FOODS 319 



animals, such foods pass directly, together with foods containing 

 nitrogen, to repair waste in tissues, thus giving the needed propor- 

 tion of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen which is to unite with the 

 nitrogen in forming the protoplasm of the body. 



Inorganic Foods. — Water forms a large part of almost every 

 food substance. The human body, by weight, is composed of 

 about sixty per cent water. When we drink water, we take 

 with it most of the inorganic salts used by the body in the 

 making of bone and in the formation of protoplasm. Sodium 

 chloride (table salt), an important part of the blood, is taken in 

 as a flavoring upon our meats and vegetables. So important is 

 this food that life is often given in exchange for it by herbivorous 

 animals, as the deer. Man will also endure great hardships to get 

 salt.^ Phosphates of lime and potash taken in water are im- 

 portant factors in the formation of bone. 



Uses of Nutrients. — The following table sums up the uses of 

 nutrients to man : ^ 



All serve as fuel 

 and yield energy in 

 form of heat and 

 muscular strength. 



Proteid Forms tissue (mus-- 



White (albumen) of eggs, curd cles, tendon, and 

 (casein) of milk, lean meat, probably fat), 

 gluten of wheat, etc. 



Fats Form fatty tissue. 



Fat of meat, butter, olive oil, 

 oils of corn and wheat, etc. 



Carbohydrates Transformed into fat. 



Sugar, starch, etc. 



Mineral matters (ash) Aid in forming bone. 



Phosphates of lime, potash, assist in digestion, etc. 



soda, etc, 



^ Animals will travel long distances to obtain salt. Men will barter gold for it ; 

 indeed, among the Gallas and on the coast of Sierra Leone, brothers will sell their 

 sisters, husbands their wives, and parents their children for salt. In the district 

 of Accra, on the gold coast of Africa, a handful of salt is the most valuable thing 

 upon earth after gold, and will purchase a slave or two. Mungo Park tells us that 

 with the Mandingoes and Bambaras tiie use of salt is such a luxury that to say of a 

 man, 'he flavors his food with salt,' is to imply that he is rich; and children will 

 suck a piece of rock salt as if it were sugar. No stronger mark of respect or affec- 

 tion can be shown in Muscovy than the sending of salt from the tables of the rich 

 to their poorer friends. In the book of Leviticus it is expressly commanded as one 

 of the ordinances of Moses, that every oblation of meat upon the altar shall be 

 seasoned with salt, without lacking ; and hence.it is called the Salt of the Covenant 

 of God. The Greeks and Romans also used salt in their sacrificial cakes ; and 

 it is still used in the services of the Latin church — the ' parva mica,' or pinch of 

 salt, being, in the ceremony of baptism, put into the child's mouth, while the priest 

 says, 'Receive the salt of wisdom, and may it be a propitiation to thee for eternal 

 life.' — Letheby, On Food. 



2 W. O. Atwater, Principles of Nutrition and Nutritive Value of Food. U.S. 

 Dept. of Agriculture, 1902. 



