286 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



Among the inquirers into the effects of different 

 kinds of food or animal nutrition, Dr. Stark, of Vi- 

 enna, appears to have taken the lead ; indeed, he 

 seems to have fallen a martyr to his zeal in the 

 cause of science, perishing, as he undoubtedly did, 

 from the results of his long-continued experiments 

 on himself. By confining himself to food of a par- 

 ticular kind for a considerable space of time, he was 

 able to ascertain its actual effect on the organs of 

 digestion, and its value as a source of nourishment. 

 Bread, meat, and milk, each in its turn, for a consid- 

 erable period was his sole nutriment ; and the result 

 showed that these things, certainly among the most 

 nutritive of substances, could not maintain the vig- 

 our of the body, or even life itself, for but a limited 

 time. In this respect man differs from the majority 

 of animals ; his organization is such as to admit and 

 even require a variety of food ; while many animals 

 are, by a law of their natures, confined to a particu- 

 lar kind, as flesh or vegetables. 



The French physiologists, Magendie and his coad- 

 jutors, followed up the experiments of Stark, not on 

 themselves, but on animals ; and found they could 

 not long survive on food, however nutritious in itself, 

 unless they received a large portion of that on which 

 they naturally subsist. Thus a dog fed on white 

 sugar and water alone soon became emaciated, lost 

 his appetite and sight, and perished. Few substan- 

 ces can be more nutritive than sugar, but it lacked 

 the power of properly distending the stomach and 

 exciting its digestive energies. Dogs fed on pure 

 wheat bread and water lived but little longer ; and 

 rabbits, which eat a variety of vegetables, such as 

 clover, cabbage, barley, corn, and carrots, were una- 

 ble to live for any time when confined to one of 

 these. It was found that animals, when much ema- 

 ciated and reduced by one kind of food, were not of 

 ten restored by another, though they frequently par 

 took of it with greediness the tone of the stomach 

 could not be regained. 



