(seq. 37)

28

Materia Alimentaria

Oil

worms in the alimentary canal, children seem to have an
instinctive appetite for it and we should not deny it them.
It is obtained from the sugar cane, maple, and from the
animal Kingdom. Milk contains it, but there are no
experiments to prove it in the blood. It is obtained from the
urine of Diabetic patients, according to Dr Darwin forty pounds
of urine has been discharged in twenty four hours by patients
labouring under Diabetes from which was obtained forty
five ℥ [ounces] of Sugar. Professor Mundenus mentions a case of
Diabetes that lasted ninety seven days, in which forty pounds
of urine was discharged every day, which reckoning 43 ℥ [ounces] of sugar
in every two quarts according to Dr Darwin makes the quantity
of sugar discharged by the above patient nearly two hundred
and Seventy two pounds five ounces. Butter, Lard &c yield
sugar though somewhat difficult, maple sugar is less
soluble than the others. Oil. I do not hesitate in
considering oil in its pure state, as nutritious both to men and
other animals. Oil is strictly alimentary forming a considerable
portion of the animal fluids, with which it forms an
intimate union, the oily portion is frequently reabsorbed from the