DECEMBEK MEETING. 



J 73 



The following are a few of the iiumerons analyses by Professor Frescnms, of 

 ripe fruit : 



From this table it appears that different fruits vary considerably in composi- 

 tion. Some kinds are very rich in sucjar, w^hile in others there is a much larger 

 relative amount of acid present. We cannot judge of the amount of sugar 

 present from the taste of the fruit. A sour apple may contain no less percent- 

 age of sugar than a sweet one. In the former case the sweetness is^masked by 

 a relatively larger amount of acid. The sourness of currants and gooseberries 

 is owing to the large amount of free acid they contain. 



The amount of sugar in fruits is largely increased by cultivation. An exam- 

 ination of the above table shows that the percentage of sugar is more than 

 doubled in the cultivated strawberry of that in the wild. 



How nutritious are these fruits as materials for food? 



Dr. Edward Smith, the great English authority on foods, states that the 

 least amount of food upon which an adult person can subsist in good health in 

 idleness, — in other words a famine diet, — is food containing li)0 grains of 

 nitrogen, and 4,100 grains of carbon per day. If we take tiiis as a standard, 

 and from the composition of fruits calculate the number of pounds an adult 

 person would consume in a day of fruit, provided the person ate one kind of 

 fruit to the exclusion of every other food, we should have the following amounts : 



Fruits to Sustain Life One Daij. 



FRUIT. 



Apples 



Pears 



Peaches 



Apricots 



Green Gages . . 

 Heart Cherries 



FKUIT. 



Strawberries 



Grapes 



Red Gooseberrie 



Raspberries 



Red Currants 



Number of 



Pounds 



for Nitrogen. 



47.2 

 20.4 

 38.5 

 31.2 

 37.7 



Number of 



Pounds 

 for Carbon. 



16.2 

 7.1 

 12.4 

 17.0 

 14.2 



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