STIMULANTS IN FOOD. 45 



animals take in only the one form of nourishment which they 

 find in those organs in which they take up their residence; and, 

 in a certain sense, we are no doubt justified in saying that these 

 animals live solely on organic food. But when we remember 

 that the fluids which permeate those organs invariably contain 

 a larger or smaller quantity of salts in solution, this contradic- 

 tion does not seem, accurately speaking, to exist ; for it must 

 evidently be quite immaterial whether an animal takes up the 

 earthy salts and water which are indispensable to its existence 

 directly in their original form, as we do, or indirectly in the 

 juices of the animals or plants on which they feed ; only in the 

 latter case, if the amount of inorganic matter contained in the 

 organ is sufBcient for its needs, it will require no further a,ddition 

 of salts or of water. 



Recent physiology establishes the fact that in man and in 

 the few aniaials physiologically experimented on, the propor- 

 tion of inorganic and organic food must always be approxi- 

 mately the same, if health is to be maintained unimpaired. 

 We know moreover that nourishment, at least for man, is taken 

 in combinations in which a conspicuous part is played by 

 stimulants, which by their presence excite the glands in the 

 mouth, stomach, &c., so that they fulfil their office more effec- 

 tually. The most universally \ised stimulant is salt. We may 

 very fairly suppose that a similar proportion between organic 

 and inorganic food is necessary to all other animals, and also 

 that they need a mixture of innutritions stimulant with their 

 food ; for instance, we know that Ruminants are very fond of 

 salt. But we have no general and verified data on this sub- 

 ject, and the only theoiy we can assert with any degree of pro- 

 bability is that the stimulants, if any, needed by the lower 

 animals must be quite different from those required by man and 

 the higher animals. 



Iri'espective of salt, these stimulants — or excitants— -consist, 

 for man, principally of wine, beer, and other alcoholic drinks, of 

 coffee, tea, &c., and the various spices. Although we are now 

 speaking of them as in contrast to nutritious food, properly 

 speaking, because they are not transformed or assimilated into 

 living organic tissue, they would seem to be almost indispen- 



