Lachesis Lapponica; Or, A Tour in Lapland, Volume 1Linné, Carl von
History
Lachesis Lapponica; Or, A Tour in Lapland, Volume 1
Linné, Carl von
Lapland -- Description and travel; Natural history -- Lapland
5. Animal food. It is observable that such of the creation as feed on
vegetables, are of a more rigid, though strong, fibre; witness the Stag,
the Bull, &c.; while, on the contrary, carnivorous animals, as the Dog,
Cat, Wolf, Lion, &c., are all more flexible. The fact and its cause are
both evident. The Laplanders are altogether carnivorous. They have no
vegetable food brought to their tables. They now and then indeed eat a
raw stalk of Angelica, as we would eat an apple, and occasionally a few
leaves of Sorrel; but this, compared with the bulk of their food, is
scarcely more than as one to a million. In spring they eat fish, in
winter nothing but meat, in summer milk and its various preparations. It
may further be remarked, that salted food, which these people do not
use, renders the body heavy.
Here I cannot help making a few incidental remarks, on the opinion that
man is proved, by his teeth, to be formed to eat all kinds of food.
Those who advance this opinion say, his front or cutting-teeth are like
those of animals that eat fruits or nuts, as the Hare, Rabbit, Squirrel,
&c.; his canine, or eye-teeth, like those of beasts of prey, as the Cat;
and his grinders like those of animals that live upon herbage, as the
Cow, Horse, &c. But this reasoning is not altogether satisfactory to me.
If, in the first place, we examine the human fore-teeth, we shall find
them quite different from those of nut-cracking animals of the Squirrel
or Hare tribe, which are more prominent, and rather spreading than erect
at the angle, whereas ours are perpendicular, with their summits close
and level. Hence the fore-teeth of such animals are very long, witness
those of the Beaver. Some carnivorous animals have similar fore-teeth to
ours, but have we any such canine teeth as theirs? They do not exceed
ours in number, but they are much more important. The being furnished
with grinders as such, will not, on the other hand, class us with
herbivorous animals, although Bulls and Cows have them; for the Dog and
Cat, and all other carnivorous ones, have grinders likewise. I have not
yet met with any herbivorous animal, with a simple stomach, which is not
subject to eructation, nor is the Mouse tribe any exception.
But to decide concerning our own species. If we contemplate the
characters of our teeth, hands, fingers, and toes, it is impossible not
to perceive how very nearly we are related to Baboons and Monkeys, the
wild men of the woods. In as much therefore as these are found to be
carnivorous, the question is decided with respect to ourselves.
6. The Laplander is satisfied with a small quantity of food at once. He
does not eat his fill at one meal, but takes food from time to time, as
he feels inclined.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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