KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



141 



The nodding branches easily part with their 

 tender stem by the gentle touch of the vine- 

 reaper, equally refreshing himself by the 

 flavor and substance of the grape; while 

 the master and guest do their best to di- 

 minish the quantity of the new wine, by a 

 slow and incessant process of consumption of 

 what seems most attractive either to the eye 

 or palate. 



The charms of such days being too strong 

 to allow of long early dinners, the chief meal 

 generally takes place at sunset ; and the 

 usual dishes, as roast mutton, fowl, and 

 peculiar meats and puddings, are washed 

 down by aid of the cup overbrimming with 

 the old in the presence of the yet slighted new 

 wine — the countenance of the lord of the feast 

 radiant with joy in proportion to the number 

 of guests he has been able to gather ; the 

 ringing of the glasses begins imperceptibly to 

 mingle with the sounds of songs, in which all 

 the males and females soon heartily join, 

 and every vineyard lying near each other 

 seems thus to be the abode of unmingled joy. 

 AVe say seems, because over the wildest 

 outburst of Hungarian conviviality there al- 

 ways hovers a tinge of gloom, the invisible 

 monitor of national grief. This was the 

 last vintage or national rejoicing in Hun- 

 gary. With the lapse of less than twelve 

 months, the gallows marked the way from 

 one vineyard to the other, and the guests of 

 the vintage were mostly hunted Hungarians in 

 disguise. 



Ever since that year, these abodes, made 

 by nature for the rejoicings of men, are in- 

 fested by hosts of foreign gens-d'arme and 

 spies, which render social life a burden. 



POPULAR SCIENCE. 



THE FOOD OF MAN, 



IN REFERENCE TO AGE AND EMPLOYMENT. 



MEET ME IN THE PRIMROSE DELL. 



BY THOMAS MILLER. 



When a shade is on the wood, 

 Where the nightingale is singing ; 

 And echoes roll along the flood, 

 From the vesper bell slow-swinging, — 

 Meet me in the primrose dell. 



When the wind goes whispering by, 

 Stealing fragrance from the rose; 

 When the moon climbs up the sky, 

 And the blackbird seeks repose, — 

 Meet me in the primrose dell. 



When the bells of flowers are folding, 

 Bowed by dews which on them rest ; 

 While the stars are up and holding 

 Converse on the night's blue breast ; — 

 Meet me in the primrose dell. 



When the leaves sleep on the hill, 

 Where the new T hay smelleth sweet; 

 And all around us is so still 

 We can hear our fond hearts beat, — 

 Meet me in the primrose dell. 



It is very doubtful whether any special 

 law can ever be obtained to determine the 

 exact amount of food required to maintain 

 in health and strength man, woman, or child, 

 — under similar conditions of employment, 

 lodging, and clothing ; since, owing to certain 

 individual peculiarities, both physical and 

 mental, belonging to each one — peculiarities 

 which we describe as constitution, stamina, 

 temperament, &c, — a given diet will in one 

 case be ample, and in another insufficient. 

 It is therefore impossible to adjust a scale to 

 meet each case. All that can be done, is to 

 carefully determine the average amount of 

 nutritive matter requisite to maintain men in 

 health and strength under various circum- 

 stances of age and employment ; and to 

 apportion their food on this basis. 



When, however, we bring our scientific 

 knowledge to bear upon this subject, we 

 quickly find ourselves at fault for want of 

 the primary elements on which to found our 

 calculations ; since, as Dr. Lyon Playfair has 

 justly remarked, in his observations on this 

 subject, at the Royal Institution : " If the 

 question were asked — How much carbon 

 should an adult man consume daily ? we 

 have scarcely more than one reply on which 

 we can place reliance ; viz., that the guards 

 of the Duke of Darmstadt eat about eleven 

 ounces of carbon daily in their rations." 

 This is something, but it does not help us 

 greatly. If we take another step and inquire 

 — How much of those substances, out of 

 which the flesh and sinews are made, is 

 requisite to support an adult man in good 

 condition ? we can obtain no positive answer. 

 Even as respects the relation between the 

 carbon in this latter class of substances, 

 which may be conveniently designated asjlesh- 

 formers, and the alimentary matters which, 

 being consumed wholly in the lungs, may be 

 termed heat-givers — we have yet no reliable 

 information ; the inferences on these points 

 deduced from the composition of flour, being 

 theoretical, not experimental. 



The truth of the matter is, that, in spite of 

 the efforts made by the separate and united 

 researches of chemists and physiologists, we 

 cannot as yet grapple satisfactorily with the 

 subject of nutrition. For example, we know 

 that from the albumen of the egg (white of 

 egg), are formed feathers, claws, mem- 

 branes, cells, blood -corpuscles, nerves, &c. ; 

 but of the processes, changes, transformations, 

 and, above all, the causes which bring about 

 these modifications, Ave may safely affirm we 

 know nothing. With an absence of the 

 knowledge of first principles, and possessing 

 but rude and unsatisfactory data to guide us, 



