486 



SPECIAL PHYSIOLOGY. 



ANALYSIS OF VEGETABLE PROXIMATE CONSTITUENTS. 



the organism employed for that purpose in animals. Nevertheless, 

 he accomplishes this act with facility. 



In the choice and selection of food, Man, guided by his intelligence, 

 possesses enormous advantages over the lower animals. He ranges 

 through the whole domain of the organic kingdom, and by the arts of 

 acclimatization, breeding, cultivation, and agriculture, has improved 

 many species, both animal and vegetable, which, in their wild and un- 

 cultivated condition, are much inferior as sources of food. The im- 

 provement of the cereal, or corn plants, of vegetables and fruits, and 

 of the ox, sheep, and pig, and also the acclimatization of many galli- 

 naceous birds, and the more recent results of pisciculture, and of at- 

 tempts to breed the oyster, afford proofs of this statement. 



Thd use of fire for the preparation of food, is, like the employment 

 of fire in general, peculiar to Man, who has, indeed, been designated 

 a "cooking animal." The direct application of fire heat to food, de- 

 velops peculiar empyreumatic flavors and odors, in the cooked substance, 

 whether this be animal or vegetable; but the more important action of 



