If these are not sufficient proofs let us consider the method made use of to fatten cattle. They begin by castration, thus stopping the passage through which the organic molecules escape in most abundance; then, instead of leaving the _ox_ to his usual pasture, of herbage alone, they give him bran, corn, and turnips; in a word, more substantial aliments than grass. In a little time the flesh, juices, and fat of the animal augments, the fat abounds, and, from a flesh hard and dry, forms a viand so succulent and good, that it is the chief of our best repasts. It also results from what has been said, that man, whose stomach and intestines are not so capacious with respect to the size of his body, could not live on herbage alone; yet it is proved by facts, that he can live on vegetables, corn, and seeds of plants, since there are whole nations, and particular orders of men, who are forbid by their religion to eat of any thing that has had life; but these examples, though supported by the authority of Pythagoras, and recommended by some physicians, do not appear sufficient to convince us, that it would benefit the health of mankind, or that the human species would multiply in a greater proportion, if they lived on vegetables and bread; the rather as peasants, whom the luxuries, and the sumptuousness of the great, reduce to this mode of living, languish and die much sooner than persons in a middle station of life, to whom wants and excesses are equally unknown. Next to man, animals which live on flesh only are the greatest destroyers: they are both the enemies of nature, and the rivals of man. It is only by a careful attention that our flocks and fowls can be sheltered from birds of prey, the wolf, fox, weazle, &c. and it is only by a continual war that we can preserve our grain, fruits, and even clothing from the voracity of rats, moths, mites, &c. for insects are among those creatures which do more harm than good. The ox, sheep, and those other animals which feed on grass, are not only the best, most useful, and most precious to man, but consume and cost him least. The ox, above all the rest, is the most excellent in this respect, for he gives as much to the earth as he takes from it, and even enriches the ground on which he lives; while the horse and the greatest part of other animals, in a few years impoverish the best pasture-lands.