No. 149.] 219 



their saline taste, and mucilaginous matter. They are not fit for 

 the table during a spawning season. 



There are many species of the turtle made use of as food, taken 

 from the ocean, and likewise tortoises or land turtles. Thev are 

 generally considered a delicious article of nutriment. 



The crocodile is eaten in Africa ; the lizard in South America ; 

 the frog in France j the toad is likewise eaten in Africa. Locusts 

 are considered a great luxury, both salted and fresh, in Abyssinia 

 and Barbary. "Diodorus Siculus describes the natives of Ethio- 

 pia as feeding upon locusts." " John the Baptist lived upon lo- 

 custs and wild honey." 



Vegetables used as food are consumed by man in larger pro- 

 portions, probably, than any other description of matter. Diodo- 

 rus Siculus and Pliny inform us that the primeval races searched 

 the fields and forests for wild plants to eat. The Grecians are rep- 

 resented at an early day as living chiefly upon acorns and wild 

 pease. In some warm climates, even at the present day, vegeta- 

 ble nourishment forms the principal nutriment. Some plants 

 may be eaten with impunity while young and tender, which 

 "when more advanced in their growth become poisonous. The 

 seeds of some plants are used as food ; the leaves of others ; and 

 others still the roots. Some require that their poisonous juices 

 be extracted, after which they are delicious as a vegetable. The 

 fibrous parts of vegetables are not generally considered digesti- 

 ble ; the skins of grapes will pass tlirough a man unchanged, 

 likewise the husks of pease, corn, oats, and other cereal grains, 

 will pass through the stomach of horses, birds, &c., still possess- 

 ing the germinating power, owing to the indigestible husks en- 

 veloping them. Vegetables so closely resemble animals, that the 

 only difference I can discover between the two is, that the vege- 

 table is devoid of sensation and the animal possesses it. The an- 

 imal receives its food through its mouth, the vegetable through 

 its roots ; their powers both depend upon the vital principle ; 

 they both digest, assimilate, transform and convert into nourish- 

 ment the substances that enter their systems. The mode by 

 which these numerous changes are performed, must be left to the 

 <;hemistry of nature to discover'. 



