140 URINE. 



to convince us of the superiority of urine as a 

 manure:* 



We have elsewhere (page 64) endeavoured 

 to show, that all excrement partakes of the na- 

 ture of the food; that if food, consisting almost 

 wholly of nitrogen, is consumed, that such ex- 

 (5rement wall principally consist of the nitro- 

 gen not required to supply the waste of the 

 body. That if food principally consists of 

 substances in which carbon predominates, that 

 the matter voided as excrement neither is not, 

 nor cannot be so rich in nitrogen as in the pre- 

 ceding case : the rule holds good throughout 

 all creation; and therefore, as man is a car- 

 nivorous animal, and lives in great measure on 

 the flesh of animals, a substance almost en- 

 tirely composed of nitrogen, human urine is 

 much richer in this substance, nitrogen, than 

 in animals living exclusively on vegetables. 

 The analysis of these matters accordingly 

 proves that human urine contains four times 

 more fertilizing matter, than the urine of horses, 

 cows, and sheep. 



* Analysis of Hermbstoedt, quoted by Professor Daubeny. 



