New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-06-14

! entirely on sweet ana wholesome yeSetaDle
juices. 1t must be infinitely purer as an article
of diet than many things which most people eat
habtually. There is no fouler feeder than the
hog, for example, and the domestic fowl 10
scarcely moro particular. Crabs and Holsters
and shrimps fatten upon nlmeless abomlna-
| tions, and, moreover, all these crustaceans are
exceedingly ugly in appearance. \ dish of soft
shell crabs looks very like dish of largo
spiders There is no essential difference
between cells and snakes. And Charles Lamb
thought that the man who first swallO we'd an
oyster was better entitled to lIorace's laudatOry
vcrses-W robm ct Gs tripier, ctc.-than he who
first tempted Fate by going to sea. The
truth is we are all governed largely by habit
and acquired taste in eating and drinking.
Surgeons roe is assurcdy "cavarc to the
general originally. The first taste Of it is dis
couraging, and few would take n second
probably but for the force OF authority in such
matters.
The Australian native extracts from the bark
Of tree Il huge fat white magGOt, which he
devours with exceeding gusto. The Esqumaus
mouth waters at the appctizng Od0r Of dccom-
posed seal meat aud whale bubber. The FIJI
Islander until quite recently revcIlcd IN the
human form divine, nicely baked in an oven,
with the face neatly BACKED and all the crack
ling well Drowned Dat of decent respect for
the prcudices OF his contemporaries he called
his favortc dish long pig" In South Amer
ica they clt great lizards, and find them tooth
some and delicate. In Africa baked monkey Is
accounted good, though somewhat too like a
"Chrstan child for the uncmancpated West
| Ia, -Ite wi o
make practice OF digcsting live scorpions and
ycnomous snakes. Rats and nice and such
small deer have commonly been used as food.
from the markets of China to those of Paris
during the siege. The people who live on the
shores ot the Indian Ocean make a food of the
gigantic ccphaopod,, one Of which Victor Hugo
imm0rtalizrd under the name of the pIc"rre.
In BOrnro, crabs whica stand two feet hIh anu
look perfectly horrible are eagerly dcvourcd.
I'm short, there is scarcely any living organism
which has moi at some time and IN some part,
of the world been used as food by men, and
when the latter decline To eat the creature,
themselves they very often 10 it at one remove
by feed. ny upon animals that eat the rejected
organisms.
Men of the world AM such aS honor scicnc"
wisely cndcavor 10 overcome hereditary and
acquired prcIudccs against strange articles %
food. and such Organizations 20, the lchthy-
ophagous ClDb do some good III this direction,
though tuc strength of prcpo,sc-sionS anG
lutiputldrs is very great, aud dou5urs. takc'
time anl experience 10 remove. To ypunr
Irish girl a tcrrlpin stew mi ;ht easily appear %
thing ol unlttcribIc houor aul ic'c>tltion.
Just so in Central Africa the custom of nudity
hn. reversed things uutl thc women regard thu
putin, on of clothing 70, iwWoir-t instead o.
the taking it of. 1t will probably not bc au
Easy matter To Introduce the lJcist o., O. r. -,i..u
article ol diet in iii, country, bat the few "h"
have conquered prejudice, Ike Dr. Hartman.
~ W.,trl.,tcr. Penn, may in tlnr scr
the fruit OF their teaching iu the regular im
por'lt.on and marketing of tlr insects.
Araiy the California Indians prepare them for
food and preserve them as "utcr provision.
900 tho., who hi,c tasted them iu that conh-
tipu -ly that they are pii4ttb.o aud nutritious.
OF coui.r, however. thr taste ull.t h' acl t,Icd,
and il 10 u,,lc-'lor any one To try 90 force 1t.