For each different substance in the body we have corresponding food 

 materials. To build up muscle and tissue we use muscle and tissue- 

 building foods, or proteids, such as meat and eggs, two very common 

 examples. For our fat we eat butter, cream, olive oil, etc. We get 

 mineral matter in small quantities in all our ordinary foods. Salt is 

 perhaps the best known example of a mineral food. Heat and energy is 

 supplied by our carbohydrates or starches and sugars in any form. Water 

 we find in all foods. Should any food contain the proper proportion of all 

 five classes we call it a "perfect food," hence eggs and milk come under 

 mis heading. Thus we see the relationship between the composition of 

 the body and of the foods. No true food contains any other thing than 

 one or more of these elements or compounds, and to make our eating not 

 merely a matter of hunger and taste, we should bring our knowledge to 

 bear upon it and -make it a matter of thought and science. 



Milk, then, contains the five different elements necessary to support 

 life. If we allow milk to stand for some time we can skim off the cream, 

 which is the fat. Then add a little rennet and the milk curdles, and forms 

 curds and whey. The curd is the muscle and tissue-building part or the 

 protein ; the whey is composed of water, a little mineral matter, and the 

 heat and energy part in the form of milk sugar. In composition ioo 

 pounds of average milk contains about 87 pounds of water, 4 pounds fat, 

 5 pounds milk sugar, 3.3 pounds protein, and 0.7 pounds of mineral 

 matter or salts. 



In regard to its nutritive value, milk stands very high, and its worth 

 is not appreciated as it should be, especially when we compare its cost 

 with its value as a food. We have said that milk is a perfect food in 

 itself, and it is, with slight modifications, for an infant; but, for an adult, 

 the different materials are not in the proper proportions to continuously 

 nourish the body alone, and so require to be used with other foods to 

 round out the diet and make a balanced ration. A lunch of milk alone 

 would nourish the body a good deal, but a lunch of say 10 ounces of bread 

 and a pint of milk would be more nourishing and satisfying, and will 

 equal in nutritive value a lunch of soup, meat, potatoes, bread, butter and 

 coffee. s It will not fill up the same and lead us to believe that we have been 

 well satisfied, but we must get over this old-fashioned idea that because 

 we have a feeling of fulness we have been well nourished. The filling up 

 process is not always by any means the nourishing process. 



The value of skim-milk is not appreciated as it should be. It still 

 contains nearly 10 per cent, of nutritive ingredients, that is, it has nearly 

 all the protein of the whole milk for building muscle and tissue, and 

 making blood and bone, and half the value for giving heat. For this rea- 

 son a good cook may use skim-milk to advantage in preparing the daily 

 meals, thereby giving good food to the family at half the cost of whole 

 milk. 



Then, too, we have buttermilk, which is also valuable. One glass 

 of good buttermilk is equal in food value to half a pint of oysters, and 

 yet what a difference in cost. In composition it is similar to skim-milk, 

 but has slightly less protein and sugar, and a little more fat. 



