>776- January; out againft L in n a EWS, and his fyftem of botany, although this fyftem has been received by all good naturaiifts. M. d e B u f f o n , therefore, would have done better, had he kept to his ufual admeafurements and prolix deferiptions o f animals, their lkins, ikeletons, and horns; taking care, however, for the future, to make his obfervations in a more accurate manner than he has done with refpeCt to the horns o f oxen; on the fubjedt of which he has happened very unfortunately to make a capital blunder, as I ihall.be obliged to ihew more at large a little farther on, when I come to treat of the Camelopardalis. In the mean while, let - us finiih the, difcuffion of the. queftion, in how far a man, at leaft in France or Europe,.. {au moins dans ces pays, vide Buffon, I. c.) may be fup- pofed to linger on through life in a weak and debilitated ftate, or to be incapacitated for the propagation of his fpecies, by living on vegetable food, fuch as is likely to be found, in thefe countries, e. g . potatoes, turnips, turnip-rooted, cabbage, carrots, onions, afparagus, fcorzonera, ikirrets, the lathyrus tuberofus, fallads, and cabbages of all kinds,, artichokes, peas, beans, bread, puddings, and all the other various preparations of meal or com, chefnuts, almonds, apples,, pears, and plums of all forts, melons, pumpkins, cucumbers,, olives, oil, figs, grapes, berries o f all. forts,, wine, beer, &c, .. „ The very mention of theie ieems to beaiufllcient proof ©f the abfurdity of M. d f . B u f f o n ’s opinion; but as he. poflibly will not give up the point without good authority being produced to the contrary,. I will firft of all refer him- to. his juftly celebrated countryman T o u r n e f o r t s excellent; lent obfervations in the Levant, viz. that the food of the inhabitants of certain diftriits in that part o f the world con- O 'vO lifted almoft entirely of bread, figs, and grapes, with fome- times raw cucumbers. Farther, M. d e B u f f o n might have learned from L in n a e u s ’s Amcenitates Academica, Tom. I. p. 137, that the athletce of former times, whofe principal occupation was wreftling and fighting, for which purpofe a ftrengthening diet was doubtlefs requifite, lived chiefly upon figs before it was the practice to eat fleih. We are likewife told, 1. c. that the poor, who were fet to watch the fig-trees and vineyards, grew plump and fat in the fpace of two months by feeding on thefe fruits, joined to a very fmall quantity of bread; and that the foxes, which had an opportunity of creeping into places of this kind, ufually got fo fat upon this diet, as to be ufed by fome people as food. I have feen a great number of Dalecarliems, who wrought for a long time together at a hard and laborious bufinefs, fubfift almoft entirely upon hafty-pudding and beer; without even a morfel of bread ; neither was this in the leaft ■coniidered by them as hard fare. I have alfo met with many poor cottagers in Up-landia, who for a long (time together even wanted bread, particularly for their children, fo that they were obliged to bring them up upon pancakes and frumenty made without milk. Thofe who in the above-mentioned province or elfe- where have an opportunity p f adding a little milk to theif ■vegetable food, may neverthelefs be coniidered as, living nearly on a vegetable diet; as, according to M. G e o f f r o i , the confiituent parts of milk are almoft entirely the fame H h 2 with
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