FOOD FOR REFLECTION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIV, Issue 1, 3 January 1910, Page 2

FOOD FOR REFLECTION.

So far as the lower animals ia captivity are concerned, a vegetarian diet distinctly does not teid to longevity,., 'This was demonstrated recently by Dr. Chalmers Mitchell secretary to the Zoological Society^ in che course of a lecture on the feednig of animals. The address was reK£™ + aS bein S P/rticularly interesting to owners of pet snakes, lion tamers, and warders of Holloway Prison, where the suffragettes have been going to m an almost unbroken procession for. the past couple of J e% rS' 1 ? ls Possible,» said th» lecturer drily, "to feed even human beings oy artificial means, as many of you have doubtless heard, and in tae cases of certain animals this means Js occasionally necessary " He told of a young seal—^presumably of the suffragist persuasion "—which^instituted a hunger-strike at the Zoological Gardens, and had to.be fed by iorce. With some of the large snak<?s, such: a pythons and boas, forcible feeding is notably necessary °n a Spod many occasions. Dealing with the difference between vegetar-'----lan and , carnivorous "animals, 'he pointed out that the former need a complicated digestive system, require a. disproportionately great bulk of food, and die early in proportion to their size. Conversely the carnivorous creatures possess a simple digestive system, are very' resistant to tuberculosis, need ' comparatively slight nourishment, and live long in proportion to their size. The daily .mentis of two representative animals were quoted: Elephants—6 stone of clover, hay, etc., 6 stone of straw, roots large quantities, biscuits large Quantities. Large lions—l2lb horse or goat flesh daily, including bone. Dr. Mitchell did not press home the obvious inference that habitual vegetarianism in human beings might possibly be cumbered with some of the same disadvantages as were to be noted in its practice by the lower orders of creation. He merely pointed to the prodigiousness of the quantity of material necessary to yield sustenance to the elephant as compared with the handy cold chop upon which the king of beasts fared sumt>tuously every day, and left it with the individual lords of creation to decide for themselves which was the better gastronomic part.

Starting as an errand boy, in Glasgow, John Stewart Kennedy died at New York last month worth £12,000,----000. His will bequeaths £6,000,000 to charities and educational institutions. Mr Kennedy, who rose from ■ errand boy to shipping clerk, when ■ he came to New York, nearly forty years ago, was at first the representative of a Scotch shipping firm. He ■ amassed his great fortune mainly through shrewd and far-sighted railroad investments. He bought thousands of shares in the Northern Pacific railroad at five dollars per shar^, and they are now worth one hundred and forty-eight dollars each. The State will receive £300.000 to £400,000 under the Collateral Inheritage Tax. Property is divided into sixty-four parts,, of which Mrs Kennedy receives sixteen, his relatives seventeen, and public institutions thirty-one. Thus he leaves his widow about £3,000,000, his relatives £3,----200,000, and the remainder, £5,000,----000 to £6,000,000, to public and semi- ! public institutions, after the manner •of most American millionaires. i Among the legacies is £20,000 for the University of Glasgow. In the pre- ! face to his will, Mr Kennedy sets i forth that: "Having greatly prosperI ed in the business which I carried on, I for more than thirty years in this my i adopted country, and being desirous ' lof leaving some expression of my : sympathy with its religious, charit- ,• able, benevolent, and educational institutions, I give and bequeath," etc. [ Then follows a long list of the uni- ; versities. hospitals, charities, et<;., which will'benefit.