318 WISCONSIN STATU AGIilCULTUBAL SOCIETY, 
Perhaps the healthy appetite is the best guide to the quantity of 
food necessary for the sustenance of the individual, and under 
proper restraint and restricted by sound common sense, no better 
rule can be given. It is perhaps only necessary that human beings 
should avoid substances that are known to be destitute of nutritive 
principles, and which are sometimes eaten to gratify the prompt¬ 
ings of a morbid longing for something. We will now pass in re¬ 
view some of the more important articles of food, and what are 
thought to be the best methods of preparing them for the purposes 
of nutrition. 
At the head of this class stand the different kinds of meats, a 
name generally giv’^en to the flesh of the herb-eating mammalia. 
The flesh of this variety of animals, although not of all of them, is 
considered fit for food. The flesh of the horse, of rats, and many 
others, is excluded from the table in civilized countries. Attempts 
w^hich have found favor with some scientific men have been made 
to introduce the flesh of the horse into use, and give it a place 
among the edible meats. Although horseflesh is probably still 
consumed under other names in spite of the prejudice against it, 
the experiment may be pronounced a failure. It seems to be insuf¬ 
ficient to supply the necessities of our organism, and is, we believe, 
not now openly exhibited for sale in the provision markets of any 
civilized country. Also dogs, rats, cats and mice, have long been 
used in the large cities of China as food, yet even here they are 
mostly sold or prepared into mixed dishes under an assumed name. 
Instinctively mankind generally prefer beef, and experience has 
taught that this article can be used more constantly than any other 
of its class. This is undoubtedly because it is composed of princi¬ 
ples that, taken together, more completely supply the demands of 
our organism than any other meat. It is a notable fact that when 
used constantly, no articles of food so soon lose their relish as those 
which, when taken occasionally, are considered as delicacies, such as 
venison or any variety of game. Most people can realize that it 
would be hardly possible to live on any variety of game for three 
months, and yet many persons live on beef for years, and do not 
lose the appetite for it. For this and many other reasons it may 
be laid down as a rule that beef is the most digestible of all kinds 
of meat, and its influence on the nutrition of the body most favor¬ 
able. It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the animal taken for 
