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♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Dec. 21, 1883. 



(4.) Perched RoitMers. — When a glacier, owing to 

 gradual softening of climate, melts away, it leaves the 

 huge uiasaea of rock it has borne down very often 

 " perched " in very peculiar positions, so peculiar that we 

 know of nothing capable of placing huge blocks of stone 

 in such positions, except receding glaciers. Very many of 

 these "perched boulders " may be seen in Britain, especially 

 among the mountains of Scotland and Wales, evidently 

 left in their present position by glaciers which have now 

 disa))peared, 



(5.) Scored aiid, Rounded Mountains. — These same 

 mountains of Scotland and Wales by their scored, rounded, 

 or worn ilankB, present an identical appearance with moun- 

 tains elsewhere where the very same appearance is produced 

 by ice. Consequently the tale they tell of the former 

 au;tion of ice is obvious. 



(G.) Dome-shaped rocks. — When huge masses of rock lie 

 in the bed of a glacier, they become so worn and rubbed by 

 the glacier that they assume a dome-shaped form, bearing 

 a fanciful resemblance to the backs of a flock of sheep, and 

 hence called in French " roch/'s vwiitoiini'es." These dome- 

 shaped rocks are found plentifully in all countries where 

 glaciers exist to form them, and as they are found plenti- 

 fully in Yorkshire and elsewhere in England, the conclusion 

 is irresistible that glaciers once existed to cause them in 

 our own land. 



I think it will be clear from the foregoing marks in the 

 scenery of the country which I have enumerated and 

 described, that the evidence for the existence of a Glacial 

 Period in the Northern Hemisphere generally (for these 

 marks are not confined to England, but are found over the 

 whole of thf north of Europe, and in the United States 

 and elsewhere in America) is of exactly the same kind as 

 the evidence afforded by a house that has been burnt. For 

 just as charred timbers and blackened walls tell us plainly 

 that^re has been at work, so moraines, polished rock sur- 

 faces, erratic blocks, perched boulders, scored and rounded 

 mountains, and dome-shaped rocks tell us plainly that ice 

 has been at work. Although we may neither have seen 

 the fire that burnt the house, nor the glacial ice that left 

 these marks, although there may have been no eye-witnesses 

 in either case, still this does not affect our conclusion ; for 

 just as we know that fire, and fire only, produces the 

 appearances we see in a burnt house, so we know that ice, 

 and ice only, produces those marks in the scenery which 

 have been enumerated. Therefore, we conclude that, 

 wherever those marks are found, ice, and ice only, has 

 caused them. 



Striking as these e%-idences are of the existence in 

 England and the northern hemisphere generally of a 

 Glacial Period, they are by no means the only evidences. 

 Be-sides these six several features in the scenery which may 

 1)6 grouped together under the head of Inorganic Evidences, 

 we have in addition thereto Organic and Collateral Evi- 

 dences. We will look at fach of these somewhat in detail 

 in our next article Robert B. Cook. 



CHEAP AXD GOOD FOOD.* 



By T. R. Allinson, L.R.O.P. 



ALLOW me to bring under the notice of your readers 

 some experiments I have just concluded to solve the 

 difficulty of feeding our poor in London and elsewhere. The 

 cry ia that food is so dear the poor can scarcely live. This 

 cry ia true if they want to live on luxuries, but if they will 



* Prom a letter to the Times by our valued correspondent, 

 T. R. Allinson, L.K.C.P. 



live on wholesome but plain and healthy fare they can do 

 so for very little. A little over a month ago I determined 

 to give up all expen.sive articles of food and live almost as 

 cheaply as possible. Having left off flesh foods for nearly 

 two years, and lecturing frequently on the question of food, 

 I knew what to select. Looking over my food accounts, I 

 found milk, butter, eggs, and cheese, with tea and coffee 

 were fairly expensive articles, and none of them necessary, 

 so I gave them up for a time to see results. On October 19 

 I began my experiment ; my weight was then 9 stone 8 

 ounces. I continued this purely vegetarian diet for a month, 

 when my weight wa.s 9 stone 3 pounds 12 ounces, or a gain 

 of ?)\ pounds. My friends said I looked well ; I felt well, 

 and did my usual work the same as ever. I walked from 

 10 to 15 mile.? daily, seeing patients or taking exercise. 

 Here is an account of my dietary, which cost me little more 

 than sixpence a day, and I could easily live for leaa without 

 luxuries : — Breakfast consisted of a basin of porridge, made 

 from a mixture of oatmeal and wheatmeal, which I found 

 more palatable than either singly. This I usually eat with 

 bread to insure thorough insalivation. Then came bread 

 fried in refined cotton-seed oil, or fried vegetable haggis. 

 For drink I had a cup of cocoa or fruit syrup, with warm 

 water and sugar. The cocoa used was an ordinary one with 

 plenty of starch in it, which makes a thick drink, and no 

 milk is then required. Dinner consisted of a thick vegetable 

 soup and bread, potato pie, savoury pie, vegetarian pie, 

 vegetable stew, stewed rice and tomatoes, kc. For a 

 second oour.se I had bread plum-pudding, stewed rice and 

 fruit, baked sago, tapioca and apples, stewed prunes, figs, 

 raisins, and bread. Tea meal consisted of bread and jam, 

 stewed fruit, or some green stuff, as watercress, celery, 

 tomatoes, kc. I had only three meals a day, and freijuently, 

 when very busy, I had only two, and a cup of cocoa and a 

 biscuit for supper. I always use the whole-meal bread, as 

 it is laxative and contains a good deal of nitrogen, which is 

 thrown away with the bran. The cotton-seed oil is a cheap 

 and good cooking oil, and is impossible to detect. This 

 diet I continued for a month, and now I only take the 

 animal products when out, not having them at my table. 



Now compare this diet with one of flesh or a mixed one. 

 The latest analysis shows flesh to contain from 70 to 74 per 

 cent, of water, the dry residue being very rich in nitrogen, 

 and it contains a little carbonaceous or fatty matter. 

 Hence, to live on meat alone, as much as 8 lb. a day is 

 necessary. Then there are to be considered the diseases of 

 animal.s which are communicable to man if that flesh be 

 not thoroughly cooked all through, and as very few of 

 our animals live a perfectly natural life, most of them are 

 more or less diseased, especially the fat ones. The excess 

 of nitrogen taken into the system in eating flesh meat has 

 to be got rid of by the liver, kidneys, and lungs ; hence 

 these organs are overtaxed, and much disease is the conse- 

 quence. In fact, were it not for flesh food we doctors 

 should have very little to do. ^Nlan living in towns cannot 

 afford to eat much flesh, because he does not get 

 sufiicient exercise and oxygen to burn up the excess 

 of nitrogen. If he does eat this flesh, and if 

 he eat much, then he must suffer from many 

 complaints, such as indigestion, bilious attacks, con- 

 gested liver, hsemorrhoids, gastric catarrh, and other gastric 

 troubles. If the habit be continued in, gall-stones or 

 urinary calculi may follow, or rheumatism and gout. Then 

 the kidneys become diseased and more work is thrown on 

 the heart, which becomes also diseased ; the end is death 

 by one of the lingering diseases, which shows a diseased 

 organ somewhere. Even epilepsy and many nervous 

 diseases are aggravated by flesh. Cancer is on the increase, 

 and, from some observations I have made, it may be 



