FOOD OF ANIMALS. 203 



is converted into fat and is likewise stored up. Thus it is, that 

 Turkish women, shut up in the harem, without exercise of mind 

 or body, living on a farinaceous diet, acquire the embonpoinment 

 so highly prized as an element of beauty in their country ; and 

 mdeed, it is to this cause that women in general owe the softness 

 of muscle, their roundness of outline, which contrasts so strik- 

 ingly with the muscular development and angular contour of men. 



The application of these principles to the feeding of animals 

 accordmg to the object we have in view, is sufficiently obvious. 

 If we would simply fatten an animal and prepare it for being 

 ,eaten, we keep it at rest in a warm stable, and give it food con- 

 tainmg an abundance of the supporters of respiration, so that its 

 muscles may become tender and that the oleaginous and saccharine 

 prmciples of the food may not be consumed in warming the ani- 

 nal but may be deposited as fat. If on the other hand we wish 

 procure hard and strong muscles, as in a race-horse, we keep 

 iini in exercise and give him food containing more largely of the 

 dbuminous principle. Contrary to a common opinion, food rich 

 n albuminous matter does not contribute to the production of 

 ,at. It is not very unusual for persons who wish to repress a dis- 

 position to obesity, to avoid animal food and restrict themselves 

 vegetables, and find to their surprise that the accumulation of 

 at takes place more rapidly than before. 



The use of alcoholic drinks dispose to obesity, unless they are 

 bused to such a degree as to give rise to a derangement of diges- 

 lon, which prevents the introduction of nutritive matter into the 

 lood. Although the composition of alcohol is analogous to that 

 f fat, it is not probable that it undergoes conversion into fat in the 

 ody, but rather that, by combining rapidly with the oxygen of 

 le blood, it leaves a larger portion of the saccharine and oleagi- 

 ous matters of the food to be converted into and deposited as fat. 

 fermented liquors contain a quantity of saccharine matter, and are 

 |»r this reason particularly apt to cause obesity. Indeed, any cause 

 |hich consumes the oxygen of the blood, or prevents its introduction, 

 ksatendency to produce an accumulation of fat. Want of exercise 

 icrates in keeping the respiration sluggish, and thus preventing 

 e mtroduction of oxygen. Asthma, and diseases of the heart, 

 1' obstructing the circulation through the lungs, have a similar 

 Itidency. 



