Chapter 8

then, is necessary for the production of energy, for the repair of the body, for the building up of the tissues, and for the maintenance of bodily heat.

100. Nature of the Waste Material. An ordinarily healthy person passes daily, on an average, by the kidneys about 50 ounces of waste material, of which 96 per cent is water, and from the intestines, on an average, 5½ ounces, a large proportion of which is water. By the skin, in the shape of sweat and insensible perspiration, there is cast out about 23 ounces, of which 99 per cent is water; and by the lungs about 34 ounces, 10 of which are water and the remainder carbon dioxid.

Now if we omit an estimate of the undigestible remains of the food, we find that the main bulk of what daily leaves the body consists of water, carbon dioxid, and certain solid matters contained in solution in the renal secretion and the sweat. The chief of these solid matters is urea, a complex product made up of four elements,—carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Water contains only two elements, hydrogen and oxygen; and carbon dioxid also has only two, carbon and oxygen. Hence, what we daily cast out of our bodies consists essentially of these four elements in the form mainly of water, carbon dioxid, and urea.

These waste products represent the oxidation that has taken place in the tissues in producing the energy necessary for the bodily activities, just as the smoke, ashes, clinkers, and steam represent the consumption of fuel and water in the engine. Plainly, therefore, if we could restore to the body a supply of these four elements equivalent to that cast out, we could make up for the waste. The object of food, then, is to restore to the body an amount of the four elements equal to that consumed. In other words, and briefly: The purpose of food is to supply the waste of the tissues and to maintain the normal composition of the blood.

101. Classification of Foods. Foods may be conveniently divided into four great classes, to which the name food-stuffs or alimentary principles has been given. They correspond to the chief “proximate principles” of which the body consists. To one or the other of these classes all available foods belong[16]. The classification of food-stuffs usually given is as follows:

Proteids, or Nitrogenous Foods. Starches and Sugars, or Carbohydrates. Fats and Oils. Inorganic or Mineral Foods,—Water, Salt.

102. Proteids; or Nitrogenous Foods. The proteids, frequently spoken of as the nitrogenous foods, are rich in one or more of the following organic substances: albumen, casein, fibrin, gelatine, myosin, gluten, and legumin.

The type of this class of foods is albumen, well known as the white of an egg. The serum of the blood is very rich in albumen, as is lean meat. The curd of milk consists mainly of casein. Fibrin exists largely in blood and flesh foods. Gelatine is obtained from the animal parts of bones and connective tissue by prolonged boiling. One of the chief constituents of muscular fiber is myosin. Gluten exists largely in the cereals wheat, barley, oats, and rye. The proteid principle of peas and beans is legumin, a substance resembling casein.

As the name implies, the proteids, or nitrogenous foods, contain nitrogen; carbohydrates and fats, on the contrary, do not contain nitrogen. The principal proteid food-stuffs are milk, eggs, flesh foods of all kinds, fish, and the cereals among vegetable foods. Peas and beans are rich in proteids. The essential use of the proteids to the tissues is to supply the material from which the new proteid tissue is made or the old proteid tissue is repaired. They are also valuable as sources of energy to the body. Now, as the proteid part of its molecule is the most important constituent of living matter, it is evident that proteid food is an absolute necessity. If our diet contained no proteids, the tissues of the body would gradually waste away, and death from starvation would result. All the food-stuffs are necessary in one way or another to the preservation of perfect health, but proteids, together with a certain proportion of water and inorganic salts, are absolutely necessary for the bare maintenance of animal life—that is, for the formation and preservation of living protoplasm.

103. Starches and Sugars. The starches, sugars, and gums, also known as carbohydrates, enter largely into the composition of foods of vegetable origin. They contain no nitrogen, but the three elements, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, the last two in the same proportion as in water. The starches are widely distributed throughout the vegetable kingdom. They are abundant in potatoes and the cereals, and in arrowroot, rice, sago, and tapioca. Starch probably stands first in importance among the various vegetable foods.

The sugars are also widely distributed substances, and include the cane, grape, malt, maple, and milk sugars. Here also belong the gums and cellulose found in fruit, cereals, and all vegetables which form the basis of the plant cells and fibers. Honey, molasses, and manna are included in this class.

The physiological value of the starches and sugars lies in the fact that they are oxidized in the body, and a certain amount of energy is thereby liberated. The energy of muscular work and of the heat of the body comes largely from the oxidation, or destruction, of this class of foods. Now, inasmuch as we are continually giving off energy from the body, chiefly in the form of muscular work and heat, it is evident that material for the production of this energy must be taken in the food. The carbohydrates constitute the bulk of our ordinary food.

104. Fats and Oils. These include not only the ordinary fats of meat, but many animal and vegetable oils. They are alike in chemical composition, consisting of carbon and hydrogen, with a little oxygen and no nitrogen. The principal kinds of fat used as food are the fat of meat, butter, suet, and lard; but in many parts of the world various vegetable oils are largely used, as the olive, palm, cotton seed, cocoanut, and almond.

The use of the fats in the body is essentially the same as that of the starches and sugars. Weight for weight they are more valuable than the carbohydrates as sources of energy, but the latter are more easily digested, and more easily oxidized in the body. An important use of fatty foods is for the maintenance of the bodily heat. The inhabitants of Arctic regions are thus enabled, by large use of the fat and oil from the animals they devour, to endure safely the severe cold. Then there is reason to believe that fat helps the digestion of other foods, for it is found that the body is better nourished when the fats are used as food. When more fat is consumed than is required to keep up the bodily heat and to yield working power, the excess is stored up in various parts of the body, making a sort of reserve fuel, which may be drawn upon at any future time.

105. Saline or Mineral Foods. All food contains, besides the substances having potential energy, as described, certain saline matters. Water and salts are not usually considered foods, but the results of scientific research, as well as the experience of life, show that these substances are absolutely necessary to the body. The principal mineral foods are salt, lime, iron, magnesia, phosphorus, potash, and water. Except common salt and water, these substances are usually taken only in combination with other foods.

These saline matters are essential to health, and when not present in due proportion nutrition is disturbed. If a dog be fed on food freed from all salines, but otherwise containing proper nutrients, he soon suffers from weakness, after a time amounting to paralysis, and often dies in convulsions.

About 200 grains of common salt are required daily by an adult, but a large proportion of this is in our food. Phosphate of lime is obtained from milk and meats, and carbonate of lime from the hard water we drink. Both are required for the bones and teeth. The salts of potash, which assist in purifying the blood, are obtained from vegetables and fruits. An iron salt is found in most foods, and sulphur in the yolk of eggs.

106. Water. Water is of use chiefly as a solvent, and while not strictly a food, is necessary to life. It enters into the construction of every tissue and is constantly being removed from the body by every channel of waste[17].

As a solvent water aids digestion, and as it forms about 80 per cent of the blood, it serves as a carrier of nutrient material to all the tissues of the body.

Important Articles of Diet.

107. Milk. The value of milk as a food cannot be overestimated. It affords nourishment in a very simple, convenient, and perfect form. It is the sole food provided for the young of all animals which nourish their young. It is an ideal food containing, in excellent proportions, all the four elements necessary for growth and health in earlier youth.

Composition of Food Materials. Careful analyses have been made of the different articles of food, mostly of the raw, or uncooked foods. As might be expected, the analyses on record differ more or less in the percentages assigned to the various constituents, but the following table will give a fair idea of the fundamental nutritive value of the more common foods:

In 100 parts Water Proteid Fat Carbohydrate Ash Digestible Cellulose Meat 76.7 20.8 1.5 0.3 — 1.3 Eggs 73.7 12.6 12.1 — — 1.1 Cheese 36-60 25-33 7-30 3-7 — 3.4 Cow’s Milk 87.7 3.4 3.2 4.8 — 0.7 Wheat Flour 13.3 10.2 0.9 74.8 0.3 0.5 Wheat Bread 35.6 7.1 0.2 55.5 0.3 1.1 Rye Flour 13.7 11.5 2.1 69.7 1.6 1.4 Rye bread 42.3 6.1 0.4 49.2 0.5 1.5 Rice 13.1 7.0 0.9 77.4 0.6 1.0 Corn 13.1 9.9 4.6 68.4 2.5 1.5 Macaroni 10.1 9.0 0.3 79.0 0.3 0.5 Peas and Beans 12-15 23-26 1½-2 49-54 4.7 2-3 Potatoes 75.5 2.0 0.2 20.6 0.7 1.0 Carrots 87.1 1.0 0.2 9.3 1.4 0.9 Cabbage 90 2.3 0.5 4-6 1-2 1.3 Fruit 84 0.5 — 10 4 0.5

Cheese is the nitrogenous part of milk, which has been coagulated by the use of rennet. The curd is then carefully dried, salted, and pressed. Cheese is sometimes difficult of digestion, as on account of its solid form it is not easily acted upon by the digestive fluids.

108. Meats. The flesh of animals is one of our main sources of food. Containing a large amount of proteid, it is admirably adapted for building up and repairing the tissues of the body. The proportion of water is also high, varying from 50 to 75 per cent. The most common meats used in this country are beef, mutton, veal, pork, poultry, and game.

Beef contains less fat and is more nutritious than either mutton or pork. Mutton has a fine flavor and is easily digested. Veal and lamb, though more tender, are less easily digested. Pork contains much fat, and its fiber is hard, so that it is the most difficult to digest of all the meats. Poultry and game have usually a small proportion of fat, but are rich in phosphates and are valued for their flavor.

109. Eggs. Consisting of about two-thirds water and the rest albumen and fat, eggs are often spoken of as typical natural food. The white of an egg is chiefly albumen, with traces of fat and salt; the yolk is largely fat and salts. The yellow color is due partly to sulphur. It is this which blackens a silver spoon. Eggs furnish a convenient and concentrated food, and if properly cooked are readily digested.

110. Fish. Fish forms an important and a most nutritious article of diet, as it contains almost as much nourishment as butcher’s meat. The fish-eating races and classes are remarkably strong and healthy. Fish is less stimulating than meat, and is thus valuable as a food for invalids and dyspeptics. To be at its best, fish should be eaten in its season. As a rule shell-fish, except oysters, are not very digestible. Some persons are unable to eat certain kinds of fish, especially shell-fish, without eruptions on the skin and other symptoms of mild poisoning.

111. Vegetable Foods. This is a large and important group of foods, and embraces a remarkable number of different kinds of diet. Vegetable foods include the cereals, garden vegetables, the fruits, and other less important articles. These foods supply a certain quantity of albumen and fat, but their chief use is to furnish starches, sugars, acids, and salts. The vegetable foods indirectly supply the body with a large amount of water, which they absorb in cooking.

112. Proteid Vegetable Foods. The most important proteid vegetable foods are those derived from the grains of cereals and certain leguminous seeds, as peas and beans. The grains when ground make the various flours or meals. They contain a large quantity of starch, a proteid substance peculiar to them called gluten, and mineral salts, especially phosphate of lime. Peas and beans contain a smaller proportion of starch, but more proteid matter, called legumin, or vegetable casein. Of the cereal foods, wheat is that most generally useful. Wheat, and corn and oatmeal form most important articles of diet. Wheat flour has starch, sugar, and gluten—nearly everything to support life except fat.

Oatmeal is rich in proteids. In some countries, as Scotland, it forms an important article of diet, in the form of porridge or oatmeal cakes.

Corn meal is not only rich in nitrogen, but the proportion of fat is also large; hence it is a most important and nutritious article of food. Rice, on the other hand, contains less proteids than any other cereal grain, and is the least nutritious. Where used as a staple article of food, as in India, it is commonly mixed with milk, cheese, or other nutritious substances. Peas and beans, distinguished from all other vegetables by their large amount of proteids—excel in this respect even beef, mutton, and fish. They take the place of meats with those who believe in a vegetable diet.

113. Non-proteid Vegetable Foods. The common potato is the best type of non-proteid vegetable food. When properly cooked it is easily digested and makes an excellent food. It contains about 75 per cent of water, about 20 per cent of carbohydrates, chiefly starch, 2 per cent of proteids, and a little fat and saline matters. But being deficient in flesh-forming materials, it is unfit for an exclusive food, but is best used with milk, meat, and other foods richer in proteid substances. Sweet potatoes, of late years extensively used as food, are rich in starch and sugar. Arrowroot, sago, tapioca, and similar foods are nutritious, and easily digested, and with milk furnish excellent articles of diet, especially for invalids and children.

Explanation of the Graphic Chart. The graphic chart, on the next page, presents in a succinct and easily understood form the composition of food materials as they are bought in the market, including the edible and non-edible portions. It has been condensed from Dr. W. O. Atwater’s valuable monograph on “Foods and Diet.” This work is known as the Yearbook of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for 1894.

KEY: 1, percentage of nutrients; 2, fuel value of 1 pound in calories. The unit of heat, called a _calorie_, or gramme-degree, is the amount of heat which is necessary to raise one gramme (15.43 grains) of water one degree centigrade (1.8° Fahr.). A, round beef; B, sirloin beef; C, rib beef; D, leg of mutton; E, spare rib of pork; F, salt pork; G, smoked ham; H, fresh codfish; I, oysters; J, milk; K, butter; L, cheese; M, eggs; N, wheat bread; O, corn meal; P, oatmeal; Q, dried beans; R, rice; S, potatoes; T, sugar.

This table, among other things, shows that the flesh of fish contains more water than that of warm-blooded animals. It may also be seen that animal foods contain the most water; and vegetable foods, except potatoes, the most nutrients. Proteids and fats exist only in small proportions in most vegetables, except beans and oatmeal. Vegetable foods are rich in carbohydrates while meats contain none. The fatter the meat the less the amount of water. Thus very lean meat may be almost four-fifths water, and fat pork almost one-tenth water.

COMPOSITION OF FOOD MATERIALS Nutritive ingredients, refuse, and fuel value.

Illustration: Fig. 45.—Graphic Chart of the Composition of Food Materials.

114. Non-proteid Animal Foods. Butter is one of the most digestible of animal fats, agreeable and delicate in flavor, and is on this account much used as a wholesome food. Various substitutes have recently come into use. These are all made from animal fat, chiefly that of beef, and are known as butterine, oleomargarine, and by other trade names. These preparations, if properly made, are wholesome, and may be useful substitutes for butter, from which they differ but little in composition.

115. Garden Vegetables. Various green, fresh, and succulent vegetables form an essential part of our diet. They are of importance not so much on account of their nutritious elements, which are usually small, as for the salts they supply, especially the salts of potash. It is a well-known fact that the continued use of a diet from which fresh vegetables are excluded leads to a disease known as scurvy. They are also used for the agreeable flavor possessed by many, and the pleasant variety and relish they give to the food. The undigested residue left by all green vegetables affords a useful stimulus to intestinal contraction, and tends to promote the regular action of the bowels.

116. Fruits. A great variety of fruits, both fresh and dry, is used as food, or as luxuries. They are of little nutritive value, containing, as they do, much water and only a small amount of proteid, but are of use chiefly for the sugar, vegetable acids, and salts they contain.

In moderate quantity, fruits are a useful addition to our regular diet. They are cooling and refreshing, of agreeable flavor, and tend to prevent constipation. Their flavor and juiciness serve to stimulate a weak appetite and to give variety to an otherwise heavy diet. If eaten in excess, especially in an unripe or an overripe state, fruits may occasion a disturbance of the stomach and bowels, often of a severe form.

117. Condiments. The refinements of cookery as well as the craving of the appetite, demand many articles which cannot be classed strictly as foods. They are called condiments, and as such may be used in moderation. They give flavor and relish to food, excite appetite and promote digestion. Condiments increase the pleasure of eating, and by their stimulating properties promote secretions of the digestive fluids and excite the muscular contractions of the alimentary canal.

The well-known condiments are salt, vinegar, pepper, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and various substances containing ethereal oils and aromatics. Their excessive use is calculated to excite irritation and disorder of the digestive organs.

118. Salt The most important and extensively used of the condiments is common salt. It exists in all ordinary articles of diet, but in quantities not sufficient to meet the wants of the bodily tissues. Hence it is added to many articles of food. It improves their flavor, promotes certain digestive secretions, and meets the nutritive demands of the body. The use of salt seems based upon an instinctive demand of the system for something necessary for the full performance of its functions. Food without salt, however nutritious in other respects, is taken with reluctance and digested with difficulty.

Salt has always played an important and picturesque part in the history of dietetics. Reference to its worth and necessity abounds in sacred and profane history. In ancient times, salt was the first thing placed on the table and the last removed. The place at the long table, above or below the salt, indicated rank. It was everywhere the emblem of hospitality. In parts of Africa it is so scarce that it is worth its weight in gold, and is actually used as money. Torture was inflicted upon prisoners of state in olden times by limiting the food to water and bread, without salt. So intense may this craving for salt become, that men have often risked their liberty and even their lives to obtain it.

119. Water. The most important natural beverage is pure water; in fact it is the only one required. Man has, however, from the earliest times preferred and daily used a variety of artificial drinks, among which are tea, coffee, and cocoa.

All beverages except certain strong alcoholic liquors, consist almost entirely of water. It is a large element of solid foods, and our bodies are made up to a great extent of water. Everything taken into the circulating fluids of the body, or eliminated from them, is done through the agency of water. As a solvent it is indispensable in all the activities of the body.

It has been estimated that an average-sized adult loses by means of the lungs, skin, and kidneys about eighty ounces of water every twenty-four hours. To restore this loss about four pints must be taken daily. About one pint of this is obtained from the food we eat, the remaining three pints being taken as drink. One of the best ways of supplying water to the body is by drinking it in its pure state, when its solvent properties can be completely utilized. The amount of water consumed depends largely upon the amount of work performed by the body, and upon the temperature.

Being one of the essential elements of the body, it is highly important that water should be free from harmful impurities. If it contain the germs of disease, sickness may follow its use. Without doubt the most important factor in the spread of disease is, with the exception of impure air, impure water. The chief agent in the spread of typhoid fever is impure water. So with cholera, the evidence is overwhelming that filthy water is an all-powerful agent in the spread of this terrible disease.

120. Tea, Coffee, and Cocoa. The active principle of tea is called theine; that of coffee, caffeine, and of cocoa, theobromine. They also contain an aromatic, volatile oil, to which they owe their distinctive flavor. Tea and coffee also contain an astringent called tannin, which gives the peculiar bitter taste to the infusions when steeped too long. In cocoa, the fat known as cocoa butter amounts to fifty per cent.

121. Tea. It has been estimated that one-half of the human race now use tea, either habitually or occasionally. Its use is a prolific source of indigestion, palpitation of the heart, persistent wakefulness, and of other disorders. When used at all it should be only in moderation. Persons who cannot use it without feeling its hurtful effects, should leave it alone. It should not be taken on an empty stomach, nor sipped after every mouthful of food.

122. Coffee. Coffee often disturbs the rhythm of the heart and causes palpitation. Taken at night, coffee often causes wakefulness. This effect is so well known that it is often employed to prevent sleep. Immoderate use of strong coffee may produce other toxic effects, such as muscular tremors, nervous anxiety, sick-headache, palpitation, and various uncomfortable feelings in the cardiac region. Some persons cannot drink even a small amount of tea or coffee without these unpleasant effects. These favorite beverages are unsuitable for young people.

123. Cocoa. The beverage known as cocoa comes from the seeds of the cocoa-tree, which are roasted like the coffee berries to develop the aroma. Chocolate is manufactured cocoa,—sugar and flavors being added to the prepared seeds. Chocolate is a convenient and palatable form of highly nutritious food. For those with whom tea and coffee disagree, it may be an agreeable beverage. The large quantity of fat which it contains, however, often causes it to be somewhat indigestible.

124. Alcoholic Beverages. There is a class of liquids which are certainly not properly food or drink, but being so commonly used as beverages, they seem to require special notice in this chapter. In view of the great variety of alcoholic beverages, the prevalence of their use, and the very remarkable deleterious effects they produce upon the bodily organism, they imperatively demand our most careful attention, both from a physiological and an hygienic point of view.

125. Nature of Alcohol. The ceaseless action of minute forms of plant life, in bringing about the decomposition of the elaborated products of organized plant or animal structures, will be described in more detail (secs. 394-398).

All such work of vegetable organisms, whether going on in the moulding cheese, in the souring of milk, in putrefying meat, in rotting fruit, or in decomposing fruit juice, is essentially one of fermentation, caused by these minute forms of plant life. There are many kinds of fermentation, each with its own special form of minute plant life or micro-organism.

In this section we are more especially concerned about that fermentation which results from the decomposition of sweet fruit, plant, or other vegetable, juices which are composed largely of water containing sugar and flavoring matters.

This special form of fermentation is known as alcoholic or vinous fermentation, and the micro-organisms that cause it are familiarly termed alcoholic ferments. The botanist classes them as _Saccharomycetes_, of which there are several varieties. Germs of _Saccharomycetes_ are found on the surfaces and stems of fruit as it is ripening. While the fruit remains whole these germs have no power to invade the juice, and even when the skins are broken the conditions are less favorable for their work than for that of the moulds,[18] which are the cause of the rotting of fruit.

But when fruit is crushed and its juice pressed out, the _Saccharomycetes_ are carried into it where they cannot get the oxygen they need from the air. They are then able to obtain oxygen by taking it from the sugar of the juice. By so doing they cause a breaking up of the sugar and a rearrangement of its elements. Two new substances are formed in this decomposition of sugar, viz., carbon dioxid, which arises from the liquid in tiny bubbles, and alcohol, a poison which remains in the fermenting fluid.

Now we must remember that fermentation entirely changes the nature of the substance fermented. For all forms of decomposition this one law holds good. Before alcoholic fermentation, the fruit juice was wholesome and beneficial; after fermentation, it becomes, by the action of the minute germs, a poisonous liquid known as alcohol, and which forms an essential part of all intoxicating beverages.

Taking advantage of this great law of fermentation which dominates the realm of nature, man has devised means to manufacture various alcoholic beverages from a great variety of plant structures, as ripe grapes, pears, apples, and other fruits, cane juices, corn, the malt of barley, rye, wheat, and other cereals.

The process differs according to the substance used and the manner in which it is treated, but the ultimate outcome is always the same, viz., the manufacture of a beverage containing a greater or less proportion of alcoholic poison. By the process of _distillation_, new and stronger liquor is made. Beverages thus distilled are known as ardent spirits. Brandy is distilled from wine, rum from fermented molasses, and commercial alcohol mostly from whiskey.

The poisonous element in all forms of intoxicating drinks, and the one so fraught with danger to the bodily tissues, is the alcohol they contain. The proportion of the alcoholic ingredient varies, being about 50 per cent in brandy, whiskey, and rum, about 20 to 15 per cent in wines, down to 5 per cent, or less, in the various beers and cider; but whether the proportion of alcohol be more or less, the same element of danger is always present.

126. Effects of Alcoholic Beverages upon the Human System. One of the most common alcoholic beverages is wine, made from the juice of grapes. As the juice flows from the crushed fruit the ferments are washed from the skins and stems into the vat. Here they bud and multiply rapidly, producing alcohol. In a few hours the juice that was sweet and wholesome while in the grape is changed to a poisonous liquid, capable of injuring whoever drinks it. One of the gravest dangers of wine-drinking is the power which the alcohol in it has to create a thirst which demands more alcohol. The spread of alcoholism in wine-making countries is an illustration of this fact.

Another alcoholic beverage, common in apple-growing districts, is cider. Until the microscope revealed the ferment germ on the “bloom” of the apple-skin, very little was known of the changes produced in cider during the mysterious process of “working.” Now, when we see the bubbles of gas in the glass of cider we know what has produced them, and we know too that a poison which we do not see is there also in corresponding amounts. We have learned, too, to trace the wrecked hopes of many a farmer’s family to the alcohol in the cider which he provided so freely, supposing it harmless.

Beer and other malt liquors are made from grain. By sprouting the grain, which changes its starch to sugar, and then dissolving out the sugar with water, a sweet liquid is obtained which is fermented with yeast, one kind of alcoholic ferment. Some kinds of beer contain only a small percentage of alcohol, but these are usually drunk in proportionately large amounts. The life insurance company finds the beer drinker a precarious risk; the surgeon finds him an unpromising subject; the criminal court finds him conspicuous in its proceedings. The united testimony from all these sources is that beer is demoralizing, mentally, morally, and physically.

127. Cooking. The process through which nearly all food used by civilized man has to pass before it is eaten is known as cooking. Very few articles indeed are consumed in their natural state, the exceptions being eggs, milk, oysters, fruit and a few vegetables. Man is the only animal that cooks his food. Although there are savage races that have no knowledge of cooking, civilized man invariably cooks most of his food. It seems to be true that as nations advance in civilization they make a proportionate advance in the art of cooking.

Cooking answers most important purposes in connection with our food, especially from its influence upon health. It enables food to be more readily chewed, and more easily digested. Thus, a piece of meat when raw is tough and tenacious, but if cooked the fibers lose much of their toughness, while the connective tissues are changed into a soft and jelly-like mass. Besides, the meat is much more readily masticated and acted upon by the digestive fluids. So cooking makes vegetables and grains softer, loosens their structure, and enables the digestive juices readily to penetrate their substance.

Cooking also improves or develops flavors in food, especially in animal foods, and thus makes them attractive and pleasant to the palate. The appearance of uncooked meat, for example, is repulsive to our taste, but by the process of cooking, agreeable flavors are developed which stimulate the appetite and the flow of digestive fluids.

Another important use of cooking is that it kills any minute parasites or germs in the raw food. The safeguard of cooking thus effectually removes some important causes of disease. The warmth that cooking imparts to food is a matter of no slight importance; for warm food is more readily digested, and therefore nourishes the body more quickly.

The art of cooking plays a very important part in the matter of health, and thus of comfort and happiness. Badly cooked and ill-assorted foods are often the cause of serious disorders. Mere cooking is not enough, but good cooking is essential.

Experiments.

Experiments with the Proteids.

Experiment 31. As a type of the group of proteids we take the white of egg, egg-white or egg-albumen. Break an egg carefully, so as not to mix the white with the yolk. Drop about half a teaspoonful of the raw white of egg into half a pint of distilled water. Beat the mixture vigorously with a glass rod until it froths freely. Filter through several folds of muslin until a fairly clear solution is obtained.

Experiment 32. To a small quantity of this solution in a test tube add strong nitric acid, and boil. Note the formation of a white precipitate, which turns yellow. After cooling, add ammonia, and note that the precipitate becomes orange.

Experiment 33. Add to the solution of egg-albumen, excess of strong solution of caustic soda (or potash), and then a drop or two of very dilute solution (one per cent) of copper sulphate. A violet color is obtained which deepens on boiling.

Experiment 34. Boil a small portion of the albumen solution in a test tube, adding drop by drop dilute acetic acid (two per cent) until a flaky coagulum of insoluble albumen separates.

Experiments with Starch.

Experiment 35. Wash a potato and peel it. Grate it on a nutmeg grater into a tall cylindrical glass full of water. Allow the suspended particles to subside, and after a time note the deposit. The lowest layer consists of a white powder, or starch, and above it lie coarser fragments of cellulose and other matters.

Experiment 36. Examine under the microscope a bit of the above white deposit. Note that each starch granule shows an eccentric hilum with concentric markings. Add a few drops of very dilute solution of iodine. Each granule becomes blue, while the markings become more distinct.

Experiment 37. Examine a few of the many varieties of other kinds of starch granules, as in rice, arrowroot, etc. Press some dry starch powder between the thumb and forefinger, and note the peculiar crepitation.

Experiment 38. Rub a few bits of starch in a little cold water. Put a little of the mixture in a large test tube, and then fill with boiling water. Boil until an imperfect opalescent solution is obtained.

Experiment 39. Add powdered dry starch to cold water. It is insoluble. Filter and test the filtrate with iodine. It gives no blue color.

Experiment 40. Boil a little starch with water; if there is enough starch it sets on cooling and a paste results.

Experiment 41. Moisten some flour with water until it forms a tough, tenacious dough; tie it in a piece of cotton cloth, and knead it in a vessel containing water until all the starch is separated. There remains on the cloth a grayish white, sticky, elastic “gluten,” made up of albumen, some of the ash, and fats. Draw out some of the gluten into threads, and observe its tenacious character.

Experiment 42. Shake up a little flour with ether in a test tube, with a tight-fitting cork. Allow the mixture to stand for an hour, shaking it from time to time. Filter off the ether, and place some of it on a perfectly clean watch glass. Allow the ether to evaporate, when a greasy stain will be left, thus showing the presence of fats in the flour.

Experiment 43. Secure a specimen of the various kinds of flour, and meal, peas, beans, rice, tapioca, potato, etc. Boil a small quantity of each in a test tube for some minutes. Put a bit of each thus cooked on a white plate, and pour on it two or three drops of the tincture of iodine. Note the various changes of color,—blue, greenish, orange, or yellowish.

Experiments with Milk.

Experiment 44. Use fresh cow’s milk. Examine the naked-eye character of the milk. Test its reaction with litmus paper. It is usually neutral or slightly alkaline.

Experiment 45. Examine with the microscope a drop of milk, noting numerous small, highly refractive oil globules floating in a fluid.

Experiment 46. Dilute one ounce of milk with ten times its volume of water. Add cautiously dilute acetic acid until there is a copious, granular-looking precipitate of the chief proteid of milk (caseinogen), formerly regarded as a derived albumen. This action is hastened by heating.

Experiment 47. Saturate milk with Epsom salts, or common salt. The proteid and fat separate, rise to the surface, and leave a clear fluid beneath.

Experiment 48. Place some milk in a basin; heat it to about 100° F., and add a few drops of acetic acid. The mass curdles and separates into a solid curd (proteid and fat) and a clear fluid (the whey), which contains the lactose.

Experiment 49. Take one or two teaspoonfuls of fresh milk in a test tube; heat it, and add a small quantity of extract of rennet. Note that the whole mass curdles in a few minutes, so that the tube can be inverted without the curd falling out. Soon the curd shrinks, and squeezes out a clear, slightly yellowish fluid, the whey.

Experiment 50. Boil the milk as before, and allow it to cool; then add rennet. No coagulation will probably take place. It is more difficult to coagulate boiled milk with rennet than unboiled milk.

Experiment 51. Test fresh milk with red litmus paper; it should turn the paper pale blue, showing that it is slightly alkaline. Place aside for a day or two, and then test with blue litmus paper; it will be found to be acid. This is due to the fact that lactose undergoes the lactic acid fermentation. The lactose is converted into lactic acid by means of a special ferment.

Experiment 52. Evaporate a small quantity of milk to dryness in an open dish. After the dry residue is obtained, continue to apply heat; observe that it chars and gives off pungent gases. Raise the temperature until it is red hot; allow the dish then to cool; a fine white ash will be left behind. This represents the _inorganic matter_ of the milk.

Experiments with the Sugars.

Experiment 53. Cane sugar is familiar as cooking and table sugar. The little white grains found with raisins are grape sugar, or glucose. Milk sugar is readily obtained of the druggist. Prepare a solution of the various sugars by dissolving a small quantity of each in water. Heat each solution with sulphuric acid, and it is seen to darken or char slowly.

Experiment 54. Place some Fehling solution (which can be readily obtained at the drug store as a solution, or tablets may be bought which answer the same purpose) in a test tube, and boil. If no yellow discoloration takes place, it is in good condition. Add a few drops of the grape sugar solution and boil, when the mixture suddenly turns to an opaque yellow or red color.

Experiment 55. Repeat same experiment with milk sugar.