30 



Report on the Means of Supplying the Poor with Food. 



are of a decomposing or modifying tendency, and we believe, never of 

 a character calculated to produce solid matter from its primary 

 elements. If these premises are correct, then it is evident, that we 

 are to look for the source of all nutriment in" the vegetable kingdom, 

 and we are to expect that these substances will be best calculated for 

 the nourishment of animal life, which, in their composition, approxi- 

 mate to the constitution of animal matter. The characteristic of this 

 common character is azote. Unless vegetable matters contain this 

 substance, they are inferior in the nutritive scale ; although they must 

 by no means be considered as destitute of all nutritive power. 



But the quantity of animal food consumed in a cold country ought, 

 undoubtedly, to be greater than in a warm climate ; because, as all 

 animal heat is produced by respiration, the quantity of heat required 

 under the former circumstances, is necessarily greater than in the 

 latter. Animal heat is the result of the union of the oxygen of the 

 air with the carbon of the food. To produce more heat, therefore, 

 more carbon must be employed — a more condensed form of carbon 

 must be used. This is animal food. 



Sugar is a substance which contains no azote, and yet appears to 

 afford nourishment. In crop-time, according to Dr. Wright, every 

 negro on the plantations, and every animal, even the dogs, grow fat ; 

 and Humboldt (New Spain, II. 424) has frequently observed, that 

 the mule drivers, who carried his luggage on the coast of Caraccas, 

 gave the preference to unprepared sugar over fresh animal food. Gum, 

 also, which possesses a composition identical with sugar, serves for 

 nourishment to several African tribes in their passage through the 

 desert. Who would venture to affirm that potatoes are not nutritive, 

 upon which so many thousands of our fellow creatures are almost 

 dependant for their subsistence ? They, however, contain no gluten, 

 according to Proust, and very little azote, according to Boussingault. 



Relative Nutritive Power of Vegetables. — To Boussingault we are 

 indebted for an elaborate series of experiments, on the quantity of 

 azote in vegetables, which may be presented in a tabular form, so as 

 to exhibit the equivalent nutritive power of each vegetable, as indi- 

 cated by the quantity of azote. Unity represents the most nutritious 

 substances, and is considered equal to the larger numbers, (^Annal, de 

 Chim. Vol. 63.) 



White French Beans, .... 100 



Yellow Peas, 120 



Flour of Cabbage, 148 



Flour of Carrots, 170 



Flour of Wheat, 175 



Wheat, 191 



French Wheat, 193 



Rye, 200 



Oats, 210 



Flour of Barley Meal, .... 212 



Potato Flour, 225 



Barley, 232 



Indian Com 246 



Potatoes, 1096 



Carrots, 1351 



White Cabbage, 1446 



Turnips, 2383 



