" '^'[l^i^.uii f^^l^ 



1863. 



THE ILLIN'OIS FAEMEE. 



Flesh in Vegetables. 



All vegetables, especially those eaten by animals, 

 contain a certain portion of flesh ; for instance, in 

 every hundred pounds in wheaten flour, there are 

 ten parts flesh ; in a hundred of Indian corn meal, 

 there are twelve parts of flesh ; and in a hundred 

 of Scotch oatmeal, there are eighteen of flesh. 

 Now, when vegetable food is eaten it is to its fleshy 

 constituents alone that we are indebted for restor- 

 iug to the body what it has lost by muscular exer- 

 tion. "All flesh is grass," says the inspired writer, 

 and science proves that this assertion will bear a 

 literal interpretation. No animal has the power to 

 create from its food the flesh to form its own body; 

 all that the stomach can do is to dissolve the solid 

 food that is put into it ; bj'-and-by the fleshy por. 

 tion of the food enters the blood, and becomes 

 part of the animal that has eaten it. The starch 

 and sugar of the vegetable are either consumed 

 (burned) for the production of warmth, or they are 

 converted into fat and laid up in store as future 

 food then required. Grass consists of certain 

 fleshy constituents, starch and woody fiber. If a 

 cow, arrived at maturity, eats grass, nearly, or the 

 whole of the food can be traced to the production 

 of milk ; the starch of the grass goes to form fat 

 (butter) and the flesh appears as casein or cheese. 

 When a sheep eats grass, the flesh of grass is but 

 slightly modified to produce mutton, while the 

 starch is converted into fat (suet.) When a man 

 eats mutton or beef, he is merely appropriating to 

 his own body the fleshy portion of grass, so perse- 

 veringly collected by the sheep and oxen. The hu- 

 man stomach, like that of the sheep or ox, has no 

 power to create flesh ; all that it can do is to build 

 up its own form with the materials on hand. Iron 

 is offered to a workman, and he builds a ship, 

 makes a watch spring, or a mariner's compass, ac- 

 cording to his wants ; but although he alters the 

 form and texture of the material under his hand, 

 yet its composition remains the same. So as re- 

 gards flesh, although there be but one "flesh of 

 man, another of beasts, another of fishes, and an- 

 other of birds," yet their composition is the same_ 

 all of which can be traced to the grass of the field 

 or a similar source. Flesh, then, is derived from 

 vegetables, and not from animals; the latter being 

 only collectors of it. And, as although the plant 

 knew that same future destiny wanted the flesh 

 which it makes, it will not use a particle of it to 

 construct a leaf, a tendril^or a flower, but lays it 

 up in the seed. 



The Hammer Mightier than the Pen. 



We read that the penis mightier than the sword; 

 reasoning metaphorically the statement is true. 

 But the hammer is more powerful than either, by 

 the arguments that deeds are more powerful than 

 words. The pen inspires man to great eff'orts by 

 the glowing words proceeding from it. The sword 

 hacks and carves a brilliant fame for him who 

 wields it : but before its advance the nations of the 

 world shrink back in dread, and women and chil- 

 dren cower in fear. By the light of the bursting 

 shell, or the glare of dwellings in flames, it stands 

 out and gleams balefully against the sky, and only 

 over human anguish and agony does it stride tO' 

 triumph and renown. 



Whoever feared the hammer, or its deeds. Those 

 who rush across the plains of the West, or the hills 

 of the East ; they who plow the waters of the riv- 

 ers or the ocean : these experience the triumphs 

 of the hammer, know well its power, and how in- 

 dispensable it is. The pen may stimulate and in- 

 cite to greatness, but it cannot achieve it ; the 

 sword bends all things to its will, but it burns like 

 a consuming fire, and mankind writhes in agony 

 before it. Only the hammer is all-powerful and 

 peaceful. By it thousands live and grow rich. 

 With it men amass wealth and buildup the bul- 

 warks of the nation ; hunger is kept at bay and 

 famine put to flight ; peace exalts her head, and 

 hard-fisted toil find no time, leisure nor inclination 

 to wreath the brow of Mars. The pen bows to the 

 hammer and does it homage. A man may live in 

 physical comfort without a book in the house, but 

 he cannot exist without being in debt to the ham- 

 mer, and indites eulogiums upon its numerous 

 achievements; few are the monuments the hammer 

 deigns to raise in honor of literature. The pen is 

 mightier than the sword, because it achieves its ob- 

 ject through reason and not force, and also in that 

 it is infinitely more civilizing and humane in its 

 effect upon the world ; but the hammer conquers 

 even more territory than the pen, and is, in its way, 

 invincible. No country is too remote, or any wild 

 too savage to resist its weight, nor any metal, 

 wood or vegetable powerful enough to defy it. 

 Without the hammer — a symbol of toil, as the pen 

 is of thought, and the sword of violence — the busy 

 world could not exist in comfort or refinement. — 

 Scientific Am. 



-*•>■ 



Household Machines. 



The Scientific American in speaking of the Fair 



of the American Institute, says: 



The inventer has invaded the hitherto 'tabooed' 

 precincts of the kitchen, and the consequence is . 

 that Bridget has had her work so much lessen- 

 ed in quaatity, and the remaining portion so rob- 

 bed of terrors, that she incontinently demands 

 higher wages at once and forthwith. This, we 

 take it, is a striking proof that inventions, instead ; 

 of decreasing the value of labor, enhance it. We 

 take great interest in this department, as there is 

 yet a wide field for the introduction of mechanical 

 assistants. May the day soon come when some 

 automaton shall reign in the culinary department, 

 which shall be without ''cousins," and also devoid 

 of what is tersely known as "lip." Washing ma- 

 chines are present in large numbers, some of the 

 inventors being Doty, Buffer, Avery, Heckrotte, 



