74 WASTE OF ORGANIZED TISSUES 



would contain enough of carbon to support the respira- 

 tory process. 



Man, when confined to animal food, requires for his 

 support and nourishment extensive sources of food, 

 even more widely extended than the lion and tiger, be- 

 cause when he has the opportunity, he kills without 

 eating. 



A nation of hunters, on a limited space, is utterly 

 incapable of increasing its numbers beyond a certain 

 point, which is soon attained. The carbon necessary 

 for respiration must be obtained from the animals, of 

 which only a limited number can live on the space sup- 

 posed. These animals collect from plants the con- 

 stituents of their organs and of their blood, and yield 

 them, in turn, to the savages who live by the chase 

 alone. They, again, receive this food unaccompanied 

 by those compounds, destitute of nitrogen, which, dur- 

 ing the life of the animals, served to support the res- 

 piratory process. In such men, confined to an animal 

 diet, it is the carbon of the flesh and of the blood which 

 must take the place of starch and sugar. 



But 15 Ibs. of flesh contain not more carbon than 

 4 Ibs. of starch, (ie) and while the savage with one ani- 

 mal and an equal weight of starch could maintain life 

 and health for a certain number of days, he would be 

 compelled, if confined to flesh, in order to procure the 

 carbon necessary for respiration, during the same time, 

 to consume five such animals. 



It is easy to see, from these considerations, how 

 close the connexion is between agriculture and the mul- 



