The philosophy of eating. By Albert J. Bellows, M.D.

166

IRON MUST BE TAKEN AS FOOD.

agents known, as is shown by the fact that more rapidly than any other medicine it increases the quantity
and color of the blood;" and he gives cases to prove
it quite as remarkable as those referred to by Dr.
Headland, and thus the proof that iron produces the
red globules directly is entirely neutralized.
Now let us bring into one view the different parts of
that wonderful, and to us incomprehensible arrangement, made "in the beginning," when "God created
the heavens and earth," by which all the solid elements
that man should ever require should be placed where,
by laws ordained for that purpose, they should be pulverized, and mixed, and scattered, and deposited, and
after countless ages be fitted to supply all his physical
wants. And then " the Lord God formed man of the
dust of the ground," and instituted laws by which the
elements of which he was made, and which would ever
afterwards be needed for his repair and reconstruction,
should be taken up in the sap of herbs, and grasses,
and fruit trees, and deposited in seeds, and juices, and
grains, and fruits, or in the flesh of animals, and birds,
and fishes, in such abundance and profusion over the
face of the earth, that anywhere, and in all circumstances, to the end of time, these elements should be
ready at his hand, requiring only the use of his intellect
and physical faculties to procure them and fit them for
his digestive organs.
With this arrangement, so perfectly adapted to all
the exigencies of human life, so clearly revealed as the
plan of Infinite Wisdom, is it reasonable that we short