4io Of Food. 



tant advantages which may in all countries be derived 

 from them, I shall return to the interesting subjects 

 which I have undertaken to investigate, the science 

 of nutrition, and the art of providing wholesome and 

 palatable food at a small expense. 



CHAPTER II. 



Of the Pleasures of Eating, and of the Means that may 

 be employed for increasing it. 



WHAT has already been said upon this subject 

 will, I flatter myself, be thought sufficient to 

 show that,/0r all the purposes of nourishment, a much 

 smaller quantity of solid food will suffice than has 

 hitherto been thought necessary ; but there is another 

 circumstance to be taken into the account, and that is 

 the pleasure of eating, an enjoyment of which no per- 

 son will consent to be deprived. 



The pleasure enjoyed in eating depends first upon 

 the agreeableness of the taste of the food, and secondly 

 upon its power to affect the palate. Now there are 

 many substances extremely cheap, by which very agree- 

 able taste may be given to food, particularly when the 

 basis or nutritive substance of the food is tasteless ; and 

 the effect of any kind of palatable solid food (of meat, 

 for instance) upon the organs of taste may be increased 

 almost indefinitely, by reducing the size of the particles 

 of such food, and causing it to act upon the palate by a 

 larger surface. And if means be used to prevent its 

 being swallowed too soon, which may be easily done 



