DECEMBER MEETING. 375 



*lie luul known of J(),OUO seamen having perished by scurvy alone.' Even 

 so late as 1780, Sir Gilbert BUme found tluit a ileet, inanncd with between 

 7,000 and 8,000 seamen, luul in one year lo-t one in every seven. * * * 

 A Portuc^uese historian cited by Sir Gilbert Blanc, speaking of the favorable 

 case of an exploring cx])edition, says 'that if the dead who had been thrown 

 overboard between the coast of Guinea and the Gape of Good Hope, and be- 

 tween that cape and Mozambique, could have had tombstones placed for them, 

 each on the spot where he sank, the way would have appeared one continnons 

 cemetery,' '' 



Even so late as last year a British ship, iittod (jut with every appliance of 

 science, was sent to explore the Northwest Passage, and the Polar Sea, but was 

 compelled to return, having totally failed of its object, driven homo by scurvy, 

 and all for the want of lemon juice or acidulous fruits. Scurvy is the bloody 

 lash that hangs over every ship, whose commander forgets or neglects the 

 essential elements of human food. 



But while there is probably no danger of our being attacked with the scurvy, 

 would not people enjoy better health if fruits occupied even a small place in 

 the dietary s^'stem? At present, is not the food eaten by the great majority 

 open to criticism? During the greater part of the year, summer and winter 

 alike, the only meat eaten is fried pork. The result is, say our best physicians, 

 that dyspepsia and diseases of the digestive organs generally, are quite common. 

 It has been said that '"'Americans worship too often at the throne of the Great 

 American Spider {Fri/pans Americanus), who numbers more victims than war, 

 or pestilence, or famine ! " 



Fruics act as a gentle laxative to the system, tending to correct the excessive 

 oise of meats and other highly seasoned foods. 



Concerning the king of fruits, the apple, the Ohristian Advocate says : 



''There is scarcely an article of vegetable food more widely useful, and more 

 universally liked than the apple. Why every farmer in the nation has not an 

 apple orchard where the trees will grow at all, is one of the mysteries. Let 

 every housekeeper lay in a good supply of apples, and it will be the most 

 economical investment in the whole range of culinarles. * * * * rjij^^ 

 most healthful dessert that can be placed on the table is a baked apple. If 

 eaten frequently at breakfast with coarse bread and butter, without flesh or 

 meat of any kind, it has an admirable effect on the general system, often 

 removing constipation, correcting acidities, and cooling off febrile conditions 

 more effectually than the most approved medicines." 



In concluding this part of our subject it should be added, that while fruits 

 are not in themselves very nutritious, they assist greatly in the digestion of 

 other foods, and are second in importance only to more nutritious foods. They 

 are the "open sesame" to good health, without which life is not worth the 

 living. 



As fruit constitutes so important a part of our diet, its proper preservation 

 becomes a matter of the utmost importance. There are two methods of pre- 

 serving fruit employed ; viz. : canning and drying. The first method is too 

 expensive to bring fruits into very common use, and many fruits put up in so- 

 called "tin cans" are said to be injurious to health. Prominent physicians 

 have reported that the tin used in making cans is adulterated with lead, and that 

 paralysis from lead poisoning has been the result in certain cases from eating 

 fruit put up in these same cans. 



The most common method is by drying ; and if fruits could be preserved in 



