known that marshes which have been ovcr-
iiowed by salt water give an improved appear-
ance to the stock which grazes in them.
" If you take a very small quantity of hydro-
chloric acid and salt and put it into water, and
then add to it a portion of the white ef an egg,
and expose it to a temperature of 98'', the egg
begins to dissolve ; but if you put it into water
without the salt it does not dissolve. From this
experiment you see there is this first action of
salt in assisting digestion; you may see from
this the propriety of adding small quantities of
salt to our food. There are some persons who,
from a morbid fancy, will not take it ; such per-
sons are preserved from danger by the cook
who puts it into puddings and cooked meats,
and the baker who puts it into the bread.
" Such, in fact, appears to be the importance
of salt in the blood, that a special provision
appears to exist for maintaining, within certain
limits, of course, the quantity of salt at a given
point. For we find that if we feed our animals
either on food containing a large quantity or
only a small quantity of salt, that the quantity
of salt in the blood remains the same, any
excess being thrown off from the system. Of
course a long abstinence from salt in food will
lead to a diminution in the blood, and ultimately
to disease."
The craving for salt appears to be universal,
with one or two exceptions, noticed by Professor
Johnston in the following extract from his
"Chemistry of Common Life:" — "The wild
buffalo frequents the salt-licks of North-western
America ; the wild animals in the central parts
of Southern Africa are a sure prey to the hunter
who conceals himself beside a salt spring ; and
our domestic cattle run peacefully to the hand
that offers them a taste of this delicious luxury.
From time immemorial it has been known that
^vithout salt man would perish miserably ; and
among horrible punishments entailing certain
death, that ef feeding culprits on saltless food
is said to have prevailed in barbarous times.
]\Iaggots and corruption are spoken of by
ancient writers as the distressing symptoms
which saltless food engenders ; but no ancient
or unchemical modern could explain how such
siifferings arose. Now we know why the
animal craves salt, why it suffers discomfort,
and why it ultimately falls into disease, if salt
is for a time withheld. Upwards of half the
saline matter of the blood (57 per cent.) consists
of common salt, and as this is partly discharged
every day through the skin and the kidneys, the
necessity of continued supplies of it to the healthy
body becomes suiiiciently obvious. The bile also
contains soda as a special and indispensable
constituent, and so do all the cartilages of the
body. Stint the supply of salt, therefore, and
neither will the bile be able properly to assist
the digestion nor the cartilages to be bmlt up
again as fast as they naturally waste.
" And yet, what shows this craving for salt to
arise out of a refined species of instinct, similar
to that which may have fixed the national food
of Ireland, is the fact that neither men nor
animals are everywhere eager for or even fond
of salt. Mimgo Park describes salt as 'the
greatest of all luxuries in Central Africa.' But
the Damaras, in South-western Africa, never
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known that marshes which have been ovcr-
iiowed by salt water give an improved appear-
ance to the stock which grazes in them.
" If you take a very small quantity of hydro-
chloric acid and salt and put it into water, and
then add to it a portion of the white ef an egg,
and expose it to a temperature of 98'', the egg
begins to dissolve ; but if you put it into water
without the salt it does not dissolve. From this
experiment you see there is this first action of
salt in assisting digestion; you may see from
this the propriety of adding small quantities of
salt to our food. There are some persons who,
from a morbid fancy, will not take it ; such per-
sons are preserved from danger by the cook
who puts it into puddings and cooked meats,
and the baker who puts it into the bread.
" Such, in fact, appears to be the importance
of salt in the blood, that a special provision
appears to exist for maintaining, within certain
limits, of course, the quantity of salt at a given
point. For we find that if we feed our animals
either on food containing a large quantity or
only a small quantity of salt, that the quantity
of salt in the blood remains the same, any
excess being thrown off from the system. Of
course a long abstinence from salt in food will
lead to a diminution in the blood, and ultimately
to disease."
The craving for salt appears to be universal,
with one or two exceptions, noticed by Professor
Johnston in the following extract from his
"Chemistry of Common Life:" — "The wild
buffalo frequents the salt-licks of North-western
America ; the wild animals in the central parts
of Southern Africa are a sure prey to the hunter
who conceals himself beside a salt spring ; and
our domestic cattle run peacefully to the hand
that offers them a taste of this delicious luxury.
From time immemorial it has been known that
^vithout salt man would perish miserably ; and
among horrible punishments entailing certain
death, that ef feeding culprits on saltless food
is said to have prevailed in barbarous times.
]\Iaggots and corruption are spoken of by
ancient writers as the distressing symptoms
which saltless food engenders ; but no ancient
or unchemical modern could explain how such
siifferings arose. Now we know why the
animal craves salt, why it suffers discomfort,
and why it ultimately falls into disease, if salt
is for a time withheld. Upwards of half the
saline matter of the blood (57 per cent.) consists
of common salt, and as this is partly discharged
every day through the skin and the kidneys, the
necessity of continued supplies of it to the healthy
body becomes suiiiciently obvious. The bile also
contains soda as a special and indispensable
constituent, and so do all the cartilages of the
body. Stint the supply of salt, therefore, and
neither will the bile be able properly to assist
the digestion nor the cartilages to be bmlt up
again as fast as they naturally waste.
" And yet, what shows this craving for salt to
arise out of a refined species of instinct, similar
to that which may have fixed the national food
of Ireland, is the fact that neither men nor
animals are everywhere eager for or even fond
of salt. Mimgo Park describes salt as 'the
greatest of all luxuries in Central Africa.' But
the Damaras, in South-western Africa, never