Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1906-01-03
THE HUMAN GEUTTON
he IS THE eRseoIEsT OF AL AMI
NAL COMMANDERS.

4
beasts aad Man.
80 commonly are persons OF large ap-
petite upbraided Us hogs. gluttons or
cormorants that the question suggests
Itself. Are these Illustrations accurate
or must they be accepted by natural
ists with the same qualification that be-
'ongs to such comparisons as silly as
a goose" blind IS n bat" 'timld as n
mare and-many others equally popular
In every day talkl 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 pugnaclous
From the general contemplation OF
whether these and other animals so de-
scribed are greedy out OF the common
run. II is but step to the problem
whether any living beast or bird. rep
tile, fish or insect. Is actually greedier
than the greedlest man. writes T. G..
Atialo I'm the Pail Mall Magazine.
obviously. IL is fair IN such a COM
parison TO take the case OF the man
who can and does eat more than his
fellows, because such a man. disagree
able though he may be from one stand
point Is undeniably more natural than
those who. bowling to the verdict OF the
medical attendant or restrained by con-
sideratlons OF polite behavior. habitual-
ly eat less than they could II they were
TO continue eating until unable TO swat
low more
The whole system OF feeding In our
artificial likes 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 10y 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 I'm the meads when
not actually grazing are Illuminating.
which is grazing over again. The cat
erpillars on our rose trees. the ants In
our storeroOm. are always at table.
Only civilized man and his domestic
animals know the formality OF meal
times. And so Il is throughout nature
with all the four footed and winged
creatures.
In considering the appetites and
tastes OF man and the lower animals II
is OF Importance TO distinguish in ev-
cry class between the gluttons (the
word IS used conventionally and with
out prejudice and the epicures. more
happily differentiated by the French as
gormands and gourmets. 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 n surfeit OF
lampreys; the undoing OF another was
an excessive meal Of peaches and new
ale.
With these may be ranked SpOreo-
gambi. n human hog. who ate 1900
yards Of macaroni at sitting. and
Domery. the Pole, who I'm 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 II we
compare DOmery's feat with the daily
meal OF full grown working elephant
weighing five or six tons-namely. $50
pounds OF vegetable food-we find the
man the greedier OF the two.
The epicures are less repulsive. 4
former Duke OF Portland. who paid
high prices FOR red mullet and ate only
the llvers, was a benefactor OF trade,
and the famous Comte de Broussin.
who despised mushrooms unless their
flavor had been brought out 10y his
mule treading on them. likewise en-
tertained in princely style. and made an
art OF eating.
Every class OF animals has its ex-
amples OF these two categorles. With
the epicures we may class the giraffe;
with the gormandizers the vulture.
The following selection will approx
mately serve TO illustrate by more or
less familiar animal types the two
classes: