Biology. An inquiry into the cause of natural death : showing it not to arise from old age, but from a gradual process of consolidation, arising from substances which may be so far controlled as to preserve health and active life for an indefinable period / By Tryon [pseud].

  • Rowbotham, S.
Date:
1845
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Biology. An inquiry into the cause of natural death : showing it not to arise from old age, but from a gradual process of consolidation, arising from substances which may be so far controlled as to preserve health and active life for an indefinable period / By Tryon [pseud]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    duces the. infirmities of old age and decrepitude, and finally results in that solid, choked-up, immovable, in- sensitive state, called Natural Death”. Illustrations. — The waters of different springs and rivers, hold in solution different proportions of earthy and saline matters, and the vessels in which these waters are boiled and evaporated, become more or less, incrusted, or furred up” ; the degree and extent of incrustation being in proportion to the amount of solid matter held in solution. Different kinds of coal, wood, or other fuel, contain different proportions of inorganic elements; ^ and, after combustion, leave different quantities of ashes. So it is with the food of man. The proportion of in- organic elements in general, but of earthy matters in par- ticular, is exceedingly various, and tends correspondingly, to the consolidation and inactivity of the body. So again, some kinds of food are more liable to chemi- cal change or decomposition, than others. Hence it is that articles of diet differ in value. Illustrations.—Some kinds of fuel burn away, or decom- pose much more rapidly than others. One kind of coal, for instance, is much swifter” than another. Oak wood again, will not burn so quickly as pine, and other light timber. Different fluids ferment and decay, with different de- grees of rapidity. Sugar and water, flour and water, and different vegetable decoctions, quickly decompose, and form vinegar and other products: whilst solutions of ani- n'^1 and vegetable matter, impregnated with different acids, minerals, earths, and neutral salts, will preserve their conditions for various lengthy periods. So with food. Some kinds decompose, and pass away much sooner than others. The substances which resist chemical change, and preserve their identity in the body for the longest period, are the most valuable as food, the most conducive to health and activity, destroy the neces- sity of eating and drinking for the longest period, and thus prove the most economical in the end, whatever might have been their original cost.