THAN THAT OF CARNIVORA. 923 



rabbit have a higher mean temperature, with 

 proportionally greater power of enduring cold and 

 prolonged muscular exertion, than the lion, tiger, 

 leopard, hyena, cat, or any species of carnivorous 

 mammalia, if we except the dog, wolf, and fox, 

 whose blood is not richer in organic particles 

 than that of the more active herbivora. And it 

 has been observed, that the greyhound, when fed 

 on hard biscuit, with milk and fat, is not less 

 swift as a runner than when supplied with lean 

 meat. There is also reason to believe, that during 

 recovery from long illness, the weight of a man, 

 nourished chiefly on farinaceous and saccharine 

 food, increases at the rate of about 8 oz. per day. 

 And as we have seen that men require two or 

 three times more lean meat for their support, 

 than of purely farinaceous and oily aliments, we 

 are authorized to conclude, that starch, fat, gum, 

 and sugar, not only support respiration, but that 

 during this process, they are transformed into 

 blood (by absorbing nitrogen from the air,) ca- 

 pable of nourishing the tissues, like gluten and 

 the nitrogenized portions of animal food.* 



* Dr. Paris thinks that an ounce of fat contains nutriment 

 equal to 4 oz. of lean meat. (On Diet, p. 72.) Nor can there 

 be a rational doubt that honey, sugar, sago, tapioca, and arrow 

 root, which contain little or no nitrogen, are highly nutritious. I 

 have also been frequently told, that the blacks of the West Indies 

 and Brazil are never so hearty and well looking as when they 

 live freely on juice of the sugar cane, with molasses. And we are 

 informed by Dr. Pereira, of an English woman who was nourished 



