is that of [78]_Celsus_,
_Eduntur facilius; ad concoctionem autem materiae, genus, & modus
pertineat_. They are (says he) easily eaten and taken in: But regard
should be had to their Digestion, Nature, Quantity and Quality of the
Matter. As to that of _Dissimilar_ Parts, requiring this contended for
Variety: If we may judge by other Animals (as I know not why we may not)
there is (after all the late Contests about _Comparative Anatomy_) so
little Difference in the Structure, as to the Use of those Parts and
Vessels destin'd to serve the Offices of Concoction, Nutrition, and
other Separations for Supply of Life, _&c._ That it does not appear
why there should need any Difference at all of Food; of which the most
simple has ever been esteem'd the best, and most wholsome; according
to that of the [79]Naturalist, _Hominis cibus utilissimus simplex_.
And that so it is in other Animals, we find by their being so seldom
afflicted with Mens Distempers, deriv'd from the Causes above-mentioned:
And if the many Diseases of _Horses_ seem to [80]contradict it, I am apt
to think it much imputable to the Rack and Manger, the dry and wither'd
Stable Commons, which they must eat or starve, however qualified; being
restrained from their Natural and Spontaneous Choice, which Nature
and Instinct directs them to: To these add the Closeness of the Air,
standing in an almost continu'd Posture; besides the fulsome Drenches,
unseasonable Watrings, and other Practices of ignorant _Horse-Quacks_
and surly Grooms: The Tyranny and cruel Usage of their Masters in tiring
Journeys, hard, labouring and unmerciful Treatment, Heats, Colds,
_&c._ which wear out and destroy so many of those useful and generous
Creatures before the time: Such as have been better us'd, and some, whom
their more gentle and good-natur'd Patrons have in recompence of their
long and faithful service, dismiss'd, and sent to Pasture for the rest
of their Lives (as the _Grand Seignior_ does his _Meccha-Camel_) have
been known to live _forty_, _fifty_, nay (says [81]_Aristotle_,) no fewer
than _sixty five_ Years. When once Old _Par_ came to change his simple,
homely Diet, to that of the _Court_ and _Arundel-House_, he quickly sunk
and dropt away: For, as we have shew'd, the Stomack easily concocts
plain, and familiar Food; but finds it an hard and difficult Task, to
vanquish and overcome Meats of [82]different Substances: Whence we so
often see temperate and abstemious Persons, of a Co