be provided in its SEASON; for to every thing there is both time
and season, which the wisdom and goodness of providence have pointed
out. Every production is the most pure in quality, and of course the
most wholesome, when nature has perfected her work, and prepared it for
human sustenance. To anticipate her seasons, or to prolong them, is a
misapplication of labour, and a perversion of the bounties of providence
into secret poisons, to indulge the wanton cravings of a depraved
appetite. The properties of animal food in general seem not to restrict
the use of it to any particular season, but rather to admit its common
use at all times. The only period in which it is less seasonable than at
any other, appears to be in hot weather, when animal substances of all
kinds are very liable to taint. The profuse supply of vegetables too in
the warmer months, seems to lessen the occasion for animal food.
Attention should be paid however at all times to the proper season for
using the different kinds of animal food, and to the various
circumstances that may contribute to its being more or less wholesome.
The killing of animals by the easiest means, and not previously abusing
them by over-driving, or in any other way, materially affects their
fitness for food, and ought therefore to be carefully attended to. The
high flavour, or taint in meat, which so many English palates prefer, is
in fact the commencement of putrefaction; and of course meat in this
state is very improper for food, particularly for persons with any
tendency to putrid disorders. At a time when bad fevers prevail, food of
this description ought to be generally avoided, as it disposes the blood
and juices to receive infection. With respect to grain, its adaptedness
to keep the whole year round, evidently denotes that it was intended for
constant use. But the recurrence of an annual supply seems to be the
voice of nature, forbidding its being kept in ordinary cases to a longer
period, especially as new corn is generally preferred to the old. All
other vegetables, including fruits, seem designed only for a transient
season. Roots, and a few late fruits, have indeed the property of
keeping for some months, and may thus provide a store for the winter,
when fresh vegetables are less plentiful. Other kinds will not keep
without undergoing a culinary process, by which they are rendered less
wholesome, however palatable they may be considered. Provisions of
almost every descr