190 MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. 



The form of the stomach and caecum, and the structure 

 of the whole canal, are very much alike in man and the 

 monkey kind. The orangs (S. satyrus, troglodytes, and 

 gibhon) have the appendix vermiformis, which the others 

 want. 



Thus we find that, whether we consider the teeth and 

 jaws, or the immediate instruments of digestion, the hu- 

 man structure closely resembles that of the simise ; all of 

 which, in their natural state, are completely herbivorous *. 



Man possesses a tolerably large coecum, and a cellular 

 colon, which, I believe, are not found in any carnivorous 

 animal. 



I do not infer from these circumstances that man is de- 

 signed by nature to feed on vegetables, or that it would 

 be more advantageous to him to adopt that diet. The 

 hands and the arts of man procure for him the food, which 

 carnivorous animals earn by their teeth. The processes 

 of cookery bring what he eats into a different state from 

 that in which it is employed either by carnivorous or 

 herbivorous animals. Hence the analogy in the modes of 

 procuring and preparing food is too loose for us to place 

 much confidence in the results of these comparative views. 

 We must trust to experience alone for elucidating the great 

 problem of diet ; its decision has been long ago pronounced, 

 and Avill hardly now be reversed. 



It is again a different inquiry, which diet is on the whole 

 most conducive to health and strength ? Which is best 



of the intestines, in consequence of the legs being included, the proportion 

 ■vvillbe iumanfrom 1 : 6 to 1 : 16. If the valvulte conniventes are pe- 

 culiar to man, this peculiarity will be equivalent to a considerable increase 

 of length in the canal. 



* Mr. Abel's orang-utang appears to have naturally preferred fruit: lie 

 yielded on ship-board to the temptation of meat, and seems to have quickly 

 become as carnivorous as his companions. 



" His food in Java was chieily fruit, especially mangostans, of which he 

 was excessively fond. He also sucked eggs with voracity ; and often cm- 

 ployed himself in seeking them. On board ship his diet was of no definite 

 kind. He ate readily all kinds of meat, and especially raw meat ; was 

 very fond of bread, but always preferred fruits when he could obtain them." 



