It may be said that, on the occasion just alluded to, St Martin’s digestion must have been particularly good--and, in truth, it seems to have been so; for at nine o’clock A. M. he breakfasted on _soused tripe, pig’s feet, bread and coffee_, and yet, only _one_ hour later, no vestige of any of these savoury things remained in the stomach. What renders this result the more remarkable, is the fact, that, in another table, a simple breakfast of coffee and bread is set down as having required FOUR hours for its digestion. The rapid disposal of the same elements with the addition of soused tripe and pig’s feet, instead of disproving my position, evidently strengthens it, by shewing that, if _from any cause_ the digesting power varies in intensity, the result obtained from the experiment on one kind of food, cannot, with any shew of reason, be considered as an accurate index of its rate of digestibility in comparison with that of other kinds. This neglect of the other conditions is accordingly the circumstance which throws a doubt over the results not only of Dr Beaumont’s experiments, but of those of every other inquirer. Dr Beaumont indeed candidly admits, that his were performed for the purpose of demonstrating other important principles connected with digestion, and not at all with the view of determining the comparative rates of digestibility of different kinds of aliment; and in alluding to the various requisites for a satisfactory series of experiments, he himself justly states, that this would be a Herculean task which it would take years to accomplish. In considering the following general results, then, the reader ought to bear in mind that they are only probable and approximative, and not strictly demonstrated or certain. * * * * * As a general rule, animal food is more easily and speedily digested, contains a greater quantity of nutriment in a given bulk, and therefore satisfies hunger for a longer time, than either herbaceous or farinaceous food; but, apparently from the same cause, it is also more heating and stimulating. _Minuteness of division_, and _tenderness of fibre_, are shewn by Dr Beaumont’s experiments to be two grand essentials for the easy digestion of butcher-meat; and the different kinds of fish, flesh, fowl, and game, are found to vary in digestibility chiefly in proportion as they approach or depart from these two standard qualities.