TO UOHENBURG AND KREUTH. 199 



as though the great logs were charred by the flame. 

 Yet in a storm, or at dusk, the sight of such a poor 

 place of shelter is greeted with a heartier welcome 

 than we ever bestowed on the most luxurious hotel : 

 its low door, as we push it open and see the cheering 

 blaze, seems then the portal of a palace. 



The food of these men, though seemingly insuffi- 

 cient for the labour they have to endure, must afford 

 a great amount of nourishment : not only are they 

 strong and muscular, but their appearance is indica- 

 tive of perfect health, a testimony not perhaps quite 

 valueless to the advocates of a vegetable diet. 



Indeed I have long thought and an interesting 

 and instructive article in the Edinburgh Review* has 

 confirmed my opinion that there is a far greater de- 

 gree of nourishing matter, or, to speak more scienti- 

 fically, of the protein compounds, in bread and vegeta- 

 bles than has hitherto been generally believed. Were 

 this not the case, how would it be possible for the 

 poorer Bavarian peasant of the plain to endure such 

 an expenditure of strength as his labours demand ? It 

 is true he soon looks old, and becomes a poor withered 

 being, shrunken and shrivelled long before his time ; 

 but this arises as much from the constant exposure to 

 every sort of weather in insufficient clothing, as from 

 the inadequate quantity of the food which he takes 

 to support life. Could he but have enough of the 

 same most excellent brown bread, of porridge and 

 sour-krout, and of his good Bavarian beer, his ap- 



* For October, 1849. 



