Galen and Simeon Seth agree that eggs which are boiled hard, or which have been roasted in ashes until they are hard, become indigestible, and supply heavy nourishment to the body; but such as have been fried they more especially condemn. When boiled to such a consistence as that the white was just beginning to coagulate, they were called tremula. When so soft that the albumen was not all coagulated, they were called sorbilia. In both these states they are much approved of by Galen, Seth, and all the authorities. Galen especially commends the eggs of the hen and of the pheasant. Those of the goose and ostrich, he says, are inferior.
SECT. LXXXIV.—ON BEASTS.
Among quadrupeds, swine’s flesh is more nourishing than any other food, because it is most nearly allied to the human in taste and smell, as some have declared who have tasted human flesh by mistake. But the nourishment derived from it is viscid and imperspirable. That from sheep is excrementitious, and supplies bad juices. That from goats is acrid, and has bad juices. But the worst of all is the flesh of the buck-goat as to the quality of its juices and to digestion. That of oxen forms melancholic humours; that of hares has thick juices, but less so than that of sheep and oxen. That of roes is hard and of difficult digestion. In general, the flesh of young beasts is more humid, more tender, and more digestible than that of the aged; of gelded animals than of those having testicles; and of the well-fed than of the lean.
Commentary. Athenæus remarks that the flesh of beasts, especially oxen, formed the principal part of men’s food in the heroic ages, as appears from Homer. From one passage in the Iliad (xxiv, 263), and another in the Odyssey (ix, 220), it may be reasonably conjectured that they also lived upon lambs and kids. (Deipn. i, 19.) We may add, that Sophocles represents Philoctetes as living, while in Lemnos, upon the birds which he killed with his fatal bow. It is generally supposed that Pythagoras interdicted his disciples entirely from the flesh of animals; but the truth of the matter seems to be, that he recommended a spare use of it, and allowed to eat such animals only as were used for sacrifices. See Iamblichus and Porphyrius (De Vitâ Pythagoræ.) Plutarch, in two treatises, discusses the propriety of eating flesh.
Hippocrates states the particular characters of the different kinds of flesh very correctly. He remarks that the flesh of wild animals is lighter than that of domesticated.
According to Aristotle, the flesh of beasts which have been reared upon marsh pasture is less wholesome than that of beasts brought up on higher grounds. (Hist. An. viii, 12.)
The general remarks of Celsus may best be given in his own words: “Quadrupes omne animal, si lactens est, minus alimenti præstat. Omne etiam ferum animal domestico levius; et quodcunque humido cœlo, quam quod sicco natum est. Deinde eadem omnia pinguia, quam macra; recentia quam salsa; nova quam vetusta, plus alimenti habent. Tum res eadem magis alit jurulenta, quam assa; magis assa, quam elixa.”
Galen remarks that the fleshy parts of quadrupeds form the best blood. When boiled, he says, it supplies the body with more juicy, and when roasted, with drier food. The temperament of domesticated animals, he adds, is more humid or juicy than that of wild, owing to the dampness of the atmosphere in which they live, and their inactivity. For wild animals among the mountains being exposed to privations and fatigue, their flesh is drier, contains no fat, and is less disposed to putrefaction than the flesh of domesticated animals. He states that of all animals, whether fowls or beasts, the flesh of such as are growing is better than those which are past their utmost growth; that such as are at their growth hold an intermediate character; but that the flesh of such as are very young or old is bad, because, in the latter case, it is hard, dry, and fibrous, whence it is difficult to digest, and not nutritious; while, on the other hand, the bodies of very young animals, being mucous (gelatinous?), watery, and therefore excrementitious, readily pass through the bowels undigested.
Actuarius states that animals which lead an indolent life are more humid and excrementitious; whereas such as are much exercised are drier and lighter. Upon the whole, he adds, the more the colour of flesh declines from white, the farther is it removed from wholesomeness; it is also to be known that wild animals are hotter and drier than domesticated.