130 SUPPLEMENTAL HISTORY OF MAN. 



nerally speaking, and with a very few exceptions, is 

 at an end. 



In like manner other animals, naturally formed 

 for cold countries, such as the polar bear, cannot 

 subsist in hotter climates. The dog, man's old and 

 constant companion, in spite of all the aid his master 

 can afford him, runs into considerable varieties, and 

 degenerates materially when exposed to the opera- 

 tions of very opposite extremities of temperature. 



On the Food of Man. 



As the physical capacity and mental powers of 

 man enable him to occupy the whole surface of the 

 globe, it follows that he cannot be restricted to any 

 one particular kind of food ; in other words, man 

 must be naturally omnivorous, as a necessary con- 

 sequence of his ubiquity. 



If the wastes of Lapland, the shores of the Icy 

 sea, the frozen coasts of Greenland, and the deserts 

 of Terra del Fuego, were destined by nature for 

 the habitation of man, then is man not an herbivo- 

 rous animal, nor is even a mixed diet necessary for 

 his support. It would be impossible to procure any 

 vegetable productions, where the surface of the 

 earth is so long covered with deep snow, or ren- 

 dered impenetrable by frost. The continual use of 

 animal food is as natural and wholesome to the Es- 

 quimaux, as a mixed diet to the Englishman. The 

 Russians, who winter on Nova Zembla, must, to 

 preserve their health, imitate the Samoidees — eating 



