288 VEGETABLE FOOD. 



after being thrashed out of the straw and winnowed from the husk* 

 is composed of a hard, thin, outer coat, or bran, a soft, brittle, inter- 

 mediate layer of cells, and a central white substance chiefly composed 

 of starch. The outer coat is woody, indigestible, useless for nutri- 

 tion and irritating to the alimentary canal. In some cases it may 

 be advisable to retain it, to act as a mechanical stimulant to the in- 

 testines in constipation. It is too stimulating for persons who take 

 active exercise since it causes the food to pass hurriedly through the 

 canal before disintegration and assimilation are completed. For 

 invalids, and persons with feeble digestive organs, it is too irritating. 

 The inner coat is of most value, since it is the richest part of the 



train in nitrogenous matter, fats and salts the food for muscle, 

 one and brain. The more thoroughly this is removed, the finer 

 the flour is dressed, the whiter the bread produced, the less nutri- 

 tious is the bread. The central, white material of the grain, chiefly 

 of starch, comprises also some of the more nourishing elements, 

 though the proportion is so small that the nutritive value of the 

 grain is sacrificed to the appearance of the bread. Many writers 

 notably Liebig have pointed out the waste of nutritive material in 

 white bread, and the folly of preferring it to that which contains the 

 nitrogenous portion. Pavy, however, lias shown that bread is not 

 the only food ; that what is rejected in the bread is taken in other 

 forms; and that through animal diet the very elements which have 

 been eliminated from the flour are replaced. To most persons 

 white bread is more palatable and presents a more pleasing appear- 

 ance, than the more nutritious bread, but this taste is probably the 

 result of habit. But for the resulting dark color and soft consis- 

 tence, a very important, soluble, nitrogenous matter, called cerealine, 

 might be utilized by soaking the bran in warm water for some time 

 and using the water in the preparation of the dough for bread. It 

 would be better to sacrifice the appearance to more nutriment. 

 Young and growing children unconsciously suffer greatly from the 

 common custom. They become badly nourished, grow up with 

 defective teeth and bones- weak tissues and inadequate muscular 

 development, and are peculiarly susceptible to disease from resulting 

 lack or vitality. 



Bread made with sea-water increases the appetite and stimu- 

 lates digestion. It has an agreeable flavor, and exercises a beneficial 

 influence in dyspepsia, consumption and scrofula. 



STALE BKEAD is preferable to new, especially when weakness of 

 the digestive organs is present. The softness of new bread renders it 

 less easy of mastication and insalivation, more clammy and cohesive, 

 and therefore less penetrable by the gastric juice. In the stomach it 

 often ferments, and even in persons of good digestion produces 

 heartburn. Stale bread is firm and more brittle under the action of 

 the teeth, and more easily penetrated by the digestive juices than 

 new bread. Bread is most digestible one or two days after it has 

 been baked. The best bread grows stale most slowly. 



