EXTRACT XLI.B. 



ON "FOOD AND DRINK." 



FOOD and drink, in a sense, may be described as the 

 raison d'etre of organic existence, alike in the vegetable and 

 the animal worlds, between which, in these matters, a 

 process of give and take exists on every hand, the balance 

 of advantage resting with the one or the other according 

 to the laws of battle , which are not always in favour of 

 the " swift " or the " strong/' but which, on all occasions, 

 may be said to eventuate, in the long run, in the survival 

 of the fittest by "natural selection/' in agreement with 

 the dictates of " evolution," character of " environment," 

 and hereditary advantages. The want of food and drink 

 isfetfy and sensibly, or insensibly, realised by every organic 

 unit, and must be satisfied before that unit can have any 

 satisfaction in life life, in this sense, consisting of a 

 struggle for food and drink in order that it may survive 

 and perpetuate itself. In the obtaining of food and drink, 

 the life-work of man is mainly spent, and the manifold 

 industries and commercial enterprises of the world are 

 endlessly maintained by his daily recurring absolute needs 

 and his acquired tastes the character of the needs may, 

 hence, vary with the passage of time and the prevailing 

 tastes, but their satisfaction is rigorously enforced with 

 unerring feeling or instinct, which, if properly appeased, is 

 followed by the best results ; but which, if met with wrong 

 devices, must be followed with corresponding results. 



Food and drink, or the solids and liquids of everyday 

 sustenance, enter the body by a common orifice, become 

 intimately mixed and blended, so as to afford a common 



