APPETITE OF SWINE 
377 
But let us not get too far afield, but return to Crichton- 
Browne : “ It is not on a priori physiological data, nor yet on 
laboratory experiments — elucidative and educational though 
these may be — ^that the science of dietetics is based, but on 
common observations and on the hereditary customs of man- 
kind”. 
And now the emphasis is placed on the ability of animals other 
than man to choose their rations quite in keeping with their 
development: ‘‘The lower animals select with unerring preci- 
sion, as long as they are in a natural environment, from the ma- 
terials around them those best fitted for their wants, and they 
do this by distinctive discernment inherited from a long line of 
naturally selected ancestors, while they are checked in their 
consumption by a sense of repletion of coeval origin. We un- 
hesitatingly infer that the articles they choose are, of all nu- 
trient material accessible to them, those best adapted to the 
special needs of their economy, and that their consumption of 
them is proportioned to their needs for the time being. But 
man is, as regards his bodily functions, subject to the same 
laws as those which govern the lower animals, and we cannot 
doubt that in the formation of his dietetic habits he has been 
guided by the same kind of influences which have been operative 
throughout the animal creation in the choice and consumption 
of food”. 
And those of us who have had experience with the feeding 
of domestic animals find much of solace and of truth in the 
well-expressed convictions of Crichton-Browne. The temptation 
to quote one more passage of Crichton-Browne in order to em- 
phasize the “appetite factor” is yielded to: “Natural instinct 
or primitive experience has guided the different varieties of our 
species in their selection of viands suitable to their geographi- 
cal situation and modes of life, has restrained them within 
proper bounds in their consumption of these, and has even taught 
them to combine and balance the different constituents of these 
in a way on which chemical science can scarcely improve”. 
While hardly agreeing entirely with all the quotations made, 
yet it is quite important that the somewhat unusual viewpoint 
of Crichton-Browne be kept clearly in mind. 
Pavlov® has very entertainingly and instructively called our 
attention to the appetite and its manifestations in the normal 
®Pavlov, I. P. : “The Work of the Digestive Glands,” 1910. 
