REQUIRED TO MAINTAIN HEALTH. 931 



gestion, head ache, low spirits, hysterics, gout, 

 &c. For example, it is well known to the feeders 

 of poultry, that after being crammed for ten days 

 or two weeks, until loaded with fat, they become 

 feverish and drooping. It is therefore obvious, 

 that a large accumulation of fat is incompatible 

 with a healthy condition of the blood, and should 

 be prevented either by abstinence or by exercise, 

 which, according to Lucian, performs the same 

 office which winnowing does for corn, by blowing 

 away the chaff and other impurities, while the 

 pure grain is left behind. 



Nearly all descriptions of food are more diges- 

 tible and nutritious when cooked, than in the 

 raw state, if we except the softer species of ripe 

 fruits, (which are already more or less cooked by 

 the heat of the sun) and oysters, the albumen of 

 which is coagulated like the white of eggs, by a 

 high temperature. For the same reason, warm 

 meals are more easily digested by weak stomachs, 

 than when cold. And we are told by the Chevalier 

 Edelcrantz of Sweden, that the process is accele- 

 rated by warm clothing, but retarded by what- 

 ever reduces the temperature of the body below 

 the natural standard. 



In regard to the modus, operandi of ardent 

 spirits, wine, malt liquors, and other stimulants, 

 on the animal economy, very little has been as- 

 certained with certainty. It is generally under- 

 stood, that their activity is in proportion to the 



