144 LETTERS TO BROTHER JOHN. 



more nourished or fed by the food we eat, than 

 sheep are nourished by the turnip-seed which the 

 farmer sows. The turnip-seed soon loses its iden- 

 tity ; but in doing so, it gives rise to a turnip ; and 

 it is upon this turnip that the sheep feeds, and not 

 upon the seed which produced it. And, in like 

 manner, the food which we eat loses, like the seed, 

 its nature and identity ; but in doing so, it produces 

 blood ; and it is by this blood that our bodies are 

 fed, nourished, and sustained. For, as the turnip 

 is not the seed, but the product of the seed, so 

 neither is the blood food, but the product of the 

 food ; and it is from this new product that we derive 

 our strength. Hence becomes manifest the utter 

 impossibility of deriving any manner of nourish- 

 ment or strength from substances which are inca- 

 pable of being converted into blood ; for example, 

 ardent spirit : no mechanism, no chemistry, no 

 power, no magic, is capable of converting brandy 

 into blood. 



Hitherto, then, we have only seen the seed sown, 

 and the proper fruit produced. We have now to 

 mark the manner by which the body is fed and 

 nourished by this fruit. By the way, I may as well 

 take this opportunity of calling upon you to take 

 notice how little the quantity which we eat has to 



