244 ELEMENTS OF PHYSIOLOGY 



435. Nuts are the most concentrated and nutritious of all 

 foods. Beefsteak is three fourths water, while nuts are 

 less than one fourth water (see Table). Nuts are how many 

 times as nutritious as beefsteak ? This refers to the nut 

 " meats " or kernels. Nuts may be said to consist of one 

 half fat, one fourth proteid, and the remaining one fourth 

 water and mineral. The fat, unlike that of butter, oil, and 

 fat meat, is emulsified in nuts, and does not need to be 

 divided up before absorption by the lacteals in the small 

 intestine. Their density encourages the habit of thorough 

 chewing. Nuts are made up of little cells, each of which 

 has its proportion of proteids, fat, and dextrine, a kind of 

 sugar. The small boy climbs the tree and gathers the 

 nuts, cracks and eats them, and digests them thoroughly. 

 The man stays in his office, has some one else to gather 

 them, masticates less thoroughly, and he may find them 

 less digestible, especially if he always eats a full meal before 

 taking the nuts. Green or rancid nuts are not digestible. 

 Nuts should be eaten during the meal the same as meat. 

 They are digestible raw. Persons who usually eat nuts 

 after they have already eaten too much, consider them 

 very indigestible. They are not good for the digestion if 

 eaten between meals, or if not thoroughly chewed. 



436. Pods, or Legumes, resemble nuts very closely in 

 chemical composition, but they require long and thorough 

 cooking. Their seed coats, or hulls, consist of cellulose or 

 woody fiber, which may well be removed. The hulls can 

 be loosened by soaking them in cold water before they are 

 cooked. Beans and peas have been called the lean meat 

 of the vegetable kingdom, and they take the place of meat 

 with those who discard meat (vegetarians). 



437- Fruits have four important advantages : (i) Their 

 agreeable flavors are a natural and healthy stimulus to the 

 digestion. (2) They contain vegetable acids (either citric, 

 malic, or tartaric) that are perfect germicides, and are 



