THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



nance. But at the end of a certain time 

 human life ends and our bodies go to 

 nourish the vegetable kingdom, and thus 

 we pay back to earth everything we took 

 from it. 



Lack of time and the presence here to- 

 night of casual listeners will not allow 

 me to enter into a minutely detailed 

 description of the organs and their secre- 

 tions, concerned in the process of diges- 

 tion, nor am I able to do more than give 

 you a general idea of the classes of foods 

 generally in use. 



Still I shall retain enough detail to 

 make the subject sufficiently clear. 



Hunger is the local expression of the 

 system's want of nutritive elements, and 

 this sensation is referred to the stomach. 



Thirst is the local expression of the 

 want of water in the system, and this 



sensation is referred to the forces. 



• 



Man may live when deprived of food for 

 from five to eight days. Observations on 

 this subject were made by Savigny, a 

 French physician, who was one ol 150 

 unfortunates that were exposed on an 

 open raft from the wreck of the frigate 

 " Medusa" (1816). 



These miserable creatures were ex- 

 posed for thirteen days during which 

 period they were totally destitute of food. 

 Savigny made notes at the time which 

 showed that old and very young persons 

 succumbed first. Death was most fre- 

 quent when the surrounding temperature 

 was low. Persons with much adipose 

 tissue resisted longest. Only fifteen of 

 all these 150 persons were found alive at 

 the end of the thirteen days. Savigny 

 was one of them. 



These observations have been verified 

 since by many physiologists. 



According to Chassot animals die of 

 starvation when they have lost four- 

 tenths of their weight. 



The classic exhibitions of forty days' 



starvation are not entitled to scientific 

 consideration. 



CLASSIFICATION OF FOOD. 



First into the general division of or- 

 ganic and inorganic. The inorganic 

 constituents of food do not undergo any 

 change in digestion and are thrown off 

 in the same condition in which they are 

 taken in. Examples of these are the 

 chlorides of sodium and calcium, the 

 phosphates and iron. 



Strange as it may seem they are never 

 the less necessary to life. 



Animals crave salt. It would seem 

 that they have some influence on nutri- 

 tion for when an animal is deprived of 

 salt there is an evident change in the 

 character of the hide- A fact well known 

 among hunters and cattle raisers. 



ORGANIC. 



1. Nitrogenized or albumenoids. 



f Sugars C^H^O,, 



2. Non nitrogenized= \ Starches C 6 H 10 O 5 



( Fats. 



The organic nitrogenized contain 



C H O N and S. f Gluten 



L Albumen. 



They arenon-crystallizable. Undergo 

 a peculiar change which is called putre- 

 faction and exist in combination with the 

 inorganic constituents. 



Most of the nitrogenized elements of 

 food come from the vegetable kingdom. 

 The animals that serve man as articles of 

 diet live on vegetables chiefly. 



The vegetable kingdom derives its 

 nitrogen from the salines of the earth. 

 These combine with the starches, the 

 latter being produced from C0 3 and H 2 0. 

 None of the nitrogen comes from the air. 



They are not discharged from the body 

 in health except in the milk. 



They are consumed in the body in the 

 general process of nutrition, and are rep- 

 resented by urea in the urine and per- 

 spiration. 



