LETTERS TO BROTHER JOHN. 253 



it affords you, then, I say, why not eat a grain of 

 wheat, instead of drinking a glass of wine ; from 

 which grain of wheat you would derive just thrice 

 as much nourishment as you would from the glass 

 of wine ? Why go this expensive, and, as it were, 

 roundabout way, in order to obtain so .minute a por- 

 tion of nutritious matter, which you might so much 

 more readily obtain by other means ? 



Wine, therefore, possesses no power to nourish 

 the body ; or, at least, in so minute a degree as to 

 make it* as an article of nourishment, wholly un- 

 worthy notice. 



Well, then, Does it strengthen the body ? Let 

 us see. 



I have proved to you, in my former Letters, that 

 health and strength depend upon a high degree of 

 contractility : and I have proved, also, that a high 

 degree of contractility can only exist when the body 

 is rapidly and well nourished. Whatever, therefore, 

 is capable of strengthening the body, must do so by 

 increasing the contractility of its fibre : and what- 

 ever is capable of heightening contractility, must do 

 so by a vigorous and rapid nutrition of the body. 

 But we have just seen that wine possesses scarcely 

 any nutritious virtues at all. How then can it 

 strengthen the Body? It cannot: it is manifestly, 



