HYGIENE OF DIGESTION 247 



large quantity of food concentrated in a small bulk as the 

 public are led to believe. A glass of milk contains far 

 more nourishment than a cup of beef tea. The best way 

 to get the nourishment out of a steak is to eat it. The beef 

 extract contains but a fraction of the proteids in beef, and 

 all of the nitrogenous waste material allied to urea. The 

 most nutritious part of the beef is not soluble, but the ex- 

 cretory part of the meat is soluble, and this is found in the 

 beef tea or beef extract. This extract throws work upon 

 the kidneys and is harmful. The part of the beef that 

 has most value is thrown away in making the extract. 

 Many lives are no doubt annually sacrificed by starvation 

 through the popular faith in beef tea as a concentrated and 

 nourishing food. Beef tea and meat juice can be used as 

 flavoring agents with other food since they stimulate the 

 secretion of pepsin, but they should not be regarded as 

 real food. 



444. By drying meat it can be reduced to one fourth its 

 weight (since it is three fourths water). Thus 100 pounds 

 of beef can be reduced to 25 pounds and sold in a form 

 useful to travelers. The meat will keep fresh as long as it 

 is kept dry. Water is added to the meat when it is cooked. 



445. Grains. Nearly all the starch of our food is sup- 

 plied by grains. They also contain from 8 to 1 5 per cent of 

 a proteid called gluten. The chief grains are wheat, oats, 

 barley, corn, rice, buckwheat. The more of gluten there is 

 in grain, the more gluey or sticky its flour will be. Sticky 

 flour will retain the bubbles of gas formed from baking-pow- 

 ders or by the growth of the yeast plant. Wheat has much 

 gluten, and its flour makes very light bread. Coarse meal 

 has not enough gluten to make it very sticky, and corn 

 bread will not rise well. Corn contains more fat than any 

 other grain, yellow corn containing more fat than white 

 corn. Rice is poorer in albumin and richer in starch than 

 any other grain (see Table, 434). 



