The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1915-01-15
copyright, 1914, by A. S. Cray
FOOD INSTINCTS.

"uIkr mental ana puy SlCdt, 10 give
them healthy appcttes and the means
to crafty them with simple foods,
the greatest happiness Of the greater
number would be established on a
thoroughly sound basis. We only eX-
peCt pleasure and comfort TO be cXper
fenced where ancestral habit through
long ages of use has established q
SensOry track to a center and where
that sensOry center is permitted to
function freely within the scale Of its
development. Happiness consists es-
sentially in the free and normal use
Of our functions and any restraint IN
the normal use Of those functions
must inevitably lead to unhappiness
and i'll health.
If flock of hens is confined in per-
fectly sanitary quarters of limited
area and fed what we believe to be a
perfectly scientific balanced ration,
there will still be a deterioration in
the general physical stamina of the
group. They will appear detected
and unhappy, and will nope around
and grow fat and indolent; also there
will be material drop in egg produc-
ton with a clearly defined tendency
to an abnormal mortality during in
Cubation. The individual metabolism
of the flock is thrown out of adjust
ment by the unnatural restraint and
the lack of work. If, however, means
are adopted to compel the hens to
work for their food, definite signs of
deterioration are postponed for
great many generations.
Life itself is very tenacious and re-
sistant and if the changes are not too
abrupt, any given species will quite
easily adapt itself to practically any
condition. Under insanitary condi.
lions, Of course, the deterioration of
a strain is marked and quite abrupt;
but even under the worst states mag
Unable, normal incubation being per-
mitted, chickens will survive, the line
quickly and simply adapting to the
environment This is true of the hui
man species It is stated that the
last annual report of Doctor Thomas,
health officer of the Finsbury district.
London, England, just published,
shows that in Finsbury district, the
most congested of the London
boroughs, where 5000 families live and
sleep in 5000 rooms, babies are i'm
mune to the filth diseases.
Some of these babies" says the re-
port, "as soon as, or even before, they
are able to crawl, are placed on the
sidewalks early in the day, to be
watched or nursed by a girl Of four
or five years of age. They are true
gutter children. Sometimes the imma-
ture nurse falls asleep wearied by
her task, and the baby crawls to the
other side of the road, needless of
traffic. Both are filthy and gutter
stained. But they seem to live. In
fact, the stock from which they have
sprung rises superior to the ordinary
diseases Of childhood" The problem
of humanity in general is largely a
matter of quality rather than of guam
tity and to secure this requires
thought on all sides. Expert breeders
of chickens and of other lower organ
isms, both animal and vegetable, ap-
pear to have learned solution, at
least, they make practical application
of principles productive Of highly de-
sirable results, while humanity at
large Intellectually seeks a life solu-
ton by means of "eugenics," or some
other equally vague method.
We have noted that wheat begins to
terminate at ii degrees Fahrenheit,
and that each stage in the develop
ment of the plant coHcides with a
definite heat absorption, the plant
going forward to complete maturity
under a mean temperature of about
60 degrees. Chickens require mean
temperature of 1913 degrees for q days
and man temperature of 9S.6 degrees
for about forty weeks. The more com
pick the species the greater the
amount Of heat or energy required to
be absorbed to develop it, the more
complex the food or fuel required
to maintain the organism in efficient
condition, and the more serious any
disturbance in the life cycle is Ger.
tain to be-
A properly fed organism is always
an efficient organism. If chickens
dogs, horses, cows or men are prop
erly fed they are efficient machines
and if they are not properly fed moth.
ing else can make them efficient
With chickens the ration and work
determine the quantity and the vital
ity Of the eggs, and once Matched or
born, as with all other organisms,
individual success becomes matter
of bodybuilding material A def.
cient diet with chickens produces
many peculiar results.
OF course, the hen does not know,
as we door as we can and should
that carbonic acid, water, ammonia
and salts from the inorganic world
are manufactured into complicated
proteins, starches, gums, fats, salines
and water combinations suitable for
animal consumption Neither. proba.
bly,, does she know that the animal
world, including herself. takes in these
proteins, amylaceous matters. fatA