digestive organs, and by nervous sympathy, upon the rest of the system. _Bitter Extractive_,[141] seems to be as essential to the digestion of herbivorous, as salt is to that of carnivorous animals; it acts as a natural stimulant, for it has been shewn by a variety of experiments that it passes through the body without suffering any diminution in its quantity, or change in its nature. No cattle will thrive upon grasses which do not contain a portion of this vegetable principle; this fact has been most satisfactorily proved by the late researches of Mr. Sinclair, gardener to the Duke of Bedford, which are recorded in that magnificent work, the “HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS.” They shew, that if sheep are fed on _Yellow Turnips_, which contain little or no bitter principle, they instinctively seek for, and greedily devour any provender which may contain it, and if they cannot so obtain it they become diseased and die. We are ourselves conscious of the invigorating effects of slight bitters upon our stomach; and their presence in malt liquors not only tends to diminish the noxious effects of such potations, by counteracting the indirect debility which they are liable to occasion, but even to render them, when taken in moderation, promoters of digestion. The custom of infusing bitter herbs in vinous drinks is very ancient and universal; the _Poculum Absinthiatum_ was regarded in remote ages as a wholesome beverage, and the Wormwood was supposed to act as an antidote against drunkenness. The Swiss peasant cheers himself amidst the frigid solitude of his glaciers, with a spirit distilled from _Gentian_, the extreme bitterness of which is relished with a glee that is quite unintelligible to a more cultivated taste. With regard to the natural use of _Bitter Extractive_, it may be laid down as a truth, that it stimulates the stomach,—corrects putrefying and unwholesome nutriment,—promotes tardy digestion,—increases the nutritive powers of those vegetable substances to which it is united,—and furnishes a natural remedy for the deranged functions of the stomach in particular, and through the sympathetic medium of that organ, for the atony of remote parts in general; and I shall hereafter shew, that in its medicinal applications it certainly imparts additional activity to many remedies, while it renders the stomach and system more susceptible of their salutary energies. As an essential ingredient in the provender of herbivorous animals, it may I think be admitted as a fact, that its importance is _in an inverse ratio_ with the nutritive powers[142] of the food, and we accordingly find, in conformity with that universal scheme of self-adjustment and compensation, which influences all the operations of nature, that cultivation, which extends the nutritive powers of vegetable bodies, generally diminishes their bitterness in the same proportion; the natural history of the Potatoe offers a good