vegetable principle; this fact was proved by the 
researches of the late Mr Sinclair, gardener to the 
Duke of Bedford. They shew, that if sheep are fed 
on yellow turnips, which contain little or no bitter 
principle, they instinctively seek for, and greedily 
devour any provender which may contain it, and 
that if they cannot obtain it they become diseased 
and die. Animals that feed in marshy lands, on 
food containing but little nourishment, are best 
defended frdm the diseases they are liable to con- 
tract in such situations by the ingestion of bitter 
plants. Upon these occasions nature is very kind, 
for the particular situation that engenders endemic 
diseases is generally congenial to the growth of the 
plants that operate as antidotes to them. Thus it 
has been found that the Menyanthes trifoliata, 
(Water Trefoil,) which on account of its bitterness 
has been used as a substitute for hops, is a cure for 
the rot in sheep, when given in doses of a drachm 
of the powdered leaves. Well may David say, 
in reference to the universal care of an all-merciful 
Creator, ^^He giveth to the beast his food.” 
We are ourselves conscious of the invigorating 
effects of slight bitters upon our stomach; and their 
presence in malt liquors not only tends to diminish 
the noxious effects of such potations, by counteract- 
ing the indirect debility which they are liable to occa- 
sion, but even to render them, taken in moderation, 
projnoters of digestion. The Swiss peasant cheers 
himself amidst the frigid solitude of his glaciers, 
with a spirit distilled from Gentian, the extreme 
bitterness of which is relished with a glee that is 
quite unintelligible to a more cultivated taste. 
