THE NATURAL DIET. 5 



Contrast the primeval condition of the dog with that 

 to-day. Once he provided for himself, and the tremen- 

 dous amount of exercise he was forced to take while 

 searching for food gave him not only a voracious appetite 

 but powers of digestion equal to any burden he could put 

 upon them. Now he is fed regularly and given some exer- 

 cise but not nearly the amount he had in his wild state. 

 Surely he of to-day cannot have the high health and vigor 

 of his ancestors, nor can his digestive and excretory organs 

 bear as heavy burdens as theirs were wont safely to bear. 

 As a matter of fact allow the average dog of these times 

 to gorge himself with flesh as his kind were accustomed 

 to do of old, and indigestion, if not a severer penalty, 

 would be exacted for even a single indulgence. 



When speculating as to the proper diet of mankind it is 

 quite the rule to insist that the stomach recognizes its own 

 wants and the appetite is a perfectly safe guide. 



This is true now neither of the human nor canine race, 

 although it doubtless was so when those races were created, 

 but since then they have been exposed to influences which 

 in time perverted their appetites, until they could not be 

 any longer relied upon as infallible guides. 



Consider the appetite of man. There are many articles 

 of food popular with him now which were really nauseating 

 to him at first, and he literally was obliged to learn to like 

 them ; and once he did so, he thereafter longed for them 

 quite as intensely as for the foods for which he had a 

 natural craving. "Gamey" meats, clams, lobsters, and 

 various vegetables are among the foods which to many were 

 distasteful at first. Tobacco is even a better illustration of 

 this acquired taste. 



Indeed, nature is most indulgent and ever ready to mod- 

 ify her laws and requirements to conform to adverse condi- 

 tions in man. Likewise with dogs, let one be denied 



