Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-31
UNCLEAN FOOD.
Why the jews We're Forbidden to Eat
Certain Things-EeIs and Blood.
Eortn inltIlt Rerie.r


FortaigAtlv Recjea0.
While the laws for regulating the con-
jugal relations were evidently intended to
insure the continuous reproduction Of
strong and healthy IsraeliteS, the dietary
and hygienic laws were as obviously
designed for the maintenance of their
health and strength and the protection OF
their bodies against disease. Thus we
find Included among the prohibited
sources of food all carnivorous animals,
the rodents, the carnIvorous and carbon
eating birds, reptiles, amphibia, and
molusca; a list comprising a Ecomplete
group Of beasts, such as the swine, the
mouse, the rat, the cat, and the dog, ETC.,
known to be perfect foci Of trichina and
other parasites. The cOmmunicabiIty to
man Of parasitic diseases from animals
used as food has long 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 1t develops with frequently fatal
results. The prohibition of mollusca and
crustacea is also Of considerable pro-
phylactic value. Not a few shell-tish,
such as the common mussel, and even the
oyster, are at times capTiciously unWhOle-
some and even poisonous; and the crusta-
cea are not merely the foulest feeders, but
their flesh is certainly hard to digest.
The explanation of the prohibition with
respect to scaleless fish-that is. fish of
the eel type-has only recently been
rescued from the speculation Of the stu
dent Of comparative theology and taken
in hand by the scientist. The result has
been its complete vindication. Mr.. Reade
having bred some cells in pond which
had accidentally become polluted by sew
age matter, found the flesh so strongly
tainted in consequence as to be quite
UNBEATABLE. Struck by this fact he turned
some cells into a stream into which the
refuse of gas-works flowed, with the result
that the cells had a decided flavor Of gas.
Further experiment demonstrated that,
owing to the absence of scales the eel be-
came a positive absorbent of nOXiOus
gases, more particularly of the noXious
et1uYla of decOmpOsing and, therefore,
poisonous matter. The danger of such
food has always been duly appreciated by
Jewish teachers, and IN the special men,
ton of the snail by Moses there is evidence
that the lawgiver was not unmindful of
the probable Embellishments of poison
consuming animals. The Rabbis, too,
fully recognized the distinction between
the flesh of cattle rendered ''unelean" by
specific disease and that which becomes
unwhOlesome through pOison-a Mishna
ruling that, If an animal swallows a poi
son or is bitten by a venOmous snake, its
flesh is forbidden, not because it is there
by rendered "unclean" according to the
law, but because it has become a danger
GUS nutriment. The prohibition of the
hare has been explained, too, by the fact
that 1t 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" and the ''unclean."
1t is another instance of the searching
character of Jewish 'legalism" that it
prescribes even how much of the bodies of
permitted animals may be consumed as
food. Thus the use Of blood lis emphat.'
cally Unexpectedly forbidden. TINS pro-
hibition and the Importance evidently
attached to it harmonic so exactly with
the lessons of modern science that it is
impossible to regard them as mOtiYated by
any consideration other that the public
health, especially when the three circum-
stances are considered that the Mosaic
is the av0Wed enemy of all
superstitious symbolism, that it was
endeayored by it's means to break off
sharply from all foreign traditions, and
that its chief characteristic is its secular
ity.
The possibility of the blood containing
disease germs not Immediately affecting
the quality Of the flesh is not the only cir
cumstance tending to disqualify it for
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 invariably con- |
tains noXious elements. From the very
nature of the double office of the circula- |
tory 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 it !
has TO carry off the natural waste Of the |
tissues. This waste or refuse is ultimate |
ly eliminated by means of the kidneys,
the sudiparous glands, etc, and then APP
pears in its avOwed character of eXcre-
mentions matter; but it must always ne
to certain extent present in the blood,
and in the event Of any arrangement of
the action of the kidneys, accumulates in
considerable quantities and highly poison
Gus qualities. 1t must be evident that the
blood is always an undesirable article of
food, especially as it is impossible when
an animal is slaughtered to separate the
arterial from the venOus blood, which
would be the only means Of overcoming
the difficulty.