Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-08-30
UNClEAN FOOD.
Why the Jews Were Forbidden to Eat
Certain Thincs-Eels and Blood.

Why the Jews We're Forbidden to Ea
Certain Things-Eels and Blood.
While the laws for regulating the coniu
gal relations were evidently intended t,
insure the continuous reproduction O
strong and healthy Israelites, the dietar,
and hygienic laws were as obviously de
signed for the maintenance of their healtl
and strength and the protection of theil
bodies against disease. Thus we find in
Guided among the prohibited sources o
food all calniverouS animals, the rodents
the carniverous and carriOn-eating birds
reptiles amphibia and mollusca lis
comprising complete group of beasts
such as swine, the mouse, the rat, the ca
and the dog, etc, known to be the perfect
foe of trichinR and other parasites. The
COmmunicability to man of parasitic dis
eases from animals used as food has lone
been placed beyond all doubt, it having
been established that the parasite
Is simply transferred from the flesh
of the beast to that of the man, in which il
develops with frequently fatal results. The
prohibition of mollusca and crustacea is
also of considerable prophylactic value
Not few shelliish, such as the common
mussel, and even the oyster are mt times
caprlclously unwholcsome and even poison
Gus; and the crustacea are not merely the
foulest feeders but their flesh is certainly
hard to digest. The explanation the pro
hlbitiOn with respect TO scaleless tiSh--that
IS, fish OF the eel type-haS only recently
been rescued from the speculations of the
student of comparative theology and taken
IN hand by the scientist. The result has
been its complete vindication Mr. Rcade
having bred some cells in pond which had
accidentally become polluted by sewage
matter, found the flesh SO strongly tainted
i'll consequence as to be quite uneatable
Struck by this fact, he turned some cells
into Il stream into which the refuse
of gas works flowed. with the result
that the cells had decided flavor
of gas. Further experiment demonstrated
that, owing to the absence of scales,
the eel became positive absorbent of nox-
lous gases, more particularly of the noXiouS
etfluvia of dccompOsing and, therefore.
poisonous matter. The danger of such food
has always been duly appreciated by Jew
ish teachers and in the special mention of
the snail by Moses there Is evidence that
the lawgiver was not unmindtul of the
probable Embellishments of poison-con-
Stunning animals. The Rabbins, too. fully
recognized the distinction between the flesh
of cattle rendered "unClean by specific
disease and that which becomes unwhole-
some through poison, a Mishna ruling that
by vcnomous snake, its flesh is for
hidden, not because it is thereby rem
dercd "unclcan o.ding 10 the law,
but because il has become a danger
Gus nutrimcnt. The prohibition OF the
hare has been explained. too, by the fact
that it eats many vegetable poisons,
such As the bark of the mezereOn. The
dietary laws are not confined to a mere
division of all animals into two classes the
clean" aud the unclean." 1t is another
instance ot the searching character of Jew
iSh legalism" that it prCsCrihes even how
much Of the bodies of permitted animals
may be consumed rs food. Thus the use of
blood is emblematically and repeatedly for
biddeIsAs.iI his prohibition and the impor-
lance - attached to it harmonic so
exactly ~lth the lessons OF modern science
that it IS impossible To regard them rs mo-
tiyated by any consideration other than the
public health, especially when the three
circumstances are considered that the Mo
sale dispcnsdiiun is the avOwed enemy of
all superstitious symbolism, that it was
endeayored 10y its means TO break of sharp
ly from all foreign traditions and that its
chief characteristic Is its secularity.- The
possibility of the blood containing disease
germs not Immediately affecting the quail
ity of the flesh Is not the only Circum-
food. There is, as has been pointed out
by = writer in the Journal Of Science.
the more conclusive fact that the blood
in its normal condition almost iaJGriubiy
contains nOxious clements. From she very
nature Of the double office of the circulatury
system this must be So, for while ON the one
hand, the blood serves to renew the various
parts Of the system after their ordinary
wear and tear, on the other II has TO
carry of the natural waste of the tissues.
This waste or refuse is ultimately elimi-
mated by means OF the kidneys. the sudOr-
jparOus glands etc, and then appears in its
avOwed character of cxcremcntitious mat
ter; but il must always be, to 4 certain eX-
tent, present in the blood, and in the event
Of any arrangement of the action of the
kidneys, accumulates in considerable and
highly poisonous qualities. Unjust, there
fore be evident that the blood is always an
undesirable article of food, especially as it
Is impossible when an animal is slaughter
ed to separate the artcrial from the venous
blood, which would he the only means of
overcoming the difficulty .Fortnightly
Review.
INorE.-The interesting and important
fact is not mentioned in the above article of
the Rc,ic7s that if the scientific reasons for
excluding from use the foods enumerated
as unclean were known to the Israelites,
then they had. at that early period, estab-
Hshed facts in science which are but just
being rediscoyered by modern investi-
gators.-Epe. BBcoRp-UNIoYl