The third proposition, in regard to the wild and domestic animals, is, like the preceding, not formidable when examined. I have diligently inquired of old hunters and pioneers for confirmation of the story that deer and buffalo are in the habit of visiting regularly the salt springs or “licks,” in order to eat the salt. I have not been able to find one who has ever seen the licking process himself. There is reason to believe that hunters do take their positions at certain brine-springs to find their game, and that the deer at certain seasons of the year resort to them—precisely why is not determined. Nothing of the kind is now claimed of the buffalo; that is a tradition. But suppose it were all true, as claimed, does that justify man in sprinkling the solid residue of the brine on his food? Is there not here too lofty a structure upon too slight a foundation? It is notorious that all the salt springs hold in solution (sometimes found encrusted on their sides) large amounts of lime, sulphur, iron, and commonly other ingredients. The very purest of our table salts of commerce contain from 2 to 4 per cent. of the sulphate of lime, after they are supposed to have been purified and larger amounts of it removed. May it not be that at certain seasons, as in the winter when the herbage is covered by snow, or during pregnancy, when the fœtus requires it, the deer (or buffalo, if you will) repair to these spots instinctively for that which nature denies them at the time? We know that cows on a scant pasture, at such times, will chew and partly dissolve an old bone; yet it would be equally reasonable to put ground bones on our food as an inference from this trait; indeed, more so, as the latter is an admitted fact of everyday occurrence, while the other is somewhat in doubt; and besides the economy of lime in the system is patent. In regard to domestic animals we are on more solid ground; only it is constantly necessary to remember that we are dealing with creatures domesticated and subdued in some degree to the will of man. It is a common notion that salt is necessary to the well-being, if not the preservation, of horses and horned cattle. It is, I am persuaded, a great mistake. In the first place, although it is undoubtedly true that some domestic cattle will eat salt, and follow impatiently to get it, it is not true of wild cattle. I am assured by many of the great herders in Texas, Colorado and California, that the native cattle are not fed salt, never see it, and will not eat it if offered. Of course it is a transparent absurdity that salt could be hauled hundreds of miles to feed these great inland herds; and it is not done, as is supposed. They derive salt enough from the grass of the plains to supply nature’s demand, if any there be. This, if it furnishes any analogy at all, points to the food itself as the true source of supply for the human species.