4 "But the flesh, with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat." But why was this? In all our heavenly Father's laws, we find the most tender regard for our welfare manifested; and it ought to be sufficient for us, while under the care of so kind a Lawgiver, that it is His will, which we should obey with cheerfulness, though we may not know the reason for the requirement. But he has given us reason and understanding to prosecute the inquiry with hopes of success, as far as i: is necessary to our comfort to know.

No doubt its being set apart for sacred purposes was one reason for the prohibition of blood as an article of diet; for we read, "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins;" and all commentators agree as to this fact; yet, when we look at it in a physiological point of view, this does not satisfy us.

Blood is the seat of life, a living, vital fluid; and therefore, in this respect, must be held sacred, as to drain this stream must necessarily put an end to our animal existence. But the fact of its vitality, could not have been known to Moses, save by revelation, as it was not until the last century this secret in nature was discovered.

But the idea I wish principally to convey, is the injurious effects of such a diet on the energies of our systems; as the indigestible nature of it renders it unfit to be received into our stomachs.

And by whom do we find blood-eating and blooddrinking most extensively practised? Is it not by those we denominate savages and cannibals? and, surely, we would not look to them for example. No; so far from it, we are continually devising mens and carrying for.

ward projects to enlighten and Christianize them. We wish to send them the Bible, and we do well, for out of it we must all be judged; but do not let us forget that our example and practice will influence them much, in receiving or rejecting our theories. Christ says, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."

No. IX.

IN speaking of fat, and its effects on the system, 1 quote from the Bible, for first principles.

Lev. iv. 17, "It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations, throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood."

Lev. vii. 23. "Ye shall eat no manner of fat; of ox, or sheep, or of goat."

Those who despised this command were to be cut off from among the people.

The use of fat meat is always prejudicial to health, and this is the physical reason why we should abstain from it. Experience and research have both proved, that fat is a great hindrance to digestion, and is the source and fuel of the most difficult bilious and putrid diseases; and the very fact that enlightened physicians forbid their patients the use of fat or butter, whether in the form of pastry or otherwise, speaks plainly their views on this subject, as to the effect in stimulating the disease.

It is not only in disease we see their pernicious tendency, but in what we are accustomed to call a state of bealth, the injurious effects on the skin are plainly dis

cernable. Eruptions of the face and different parts of the body, boils, blotches, &c are indicative of a greasy habit. Cutaneous diseases do not always arise from the use of fat; but they are generally induced by diet; for instance, the free use of salt, alcohol, and other stimu lants.

Fat individuals are generally persons of depraved appetites. I do not say of depraved moral character, but appetite. They would not relish a pure vegetable repast, because so long accustomed to one so different. They are often persons of no decision of character. It is with difficulty you can awake their ambition. David, in speaking of the wicked, says: "Their heart is as fat as grease," meaning they were insensible to the dangers of their sinful course, as fat is supposed to be without feeling.

Scott says, "That insensibility of heart to God's promises, threatenings, and judgments, and to the good of other men, (which result from indulged luxury,) is aptly described by the similitude of fat."

Do not understand me to say, that all fat persons use fat as diet. I know of many other fattening substances, even in the vegetable kingdom, but am only now stating what is the nature of fat, as found in the animal economy.

Persons using much animal food, or fat meats, will, after death, decompose much sooner than those using a vegetable diet; and if wounded, their flesh is much more difficult to heal. Indeed, it is the surest indication of perfect health, when our flesh heals readily; a proof which my readers have doubtless, too many opportunities of testing. J. B.

HERE is a picture of the human stomach, in the position it occupies in the abdomen. The gullet enters it at the opening, marked A, which is called the cardiac orifice, from its nearness to the heart, and is the passage by which the food enters the stomach. The inferior mouth of the stomach, marked C, or that by which the food passes into the intestines, is called the pylorus or phyloric orifice, from a Greek word, signifying a gate or guardian, as it was formerly considered to be a gatekeeper, to prevent anything improper from passing into the intestines. It lies on the right side of the body, in 'he abdominal cav ty.

B is the interior of the stomach, and D is the smal intestine, into which the pylorus opeus, called the duodenum.

There are three coats of the stomach, and their offices are all distinct. On the outside, is the serous coat. Serous membranes afford a smooth lubricated surface, by which the different organs may glide freely over each other; and this is very necessary, as the stomach occupies very different positions, when in motion, and when inactive. This is the first coat. It also is extended beyond the stomach, and forms what is called the omentum or caul, which hangs down like an apron over the intestines. You may have seen this skin in the lamb and calf. It is almost entirely covered with fat.

The second coat is the muscular, composed of muscular fibres. As this coat has much to do in the work of digestion, we must attend particularly to its construction. There are three classes or orders of these fibres. The first run lengthwise, from the cardiac orifice along the curvatures and sides of the stomach to the pylorus. The second run crosswise, crossing the first at right angles; while the third wind irregularly round the stomach, giving it a vermicular movement, like the motion of a worm. This last set of fibres produces the circular motion of the food in the stomach, while the other two sets contract it in length and breadth

The third, or internal coat, is of greater size than the outer ones, and is folded up into a great number of wrinkles. It was formerly called the rillous coat, from having been thought to resemble velvet, but from more accurate observation this has been found erroneous is more properly called the mucous coat, from a mucous

It