MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. 181 



diet of most other animcils, which, in their wild state, are 

 confined to one kind of food, either animal or vegetable, and 

 are often restricted to some very small part of either king- 

 dom. Hence, it has been conceived, that man also ought 

 to confine himself to one sort, that he probably did so in Ids 

 natural state, and that the present variety in his bill of 

 fare is the consequence of degeneration or departure from 

 nature. The question of the natural food of man has, 

 therefore, been much agitated. 



The nature of an animal is only to be learned by an 

 observation of structure, actions, and habits. From the 

 powerful fangs and jaws, the tremendous talons, the cou- 

 rage, and the vast muscular strength of the lion, and his 

 constant practice of attacking living prey, we pronounce 

 his nature to be ferocious, predatory, and carnivorous. From 

 evidence of the same sort, we determine the nature of the 

 hare to be mikl, timid, and herbivorous. In a similar way 

 we conclude man to be naturally omnivorous ; finding that 

 he has instruments capable of procuring, masticating, and 

 digesting all descriptions of food, and that he can subsist 

 in health and strength on flesh or vegetables only, or on a 

 mixture of both. 



It is alleged in reply, that man in society is artificial 

 and degenerate ; and the object of inquiry is stated to be, 

 what does he feed on before civilization, in his original, 

 unsophisticated condition? Generally on animal food, the 

 produce of the chase or the fishery ; because vegetable food 

 cannot be obtained in sufficient certainty and abundance, 

 until something like settled habits of life have begun, until 

 the arts, at least that of agriculture, have commenced. If 



Brod verschaffen? Salzburg, 181 6. Atttenreith, Glilndliche Anleitung 

 zur lirod'zubereitung, aiis Holz ; Stuttgard, 1817. 



The last work, by Professor Autenreith, of Tubingen, is analyzed in 

 the Salzburg medicinisch cldrurgisc/ie Zcitung, 1817, v. 3, No. 56. 



The bark of trees has been long occasionally used as a substitute, in times 

 of scarcity, for other food. Professor Von Buch has described the prepa- 

 ration and effects of the Norwegian Barke Brod, which seems hovvevei* 

 a very imperfect and unwholesome kind of nutriment. — Travels through 

 Norway and Lapland ; p. 87. 



