ARTICLES OF FOOD. 33 



lion and tiger steaks, afford the favorite repast to the success- 

 ful African hunter ; while the South American Indian regards 

 a boiled monkey as the most tempting of all dishes. 



The flesh of domesticated animals must always be a dearer 

 aliment than vegetables; the same land required to supply food 

 to the animal, yielding much more than its alimentary equiva- 

 lent in vegetable products. In England, in the seventeenth 

 century, not more than one-half of the families had ever tasted 

 meat, and a large part of the remaining half only had it as an. 

 occasional luxury. Of the vast population of China, few ever 

 obtain it. 



The amount of meat eaten -by the laboring classes, in any 

 nation, affords one of the best modes of judging of their com- 

 parative comfort and well-being. As wages advance, and wealth 

 becomes distributed, the ameliorated condition is seen in an. 

 improved diet. Much as we revere the customs of our fathers, 

 we would hardly be willing to exchange our food for theirs. 

 Bean and pease porridge, corn and rye bread, baked beans 

 and hasty pudding and milk are as readily supplied to our 

 tables as to theirs. But the addition of more meat, of wheat 

 bread, and the other delicate preparations of wheat, of choicer 

 fruits, and vegetables in greater variety, render our tables more 

 inviting, and probably, not less healthful than theirs. 



A late number of a British agricultural journal asserts that, 

 " in no country is the proportionate consumption of bread, but- 

 ter, tea, sugar and meat so large as in Great Britain ; and that 

 in the domestic homes of the laborer, there is to be found a 

 degree of comfort and competency, of wholesome food, and 

 that of a quality best suited to maintain bodily health and vigor, 

 which is looked for in vain elsewhere." This is a broad rather 

 than a bold assertion, for it requires no courage to boast. Of 

 the inhabitants of Great Britain, the Irish subsist almost entirely, 

 upon potatoes. Oatmeal is a principal food of the Scotch. 

 Our Patent Office Reports assert that in no country is so much 

 meat eaten by the laboring people as in the United States. 

 And, gathering results from a variety of sources, I have no 

 doubt of the truth of this assertion, although a comparison is 

 instituted, not with the whole of Great Britain, but witli Eng- 

 land only. The economical system of starving has never been 

 introduced into our prison and pauper establishments. Our 



