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ON THE NUTRITION OF 



This humble occupation derives a dignity and 

 an excellence, from placing the inquirer in the 

 porch of the great temple of Creation and Provi- 

 dence, the penetralia of which he is forbidden to 

 enter, and procuring for him a knowledge of many 

 facts of which the more distant and careless specta- 

 tor remains ignorant. 



It is thus that the physiologist and the naturalist 

 study the function of nutrition. The physiologist 

 traces those general facts which are found to accom- 

 pany the process, calling to his aid the minutiae of 

 anatomy, and sometimes chemical research. He 

 surveys the results, that he may see the extent of 

 the changes effected, aud draw from them such lead- 

 ing inferences as they are fitted to furnish : while 

 the naturalist records and arranges the facts them- 

 selves, for the purpose of enjoying the magnificent 

 spectacle which they exhibit. The easiest, and ap- 

 parently the most satisfactory subjects for this part 

 of physiological investigation, occur in the soft or- 

 gans of the human species, and of those animals 

 which differ least from man in the texture of the 

 organs. Here we perceive the progress of the nu- 

 triment in the alimentary canal, in the chyliferous 

 vessels, and in the sanguiferous system. In this 

 last, we follow the course of it, now fully prepar- 

 ed, to its ultimate destination in the extremities 

 of the arteries ; in which vessels, or in their im- 

 mediate vicinity, nutrition is, in every such or- 



