NEED OF ANIMAL FOOD. 7 



either in peace or in war ; for guiding the plough, or 

 wielding sword and bayonet. The recruiting officers in 

 the south-eastern counties complain that in size and 

 strength the peasantry are inferior to those of the north 

 and north-midland counties, and farmers observe the 

 same variation in the amount of labour which they can 

 obtain from their men.* This deteriorated race gives 

 birth to a yet more enfeebled offspring ; so that the de- 

 sire to arrest this degeneration of the physical constitu- 

 tion of the British people should make us give willing 

 ear to such a man as M. Saint-Hilaire, when propound- 

 ing his views on a matter of such importance as that 

 regarding the means of public nutrition. 



He discusses, in the first place, the normal laws of 

 nutrition established by Liebig and other eminent 

 chemists, who demonstrate that flesh-eating animals 

 are in general stronger than the herbivorous on which 

 they prey, and that no other substance equals animal 

 food in the production of flesh, and in the reparation of 

 muscular energy expended in labour. Hence the neces- 

 sity of providing it for the labouring classes everywhere, 

 and especially in northern climates and in great cities. 

 Is it sufficiently supplied? Evidently not. Adopting 

 83 kilogrammes a-year as the normal rate of nutrition 

 necessary for the comfortable existence of human beings, 

 M. Saint-Hilaire demonstrates that this is so far from 

 being attained in France, that to arrive at it demands 

 the production of three and a-half times more animal 

 food than France actually produces. Instead of 83 kilo- 

 grammes, Frenchmen, on the average, only consume 28 

 kilogrammes of animal food per annum. " The differ- 

 ence between the normal and the actual consumption is 

 enormous," exclaims the Professor, "the deficit im- 

 mense ! " We need hardly inform our readers that he 

 proposes to supply this deficit by the consumption of 

 horse-flesh, "a reserve for which we need not cross 

 the sea, nor even the frontier, which is always at hand, 

 * Thornton on Over-Population. 



