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Spices, Wholesomeness Of

On the use of foreign spices we may quote Dr. Paris, in his work "On Diet." "These are not," he says, "intended by Nature for the inhabitants of temperate climes: they are heating and highly stimulant. I am, however, not anxious to give more weight to this objection than it deserves. Man is no longer the child of Nature, nor the passive inhabitant of any particular region; he ranges over every part of the globe, and elicits nourishment from the productions of every climate. It may be, therefore, necessary that he should accompany the ingestion of foreign aliment with foreign condiment. Nature is very kind in favouring the growth of those productions which are most likely to answer our local wants. Those climates, for instance, which engender endemic diseases are in general congenial to the growth of the plants which operate as antidotes to them. But if we go to the East for tea, there is no reason why we should not go to the West for sugar. The dyspeptic invalid, however, should be cautious in their use, for they may afford temporary benefit at the expense of permanent mischief. It has been well said that the best quality of spices is to stimulate the appetite, and their worst to destroy, by insensible degrees, the tone of the stomach. The intrinsic goodness of meats should always be suspected when they require spicy seasoning to compensate for their natural want of sapidity."