( IIKMISTKY. 



.AH AND SUGAR. 



into it* product* of decomposition. The abundance of 

 these products of decomposition is tho cause of the diffi- 

 cult digestion which characterises cheese itself. But 

 cheese impel* the digestive gland* to a greater a- 

 a greater quantity of saliva and bile, of gastric and 

 pancreatic juice*, u secret*.! and carried into the diges- 

 tive canal ; and hence the cheese, notwithstanding its 

 difficult solubility, may be considered, in a restricted 

 degree, as promoting digestion. And not for this reason 

 alone ; for the caseine, while in a state of decomposi- 

 tion, promotes also tho conversion of starch and sugar 

 into lactic acid and fat Like butter, cheese increases 

 the digestibility of the bread ; and dry bread is, thore- 



. less nutritious than bread with butter or cheese. 

 With regard to the inorganic alimentary principles, 

 ! the cheese made from sweet milk is superior to that 

 '' from sour : in tho latter the earthy salts have been dis- 

 j solved ; while the phosphate of lime, contained in milk, 

 I is abundantly represented in the former. Only whore 

 I the breeding of cattle flourishes, and milk is produced 

 ' in abundance, cheese is prepared ; where cheese is pre- 

 | pared, meat cannot be deficient ; a rich blood produces. 

 j together with the rigour of the muscles, the noble mind 

 and the ardent courage of liberty. This is the asso- 

 ciation of thought* which made John von M tiller say, 

 that liberty thrives where cheese is prepared. 



J 83. Vinegar. That which renders vinegar so fa- 

 vourite an addition to food is a peculiar acid, consisting of 

 carbon, hydrogen, and oxygon, formed from alcohol by 

 the absorption of an additional quantity of oxygen. 

 From afftum, the Latin name of vinegar, this acid 

 is called the acetic, and is to be obtained from all 

 spirituous beverages. But as alcohol yields, in addition 

 to the acetic acid, a quantity of water, .both malt and 

 wine-vinegar contain, in proportion to the acetic acid, 

 more water than is to be found in cither beer or wine, 

 in proportion to the quantity of alcohol Of wine or 

 French vinegar, about one-twentieth in weight consists 

 of pure acetic acid. In an inferior vinegar this acid 

 does not even amount to more than one-fiftieth to one 

 five-and-twcntieth in weight. 



Vinegar, therefore, is always a considerably diluted 

 solution of acetic acid, containing in addition a small 

 proportion of albumen and sugar, of gum, and of several 

 other organic substances, especially of some colouring 

 matters, which differ according to tho liquor from which 

 the vinegar has been prepared. Thus, in wine-vinegar 

 there is some acid tartrate and sulphate of potash to be 

 found ; and in wine and fruit-vinegars, a proportion of 

 tannic acid, to be attributed to the husks and skins of 

 the fruit*. Acetic-ether, as passing over into wine- 

 rinegar from some kinds of wine, communicates a fine 

 agreeable fragrance to the vinegar. 



If the acetous fermentation has not entirely ceased, 

 the vinegar still contains a small proportion of alcohol, 

 which, by a further accession of oxygen, becomes decom- 

 posed into water and acetic acid. 



In order to increase the sour taste of the vinegar, the 

 admixture of one-thousandth part of sulphuric acid is 

 permitted in England. If added in a larger quantity 

 the sulphuric acid is injurious. 



84. Ditiolmng Action of Vinegar. The vinegar 

 assist* digestion. AVith tho exception of legumin it 

 dissolves the albuminous substances, transforming, in a 

 short time, even the gluten and tho fibrino into a gela- 

 tinous mas*. Hence, vinegar and butter are useful con- 

 comitant* of fish ; and vinegar promotes, as we have 

 before mentioned, the digestion of in 



As acids are capable of transforming cellulose and 

 starch into sugar, the vinegar added to salad is likewise 

 to be regarded as an admixture promoting digestion. 

 Thus, in the majority of cases, the use of vinegar is a 

 custom founded on good reasons. Only in soups of 

 pea*, beans, and lentils, vinegar is to be rejected, as by 

 it, even if added in excess, the legumin is brought into 

 an undiasolved state. 



Tho dissolving action of tho vinegar upon the other 

 albuminous substances goes even as far a* to the blood. 

 Coverage* containing nnegar hare a dissolving effect on 



blood, and are cooling ; and in milk, the proportion of 

 casoino-colls, containing the butter, decreases if the 

 mother take much vinegar. 



And because of this solution of the most important 

 constituents of the blood, manifesting itself by a greater 

 liquefaction, it would appear an unpardonable frivolity, 

 or a lamentable ignorance, in young girls, to endeavour, 

 from vanity, to produce by means of vinegar an artificial 

 thinness ; only too often, in attaining their aim, they 

 incur dangerous and deeply-rooting diseases, which 

 deprive them of their more l>eautifiil maiden bloom. 



86. Sugar. Sugar has a similar history to that of 

 alcohol and common salt. As many fermented beverages 

 were known before the art of distilling, and the salt 

 taste of the sea-water before the art of inspiration by 

 boiling or crystallising ; so honey and sweet juices were 

 familiarly known before the sugar, which produces their 

 sweet taste, was extracted. It was not until tho 

 fifteenth century that the iuspissation of the 

 sugar was learned ; and it was much later before this 

 process was carried to perfection. 



Not only, moreover, has the method of preparing tho 

 sugar made great advance in later days, but also tho 

 knowledge of the sources whence it is derived. Tho 

 temperate zone possesses in the red-beet a subst it ute f. .r 

 sugar-cane, though far inferior to it ; and for the same 

 purpose the sugar-maple is used in North America. 

 Although the red-beet, the sugar-maple, and many other 

 plants possess tho same description of sugar as the cano 

 itself, no other plant has been found equal to the sugar- 

 cane ; and the denomination of cane-sugar will maintain 

 itself as descriptive of the sweetest kind of sugar. < 

 sugar is sweeter, and poorer in hydrogen and oxygen, 

 than grape-sugar, which is distinguished from tho 

 former, and from sugar of milk, by its direct < 

 bility of fermenting. Acids, however, transform the 

 sugar of milk, as well as cane-sugar, into sugar of grapes ; 

 and hence, the two former can indirectly be brought 

 into a state of fermentation. 



By boiling with lime, cane-sugar is purified ; for the 

 saccharine vegetable juice contains a portion of soluble 

 albumen, which is coagulated by this process, and then 

 skimmed off. A liquid is thus formed, containing un- 

 crystallisable sugar, consisting, for the most part, of the 

 brown syrup of commerce, called molasses or tiv 

 In addition to this liquid, crystals of sugar are obtained, 

 which, while depositing themselves, become mixed with 

 uncrystallisable sugar, and represent the brown, the raw- 

 sugar, or Muscovado. In a purer state of its crystalline 

 grains, the cane-sugar is called "loaf" or " lump-sugar;" 

 while sugar-candy consists of regular and larger-sized 

 crystals, formed by a slower process. A part of the 

 lime enters into combination with the sugar ; and the 

 Muscovado, particularly, is mixed with some phosphate 

 of lime, and a viscous substance, probably gum. 



In honey we find grape-sugar, an uncrystallisable kind 

 of sugar, and " maunite," or manna-sugar. The 1 

 is distinguished from the other kinds of sugar by not 

 being fermentable, and by containing a smaller propor- 

 tion of oxygen than hydrogen ; these two elements are 

 present in the other sorts of sugar Justin the same pi 

 tion as that in which they are contained in water. With 

 these different kinds of sugar there is, in honey, some 

 lactic acid most probably associated, which is formed by 

 tho decomposition of the grape-sugar, and some wax 

 possessing a great similarity to tho fatty substances. 



80. Nutritive Qualities of Sugar. As by salts and 

 acids, so likewise by sugar and honey, is tho quant ity of 

 the digestive juices increased, and the digestion promoted. 

 And the sugar, while being digested, enriches the gastric 

 juice with a substance which assists in dissolving tho 

 aliments ; for the sugar, on coming into contact with the 

 saliva, has been partly convert ,M! into Urtic acid, which 

 acts upon the alimentary principles in the same manner 

 as the hydrochloric acid of the gastric juice. 



For this reason, sugar at once appears infinitely better 

 than its reputation. Since the e >ni|iosition of the milk 

 has been recognised, the sugar ought to have been ac- 

 quitted of tho bad repute which adhered to it for many 



