Page:Substance of the Work Entitled Fruits and Farinacea The Proper Food of Man.djvu/18



man is so constructed as to be capable of feeding on a great variety of substances, according as climate and circumstances may suggest, and yet enjoy a tolerable amount of health, happiness, and longevity, there can be no doubt. (The advantages of such a range of capability will be afterwards referred to.) Hence it is plausible to represent, that climate ought to determine our diet. In the torrid regions (say they), "where rich fruits grow naturally and abound, where rice or sago or maize or breadfruits or cassava thrive, but sheep and oxen are inferior, vegetarian food is best for man; but in colder climates, nature evidently intends animal food to be a chief part of his diet." Of course a nation feeds on whatever presents itself with least trouble; use reconciles it to the most customary food, and, within certain limits, the allmentary organs accommodate themselves to the circumstances. But whatever their power of accommodation, this does not amount to a change of organization; nor can we deny that, if man was originally frugivorous, he is so now. Nay, I assert as matter of fact, that his present organization is that of a frugivorous animal, and, therefore, that to live on fruits and grain is strictly NATURAL to him.

Between the organs of digestion, of motion, and of sensation there is so fine a harmony, that even from one or two bones a skilful naturalist will often discern the dietetic habits of an extinct species. A piercing eye or keen scent, swiftness, strong talons or claws, sharp angular teeth or a crooked beak, a simple stomach, a short alimentary canal, generally mark the carnivora. The herbivora, for the most part, are in the reverse; and so consistent is nature, that we never find an animal with organs of a rapacious character combined with those of an opposite class, as, the claws of the tiger with the stomach or intestinal canal of the sheep.