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Effects of Food Upon Man: Materials

Materials.

Materials.

Veal contains 10 to 1 Hare 10 2 ... 自性 ... ११ Beef (lean) 10 17 ... ... ... 90 Lentils 10 21 ... ... ... ...

Horse-beans 10 22 .6. ... " Peas 10 23 ... ... ... " Fat mutton 10 27 ... ...

Fat pork 10 30 ... ... ...

Cow's milk 10 30 ... ... ...

Human milk 10 40 ... ...

Wheat-flour 10 46 ... ... ...

Oatmeal 10 50 Rye-flour Barley Potatoes (white) Ditto (blue) Rice Buck-wheat In this table it must be remembered, that several of the items are somewhat different from those used in this country, as, for instance, veal, which in Germany is almost wholly devoid of fat, while in this country it is often sold with a considerable quantity of that heat-producing article. The same will apply to beef, which, as here sold, will in its composition be more nearly like that of fat mutton in the above table. Still it will show the relative properties in each kind of food; and the observer may class them pretty nearly as they are here given in point of azote. It will thus appear that it will take 133 lbs. of rice, or 125 lbs. of blue potatoes, to supply as much muscular tissue as 27 lbs. of lean beef, or 37 lbs. of fat mutton, or 40 lbs. of cow's milk, or 56 lbs. of wheat flour, or 60 lbs. of oatmeal; and consequently the hard-working man, who chiefly expends muscular tissue, must make a double calculation; -1st, what substance will supply him with the azotized materials which he requires, joined with a sufficient amount of respiratory matter; and, 2nd, will that substance give it him at the lowest possible price? It is obvious that the less waste the better that is to say, that the two classes of substances should, in theory, be exactly proportioned to the wants of the system, and that all beyond this is a waste of digestive power, and of material also; but in practice it sometimes happens that the poor man, being limited in his supply of money, can lay it out to more advantage by purchasing a larger amount of articles theoretically extravagant, but which, though wasting a part of their elements, will still afford him more of what his system demands. Thus, in round numbers, the quantity of potatoes equivalent to bread and meat are respectively four, two, and one-that is to say, that four pounds of potatoes will go as far in affording muscular tissue as two pounds of bread or one pound of meat; and whenever this quantity of potatoes can be purchased for less money than two pounds of bread or one pound of meat, which is almost always the case, they may with advantage be substituted for the two last kinds of food in an economical point of view. But as it is well known that man cannot long live upon one article of diet, and as the four pounds of potatoes would be too bulky for the stomach, and would give the excretory organs too much to do in getting rid of their superfluous carbon and hydrogen, it follows that, in point of health, a diet composed entirely of this root is prejudicial to health in all ways. When mixed, however, with bread and meat, nothing is more wholesome or more economical than the potato; and it is only when its use is carried to excess that it should be condemned as injurious to mankind. 8. BUT THE MINERAL ELEMENTS OF FOOD are no less necessary than those we have been hitherto examining; for, though the chief bulk of the body is built up from the four elementary principles which have been investigated, yet we shall find that all food capable of long sustaining life must contain the mineral salts which are met with in the blood. An alkaline condition of this fluid is absolutely essential to the performance of its functions; and every acid which enters it must at once be neutralized and carried off in the secretions or excretions. Thus, the vegetable acids are speedily oxidized in the blood, and become converted into carbonic acid and water, and then appear as alkaline carbonates, while uric acid becomes converted into urate of ammonia, and is discharged with the urine. The mineral ingredients of food are either phosphates and sulphates alone, as in flesh, grain, and pulse, or these salts mixed with silicates and carbonates, as in green vegetables. These are partly soluble and partly insoluble in water; and as the soluble salts of the ashes of the blood are the same as those of urine, and since we can affect the nature of the latter fluid by a change of diet, we may not only arrive at the soluble salts of the blood from examining those in the urine, but we may modify them also by changing the diet. Phosphoric acid and the phosphates, as well as other mineral ingredients, are absolutely necessary to effect the vital changes constantly going on, and hence we see the importance of supplying them in due proportion and admixture. This is the reason why boiled flesh (or fibrine) alone will not support life; and why yolk of egg, cheese, and similar matters, likewise fail when used by themselves. The pure fibre of meat is certainly rich enough in phosphoric acid, but it has lost the alkalies in the juice; the yolk of egg is still richer in the same phosphoric acid, but it, likewise, is deficient in alkali, which is confined to the white. In cheese, again, the same division of these matters has taken place, the whey retaining all the alkali contained in the milk. Hence it is that salt is so usefully added in unusually large proportions to boiled meat, eggs, and cheese. It is for these reasons, that in all boiled meats the broth ought to be eaten with them, or, at all events, used as soup on the alternate days, the system being content to wait for that short time for the supply of the saline materials, especially if common salt is eaten at the same time, as is almost universally practised. 9. GREEN VEGETABLES contain these saline ingredients in large proportion, so that they may be advantageously used with boiled saltmeat in which the alkaline juices have been lost, both in the salting and in the boiling process. Hence it has been found by experience, that carrots, parsnips, turnips, and greens are advantageously mixed with boiled beef, which, without their addition, or some substitute for them, will in a short time produce that horrible disease known as scurvy. It is not, however, sufficient in such cases to boil these vegetables in large quantities of water, and then to eat them without their juices contained in the water; but they should be steamed in small quantities of water, and this should be taken with them, in order to extract all their virtues, and render them available. 10. THE USE OF TEA, COFFEE, AND COCOA has of late years become almost universal in this country; and as they all contain a principle nearly identical with each other, and acting in the same way upon the system, it is therefore right to consider them as one and the same. They all seem to promote the natural vital changes, and especially muscular and nervous action. It is true, that the precise effect produced cannot be watched; but it is accompanied with a sense of refreshment attended with new vigour, which is very peculiar, and so captivating that it is very rare to find individuals giving up the use of one or the other of these articles after they are once accustomed to them. It is indeed asserted, that no nation has ever ceased to take either tea, coffee, or cocoa, after once taking to them as a general beverage; and this is, perhaps, the highest character which can be given of any article notoriously free from injurious effects upon the morals. A nation may easily be led wrong, by acting on the passions or appetites; but when it is led in any other way, it may reasonably be maintained that the mode of temptation is not only free from harm, but in all probability is in itself good.