The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1905-12-26
BIGGEST EATER
In ALL CREATION
The Human GlHttOR Easily Holds
Championship Of Animal
Kingdom.

50 commonly are persons Of large ap-
I petite upbraided as hogs, gluttons or
cormorants that the question suggests
Z itself, Are these illustrations accurate
or must they be accepted by natural
lists with the same qualification that be-
songs to such comparisons as SILLY as
a goose" "blind as a bat" ''timid as a
hare" and many others equally popular
in every day talk? Those who have
studied such creatures know that geese
often display undeniable cunning; that
bats, though endowed with senses Of
which we have no equivalent, are not
blind and that hares can at times be
most pugnacious.
I From the general contemplation OF
/ whether these and other animals so de-
4 scribed are greedy out Of the common
! run, it is but 4 step to the problem
f whether any living beast on bird, rep
tile. fish Or insect. is actually greedier
than the greediest man. writes T. G.
Afalo in the Pail Mall Magazine.
Obviously. il is fair in such a com
f parison to take the case Of the man
+ who can and does eat more than his
/ fellows, because such man, disagree
able though he may be from one stand
point, is undeniably more natural than
those who bowling to tho verdict Of the
( medical attendant or restrained by con-
( sidcrations of polite behavior, habitual-
I " eat less than they could if they were
TO continue eating until unable TO sWal-
low more
The whole system Of feeding in our
artificial lives is quite distinct from
that adopted in the rest of the animal
world and doubtless also from that
which was in vogue with the cave men.
Able by various devices to procure our
food as required, we have appointed
certain feeding times, and at these we
rigidly take our meals - breakfast,
luncheon and dinner.
The wild creatures Of nature know
no such restraint The birds in our
garden are always pecking at the lawn
for worms or at the boughs for berries.
The lethargic cattle in the meads when
not actually grazing are Illuminating.
which is grazing over again. She cat
erpillars on our rose trees, the ants in
our storeroom, are always at table.
Only civilized man and his domestic
animals know the f0rmality OF neal
times And so it is throughout nature
with all the four footed and winged
creatures.
In considering the appoutes and
tastes of man and the lower ANIMALS it
Is Of importance TO distinguish in ev-
cry class between the gluttons (the
word IS used convention0lly and with
out prejudice and the epicures, more
happily differentiated by the French as
Commands and g0urmets, the former
Of which prefer quantity, while the lat
ter are all for the quality Of their food.
The human race furnishes innumer-
able examples of both. Haydn. the
composer. would sometimes order six
covers for dinner and dine alone. One
king of England died after q surfeit Of
lampreys; the undoing Of another was
an excessive meal Of peaches and new
ale
With these may be ranked Sporeo-
gambi, q human hog, who ate 1000
yards Of macaroni at sitting. and
DOmery. the Pole. who in the pres
ence Of witnesses devoured In one
morning fourteen pounds OF raw beef
and almost the same weight Of tallow
candles.
These are the gluttons. and if we
compare Domery's feat with the daily
meal Of full grown working elephant
weighing FIVE OF six tons-namely. 100
pounds Of vegetable food-we find the
man the greedier Of the two.
The enicures are less roaulMre. A