194 ALIMENTATION. 



necessarily somewhat monotonous, there was an almost universal craving for onions and 

 raw potatoes, which were found by the surgeons to be excellent anti-scorbutics. 



With those who supply their own food, the question of variety of diet generally 

 regulates itself; and in institutions, it is a good rule to follow as far as possible the 

 reasonable tastes of the inmates. In individuals, particularly females, it is not uncommon 

 to observe marked disorders in nutrition attributable to want of variety in the diet as 

 well as to an insufficient quantity of food, as a matter of education or habit. 



The physiological effects of a diet restricted to a single alimentary principle or to a 

 few articles have been pretty closely studied both in the human subject and in the inferior 

 animals. Magendie demonstrated long ago that animals subjected to a diet composed 

 exclusively of non-nitrogenized articles die in a short time with all the symptoms of 

 inanition. The same result followed in dogs confined to white bread and water ; but 

 these animals lived very well on the military brown bread, as this contains a greater 

 variety of alimentary principles. Facts of this nature were multiplied by the " gelatine 

 commission," and the experiments were extended to nitrogenized substances and articles 

 containing a considerable variety of alimentary principles. In these experiments, it was 

 shown that dogs could not live on a diet of pure musculine, the appetite entirely failing, at 

 from the forty-third to the fifty -fifth day. They were nourished perfectly well by gluten, 

 which, as we have seen, is composed of a number of different alimentary principles. 

 Among the conclusions arrived at by this commission, which bear particularly on the 

 questions under consideration, were the following : 



" Gelatine, albumen, fibrin, taken separately, do not nourish animals except for a very 

 limited period and in a very incomplete manner. In general, these substances soon 

 excite an insurmountable disgust, to the point that animals prefer to die of hunger rather 

 than touch them. 



" The same principles artificially combined and rendered agreeably sapid by season- 

 ing are accepted more readily and longer than if they were isolated, but ultimately they 

 have no better influence on nutrition, for animals that take them, even in considerable 

 quantity, finally die with all the signs of complete inanition. 



" Muscular flesh, in which gelatine, albumen, and fibrin are united according to the 

 laws of organic nature, and when they are associated with other matters, such as fat> 

 salts, etc., suffices, even in very small quantity, for complete and prolonged nutri- 

 tion." 



In Burdach's treatise on physiology, is an account of some interesting experiments by 

 Ernest Burdach on rabbits, showing the influence of a restricted diet upon nutrition. 

 Three young rabbits from the same litter were experimented upon. One was fed with 

 potato alone and died on the thirteenth day with all the appearances of inanition. 

 Another fed on barley alone died in the same way during the fourth week. The third 

 was fed alternately day by day with potato and barley, for three weeks, and afterward 

 with potato and barley given together. This one increased in size and was perfectly 

 well nourished. 



In 1769, long before any of the above-mentioned experiments were performed, Dr. 

 Stark, a young English physiologist, fell a victim at an early age to ill-judged experiments 

 on his own person on the physiological effects of different kinds of food. He lived for 

 forty -four days on bread and water, for twenty-nine days on bread, sugar, and water, and 

 for twenty-four days on bread, water, and olive-oil ; until finally his constitution became 

 broken, and he died from the effects of his experiments. 



