SECT. I.] ALIMENT. 57 



and inconstancy which the prejudice of the north ascribes to 

 the south, but he appears calm and discreet. 



The important influence of diet upon the body, and indirectly 

 upon the mind, has never been doubted (a resume of the varieties 

 of food used by many nations may be found in Foissac) - 1 Be- 

 sides the quantity and the quality of the articles of diet, there 

 must also be taken into consideration the amount of labour 

 requisite to procure them. It is only when man can procure 

 digestible food in sufficient quantity without too much physical 

 exertion that the body can become properly developed. Hence 

 alimentation is closely connected with habits of life. 



That wealth and poverty exercise a decided influence upon 

 growth and mortality has been proved by Quetelet. Geoffroy 2 

 has endeavoured to show that generally among the mammals 

 there is a remarkable harmony between bodily size and the 

 food assigned to them by nature. The consequences of hunger 

 and of the consumption of large quantities of food not suffi- 

 ciently nutritious by itself, potatoes specially, may be ascer- 

 tained in the large towns and manufacturing districts of our 

 modern civilized states. Ireland offers the most striking 

 example of this kind. In 1641, and following years, Irishmen 

 were driven out of Ulster and the south of Down into the 

 forest by the English. When they were again found, at a later 

 period, they seemed quite altered, only five feet two inches high, 

 big bellied, bandy legged, features distorted, open mouthed, 

 and projecting teeth. 3 Similar instances are found in other 

 parts of the world, showing the effects in whole tribes. 



The Bosjesmen are, as is proved by their language, a Hot- 

 tentot tribe driven by their enemies into a stony, sterile tract, 

 and kept confined to it. Their country is even deficient in 

 spring water and rain. If the chase with bow and arrow is 

 unproductive they search for roots, ants, locusts, snakes, and 

 lizards to satisfy the cravings of hunger. The degeneracy of 



1 " Ueber den Einfl. d. Klimas," p. 20, 1840. 



3 Edin. New Philos. Journal, April to July 1833 ; Froriep's " Notizen," 

 No. 818, 1833. 

 3 Prichard, " Uebers," ii, p. 373; Dublin Univ. Mag., No. 48, p. 658. 



