Dr. Geoffroy, a distinguished French physician and professor of chemistry and medicine in some of the institutions of France, flourished more than a hundred years ago. The bearing of the following extract will be readily seen. It is from the Memoirs of the Royal Academy for the year 1730; and I am indebted for it to the labors of Dr. Cheyne. "M. Geoffroy has given a method for determining the proportion of nourishment or true matter of the flesh and blood, contained in any sort of food. He took a pound of meat that had been freed from the fat, bones, and cartilages, and boiled it for a determined time in a close vessel, with three pints of water; then, pouring off the liquor, he added the same quantity of water, boiling it again for the same time; and this operation he repeated several times, so that the last liquor appeared, both in smell and taste, to be little different from common water. Then, putting all the liquor together, and filtrating, to separate the too gross particles, he evaporated it over a slow fire, till it was brought to an extract of a pretty moderate consistence. "This experiment was made upon several sorts of food, the result of which may be seen in the following table. The weights are in ounces, drachms, and grains; sixty grains to a drachm, and eight drachms to an ounce. Kind of Food. Amount of Extract. oz. dr. gr. One lb. Beef 0. 7. 8. " Veal 1. 1. 48. " Mutton 1. 3. 16. " Lamb 1. 1. 39. " Chicken 1. 4. 34. " Pigeon 1. 0. 12. " Pheasant 1. 2. 8. " Partridge 1. 4. 34. " Calves' Feet 1. 2. 26. " Carp 1. 0. 8. " Whey 1. 1. 3. " Bread 4. 1. 0. "The relative proportion of the nourishment will be as follows: Beef 7 Veal 9 Mutton 11 Lamb 9 Chicken 12 Pigeon 8 Pheasant 10 Partridge 12 Calves' Feet 10 Carp 8 Whey 9 Bread 33 "From the foregoing decisive experiments it is evident that white, young, tender animal food, bread, milk, and vegetables are the best and most effectual substances for nutrition, accretion, and sweetening bad juices. They may not give so strong and durable mechanical force, because being easily and readily digestible, and quickly passing all the animal functions, so as to turn into good blood and muscular flesh, they are more transitory, fugitive, and of prompt secretion; yet they will perform all the animal functions more readily and pleasantly, with fewer resistances and less labor, and leave the party to exercise the rational and intellectual operations with pleasure and facility. They will leave Nature to its own original powers, prevent and cure diseases, and lengthen out life."