallow candles for instance, or half a galloi* 

 of whale blubber, seems to scarcely satisfy their ap 

 petites; and this enormous eating appears not to pro 

 duce the slightest ill effect, as it does no more in 

 that climate than keep up the requisite animal heat, 

 in addition to supplying the waste of the body. 



In warm weather, the quantity of food needed to 

 supply strength for the same amount of exertion, is, as 

 all know, greatly reduced ; the appetite often disap 

 pears almost entirely, and yet there is no feeling of 

 weakness in undergoing labor. The temperature of 

 the air is so elevated, that comparatively a very small 

 portion of the food is used in keeping up the animal 

 heat. In the next chapter we will consider the par 

 ticular bearing of these facts on feeding. 



SECTION V. OF THE FATTENING ANIMAL AND ITS FOOD. 



Hitherto we have spoken only of the young or 

 growing, and of the full grown animal ; it now 

 remains to say something of the fattening animal. 

 Here the object of feeding is changed : it is not in 

 tended to increase the size and weight of its bones and 

 frame, for these have attained their full development; 

 their daily waste is to be fully replaced, and in addi 

 tion there is to be the greatest possible amount of 

 flesh and fat accumulated upon them in the shortest 

 possible time, and this with the least necessary cost. 



