66 FOOD. 



less than 30 or more than 80 per cent, of carbon are not well, if 

 at all, adapted for aliment. 



" It remains to be proved whether animals can live on one of 

 these families exclusively ; but at present experiments are de- 

 cidedly against this assumption, and the most probable view is, that 

 a mixture of two at least, if not of all three, of the classes of nutri- 

 ment, is necessary. Thus, as has been stated, milk is a compound 

 of this description, and almost all the gramineous and herbaceous 

 matters employed as food by animals contain at least two of the 

 three the saccharine and glutinous or albuminous. The same 

 is true of animal aliments, which consist, at least, of the albumin- 

 ous and oleaginous : in short, it is, perhaps, impossible to name a 

 substance employed by the more perfect animals as food, which 

 does not essentially constitute a natural compound of, at least, 

 tuoy if not of all three, of the above three great classes of aliment* 

 ary matters. 



" But it is in the artificial food of man that we see this great 

 principle of mixture most strongly exemplified. He, dissatisfied 

 with the productions spontaneously furnished by nature, culls from 

 every source, and, by the power of his reason, or, rather, his in- 

 stinct, forms, in every possible manner, and under every disguise, 

 the same great alimentary compound. This, after all his cooking 

 arid art, how much soever he may be inclined to disbelieve it, is the 

 sole object of his labour, and the more nearly his results approach 

 to this, the more nearly they approach perfection. Thus, from 

 the earliest times, instinct has taught him to add oil or butter 

 to farinaceous substances, such as bread, which are naturally 

 defective in this principle. The same instinct has taught him to 

 fatten animals, with the view of procuring the oleaginous in con- 

 junction with the albuminous principle, which compound he finally 

 consumes, for the most part in conjunction with saccharine prin- 

 ciples in the form of bread or vegetables. Even in the utmost 

 refinements of his luxury and in his choicest delicacies, the same 

 great principle is attended to, and his sugar and flour, his eggs and 

 butter, in all their various forms and combinations, are nothing 

 more nor less than disguised imitations of the great alimentary 

 prototype, milk, as presented to him by nature." P It may be 



f Consult also Dr. Prout's admirable Bridgewater Treatise, just published, 

 in which will be found this and much other highly original and valuable 

 matter. 



