FATS. 263 
capricious in their asserted nature, by which I mean depending 
on laws beyond our comprehension, to be very available? For, 
I take it, as there is no such thing as chance, all would be 
certainty if we knew the whole of the conditions.” 
To paraphrase a letter written by Sydney Smith, December, 
1821, from Foston, for Lady Mary Bennett: ‘Dear Lady, 
spend all your fortune in an electric lighting apparatus! Better 
to eat dry bread by the splendour of electric light, than to dine 
on grouse by gas, or on wild beef with wax candles; and so, 
good-bye ! dear lady.” 
To wear silken clothing next the skin, will serve to retain 
a healthful electrical state of the body, thereby promoting 
cheerfulness of mind under atmospheric surroundings which 
would otherwise depress. 
ENDIVE (See Sabaps). 
FATS. 
Soup neutral fats, such as suet, lard, and spermaceti, also 
liquid non-volatile oils, such as olive oil, and sperm oil, are 
classed together as chemical fats. They are composed of carbon, 
oxygen, and hydrogen, but do not contain any nitrogen. When 
a fat is treated with an alkali, the fatty acid unites with the 
alkaline base, making a soap, and glycerine is set free. Fats are 
distinct from other food elements which increase the weight, and 
warmth of the body, such as the sugars, starches, and cellulose, 
these being carbohydrates, which are more affected by heat than 
the fats; but the latter when cooked, at a high temperature, 
which is kept up, undergo some disintegration, and a free fatty 
acid is liberated ; this is apt to disagree with delicate stomachs. 
Meat to be fried should be plunged suddenly into a deep pan of 
nearly boiling fat, pure olive oil, or dripping, or butter. The 
intense heat produces an instant coagulation of the proteids 
(resembling white of egg) on the surface, and forms a protective 
crust. It is supposed that the greater digestibility of cold fats 
over hot fats is because the fatty acid then unites again with 
glycerine to form a neutral {fat free from acid on cooling. Carbon 
enters the body for fuel in fat, starch, and sugar, and quits it as 
carbonic dioxide. Lean persons who wish to gain fat should 
eat but little lean meat, whilst taking freely of butter, potatoes, _ 
white bread, and plain pastry, if easily digested ; they should live - 
in warm well-ventilated rooms, and refrain from much active 
