6 NUTRIENTIA. ART. I. 2. i. 2. 



flefli in fmall quantities bruifed to a pulp be more ad vantage ouf- 

 ly ufed in fevers attended with debility than vegetable diet ? 



That fleftu which is of the darkeft colour, generally contains 

 more nourifhrnent, and (limulates our veiTels more powerfully, 

 than the white kinds. The flefh of the carnivorous and pifciv- 

 orous animals is fo ftimulating, that it feldom enters into the 

 food of European nations, except the fwine, the Soland goofe 

 (Pelicanus Baflanus), and formerly the fwan. Of thefe the 

 fwinf and the fwan are fed previoufly upon vegetable aliment ; 

 and the Soland goofe is taken in very fmall quantity, only as a 

 whet to the appetite. Next to thefe are the birds, that feed up- 

 on infects, which are perhaps the moil (limulating and the moil 

 nutritive of our ufual food. 



It is faid that a greater quantity of volatile alkali can be ob- 

 tained from this kind of flefh, to which ha^. been afcribed its 

 ftimulating quality But it is more probable, that frefh flefli 

 contains only the elements of volatile alkali. 



2. Next to the dark coloured flefh of animals, the various tribes 

 of fhell-fifh feem to claim their place, and the wholefome kinds 

 of mufhrooms, which mull be efteemed animal food, both for 

 their alkalefcent tendency, their ftimulating quality, and the 

 quantity of nourifhment, which they afford; as oyiters, lobfters, 

 crab-fifh, fhrimps ; mufhrooms ; to which perhaps might be 

 added fome of the fifh without fcales ; as the eel, barbolt, tench, 

 fmelt, turbot, turtle. 



The fiefh of many kinds of flfh, when it is fuppofed to have 

 undergone a beginning putrefaction, becomes luminous in the 

 dark. This feems to (hew a tendency in the phofphorus to ef- 

 cape, and combine with the oxygen of the atrnofphere ^ and 

 would hence fhew, that this kind of flefh is not fo perfectly an- 

 imaJized as thofe before mentioned- This light, as it is fre- 

 quently feenonronen wood, and fometimes on veal, which has 

 been kept too long, as I have been told, is commonly fuppofed 

 to have its caufe from putrefaction ; but is neverthelefs moft 

 probably of phofphoric origin, like that feen in the dark on 

 oyfter-mells, which have previoufly been ignited and afterwards 

 expofec! to the funfhine, and on the Bolognian ftone. See Bo- 

 tan. Card. Vol. I. Cant. I. line 182, the note, and additional 

 note X. 



3 I he flefh of young animals, as of lamb, veal, and fucking- 

 pigs, fupplies us with a flill lefs Simulating food The broth 

 of thefe is faid to become four, an 1 continues fo a confiderable 

 time before it changes into putridity ; fo much loes their flelh 

 partake of the chemical properties of the milk, with which thefe 

 animals are nourifhed. 



4. The 



