PRINCIPLES OF ALIMENTATION. 127 



variety of sweet and aromatic herbs, to the prepared pas- 

 ture of a few simple grasses, and the allowance, for short 

 periods, of one or two of our cultivated grains ? Would it 

 take a thousand years, or any considerable fraction of it, to 

 change the flavor of its flesh ? No animal has the power 

 of extracting a flavor from food which it does not contain. 

 The animal creates nothing simply elaborates and appro- 

 priates what it finds in its food. We are not left to mere 

 theory upon this question. Numerous trials in domesticat- 

 ing wild species are on record. The wild turkey and wild 

 goose undergo a transformation in a few years so that the 

 flavor of the flesh can scarcely be told from that of the 

 domestic variety, while high feeding has increased the fa* 

 and weight of the bird. The domesticated partridge fol- 

 lows the same law. The deer, under domestication, loses 

 the peculiar wild flavor of its flesh. 



In England large numbers of deer are kept in the parks. 

 Mr. Joseph Harris, writing of a visit he made to England 

 in 1879, said: "I saw thousands of deer in the different 

 parks. But they have abundance of rich grass in the sum- 

 mer, and during winter they are furnished with hay when- 

 ever necessary. Now, I am very fond of venison ; and so, 

 on our return home on the steamer G-allia, one day, when 

 we had a saddle of venison for dinner, I ordered some, ex- 

 pecting a great treat. But it was not venison at all. It was 

 cut from the carcass of one of those English half-domesti- 

 cated deer that run in the parks and are furnished a regu- 

 lar supply of food. But it was not what we call venison 

 in this country. It lacked flavor was more like mutton. 

 The flesh was light colored, and there was half an inch or 

 more of external fat, precisely as there is on well-bred and 

 well-fed sheep." 



This is a demonstration of the effect of food. The 

 Cheviot sheep of Northumberland hills and Scottish high- 

 lands, feeding upon many wild grasses and aromatic herbs, 



