74 



to the state of starch, when brought lo fine powder by means of a rasp, 

 for, the friction disengaging a portion of its oxygen, deprives it in part of 

 its flavour, and leaves it an insipid taste, similar to that of farinaceous 

 substances. Nothing, in fact, nourishes better, more quickly, and from 

 a similar bulk, than substances of this kind. The Arab crosses the vast 

 plains of the desert, and supports himself by swallowing a small quantity 

 of gum arabic. The nourishing quality of animal and vegetable jellies is 

 well known'; saccharine substances soon cloy the appetite of those who arc 

 fondest of them: In decrepid old age, some persons live exclusively on 

 sugar; I know several in that condition, who spend the day in chewing 

 this substance, which is a laborious employment for their feeble and 

 toothless jaws*. Lastly, milk, the sole nourishment of the early periods 

 of life, contains a great proportion of gelatinous and saccharine matter. 



Though man, destined to live in all latitudes, is formed to subsist on 

 all kinds of food, it has been observed, that the inhabitants of warm cli- 

 mates generally prefer a vegetable dietf. The Bramins in India, the in- 

 habitants of the Canary Islands, and of the Brazils, Sec. who live almost 



* MAGEXIUE concluded from his experiments, that no animal seems capable of deriv- 

 ing nutriment from any substance that does not contain some portion of azote. There 

 are, however, many circumstances which prove the contrary ADAXSOX asserts, that 

 the Nomadie Moors have scarcely any other food than gum Senegal. HASSEL<VUIST re- 

 lates, that a caravan of Abyssinians, consisting of 1000 persons, subsisted for two months 

 on a stock of gum arabic alone, which they found among 1 their merchandize ; and it is 

 well known, that negroes, and individuals otherwise imperfectly fed, soon become fat 

 from the mastication of the sugar-cane. A case lately came under our observation, 

 which fully exemplifies the nutritious quality of sugar, in a lady, about the middle age, 

 who consulted us respecting great and increasing corpulency. Her countenance was 

 full, clear, and florid; her pulse strong; her health excellent; and her strength very 

 considerable. She partook of animal food only once in a day, and then in a small quan- 

 tity. She never took suppers, and WHS very moderate in the use of fluids. She had al- 

 ways taken considerable exercise on foot, and even up to the period at which we saw 

 her, she resorted to it as much as the great bulk of her body could permit. The secret, 

 however, of her increasing obesity was disclosed, when she mentioned her insatiable de- 

 sire for refined sugar, which she almost hourly made use of, frequently to the extent of 

 one pound we'.ght daily. She considered it her chief article of diet. She reckoned the 

 average quantity which she used at about three-fourths of a pound in the day. Tea or 

 coii'ce was taken by her sweetened in the usual way. She ate the sugar in the solid state, 

 and unaccompanied with any other article of diet : the finest sort only was relished. 

 Her digestive functions were in a perfect condition ; neither cardialgia, acidity, nor fla* 

 tidence, were complained of. Her teeth were sound. She found her corpulence super- 

 vene to a spare habit some time after the habit of eating sugar was acquired. She 

 thought that the obesity increased with the increase in the quantity of sugar she consum- 

 ed. The habit had become so confirmed, at the time which We saw her, that she con- 

 ceived it to be quite impossible to relinquish it. Copland. 



-j- These inhabitants of warm climates, who are subjected, in consequence of the na- 

 ture of the situation in which they live, to a moist and miasmatous atmosphere, generally 

 adapt their vegetable diet, as much as may be in their power, to the circumstances in 

 which they are placed. They endeavour, by adding a large proportion of the stimulant 

 and tonic seeds of plants to their aliments, to counteract the debilitating and septic in- 

 fluence of the air which they breathe, and to other causes to which they are more or less 

 opposed. To them the hot spices are the chief condiment, and even prophylactic ; 

 without the use of these, their very aliments would become a source of disease ; the 

 various kinds of parasitical animals, which prey on man, would abound to the most 

 loathsome degree, and they would be continually the subject of dysentery, and the 

 other diseases which imperfect or improper nourishment and an unwholesome climate 

 induce. The hot spices are, to individuals so circumstanced, more requisite than salt 

 is to the inhabitants of temperate or cold ctimates, who live chiefly on animal food,-^ 

 Copland, 



