VEGETABLE FOODS, 



471 



remained dissolved in the soup. By boiling for a very long time, part of the 

 albumin may be redissolved (Mulder). The dissolved substances are : 

 1. Inorganic salts of the meat, of which 82 '27 per cent, pass into the soup ; the 

 earthy phosphates chiefly remain in the cooked meat. 2. Kreatin, kreatinin, the 

 inosiuates and lactates which give to broth or beef-tea their stimulating qualities, 

 and a small amount of aromatic extractives. 3. Gelatin, more abundantly 

 extracted from the flesh of young animals. According to these facts, therefore, 

 flesh-broth or beef-tea is a powerful stimulant, supplying muscle with restoratives, 

 but is not a food in the ordinary sense of the term. The flesh after the extraction 

 of the broth is still available as a food. 



Liebig's Extract Of Meat is an extract of flesh evaporated to a thick syrupy 

 consistence. It contains no fat or gelatin, and is chiefly a solution of the 

 extractives and salts of flesh. 



[Mastermanu has shown that the chemical analysis of beef -tea is analogoiis to 

 that of urine, except that it contains less urea and uric acid. ] 



234. Vegetable Foods. 



The nitrogenous constituents of plants are not so easily absorbed as 

 animal food (Rubner). Carbohydrates, starch, and sugar are very 

 completely absorbed, and 

 inconsiderable 

 of cellulose 



even a not 



proportion 



may be digested (Weislce, 



Konig). The more fats 



that are contained in the 



vegetable food, the less 



are the carbohydrates 



digested and absorbed 



(Rubner). 



1 . The cereals are most 

 important vegetable foods ; 

 they contain proteids, 

 starch, salts, and water to 

 14 per cent. The nitro- 

 genous glutin is most abun- 

 dant under the husk 

 (Payen). The use of whole 



meal containing the outer layers of the grain is highly nutritive, but 

 bread containing much bran is somewhat indigestible (Rubner). 

 [A section of a wheat grain with its layers of glutiu is shown in 

 Fig. 173.] Their composition is the following: 



Fig. 173. 



Microscopic characters of wheat x 200 ; a, cells 

 of the bran ; I, cells of thin cuticle ; c, glutin 

 cells ; d, starch cells ; B, wheat starch x 350. 



