We consider ourselves here called upon not to pass over unnoticed the fruit of the lotus tree, which is so celebrated in ancient poetry, and is also mentioned by the historians and writers on science. It is now well ascertained that the lotus-bread is produced by various trees in the country surrounding the great desert of Africa. The most celebrated of these trees, or rather shrubs, is the _celtis australis_. Rennel and Park agree that its fruit is very wholesome. On the lotus, see further, Eustathius (in Odyss. p. 337, ed. Rom.); Dionys. (Geograph.); Schweigh (ad Athen. Deipnos. xiv, 65.) SECT. LXXXII.—ON ANIMALS; AND, FIRST, OF FOWLS. The nourishment derived from fowls is less than that from beasts, and more especially swine, but they are of easier digestion, particularly the partridge, godwit, pigeon, hen, and pheasant. That from thrushes, blackbirds, and small sparrows (among which are those called _pyrgitæ_) is harder; and still more so the turtle, wood-pigeon, and duck. But the peacock is still more indigestible, harder, and more stringy. The flesh of geese and ostriches is excrementitious, and more indigestible than any of the afore-mentioned; except their wings, which are not less wholesome than the same parts in other animals. The flesh of the crane is stringy and hard. In general, the young are more juicy, digestible, and nutritious than the aged, and are more readily evacuated by the belly. The boiled are superior to the roasted and fricasseed; and those that live on dry and mountainous places are more digestible and less excrementitious than those which live in marshy places. * * * * * COMMENTARY. Hippocrates states that fowls in general are drier than quadrupeds. The driest, he adds, are, first, the wood-pigeon, then the common pigeon, and, thirdly, the partridge, cock, and turtle. The most humid or juicy, he says, are geese. Those which live on seeds are drier than the others. The flesh of ducks, and of all fowls which live in marshes, or in water, is of a more humid nature. (De Diæta, ii, 17.) In another place, he calls the flesh of fowls one of the lightest kinds of food. (De Affect. 46.)