He of the tropics,
in addition to the external heat, needs but the mild and gentle fire
generated by the combustion of his native fruits, to keep his life-fluid
in action; while he of the frigid zones must be kept in life and motion
by rousing fires of seal's fat. Temperate latitudes produce most fruits,
and all the cereals and animals used for food; but Nature nowhere gives
us these in the shape of plum-puddings and pastries, or of beer and
alcoholic drinks. The combinations and commutations must be
manufactured. But does an impulse in man, like the instinct of the bee,
lead him to make just what he needs in his particular climate? Does the
Bavarian take to beer as the bee to honey? Does instinct or appetite in
general shape itself to climate and other outward circumstances? This is
but partly true. As Nature has distributed noxious vegetable and animal
substances through land and sea, which must be avoided, so man may not
pitch or pour indiscriminately into his stomach whatever substance may
be cooked or liquid distilled and offered to him, and we are thrown back
upon the direct test of their innocent or noxious properties, with full
responsibility of action; but still I have a profound conviction that
all such general production of the chief articles of food and drink has
its origin in some deeply felt necessity of human nature in their
particular localities;--the people may be on the wrong track in their
attempts to provide for such necessities, but that these are felt and
are the stimulus to the production is beyond doubt.
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