Page:Fruits and Farinacea the Proper Food of Man.djvu/60

54 has depraved his instincts to that degree, that "rum and tobacco" have become his greatest luxuries.

47. But those very intellectual endowments which conferred on man the ability to depart so far from his natural state, are able also to lead him back from his long wanderings, and to reveal to him the best means of securing his health and happiness. Ill health, pain, misery, and an abbreviated existence, are the means adopted by the Deity to remind us of our transgressions of nature's laws; and although our instinctive feelings are no longer competent to direct us in the path of health and peace, our cultivated reasoning faculties, by which we investigate and compare the laws of nature, and by which we are made sensible of the beautiful adaptation of means to an end, are fully sufficient for enabling us to retrace our steps. We may also rest assured, that the principles of sound philosophy will harmonize with the dictates of original instinct. God being the author of both, they cannot contradict each other; the laws of nature are but the expression of his will, and, as all his designs are for good, there is a moral certainty that a life passed in obedience to those principles will be productive of the highest degree of happiness that temporal objects can yield; notwithstanding the sacrifices and self-denial which an emancipation from previously-formed habits will undoubtedly require.

48. Let us, therefore, interrogate Nature, with a sincere desire of discovering the truth, and not with the object of defending what we wish to find true; let us employ the talents with which God has endowed us, not in accumulating wealth, not in fostering and expanding the selfishness of human nature, but in discovering the real causes of disease and misery, and the best means of establishing durable health and happiness. With this view, let us now attempt an answer to the second question; namely Is man so wonderfully constructed, that climate and locality alone determine on what substances he shall feed? Or does his organization, like that of other animals, manifest a special adaptation to one specific kind of food; but with an extensive range of adaptability to the greatest variety of animal and vegetable productions?

49. That the alimentary organs of man are so constructed as to admit of his feeding on a great variety of animal and vegetable substances, as climate and circumstances may direct, and yet enjoy a tolerable amount of health, happiness, and longevity, there can be no doubt; and the advantages of such a range of capability will hereafter be referred to.

50. Hence it is that climate, in most cases, determines the diet upon which any particular nation or people subsist; and many have been induced to conclude, that climate and its productions should prescribe the rule