320 ON THE POTATOE. 



the advantages of a very fine and dry climate. Yet the duration of 

 life amongst them is very short, scarcely exceeding two-thirds of the 

 average duration of life in England, and in some districts much less. 

 Dr. Hawkins, in his Medical Statistics, states upon the authority of 

 M. Villerme, that in the department of Indre, " one-fourth of the 

 children born die within the first year, and half between fifteen and 

 twenty, and that three-fourths are dead within the space of fifty years. 11 

 Having inquired of a very eminent French physiologist, M. Dutrochet, 

 who is resident in the department of Indre, the cause of this extraor- 

 dinary mortality, he stated it to be their food, which consisted chiefly of 

 bread ; and of which he calculated every adult peasant to eat two pounds 

 a dav. And he added, without having received any leading question 

 from me, or in any degree knowing my opinion upon the subject, that if 

 the peasantry of his country would substitute (which they could do) a 

 small quantity of animal food with potatoes instead of so much bread, 

 they would live much longer, and with much better health. I am 

 inclined to pay much deference to M. Dutrochet's opinion ; for he com- 

 bines the advantages of a regular medical education with great acuteness 

 of mind, and I believe him to be as well acquainted with the general laws 

 of organic life as any person living : and I think his opinion deserves 

 some support from the well known fact, that the duration of human life 

 has been much greater in England during the last sixty years than in the 

 preceding period of the same duration. Bread made of wheat, when 

 taken in large quantities, has probably, more than any other article of 

 food in use in this country, the effect of overloading the alimentary 

 canal ; and the general practice of the French physicians points out the 

 prevalence of diseases thence arising amongst their patients. 



I do not, however, think or mean to say, that potatoes alone are 

 proper food for any human being : but I feel confident, that four ounces 

 of meat, with as large a quantity of good potatoes as would wholly take 

 away the sensation of hunger, would afford, during twenty-four hours, 

 more efficient nutriment than could be derived from bread in any 

 quantity, and might be obtained at much less expense. 



I now proceed to give an account of the result of the experiment above- 

 mentioned, which, I hope, will be found sufficiently interesting to attract 

 the attention of the Members of this Society. It has been proved by 

 many other persons, as well as by myself, that if all the blossoms of a 

 potatoe plant be picked off, as soon as they become visible, the quantity 

 of tubers will be considerably increased, particularly if the variety be 

 one which produces seeds ; and I have shown that the cause why early 



