212 JASSKMBLY 



by the addition of clialk and sulplmric acid may be converted 

 into gum arable, and this again by a simple chemical process 

 may be changed into sugar. Sugar may be made from flax, or 

 from linen rags, and old ropes, also from starch. Animal food 

 is more powerfully nourishing to our system than vegetables. 

 It contains the four elements, and nitrogen, included necessary 

 to our being ; when animal bodies decay, they are at once con- 

 verted into vegetables, both consisting of the same elements ; so 

 that the hydrogen and oxygen which one day appears to us as 

 a vegetable, may the next form one of the component parts of an 

 animal. Matter once formed by the Creator exists forever, 

 throughout creation ; different applications of the very same 

 matter are eternally taking place ; vegetables are the food of an- 

 imals, and conduce to their nourishment and growth, animals 

 are the food of man, and when man in turn dies he decomposes 

 and mixes with the soil, and in due course of time furnishes food 

 to vegetables. 



It has been suggested frequently that man in the early ages 

 lived entirely upon vegetables, and that eating the flesh of ani- 

 mals was caused by degeneracy. The formation of man seems 

 to throw some light on this subject. Carnivorous creatures may 

 be distinguished from the herbivorous by the structure of their 

 teeth and digestive organs. For instance, the teeth of animals 

 living upon flesh and vegetables are short, as those of the car- 

 nivorous tribe ; the herbivorous, feeding chiefly upon vegeta- 

 bles, are very long. Man must be considered an omnivorous 

 animal, as he enjoys a wide range in the power he possesses of 

 extracting nourishment from an immense variety of substances, 

 thus enabling him to extend his power to the remotest regions of 

 the earth, showing how ? onderful the productions of nature are 

 suited to his wants, in every climate feeling the genial influence 

 of the sun. In warm regions, he selects for his principal food 

 vegetables, as being the most appropriate, as the flesh of carni- 

 vorous animals would be too stimulating, form too much heat 

 and blood, and, furthermore, vegetables are exceedingly abun- 

 dant and delicious. In frozen regions, he selects animal food, 

 because it keeps up the animal warmth of his body, strengthens 



