524 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



them more digestible. I think about one-third of our food is lost 

 by our method of cooking. 



Mr. Stevens. — I have found potatoes good when boiled upon 

 the mountains, where water boils at 200 deg. 



Mr. Dibben. — When it was discovered that steel contains nitro- 

 gen as well as carbon, it became very plain that in using horn, 

 &c., it should be the raw material. 



Prof. Seely. — This question of cookery seems to me to be sim- 

 ply a matter of taste. If a man finds his food to be more palata- 

 ble when cooked at 200 deg., I have no objection. There is one 

 reason why the temperature should be pretty high in cooking, to 

 convert the starch into dextrine, which is soluble in water. But 

 it is so generally the case that what a man likes agrees with him, 

 that I consider the matter of taste the most important criterion. 



Prof. S. proceeded to explain the series of organic substances. 

 If we can combine any substance with one of a series we can 

 with them all, and the results will form a new series. Thus there 

 is a series of ethers, a series of alcohols, a series of acids, &c., 

 each of which varies in volatility in the same regular gradation. 

 We can, therefore, select a substance of the desired volatility or 

 density for any required purpose. 



Any seed will grow in water if you give it ammonia and car- 

 bonic acid ; but it is a remarkable fact that in that case the 

 plant will yield, no seed. The inorganic elements, as they are 

 called, seem necessary to give plants the power of reproduction. A 

 quantity of inorganic matter, phosphate of lime especially, 

 although insignificant in amount, is absolutely necessary. Where 

 there is no phosphate of lime in the soil, you cannot have wheat. 



There is a difference in one respect between the growth of veg- 

 etables and of animals. Vegetables seem to grow as a house is 

 built. One organic cell is erected above another, they dry up 

 and stay in their first position, and the life seems to be destroyed. 

 It stays protected probably by the continual passage of the sap : 

 but when in animal growth a cell is deposited, it soon burns up. 

 The vegetable all grows and stays ; the animal all grows and 

 dies. In five or six years the human body may be entirely 

 changed. The brain of an active man is especially liable to 

 change, so that I think it quite doubtful whether James T. Brady, 

 for instance, has a particle of the same matter in his brain to-day 

 that was there a month ago. Using up is burning up. At each 

 inspiration we take in fresh air, and at each expiration throw 



