SWINE. 373 



porkdom ; but the exact period at which a pig becomes of age, 

 or, in other words, a hog, has never been decided; though from 

 early infancy his hoggish propensities, like tliose of some per- 

 sons we wot of, are considerably developed. 



According to medical men, scrofula means " little pig; " and 

 it is well known that pork is difficult of digestion, and liable to 

 produce cutaneous diseases, especially in scrofulous systems, 

 and persons thus circumstanced crave it continually. Pork 

 was much used by the Jews ; yet they seemed to understand its 

 effect upon the system; for, by the stringent laws of Moses, it 

 was strictly forbidden in cases of leprosy — that being a disease 

 of the skin. Some have considered it more healthy to eat 

 pork in winter than in summer, in cold climates than in warm; 

 and there is a reason for it. Physicians say that the constant 

 use of pork in warm weather tends to produce bilious com- 

 plaints ; but in cold weather the system requires more carbon 

 than in warm, in order to keep up the proper degree of animal 

 heat; and oily substances of every description contain a large 

 proportion of carbon, as do wood, charcoal, and other com- 

 bustible materials. The union of carbon and oxygen creates 

 heat ; and it matters not whether that union is conducted in the 

 fireplace and lampwick, or in the lungs of animals or human 

 beings. In either case the action (the union of the carbon, in 

 the wood, oil and blood, with the oxygen of the air) and the 

 result (the production of heat) are one and the same. Hence 

 the Esquimaux quaffs his liquid whale oil with apparent gusto; 

 his system requires it, and his lamp of life will not continue to 

 burn without it. And like the lampwick, which is so saturated 

 with oil that it will flicker and soon be extinguished, is the man 

 who, in warm climates or in warm weather, loads his stomach 

 with greasy pork, that will either not digest, producing dyspep- 

 sia, or, if digesting, will so overcharge the blood with carbon 

 that the oxygen of the air in the lungs cannot in any manner 

 unite witli it. Hence it is that impurities inevitably collect in 

 the lungs, causing consumption, while the blood is returned to 

 the system in an impure state, producing diseases of all kinds. 

 Thus much of medical comment. 



If swine are allowed to feed on grass, without much other 

 nutriment, the effect of constantly reaching down is to lengthen 



