BREAD.

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animal food devoured by the natives. As a proof that scurvyarises from this cause, we are in possession of no remedy for thatdisease equal to the free use of vegetables.

By the uninterrupted use of animal food, a putrid diathesis isinduced in the system, which predisposes to a variety of disorders.I am fully convinced, that many of those obstinate complaints forwhich we are at a loss to account, and find it still more difficult tocure, are the effects of a scorbutic taint lurking in the habit.

Improper diet affects the mind as well as the body. The cholericdisposition of the English is almost proverbial. Were I to assign

cause, it would be, their living so much on animal food. Thereis no doubt but this induces a ferocity of temper unknown to menwhose food is chiefly taken from the vegetable kingdom.

Though these and similar consequences may arise from theexcess of animal diet, we are far from discouraging its use in mod-eration. In all cold countries it is certainly necessary ; but themajor part of the aliment ought, nevertheless, to consist of vegeta-ble substances. There is a continual tendency in animal food, aswell as in the human body itself, to putrefaction, which can only becounteracted by the free use of vegetables.

With regard to the proportion of vegetable food to that of ani-mal, great nicety is by no means required. It must vary accordingto circumstances, as the heat of the weather, the warmth of theclimate, and the like. The vegetabJ/? part, however, where no-thing forbids, ought cprte/xiiy to preponderate, and I think in theproportion at least of two to one.

TAe excessive consumption of animal food is one great cause ofthe scarcity of grain. The food that a bullock affords bears but asmall proportion to the quantity of vegetable matter he consumes.

I am no enemy to good fruit, as an article of diet ; but the greaterpart of what is used in this country, by the lower orders of thepeople, is mere trash. Fruit should be eaten in the early part ofthe day, when the stomach is not loaded with food, and it neverought to be eaten raw till it is thoroughly ripe.

OF BREAD.

Bread, or something resembling it, makes a part of the diet ofall nations. Hence it is emphatically denominated the staff of life.It may, however, be used too freely. The late Dr. Fothergill wasff opinion, and I perfectly agree with him, that most people eatmore bread than is conducive to their health. I do not mean toh sinuate that bread is unwholesome, but that the best things mayprove hurtful when taken to excess. A surfeit of bread is more dan-gerous than one of any other food. Omnis repletio mala, repletiopañis pessima. The French consume vast quantities of bread; butits bad effects are prevented by their copious use of soups and fruits,which have little or no share in the diet of the common people ofEngland.

One important use of bread is to form a mass fit for filling upthe alimentary canal, and carrying the nutritious juices along thatpassage in such a state, as to render them fit to be acted upon bythe lacteal absorbents, which take up the nourishment, and convey