The new health guide / edited by Sir William Arbuthnot Lane.

  • Lane, William Arbuthnot, 1856-1943.
Date:
[1935]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The new health guide / edited by Sir William Arbuthnot Lane. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    experimental work on the feeding of small animals whose life cycles are rapidly repeated and can therefore be observed over several generations in respect of their fertility, growth, freedom from disease, and general behaviour have clearly shown that these are completely dependent on the arbitrary selection of their food by the experi- menter. By suitable variations in the feeding he can rear a healthy, vigorous, and fertile stock or produce a race of weaklings that speedily dies out. Similarly the breeder of live stock can deter- mine the success or otherwise of his industry. Surely therefore this must hold true for the human species. Looking round now on natural methods of feeding we find a truly surprising variety of habits, which at first sight appears to be con- tradictory in their results. Take carnivorous feeding for example. Some purely carnivorous animals are remarkable for their fine physical development, their agility, muscular strength, and nervous vigour. Such are the wolf, tiger, and lion, and among birds the eagle and the vulture. Some races of mankind are also largely carni- vorous, such as the Eskimo, Laplanders and the North American Indian in his primitive state. It is interesting to note in passing that those races, and the wild animals with whom they share their taste for animal-flesh food, are lazy and lethargic when well fed, but capable of