1 4 INTRODUCTION. 



brought of the first fruit of the ground ah offering to the Lord ; 

 and Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and 

 of the fat thereof." 



After the expulsion of the progenitors of the human race 

 from the garden of Eden, a division of labor was assigned to 

 Cain and Abel, the latter as a "keeper of sheep, and Cain a 

 tiller of the ground." 



During the antediluvian age there is no authority for sup- 

 posing that the flesh of the sheep was used for food, vegeta- 

 bles and bread being the only materials of human sustenance. 

 The sentence of Adam is — " Cursed is the ground for thy 

 sake. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life, 

 and thou shalt eat of the herb of the field ; in the sweat <rf 

 thy face shalt thou eat bread." 



The language to Noah after the deluge is very different : 

 — '* The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every 

 beast of the earth and upon every fowl of the air, upon all 

 that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes ; into 

 your hand are they delivered; every moving thing that 

 liveth shall be meat for you. Even as the green herb (which 

 was formerly appointed to be your food) have I now given 

 you all things." 



But many centuries elapsed, notwithstanding this Divine 

 permission, before the flesh of animals generally was used. 

 It was first partaken at the periodical sacrifices offered to 

 the Most High, subsequently as a luxury, and an indulg^ce 

 not to be justified except on some particular occasions. The 

 primitive custom of subsisting on vegetables alone is retained 

 by fragments of the population of the East, and is enjoined 

 in their code of religious obligations. This usage, however, 

 prevails only in a limited degree with some of the _pagan 

 sects. 



Although the flesh of the sheep was so long excluded as 

 an article of sustenance, the milk of the ewe was appropri- 

 ated to thai purpose by the antediluvians, as it has since 

 been in various • parts of the world, and especially even to 

 the present day by the wandering tribes of the East. A 

 learned author thus remarks on this subject : — " Ewe's milk 

 was used in the manufacture of cheese many centuries before 

 there is any record of this article of human sustenance being 

 derived from the milk of the cow. Ewe-milk cheese was 

 often made in the early times on a large scale, and was a very 

 material and valped article of food. Butter is frequently 



