i88i.] 
A Brace of Paradoxes. 
661 
horse, and even the cow ? Shall we tell the former that 
careful grinding and the latter that rumination are respect- 
ively mistakes ? 
Prof. Ludwig, it seems, has made some experiments upon 
himself to test this theory, eating coarsely-cut meat at one 
time, and at another meat finely divided. He reports that 
he “ has not been able to detect any evil consequences from 
swallowing mouthfuls as large as he could get down.” We 
dare say not ; he has, in the first place, experimented with 
meat, the most digestible of foods, and the one which does 
not require the action of the saliva. Let him try with 
bread, potato, lentils, carrots, &c., bolting them in the lump. 
It is not stated, further, how long his experiments have been 
continued. The results of an unwholesome way of living 
often do not make themselves felt for years. 
We have never purposely made any experiments with 
reference to this question, but we have often noticed that 
after a hurried meal oppression of the stomach and other 
symptoms of indigestion made themselves felt. Often have 
we heard from acquaintances similar complaints of the 
action of food swallowed in haste, and without due masti- 
cation. 
Dr. J. F. Hibberd, quoted in the “ Boston Journal of 
Chemistry,” says that healthy people generally eat fast, 
while those that are unhealthy eat slow. Were this rule 
general, which we are far from admitting, it would bear a 
very different interpretation from that which he seems to 
suggest. Healthy people, especially when young, often take 
liberties with their constitutions which the feeble and sickly 
cannot venture upon, whilst the unhealthy have often learnt 
by sad experience to avoid unwholesome practices. Suppose 
we were to say “ People with sound strong teeth generally 
bite string and thread, straighten pins, and crack nuts with 
the mouth, whilst those with decayed and loose teeth do 
nothing of the sort.” Would it be logical to argue that the 
nut-cracking and thread-biting were the causes of the good 
teeth of the former ? Yet this is exactly Dr. Hibberd’s style 
of reasoning. Speaking of teeth we are reminded that, if 
the new theory is well founded, their day — be they natural 
or artificial — is over. Wherefore let the dentists look well 
to the matter. 
The second paradox which we shall notice was brought 
forward at the Cincinnati meeting of the American Associa- 
tion for the Advancement of Science, by Dr. C. S. Minot, of 
Harvard University. He read a paper entitled, “ Is Man the 
Highest Animal ?” and answered his question in the nega- 
