substances, when viewed only in the light shed upon them by
chemical analysis, appear to be rich in the elements of nutrition, yet
when they are introduced into the stomachs of certain individuals, they
disarrange the digestive organs, and sometimes cause the whole system to
go out of order. Every day we see exemplified the truth of the proverb,
that "one man's meat is another man's poison." There are persons who
relish and readily digest fat pork, and yet they cannot eat a single
egg with impunity; others enjoy and easily assimilate eggs, but their
stomachs cannot tolerate a particle of fat bacon.

It is not merely the composition of an aliment and its adaptability to
the organism which determine its nutritive value--its digestibility
and flavor are points which affect it. There are few people in these
countries who are disposed to quarrel with beef; but no one would
prefer the leg of an elderly milch cow to the sirloin of a well-fed
three-year-old bullock: yet if our selection were to be determined by
the analysis of the two kinds of beef, we would be just as likely to
prefer the one as the other. No doubt the relative tenderness of meats
may be ascertained by experiments conducted _outside_ the body; but
tenderness is not in every case synonymous with easy digestibility.
Veal contains more soluble albumen, and is, consequently, far more
tender than beef; yet, as every one knows, it is less digestible. It is
curious that maturity renders the flesh of some animals more digestible,
and that of others less digestible. Flavor has something to do with
these differences. Beef is richer than veal in the agreeably flavorous
osmazome, and the flesh of the kid is destitute of the disagreeable
odour of the fully-developed goat. The superiority of wild-fowl over the
domesticated birds is solely owing to the finer flavor of their flesh.

The habits of animals, and the nature of their food, affect the
quality of their flesh. Exercise increases the amount of osmazome, and
consequently renders the meat more savory. The mutton of Wicklow, Wales,
and other mountainous regions is remarkably sweet, because the animals
that furnish it are almost as nimble as goats, and skip from crag to
crag in quest of their food. The fatty mutton, with pale muscle, which
is so abundant in our markets, is furnished by very young animals forced
prematurely into full development. Those animals have abundance of food
placed within easy reach; their muscular