The necessity of aliment is explained by a knowledge of the functions of the body, and its selection depends upon the same principles. The living machine, as well as those that are inanimate, wastes in proportion as it is used, and this waste must be supplied. To learn the kind of supply required, the kind of waste and its mode must be ascertained.
The human body is of a very compound nature; indeed it is the most compound of all bodies, as well as the most complicated of all machines. It is composed of solids and fluids, and these again consist of various chemical elements in different states of combination. A great part of the mass of our bodies consists of water, and certain animal substances, to which chemists have given the name of fibrin, albumen, gelatin, mucus, and osmazone. Our bones consist principally of phosphate of lime. Besides these, some other principles enter into the composition of our bodies, though in comparatively small proportion. All the elementary matters of which these principles consist are continually discharged by the various excretions, but generally in states of combination different from those in which they existed as a part of our body. By the lungs a great deal of carbon and hydrogen is exhale in the form of carbonic acid gas and vapour; by the skin carbon and hydrogen are also thrown off in considerable quantity; by urine, in addition to carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, much azote, phosphorus, and lime, are discharged in the form of urea and the phosphate of lime; and by the alvine evacuation, not only the indigestible parts of our aliment are expelled, but also carbon, hydrogen, and azote, which formed integrant parts of our bodies, and have fulfilled their functions in the form of bile, mucus, and intestinal flatus. We therefore see that there is a constant waste of carbon, azote, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and lime, going on, which must be replaced. But there are only two sources from which this waste can be repaired, the atmosphere in which we live, and the aliment which we introduce into our stomach. The atmosphere consists of oxygen and azotic gases, and it is very doubtful whether any part of either be absorbed or converted into a part of our bodies. At least we may assume, that from the air no part of the materials to supply the waste of the body is derived. These must, therefore, be furnished entirely from the matters introduced into the stomach, and those which are calculated to restore any of the deficient elements or principles alone are alimentary. It is not at all necessary that these elements should be in the same state of combination with the principles whose loss they are to supply. It is sufficient that the elements be there, for it is the very essence of the function of digestion to analyse the alimentary matters, and reunite their elements into other combinations assimilated to our nature. From this view of the subject, it would however seem, that the more nearly the alimentary substances approach to the nature of the substances whose waste they are to supply, the less change upon them is necessary, and their digestion and assimilation will be more easy. Upon these principles, animal substances should be more easily digested than vegetable, and a larger proportion of their elements should be assimilated, while a smaller proportion should be separated to form excrementitious or indigestible compounds. In the same manner, vegetable substances are more digestible, and generate less excrementitious matter, than inorganic substances, which furnish only a small proportion of assimilable matter, and which must be separated from combinations totally foreign to our nature.
Besides alimentary substances properly so called, there is another class of substances which do not contribute much to repair the waste of our bodies, and yet perform an essential part in the function of digestion. These are called condiments, and their use is to stimulate the organs of digestion to greater activity; and, in fact, they are all much more rapid than the proper alimentary substances, which are in themselves generally insipid or mawkish.
From the view we have taken of aliments, it will appear that they are furnished by all the kingdoms of nature; the mineral kingdom supplying chiefly water and lime, while the vegetable, in addition to these in smaller quantity, yields much carbon and hydrogen; and the animal kingdom, in addition to a proportion of all the preceding elements, furnishes almost all the azote which enters into our composition. Although this statement be generally true, there are facts which at first do not seem to accord with it; and there are some grounds for believing that living bodies have either the power of changing the elementary nature of bodies, or of analysing these bodies we at present consider as simple, so that one is apparently changed into another. Thus some animals, in the state of nature, live only upon animal substances, and it is easy to conceive how, by a very simple process, the blood and flesh of their prey should become a part of their proper blood and flesh. Their elements, and even the combina- Dietetics
Dietetics tions of them, are alike. But there are other animals whose flesh and blood do not differ materially from those of carnivorous animals, and which live almost entirely upon vegetable substances far removed from animal nature, and containing little if any azote.
This subject has lately engaged the attention of Magendie, the most distinguished Parisian physiologist of the present day; and his views are the most important lately promulgated upon this point, and throw very great light upon the subject of dietetics. To ascertain the sources from which animals derive the azote which enters into their bodies, he performed some experiments, which appear to prove that azote is an indispensable constituent in the food of animals. For the subjects of his experiments he chose dogs, because, like man, they can be supported by vegetable as well as animal food, and he confined them to the use of pure water, and substances totally devoid of azote. Sugar, perfectly pure, was first tried. Of this, and of distilled water, he allowed an unlimited quantity to a small dog, three years old. For the first seven or eight days it seemed to agree very well with this diet. It was lively, active, and eat and drank as usual. In the second week it began to fall off, although its appetite continued very good, and it eat from six to eight ounces of sugar in the course of twenty-four hours. Its alvine excretions were scarce and scanty, while that by urine was abundant. In the third week it became more emaciated, it lost its liveliness, and its appetite began to fail. During this period also its eyes became affected in a singular and very distressing manner. The emaciation increased every day, its strength failed, and although it continued to eat from three or four ounces of sugar daily, it became so weak that it could neither chew nor swallow, and of course could not move. It died on the thirty-second day of the experiment; and, on opening its body, there was a total absence of fat; the muscles were reduced to one sixth of their bulk, and the stomach and intestines were much contracted. The gall and urinary bladder were both filled with fluid; but on analysis, the bile and urine resembled those of herbivorous animals. The urine, instead of being acid, as in those which eat flesh, was like that of herbivorous animals, sensibly alkaline, and did not contain a trace of uric acid or the phosphates, while the bile contained the picromel so remarkable in ox gall. The excrements also contained much less azote than usual. This experiment was twice repeated, with nearly the same result.
Olive-oil was next tried with two healthy young dogs, which seemed to agree with them for the first fifteen days, but then produced the same bad effects, and both died on the thirty-first day.
Gum was given to several dogs, and always with the same result.
Butter, an animal substance, but which does not contain azote, was also tried; and although, after the thirty-second day, the dog was allowed as much meat as it could eat, it died on the thirty-sixth day, similarly affected.
M. Magendie also killed several dogs at a proper period, after they had got a full meal of oil, sugar, or gum, in order to observe the nature of the chyle thus furnished. The chyle of the oil was of a decided milky white, whilst those of the gum and sugar were transparent, opaline, and more watery. These experiments, in M. Magendie's opinion, render it doubtful whether the oils, fats, gum, and especially sugar, are so nutritive as is generally supposed. But before we adopt his conclusion, we must remember that whole nations subsist upon food which contains very little if any azote. The Hindus live almost entirely upon rice, the peasants of Lombardy upon maize, those of Ireland upon potatoes, the slaves in the West Indies get fat during the cane crop, and the negroes of Senegal during the gum harvest, and herbivorous animals are nourished at all times upon grass. M. Magendie is not ignorant of these facts, but tries to explain them away by doubting the accuracy of some of the relations, and alleging that few vegetables are altogether destitute of azote. He cites, in confirmation of his observations, the experiments of Dr Stark, who injured himself by trying to live on sugar, bread, and water; and of M. Cloutet, who grew extremely weak upon potatoes and water; and instances the insufficiency of sugar and a little rum to support the crew of a shipwrecked Hamburg vessel. The legitimate conclusions from all the facts relating to this subject seem to be:
1. That animals derive the azote which enters into their composition entirely from their food, and hence that no animal can live for a considerable time upon food totally destitute of azote.
2. That animals, even those naturally carnivorous, can live a certain time upon food entirely destitute of azote, in consequence of which the excretions of the naturally carnivorous become altered, and throw off less azote than when fed on animal food, acquiring the properties which these excretions have in animals whose food contains a very small proportion of azote.
3. That vegetable and animal substances destitute of azote are highly nutritious, provided, at the same time, azote be supplied from the admixture of some other aliment containing it, though in small proportion.
Upon these principles, alimentary substances may naturally and philosophically be divided into three great classes.
I. Those which contain azote, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.
II. Those which contain carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.
III. Those which contain neither azote nor carbon.
I. Alimentary Principles which contain Azote, Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen.
The aliments which contain azote correspond with the animal substances in general, and are calculated to repair the waste of our solids and fluids, without great alteration or effort in the digesting organs. All the immediate principles of this class are not, however, equally digestible, or possessed of the same properties. We shall say a few words of each.
Fibrin constitutes the great mass of the solid matter of the muscles of animals, especially of those which are old and have dark-coloured dry flesh. It is also a principal constituent of the blood of all animals. There can be no doubt, therefore, that it is pre-eminently nutritious in these its natural forms of combination, but we know of no experiments to ascertain its nourishing powers when used alone. The purest form of fibrin which occurs in common circumstances is the fibre of flesh which has been long boiled in a great quantity of water, as in the remains of the meat from which beef-tea is made, or of that boiled down for soup. This is generally considered, and is often thrown away, as totally indigestible, and deprived of all its nourishing principles; but this is probably a vulgar error, for animal fibre in this state still contains, as much as ever, all the elementary substances which are necessary for animal food; and the only circumstance which can account for their indigestibility, is their great aggre-
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*Mémoire sur les propriétés nutritives des substances qui ne contiennent pas d'azote, 8vo, Paris, 1816.* Fibrin also forms a large proportion of the substance of some of the internal organs of animals, all of which are nutritious. Pure fibrin is white and opaque when moist, but acquires a dark colour on being dried. It does not become putrid when kept in the air, nor even when immersed in water for a considerable length of time. It contracts and shrinks on the application of heat, and gives out, on being burnt, the smell of burning horn or feathers. It is insoluble in cold water; is corrugated by boiling in water; is insoluble in alcohol; but strong acetic acid swells it considerably, and renders it transparent like cartilage, in which state it may be dissolved, or, at least, diffused through water by long boiling.
Fibrin varies in every species of animal, and in the same animal at different ages, either from a difference in its nature, or from a difference in the matter with which it is combined. In many fishes, and the lower classes of animals in general, it is semitransparent and colourless. In veal, pork, salmon, chicken, and some other kinds of poultry, it has a pink colour; in beef and mutton it is of a fuller red; and in pigeon and game, both birds and quadrupeds, it is dark coloured. In general it is more tender in the female than in the male, and in the young animal than in the old.
Albumen is also a principal constituent of animal substances, in which it exists in two states, one uncoagulated and the other coagulated. Of the former, the purest example occurs in the raw white of eggs. Cartilage, horn, hair, nails, consist chiefly of the latter. It is also a principal constituent of blood and brain; and it seems to be the chief substance of oysters, mussels, and snails. Uncoagulated albumen is sometimes solid, often glairy, always transparent, and, when fluid, is soluble in water, and its taste is bland or almost insipid. At 165° Fahrenheit it is converted into a white solid mass, of which we have a familiar example in the white of a hard-boiled egg. There can be no doubt that albumen, especially in its uncoagulated state, is highly nutritious and easily digestible.
The curd of milk may be considered as a variety of albumen, although it possesses some peculiar properties, especially that of being converted into cheese by a particular mode of management.
Gelatin is a third very principal constituent of animal solids, as bones, ligaments, tendons, membranes, skin, muscles, &c., and exists in much larger proportions in the flesh of young than of adult animals. Thus we see the gravy of veal and lamb always gelatinize, while that of beef and mutton does not. The swimming bladder of the several species of sturgeon is gelatin in a state of very great purity, and by boiling it may be extracted pure from the shavings of hartshorn. Its taste is bland and nearly insipid. It is characterized by its solubility in water, being much increased by a boiling temperature, and by the solution, when of a certain strength, gelatinizing or cooling. It is highly nutritious, and supposed to be the most easily digestible of animal matters.
Mucus differs from albumen chiefly in not being coagulated by heat or corrosive sublimate, and from gelatin in not being precipitated by vegetable astringents, nor gelatinizing when its solution is concentrated. It exists nearly pure in saliva, and is a constituent of most of the secretions. There can be no doubt of its easy digestion and nutritious quality.
Of these four principal constituents of animal matter we may remark, that in themselves they are almost insipid; that gelatin exists almost entirely in a solid form, more or less dense; that mucus and albumen exist in every form of aggregation, from perfect fluidity to the density of cartilage; and that fibrin is only fluid in the living blood, but in every other instance is a tough solid; and that gelatin is very soluble in boiling water, and gelatinizes on cooling; that albumen is soluble in cold water, and coagulates at 165°; and that fibrin is not soluble either in cold or hot water. We may also remark that, although chemists have given very definite characters of each, as if they constituted absolutely distinct species of matter, these characters are taken from certain selected kinds of each, and that, in reality, we find that there is a regular and insensible gradation from mucus, through gelatin and albumen, to fibrin; and that, as in the process of animalization, as well as in the progress of life, they pass into each other, and many intermediate states are found which cannot be distinctly referred to any of them.
Osmazome, or animal extractive, differs very much from the preceding principles; chemically, in being soluble in alcohol, and to the senses, in being very savoury or sapid. It is upon this, which seems to admit of considerable varieties, that the flavour of animal food, and of each of its kinds, depends. It exists chiefly in the fibrous organs, or combined with fibrin in the muscles, while the tendons and other gelatinous organs seem to be destitute of it. The flesh of game and old animals also probably contain it in greater quantity than that of young animals abounding in gelatin.
Gluten is the only vegetable substance which contains a notable proportion of azote in its composition. When separated from other principles, it forms a tough, ductile, elastic, and tenacious mass of a gray colour, resembling, when drawn out, thin animal membrane; when dried it is brittle, hard, and slightly transparent, like glue. When kept moist it ferments and acquires some of the properties of cheese. Immersed in water it at last putrefies. When burnt or distilled it resembles in its properties horn or feathers. It is soluble in concentrated acetic acid, and, by the assistance of heat, in muriatic acid and in the alkalies. It then bears a strong analogy to the animal substances in general, resembling, by different properties, fibrin, albumen, and gelatin. It is very generally found, though only in a small proportion, in the vegetable kingdom, in all the farinaceous seeds, in the leaves of cabbages, cresses, &c.; in some fruits, flowers, and roots, and in the green feculum of vegetables in general; but it is particularly abundant in wheat, and imparts to wheat-flour the property of fermenting and making bread. On the nutritious powers of gluten separated from other principles nothing certain is known; but the superior nutritious powers of wheat-flour over that of all other farinaceous substances sufficiently proves that, in combination with starch, it is highly nutritive; and in all probability it is the gluten of the green feculum which supplies the azote necessary for the support of the herbivorous animals.
II. Alimentary Principles which contain Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen.
Starch is very abundantly diffused through the vegetable kingdom. It exists in great purity in various farinaceous grains, such as rice, barley, maize, and millet; it is combined with gluten in wheat; with saccharine matter in some grains, as oats, and in many leguminous seeds, such as haricot-beans, lentils, vetches, and peas; with viscous mucilage, in rye, potatoes, and Windsor beans; with fixed oil and mucilage in the emulsive seeds, such as nuts, almonds, cocoa, tamarinds, in linseed, rapeseed, hempseed, poppyseed, and, in general, all those from which an oil can be obtained by expression. Lastly, starch is sometimes united to a poisonous substance. Of this singular union of a nutritious with an injurious principle the most remarkable instance occurs in the roots of the Jo- Dietetics.
tropha manihot; and of many species of arum, to the former of which the negro slaves of the West Indies are indebted for their cassada bread, and from the latter is prepared the best arrow-root starch. Only one species of grain, the *Lolium temulentum*, is hurtful; but many leguminous seeds are poisonous, of which the most familiar example occurs in the laburnum peas.
Starch is artificially prepared in great purity from various substances. Starch is got from wheat and potatoes, arrow-root from various species of arum, cassava flour from the manioc root, sago from the orchideae in general, sago from the pith of various species of palm-trees, tapioca from the bitter and sweet cassava root. In all these varieties of form, starch furnishes a bland and wholesome nutriment.
Gum or Mucilage is also a principal ingredient in the composition of our alimentary vegetables. The distinctive character of gum is its solubility in cold as well as hot water, and its insolubility in alcohol. It is devoid of smell, and to the taste it is bland and agreeable. In Arabia, Senegal, and the East Indies, it is obtained in great quantities from the various species of *Mimosa*, from the bark of which it exudes in great purity; and in hot climates in general it is furnished by many trees, especially those which have an astringent bark. In our own country an example of its production is seen in the bark of the plum and cherry trees. Where it is produced in sufficient quantity it constitutes a principal article of diet; and the Africans of Senegal are said to live entirely upon it during the gum harvest. Eight ounces of gum are the daily allowance, and furnish sufficient nourishment, for each man.
Mucilage is the alimentary principle of many of our esculent vegetables. In some it is united only to green colouring matter, as in the leaves of beet and spinach; with bitter matter, which may be prevented by the process of blanching, as in endive, lettuce, sorrel, and cardoon, or by using the plant very young, as in asparagus. It exists also in every part of the mallow tribe; in many roots, as scorzonera, salsify, and Jerusalem artichokes, in the receptacle of the flower of the artichoke. It is combined with an acid in sorrel leaves; with saccharine matter in many fruits, as the fig and date; in roots, as the carrot, parsnip, and beet; and with slight acrimony in the turnip, cabbage leaves, cauliflower, and broccoli; and with considerable acrimony in the radish, cress, and mustard. It exists in great quantity, combined with a peculiar nauseous principle, in onions, garlic, shallot, leek, &c.; and, lastly, in small quantity, with much aroma, in those vegetables which are used only for seasoning, as parsley, thyme, &c. In short, it is very generally found throughout the vegetable kingdom, and in every mode of union with other principles.
Sugar, the common properties of which, in a state approaching to purity, are familiar, is also highly nutritious. It is crystallizable, soluble in water both cold and hot, in alcohol and the weak acids, readily undergoing, when dissolved in sufficient water, the vinous and acetous fermentation, but, on the other hand, when concentrated, preserving vegetable substances. Chemically considered, it presents many varieties. It exists in greatest quantity, combined with mucilage, in the juice of the sugar cane, of the maple tree, the manna ash tree, and of beet-root. It seems to be a constant attendant upon the inflorescence of vegetables, for almost every flower furnishes honey to the bee, and is a chief constituent of all the acerb, sub-acid, and sweet fruits, in combination with vegetable jelly. Sugar is produced, or at least collected, by several insects. To the bee we are indebted for honey; and a species of locust in New Holland covers the trees and ground with a kind of sugar. In all animals a principle having some analogy with sugar exists in the bile, and it is a Dietetica product of morbid action in the disease called diabetes.
Oil and fat are also nutritious. They differ most obviously in fluidity, and they coincide in being insoluble in water, and in containing a larger proportion of hydrogen than the alimentary matters already spoken of. The oils may be divided into the fluid and concrete, and both are furnished by the vegetable and animal kingdoms. Fluid oil exists in quantity in the emulsive seeds; in some of them combined with prussic acid, as in the bitter almond, and in others with an acrid matter, as in the seeds of the ricinus; but it is obtained in greatest quantity and purity from the olive. The animal fluid oils are all more or less nauseous, as spermaceti oil, seal oil, whale oil, and cod liver oil. The concrete oils are generally furnished by the animal kingdom, and these are often bland and agreeable when fresh, but are apt to become rancid in proportion as they are less solid. Butter is the least consistent, if we except the fat of some birds; then hog's lard, the subcutaneous fat of beef, and the kidney fat of beef and mutton in succession. The only concrete oil obtained from the vegetable kingdom is the butter of cocoa.
III. Alimentary Principles which do not contain Carbon.
Water is perhaps the only real alimentary substance which belongs to this class, but it is one of the most essential. It is not only necessary to replace the constant waste of water which is drained off from our bodies, by the secretions, the cuticular discharge, and the vapour of the breath, but it is in itself strictly digestible, and capable of supplying either hydrogen or oxygen to the system, as may be required, according to the nature of our other food. When we consider how large a proportion of the whole weight of our bodies consists of water only, and that the fluids require more frequent renewal than the solids, the necessity of water as an aliment cannot be disputed. Some animals, as the rabbit, are supposed to be capable of living a long time or altogether without water; but this is a mere deception, for their vegetable food consists almost entirely of water. On the other hand, Dr Fordyce kept gold fishes six months in distilled water, and thought himself warranted in concluding that animals could live in water and air alone. Pouteau allowed some of his patients nothing but water for several weeks, without their falling off; and the histories of shipwrecked mariners prove with how small a portion of solid food man can subsist, provided he has sufficient allowance of water, whilst without water, or a substitute, no quantity of solid food can support man for even a few days.
Earths are, perhaps, not altogether unalimentary. Not to mention the depraved appetite of many young females, and of the dirt-eating negroes of the West Indies, for chalk, cinders, and such substances, earth is sought after and devoured by whole nations. The luxurious Capuans paid a considerable tribute to the Neapolitans for an earth called *Lenocorion*, which they considered necessary for the preparation of a favourite dish, *Alica*. The Tungusses, according to Laxmaan, eat a fine clay with rein-deer's milk. Chandler saw the women and children in Samos chewing pieces of steatite as a luxury. La Billardiére saw the same practised in New Caledonia, and found edible earth sold in the market in several villages in Java. Throughout all India lime is used along with the betel leaf. Kepler partook of the butter earth, which is eaten with great relish, spread upon bread, by the millstone quarriers of Thuringia; and, lastly, Humboldt has made us acquainted with the existence of a whole nation of earth-eaters, the Ottomaces on the Orinoco.1 We may
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1 Tableaux de la Nature. Par A. Humboldt, 2 tomes 12mo, Paris, 1806. Dietetics also mention that bird-fanciers find it necessary to supply birds shut up in cages with sand and earth. All these facts, we are aware, might be explained upon principles different from the digestibility of the earthy substances taken into the stomach; and we have no idea that any earthy substances can supply carbon or azote to the system; but we have absolute proof that earthy matter may enter into the circulation, in the growth and absorption of the bony frame of our body, for which phosphate of lime is as necessary as carbon or azote for our soft solids.
Sea Salt is more obviously necessary than earth. Even in insular and maritime situations it is voluntarily used as a condiment by all; but it is only in inland countries, at a distance from the sea, that its necessity is duly appreciated. Muriate of soda enters into the composition of all our fluids, and is thrown off by many of our secretions; hence its waste must be supplied, and where the vegetables are not naturally impregnated with it, it becomes one of the most indispensable articles of our food.
Alimentary substances, as presented to us by nature or prepared by art, may be considered in various points of view. They differ in regard to digestibility, or the facility with which they are decomposed by the powers of the stomach, to enter into new combinations fitted to repair the waste of the blood. In this particular, also, they may differ in respect to the length of time, or in regard to the digestive power of the stomach, required for their digestion. Thus the digestion of one substance may be slow, though ultimately complete, even in a weak stomach, and that of another quick enough in a strong stomach, although imperfectly digested by one that is weak. In reference to their digestibility, aliments are commonly described as being light or heavy; but in this respect there is very great difference in regard to different individuals, the same substances being light to one and heavy to another, and vice versa.
Sir Astley Cooper made some experiments to ascertain the comparative digestibility of different kinds of raw meat without fat; and the following table exhibits the loss 100 parts of each sustained in the stomach of dogs, which were killed, one, two, three, and four hours after being fed.
| Pork | 10 | 20 | 98 | 100 | |------|----|----|----|-----| | Mutton | 9 | 46 | 87 | 94 | | Beef | 0 | 34 | 37 | 75 | | Veal | 4 | 31 | 46 | 69 |
In another experiment, after four hours, the digestibility appeared in the following order,—cheese, mutton, pork, veal, beef. Fat appeared to be also much more digestible than cheese; beef than potato, and codfish than beef. Boiled veal was much more digestible than roast; and of different parts of the same kind of food, the digestibility was in the following order,—fat, muscles, skin, cartilage, tendon, and bone. From the experiments detailed in the inaugural dissertation of Dr Macdonald, De Ciborum Conceptione, Edinburgh, 1818, which were made in company with the late Dr Gordon, there appears to be great irregularity in the time necessary for the completion of digestion, so that they scarcely furnish any conclusion as to the comparative digestibility of different substances. Dr Macdonald infers that, of those he tried, butter was the most, and rice the least, digestible in the stomach of the dog. In the experiments which Dr Stark made upon himself, to ascertain the nutritious properties of oily substances, he found that, with a daily allowance of thirty ounces of bread and three pounds of water, two ounces of olive oil taken at one meal was so large a quantity as to be disagreeable; three ounces in the day caused some uneasiness in his bowels; and four ounces gripped him very much, although he gained weight; but this experiment was not conclusive, as at that time he was suffering under sloughing gums, the effects of a protracted diet of sugar. A diet of four ounces of pure fat, obtained from the subcutaneous fat of beef, made into a pudding, with twenty ounces of flour, and twelve or twenty ounces of water, with the remainder of three pounds of water in drink, was both nourishing and agreeable; but when the fat was increased to six ounces, great part of it passed unassimilated, and his bowels were affected. The same pudding without the suet was not sufficiently nutritious, and did not satisfy his appetite in the same manner. When the pudding was made with butter, although only four ounces were used, he was made very ill by it. Oil of butter agreed very well; and oil of marrow, of all the fats Dr Stark tried, he found to be the mildest in the bowels. His gums having again become purple and swelled, with petechial appearances on his body, while making these experiments, suggested to him the following queries, which seem important to the science of dietetics. "Although at present I take more food than what is absolutely necessary for the support of the body, I remain perfectly well, whereas I have several times suffered considerable inconvenience from committing any excess in the quantity of oils. Is it not evident that excess in the quantity of oils is more hurtful to the body than excess in any other article of food? and that, of course, we ought to be particularly careful in regulating the quantity and quality of the oils we may employ in diet? Is it not probable, then, that animal oils, though they nourish and increase the weight of the body, are not of themselves sufficient to prevent a morbid alteration from taking place in the blood and fluids? whilst, on the other hand, the lean of meat, though less nutritious, is of more efficacy in preserving the fluids of the body in a sound state."
Aliments also differ in regard to the proportional quantity of nourishment they furnish, and, in this point of view, of aliments they are said to be strong and weak, or rich and poor. This difference may arise either from the proportional quantity of nutritious parts in the various kinds of aliment, or from the digestible parts being different in kind, and furnishing a supply of a different kind to the blood. There is even in this respect some opposition between light food and strong food, and it may be generally observed, that food which is most quickly digested, requires the soonest to be repeated, while digestible food, that is only slowly digested, supports the body for a greater length of time.
Aliments also differ in the impression they make on our palate; and it is chiefly in this respect that they are considered by the epicure. This impression proceeds from two distinct qualities in the aliment; the one depending upon their grosser physical properties, and the other upon their finer, recognizable only by the senses of taste and smell. To the former class belong the sensations of solid and fluid, hard and soft, tough and tender, crisp and stringy, hot and cold, greasy, glutinous, gritty, smooth, &c. These are judged of by the tongue and palate, rather
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1 A Treatise on the Nature and Cure of Gout and Rheumatism, including General Considerations on Morbid States of the Digestive Organs; some Remarks on Regimen, and Practical Observations on Gravel. By Charles Scudamore, M.D., 8vo, London, 1817.
2 The Works of the late William Stark, M.D., consisting of Clinical and Anatomical Observations, with Experiments Dietetical and Statistical, revised and published from his original Manuscripts. By James Carmichael Smyth, M.D., 4to, London, 1786. Dietetics, as organs of touch than of taste, and are altogether independent of flavour, as capable of affecting the organs of taste and smell. The latter class consists of all the variety of tastes properly so called, namely, sweet, bitter, sour, salt, alkaline, astringent, aromatic, nauseous, pungent, acrid, spirituous, cooling, &c., and also the want of taste, the vapid or mawkish. Of these, some are almost universally agreeable, and others generally disliked, but much depends upon idiosyncrasy, state of health, education, habit of the individual, and upon the degree or quantity of flavour.
Aliments also differ in the impression made upon the stomach; but the sensations arising from this source are more obscure and less varied. Except the sensation of heat, which may arise from caloric, and is transient, or from acrimony or spirit, which is more durable, most of the sensations experienced in the stomach are indications of its mechanical state, or of affections of the appetite. Hence we have the feeling of gratification, from removal of a sense of emptiness, of repletion, distension, cessation of hunger or thirst, satiety, and sickness.
We should also consider the effect of different kinds of diet, when the body is in a state of health, and different states of disease; but accurate experiments are still wanting to enable us to give any thing more than fragments of this interesting subject. It is extremely difficult to institute these experiments satisfactorily. They are irksome to the person on whom they are tried; and so many causes tend to interfere with the results, that it is only by frequent repetition that the real effects can be fairly deduced.
Our diet may be either proper, or it may err, and this either in quantity or quality. When the quantity is too small, the body is not nourished; it becomes lean, the fat disappears, and the muscles either get soft and flabby, or shrivelled and dried up, accompanied by loss of strength or stiffness, with predisposition to an actual disease. Errors in regard to the quantity of food are merely relative; so much depends upon circumstances, as individuality of constitution, period of life, state of health, degree of mental and corporeal exertion, habit and temperature. Each person may be said to have a different standard quantity, deviations from which are to be accounted errors. In our army, the rations allowed for each soldier at home are, three quarters of a pound of meat, boiled so as to afford broth, with 1½d. worth of potatoes and other vegetables, one pound of bread, or one and one eighth pound of oatmeal; and in most cases one pound of milk or coffee is purchased for his breakfast. On service the rations are, one pound of meat, one and a half pound of bread, and one pint of wine or one sixth of a pint of spirits.
Mr Buxton states that the diet allowed to the prisoners in the jails in London varies from fourteen ounces of bread per day, and two pounds of meat per week, which, he says, is not enough to support life, up to one pound and a half of bread, one pound of potatoes, two pints of hot gruel, and either six ounces of boiled meat, without bone, and after boiling, or a quart of strong broth, mixed with vegetables, per day, which is as much more than enough; and Mr Buxton thinks that the meat should be discontinued. A fit prison diet, in his opinion, should consist of one pound and a half of bread, at least one day old, to each prisoner, daily, and one pint of good gruel for breakfast; and, upon good behaviour, half a pound of meat on Sundays.
Some experiments have been made in order to ascertain Dietetics, the quantity of different kinds of food necessary for the sustenance of individuals. Dr Franklin, when a journeyman printer, lived a fortnight on bread and water, at the rate of ten pounds of bread a week. Dr Stark, whose weight was 171 pounds avoirdupois, found that thirty-eight ounces of bread daily were not more than sufficient to satisfy his appetite; forty-eight ounces were the utmost he could consume in one day, and the greatest quantity he could take at one meal, without uneasiness, was thirty ounces; and, with this diet, he required necessarily three pounds of water for drink, for with only two pounds he was not satisfied. In another experiment, thirty ounces of bread and three pounds of water, with six ounces of boiled beef, sufficed; with four ounces of the beef his appetite was not satisfied; with two pounds of bread and three pounds of infusion of tea, he found that one pound of cold stewed beef was not more than sufficient; he was not satisfied with four ounces of beef to breakfast; but eight ounces at dinner, and four ounces at supper, were rather too much.
Absolute starvation produces diminished excretions, fetid breath, foul skin, and death. The most distressing histories of this dreadful end are recorded in the account of shipwrecks, and of those unfortunate persons who fall into the hands of the Arabs of the desert. Man can sustain the absolute want of food for several days, more or fewer in number according to circumstances; the old better than the young, and the fat, probably, better than the lean. The total want of drink can be borne only a very short time, and its effects are even more distressing than those of want of food. They have been strikingly described by Mungo Park and by Ali Bey, as experienced in their own persons. The narratives of shipwrecked mariners also prove with how very little food life may be supported for a considerable length of time; and the history of those impostors who pretend to live altogether without food or drink display this adaptation of the wants of the body to its means of supply in a still more striking manner; for, even after the deception in such cases as that of Ann Moore is exposed, it will be found that the quantity of aliment actually taken was incredibly small.
Captain Woodard has added to his interesting narrative many instances of the power of the human body to resist the effects of severe abstinence. He himself and his five companions rowed their boat for seven days without any sustenance but a bottle of brandy, and then wandered about the shores of Celebes six more without any other food than a little water and a few berries. Robert Scottney lived seventy-five days alone in a boat, with three pounds and a half of meat, three pounds of flour, two hogsheads of water, some whale oil, and a small quantity of salt. He also used an amazing quantity of tobacco. Six soldiers deserted from St Helena in a boat on the 10th of June 1799, with twenty-five pounds of bread and about thirteen gallons of water. On the 18th they reduced their allowance to one ounce of bread and two mouthfuls of water, on which they subsisted till the 26th, when their store was expended. Captain Inglefield and eleven others, after five days of scanty diet, were obliged to restrict it to a biscuit divided into twelve morsels for breakfast, and the same for dinner, with an ounce or two of water daily. In ten days, a very stout man died, having
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1 An Inquiry whether Crime or Misery are produced or prevented by our present System of Prison Discipline. By Thomas Powell Buxton, M. P. 12mo, Edinb. 1818.
2 An Examination of the Imposture of Ann Moore, called the Fasting Woman of Tuthary, illustrated by Remarks on other Cases of Real or Pretended Abstinence. By Alexander Henderson, M. D. 8vo, London, 1813. Also, Rev. Leigh Richmond, in Medical and Physical Journal, by Samuel Fothergill, M. D. and William Royton, 469, vol. xxix. 8vo, London, 1813.
3 The Narrative of Captain David Woodard and Four Seamen. 2d edit. 8vo, London, 1805. become unable to swallow, and delirious. Lieutenant Bligh and his crew lived forty-two days upon five days' provisions.
In the tenth volume of Hufeland's Journal, M. Gerlach, a surgeon-major of the Prussian army, has related a very remarkable and well authenticated case of voluntary starvation. A recruit, to avoid serving, had cut off the forefinger of his right hand. When in hospital for the cure of the wound, dreading the punishment which awaited him, he resolved to starve himself; and on the 23rd of August began obstinately to refuse all food or drink, and persisted in this resolution till the 24th August. During these twenty-two days he had absolutely taken neither food, drink, nor medicine, and had no evacuation from his bowels. He had now become very much emaciated, his belly was somewhat distended, he had violent pain in his loins, his thirst was excessive, and his febrile heat burning. His behaviour had also become timid. Having been promised his discharge unpunished, he was now prevailed upon to take some sustenance, but could not at first bear even weak soup and lukewarm drinks. Under proper treatment he continued to mend for eight days, and his strength was returning; when, on the 1st of September, he again refused food, and assumed a wild look. He took a little barley water every four or five days to the 8th; from that day to the 11th he took a little biscuit with wine; but again, from the 11th September to the 9th October, a period of twenty-eight days, he neither took food, drink, nor had any natural evacuation. From the 9th to the 11th he again took a little nourishment, and began to recruit; but, on the 11th, he finally renewed his resolution to starve himself, and persevered until his death, which took place on the 21st November, after a total abstinence of forty-two days.
On the other hand, the quantity of nourishment which can be devoured with impunity is often very great. Almost every person in good circumstances eats more than is necessary for supporting his body in a state of health, and many bring their stomachs to require a very excessive allowance as almost necessary. In some individuals an inordinate appetite seems constitutional. Charles Dornery, aged twenty-one, six feet three inches high, and well made, but thin, when a prisoner of war at Liverpool, consumed in one day four pounds of cow's udder and ten pounds of beef, both raw, together with two pounds of tallow candles and five bottles of porter, and, although allowed the daily rations of ten men, he was not satisfied. Baron Percy has recorded a still more extraordinary instance in a soldier of the name of Tarare, who, at the age of seventeen, being of moderate size, rather thin, and weighing only a hundred and seventy pounds, could devour, in the course of twenty-four hours, a leg of beef twenty-four pounds in weight, and thought nothing of swallowing the dinner prepared for fifteen German boors. But these men were remarkable, not only for the quantity they consumed, but also for its quality, giving a preference to raw meat, and even living flesh and blood. Dornery in one year ate 174 cats, dead and alive; and Tarare was strongly suspected of having devoured an infant, which disappeared mysteriously. Many other histories of the same kind are preserved; and although some of the individuals were men of large stature and great strength, others were of ordinary size. The excess of food may be taken either in the form of too much at one meal or of too many meals. It is either digested and furnishes an excess of nourishment, or it passes through the canal simply indigested, or it undergoes the fermentation natural to it. An excess of nourishment either produces a great or rapid increase of the size of body generally, or of the fat and abdominal viscera in particular, or, by inducing great fulness of blood, produces diseases which sometimes counteract the effects of the plethora. When the excess passes simply indigested, it only occasionally proves hurtful as a mechanical irritation in the bowels, especially when it is of a hard substance, and has sharp angles. When it undergoes its natural fermentation this is either acid or putrid, as the substance is vegetable or animal, or rather as it is destitute of or contains a notable proportion of azote.
When diet errs in quality, it gives rise to a greater variety of cases. It may either produce a directly hurtful effect upon the constitution, in the manner of a poison or medicine, in its natural state, or after fermenting in the stomach; or it may prove injurious more indirectly by not supplying an element necessary for its healthy condition, or by supplying one in excessive proportion. The poisonous effects of alimentary substances are always occasional, and arise from a peculiarity in the aliment itself, as in the case of poisonous fishes, or in the individual, as in those persons who cannot eat particular kinds of food, which are to others wholesome and nutritious. The unpleasant effects of substances undergoing their natural fermentation in the stomach are much more frequently observed. They occur either from a very strong disposition in the food to ferment, so that the action of a healthy stomach is not able to restrain it, or from excess of the food, so that part of it is left to its natural changes, or from weakness of the stomach, which exerts little action upon it. Fermenting substances are hurtful, by acting as direct poisons, and by distending the stomach; in the non-azotized substances becoming acid and producing flatusencies, in the azotized substances becoming putrid and producing fetid eructations and flatus. Diet, which errs by supplying one of the elementary constituents of our body in excess, or in not supplying another, does not produce its full effects at once, but gradually changes the condition of the body. When an elementary principle is furnished in excess, it is thrown off by the various excretions, and hence we find that the urine of omnivorous animals, when confined to animal food, contains more urea, and their perspirations and stools are more fetid; while the urea disappears, and the stools and perspirations lose their fetor, when they are restricted to vegetables. The same observations have been made in regard to man. Also, when the supply of an elementary principle is deficient, it ceases to be thrown off by excretion, even after it has performed its functions in the body, but is re-absorbed, and thus the body, for a time, lives as it were upon itself.
The chief varieties of diet, in regard to quality, depend upon their immediate effects, and in this respect they may be divided into the simply nutritious and the stimulant. All animal flesh seems to be more or less stimulant, and, in general, the more so the darker its colour is; and upon this principle chiefly has Dr Darwin founded his classification of aliments, but he has erred in considering them as also more nutritious. Moor-game, pigeon, hare, and venison, are more stimulating, but perhaps not more nutritious, than the turkey or barn-door fowl, veal, or lamb. The effect upon the composition of our bodies is the secondary but most important effect. In this respect, food
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1 Account of a Man who lives upon large quantities of Raw Flesh, by Dr Johnston; in the Medical and Physical Journal, by Drs Bradley, Beatty, and Nobden, vol. iii. svo, London, 1800. 2 Mémoire sur la Polyphagie. See Journal de Médecine, Chirurgie, et Pharmacie, par MM. Corvisart, Leroux, et Boyer, tome ix. svo, Paris, An. xiii. might be divided into the azotized, hydrogenous, carbonaceous, and oxygenous, or rather into those which supply abundantly azote, hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen. This view is, however, chiefly theoretical, as we are very far from possessing facts enough to establish it completely, or to overturn it; but yet there are some which favour it. We have already noticed Magendie's experiments on substances which do not contain azote, from which he inferred that a certain supply of it was absolutely necessary to the support of animal life. Other facts lead to the same conclusion, especially the effect of restriction to one kind of aliment in the generation and cure of disease.
It is many years since Dr. Rollo was led, by the singular sweetness of diabetic urine, to conclude that, if he deprived the patient of all food which contained sugar, or the principles of sugar, he should be able to cure this hitherto untractable disease. He accordingly restricted his patients to the use of animal food, especially fat, and absolutely prohibited all vegetables, even bread, and all fermented liquors. The effects were very striking, and some patients were believed to be cured; at least the nature of their urine was completely altered from a morbid to a healthy state. As conducted by others, the same regimen has produced the same effects; but it is so disagreeable to the patients that they can seldom be prevailed upon to adhere to it; and unfortunately, notwithstanding the temporary removal of this prominent symptom, the disease generally continues its fatal course. We may, however, notice, that Rollo and others were guided in their choice of regimen by the principle of withholding the elements of sugar, and hence fat formed a chief part of it, and was a principal cause of the disgust it excited; but perhaps it would be better to select a highly azotized diet, in which point of view the muscular parts of dark-fleshed animals, such as game and old mutton, and those kinds of fish, such as skate, which contain much azote in a loose state of combination, should be selected; while wheaten bread, the want of which is so distressing to many, might be allowed, and fat, which contains no azote, should not be prescribed.
Magendie ascribes the gravel to the superabundance of azote in our food, as the uric acid of which gravel consists is a highly azotized substance, and seems to be produced as a means of throwing off the excessive azote; and among the various causes with which gravel is connected, the most active in its agency is high living, or the use of animal food in excess. A Hanseatic citizen, who kept a good table previous to 1814, was afflicted with the gravel. He emigrated and lived very miserably in England, but his gravel completely left him. He re-established his affairs, and with his fortune his gravel returned. Again he was ruined, and went to France almost destitute, and his gravel disappeared. By industry he finally acquired a competency, and with it his old complaint, for which he then consulted Magendie. A Parisian lady of sixty, subject to gravel, read in a journal a short notice of Magendie's experiments, in which it was said that he had discovered in sugar a cure for the gravel. Without more advice she set about eating sugar, often to the extent of a pound daily, and in effect she removed the gravel, but disordered her stomach so much that she was obliged to resume her usual food, and with it the gravel returned.
The chemical theory of the scurvy is, that it is owing to the want of oxygenous food; and it cannot be denied that this theory has been very ingeniously supported by Dr. Trotter, Dr. Beddoes, and others. The rapidity with which those afflicted with it recover by the use of recent vegetables, especially the fresh citric acid, shows that it proceeds from an error in diet, but whether from a deficiency of nourishment in general, or from a deficiency of oxygenous aliment, is not quite so clear. When we compare the accounts of the ravages formerly committed by this dreadful disease, even during short voyages, with the almost total immunity which the British fleet has enjoyed since the time of Captain Cook, we have the strongest possible proof of the influence of diet upon the human frame, either as inducing or preventing disease.
Hydrogenous food, such as the excessive indulgence in fat meat, butter, and oil, and still more especially in spirituous liquors, produces a change in the chemical constitution of our bodies, independently of the exhaustion of excitability by excess of stimulus. Bilious diseases, and a tendency to unwholesome fatness, are its most common effects; and it is only in the excessive hydrogenation of the system that we can find a rational explanation of that very singular phenomenon called the spontaneous combustion of the body; for even admitting that the clothes are accidentally set on fire in these cases, there appears no reason to doubt that the combustion is continued by the burning of the body itself. Now the greatest number of instances have occurred in old women addicted to the abuse of ardent spirits.
The effects of oxygenous food, in imparting oxygen to the body, are not so well ascertained. Acids, and the subacid fruits, quench thirst, and are supposed to reduce animal heat; but their more obvious action is to affect the bowels and induce diarrhoea, and ultimately to render the body spare and thin. The new chemical pathology led to the exhibition of nitric acid for the cure of syphilis, as mercury was supposed to act by oxygenizing the system; and this acid has since been much employed also, from analogy, in the liver complaint. That the acid has excellent effects as a tonic, seems to be perfectly ascertained. It does not act upon the bowels like the vegetable acids, but there is no proof of its decomposition in the stomach, or of its imparting oxygen to the body. The oxygenizing of the system by means of the nitro-muriatic or oxymuriatic bath, now so fashionable in London, is a mere chimera. Pulmonary consumption was also, at one time, considered as a disease proceeding from superabundant oxygen, and the florid colour of the cheeks was adduced in proof of it.
No observations have yet been made on the effects of aliments containing an unusually large proportion of carbon, nor has any disease been ascribed to the carbonization of the system.
It would extend this article much beyond the space we can allot to it, if we were even hastily to sketch the varieties of diet recommended in disease, and to explain their action; but it will not be superfluous to enter a little into the detail of that kind of regimen which has been found by experience to bring animals and man to the highest possible state of health, at least as measured by
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1 An Account of two Cases of Diabetes Mellitus. By John Rolle, M.D. 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1747. 2 Recherches Physiologiques et Médicales sur les Causes, les Symptomes, et le Traitement de la Gravelle, 8vo, Paris, 1816. 3 Observations on the Scurvy. By Thomas Trotter, M.D. 8vo, Lond. 1792. 4 Observations on the Nature and Cure of Calculus, Sea Scurvy, Consumption, Catarrh, and Fever; together with Conjectures upon several other subjects of Physiology and Pathology. By Thomas Beddoes, M.D. 8vo, London, 1793. 5 An Essay, Medical, Philosophical, and Chemical, on Drunkenness, and its Effects on the Human Body. By T. Trotter, M.D. 8vo, London, 1804. 6 Essai sur les Combustions Humaines produits par une long abus des liqueurs spiritueuses. Par Pierre-Aimé Léon, 12mo, Paris, 1804. Dietetics, the amount of their physical force, and their power of continuing its exertions. It is to bring animals to this state that constitutes the business of trainers, as they are called. Cocks, greyhounds, race-horses, and men, are much more active and vigorous after being trained than in their ordinary condition. They are, in fact, in a higher state of health; and we are fully convinced that, by training, many diseases might be removed, and by living according to the same principles, general ill health might be commonly prevented. The public is very much indebted to Sir John Sinclair for having taken the pains to collect the fullest information on this subject. He was assisted in his inquiries, we have reason to believe, by Mr John Bell, whose attention was directed to the subject by having the professional care of Captain Barclay during his great walking-match. From the answers procured to Mr Bell's inquiries, it appears that the whole secrets of training reduce themselves to principles which every man may practise, and ought to practise, as far as is consistent with his business and other duties; and, in particular, we think that they ought to be studied, thoroughly understood, and enforced, by all those to whom, in consequence of accidental circumstances, the care of the health and lives of many individuals are intrusted. We allude chiefly to military and naval officers, and the proprietors of large manufactories. In the British navy the importance of this subject has been long appreciated; and the comparative state of health of our fleets, in recent times, is as honourable to our naval commanders as the laurels of victory which encircle their brows. Soldiers are left more to themselves, and their officers have neither the same control nor responsibility; but we think that more might be done in keeping the troops, as well as the military horses, when at home or in garrison, always in a state fit for active service. The evil of not attending to this was very severely experienced during the Spanish campaigns. The artillery horses sent from Chatham were found to be unfit for the fatigues of service, and good cart-horses were at last substituted with great advantage. In garrison both men and horses are over-fed and under-worked. In manufactories the opposite evils sometimes occur; the workmen, and especially the children, are over-worked and under-fed. This subject has lately occupied the attention of parliament; and it is connected with some interesting inquiries, which belong properly to the science of political economy. In a medical point of view, the principle to be followed is, that the food and labour bear a just proportion to each other. When the quantity and quality of the food is not limited by its expense, the best possible condition of the individual is attainable, by attending to the principles upon which training is conducted, and which resolve themselves into temperance without abstemiousness, and regular exercise in the open air. Mr Jackson says, that a man properly trained feels himself light and cory, as the technical phrase is; and that, during a course of training, the skin always becomes clear, smooth, well coloured, and elastic; or that cleanness of skin is the best proof of a man being in good condition. Another very striking effect of training is upon the lungs. Trained men can draw a much fuller inspiration, and retain their breath longer, than others. But it is not only on the state of bodily health that the good effects of training are conspicuous; for Mr Jackson distinctly, and we believe correctly, states, that the mental faculties are always improved, the attention is more ready, and the perceptions are more acute. From these observations some valuable hints may be derived by physicians, for the cure of many cutaneous and pulmonary affections, which obstinately resist the power of Dietetics medicines.
Cookery is strictly a branch of dietetics, and one of Cookery, the most important. Only a small part of our food is consumed as it is furnished by nature. Many alimentary substances are disagreeable, and some even poisonous, until they have undergone certain preparations. Few of them are to be had at all seasons of the year, although produced at others in greater quantity than can be consumed; and all of them occur of very different qualities. Hence the selection, preservation, and preparation of alimentary substances, are arts of primary importance in life.
We hold the contempt with which cookery is very generally spoken of to be downright affectation, we had almost said hypocrisy; for, in the practice of life, every individual who is not perfectly imbecile and devoid of understanding is an epicure in his own way. The epicsures in the boiling of potatoes even are innumerable; and every school-boy in Scotland passes a judgment on the culinary skill of the servant who makes his porridge. Cookery only becomes truly degrading when it occupies an undue proportion of attention; and that epicurism is to be utterly condemned which produces more pain than pleasure. Boswell, the biographer of Johnson, has defined man to be a cooking animal; and, in fact, man is the only animal which does not consume his food as presented to him by nature. We are not from this to conclude that man in cooking deviates from the ordinary course of nature; but that the appetite for cooked food is given to him for wise and useful ends. Count Rumford has not considered the pleasure of eating, and the means that may be employed for increasing it, as unworthy the attention of a philosopher.
"The enjoyments which fall to the lot of the bulk of mankind are not so numerous as to render an attempt to increase them superfluous. And even in regard to those who have it in their power to gratify their appetites to the utmost extent of their wishes, it is surely rendering them a very important service to show them how they may increase their pleasures without destroying their health.
"If a glutton can be made to gormandize two hours upon two ounces of meat, it is certainly much better for him, than to give himself an indigestion by eating two pounds in the same time.
"The pleasure enjoyed in eating depends first upon the agreeableness of the taste of the food; and, secondly, upon its powers to affect the palate. Now there are many substances extremely cheap, by which very agreeable tastes may be given to food, particularly when the basis or nutritive substance of the food is tasteless; and the effect of any kind of palatable solid food (of meat, for instance) upon the organs of taste, may be increased almost indefinitely, by reducing the size of the particles of such food, and causing it to act upon the palate by a larger surface. And if means be used to prevent its being swallowed too soon, which may be easily done by mixing with it some hard and tasteless substance, such as crumbs of bread rendered hard by toasting, or any thing else of that kind, by which a long mastication is rendered necessary, the enjoyment of eating may be greatly increased and prolonged.
"The idea of occupying a person a great while, and affording him much pleasure at the same time, in eating a small quantity of food, may perhaps appear ridiculous to some; but those who consider the matter attentively will perceive that it is very important. It is, perhaps, as
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1 The Code of Health and Longevity, vol. ii. Appendix, No. IV. 8vo, Edinburgh, 1807. much so as any thing that can employ the attention of the philosopher."
But we shall consider cookery in another point of view, and that one, the importance of which will not be denied by the most austere philosopher. The political economists have extolled agriculture above all other arts, and have obtained the assent of mankind to their dogma, that he who makes two blades of grass grow where only one grew before, is a benefactor to his race. And why? Truly because he thus increases the quantity of food, and enables the world to support a larger population. And is not he who by his skill enables the raw material, whether corn or flesh, furnished to him by the agriculturist, to feed a larger population, or who renders articles alimentary which were formerly rejected, equally a benefactor of his race? Again, every country has its own favourite articles of food, and modes of preparing them; and there is perhaps no subject in regard to which local prejudices are so strong. Now, by bringing these to the test of comparison upon scientific principles, much good would ultimately arise by the gradual introduction into each country of whatever was worthy of imitation in the practice of other nations.
The learned Krantz, in his voluminous Economico-Technologic Encyclopedia, has anticipated many of our views of the subject. "The preparation of good food, and the directions for this purpose contained in cookery books, are commonly very much despised, or rather altogether neglected, by literary men. But in itself cookery does not deserve this contempt, for it is an important part of domestic economy. Upon its due practice depend the health and comfort of families, which must inevitably suffer from errors committed in it. The reason of this contempt is to be found in the manner in which it has hitherto been treated in cookery books, which have been prepared by common cooks, as they are accustomed to dress a ragout. Since the economical arts in general have been discussed scientifically, it is now time that the same attention should be paid to cookery, which is so generally useful, and which is capable of being considered in so many points of view. But then a totally different course from that commonly followed must be pursued. A man of much knowledge, especially physical, chemical, and dietetical, must condescend to apply to the making experiments on vulgar and refined cookery, and collect the whole into a system, as has been done long since in regard to the knowledge and preparation of medicines. What has been written upon dietetics by Zuckert, Bergeus, Lorry, Plenk, and others, must be compared with the practices in different countries, and a general view of the whole must be drawn up and arranged in systematic order. In regard to the preparations themselves, certain fixed processes and principles are to be determined, general operations to be accurately described, and new improvements to be brought forward. After this subject might be treated in detail, and a variety, first of simple, then of more compound articles, with the best modes of preparing each as to palatableness, and in relation to effect upon the health, should be perspicuously and thoroughly described. Lastly, their combination into bills of fare, adapted to different ranks in society, modes of life, various tastes, the season of the year, &c. should be pointed out particularly, and with a due regard to good economical arrangements."