INTEODUCTORT AND GENEEAL. . 7 



dence that man is really omnivorous, that he can be 

 supported by great varieties of food. 



In warm climates meat is often poor, dry, insipid and 

 hard stuff, because perhaps it cannot be kept to render 

 it in general fit for any man who has not the teeth of a 

 shark, or the snout of a saw-fish. 



In tropical countries Animal food ought to be indulged 

 in as sparingly as is consistent with the digestive powers ; 

 for, on the whole, animal food is more easy of digestion 

 than vegetable ; and it may be added {en parenthese) that 

 the fiesh of the mature animal is more easily absorbed 

 into the human system than that of the young of the 

 same kind. Thus, five-year old mutton is more whole- 

 some than lamb ; beef than veal ; goat than kid. This 

 may seem strange to those who have never studied the 

 subject, but the physiologist assures us that such is the 

 fact. This being so, there was perhaps something of an 

 unconscious wisdom in that party of sailors who once 

 drank a bowl of punch on the summit of Pompey's 

 PiUar in Egypt, on Christmas Day, in choosing for their 

 dinner a tough billy-goat, in preference to a younger 

 animal, for the all-suflicient reason that it took more 

 " chawing," and that, consequently, the flavour would 

 linger on the palate much longer than if it had been less 

 mature. 



Still, while conceding that Animal food is necessary 

 for the sustentation of human strength and health, it 

 cannot be denied that an abundant supply of vegetables 

 is highly beneficial to the great omnivore — Man, and 

 particularly so in tropical climates. There can be no 

 doubt that a bountiful Providence has adapted the food 

 of man to his necessities in all climates, so that the pro- 

 duct of any particular country is best suited to the people 

 inhabiting it. 



Habit, as is well known, will do much in accustoming 

 the stomach to particular descriptions of food. Many 

 persons live exclusively, or almost so, on vegetables, others 

 on animal substances, and particular kinds of diet are 

 forced on the inhabitants of many regions of the globe ; 



