382 OP FOOD, AND THE DIGESTIVE PROCESS. 



in. So, again, experience teaches what could scarcely have been anticipated 

 theoretically ; namely, that, notwithstanding the power which the living body 

 possesses of converting saccharine compounds into oleaginous, the ingestion of 

 a certain amount of Oleaginous matter as such is necessary, or at least is favor- 

 able, to the maintenance of health. We see this provided in large quantity, in 

 the first aliment prepared by nature for the offspring of the Mammalia ; and it 

 exists largely in the yolk of the egg of all Oviparous animals. In the ordinary 

 diet of every nation on the globe whether this be animal, vegetable or mixed, 

 we find one or more articles of an oleaginous nature ; and there is a natural 

 craving for such substances when they are completely withheld, which indicates 

 that they serve some important purpose in the economy. Although this craving- 

 is so far affected by climate, that it leads to the largest consumption of oily 

 matter where the extreme of cold has to be endured, it exists with no less in- 

 tensity even in tropical regions ; and we find the Hindoo adding his modicum of 

 "ghee" (or rancid butter) to the rice which constitutes his staple article of diet, 

 with the same relish that the Esquimaux feels for his massive lumps of blubber. 

 It does not seem difficult to understand the rationale of this fact. It has been 

 already pointed out, that whilst the Adipose and Nervous tissues are the only 

 portions of the Animal fabric into which fatty matter enters in any considerable 

 proportion, yet that its presence has an important influence on the assimilation 

 of albuminous matters, and seems essential to every act of cytogenesis ( 42). 

 We shall hereafter see (CHAP. vin. SECT. 3), that it is probably in the Lacteal 

 system that the two substances are brought into that mutual relation with each 

 other which these purposes require j and thus it is obvious that, unless a con- 

 version of saccharine into oleaginous matter can take place in the alimentary 

 canal (of which there is no adequate evidence), no true chyle can be formed, ex- 

 cept when oleaginous matters have formed part of the food. There is strong and 

 increasing reason to believe, that a deficiency of oleaginous matter, in a state fit 

 for appropriation by the nutritive processes, is a fertile source of diseased action, 

 especially of that of a tuberculous character; and that the habitual use of it in 

 larger proportion would operate favorably in the prevention of such maladies, 

 as the employment of cod-liver oil unquestionably does in their cure. A most 

 remarkable example of this is presented by the population of Iceland ; which, 

 notwithstanding the concurrence of every one of the circumstances usually con- 

 sidered favorable to the scrofulous diathesis, enjoys a most remarkable immu- 

 nity from it without any other assignable cause than the peculiarly oleaginous 

 character of the diet usually employed. 1 



IV. Another of the results of experience, of which Science has not yet given 

 a definite rationale, is the necessity of employing fresh vegetables as an article of 

 Diet; the almost invariable consequence of the entire omission of them being 

 the development of that peculiar constitutional disorder which is known as 

 Scurvy. That the deficiency of something which fresh vegetables can alone 

 supply is the essential cause of this disease (its operation being promoted, how- 

 ever, by other conditions, such as absolute deficiency of food, confinement, bad 

 ventilation, depression of spirits, &c.), may now be regarded as a well-established 

 fact, 3 and it is one which ought to have an important influence on our dietetic 

 arrangements. For if the total withdrawal of these articles be productive of 

 such a fearful depravation of the blood as perverts every function to which the 

 blood is subservient, a diminution of them below the standard requisite for the 

 maintenance of health must necessarily involve a depravation similar in kind 



1 See Dr. Schleisner's "Island undersogt fra Isegevidenskabeligt Synspunct," or Report 

 on the Sanitary Condition of Iceland ; and the analysis of it in the " Brit, and For. Med.- 

 Chir. Rev.," vol. v. p. 456. 



2 For a full inquiry into this subject, see the "Brit, and For. Med.-Chir. Rev.," vol. ii. 

 p. 439. 



