VEGETABLE FOOD. 297 



LETTUCE is agreeable, cooling and digestible as a salad; the 

 juice is mildly sleep-inducing. 



WATER-CRESS and mustard form wholesome salad. 



CUCUMBERS are often eaten raw and quite fresh, and are rery 

 indigestible. 



SQUASHES AND PUMPKINS contain much water, but little nutri- 

 ment; they are easily digested. 



MUSHROOMS, generally eaten after being stewed, sometimes dis- 

 agree with those who take them; nevertheless to most persons they 

 are not injurious, though by dyspeptics they are best avoided, for 

 sometimes they cause colic, vomiting and purging. Forced mush- 

 rooms are sometimes tough and indigestible; those grown in open 

 pastures are by far the best. It is not always easy to distinguish 

 mushrooms from poisonous fungi, so that some caution is desirable 

 in gathering and preparing them for food. A meadow mushroom 

 should peel easily and it should be of a clean, pink color inside, 

 like a baby's hand, and have a frill or " curtain " (as botanists call 

 it), attached to the stalk. When the gills are brown they are grow- 

 ing old and dry, and losing their nutritive qualities. 



VEGETABLE BROTHS, made of any of the ordinary market-vege- 

 tables in season by boiling and straining, are useful as substitutes 

 for animal foods when the latter are not allowed. Out of season, 

 dried vegetables may sometimes answer the purpose. In prepara- 

 tion of these, and in all other cookery for the sick, as far as possi- 

 ble, non-metallic surfaces only should be allowed to come in contact 

 with the materials employed. A simple method is to put them 

 into an ordinary basin or bowl, placing this in a saucepan of water 

 and covering the basin with a saucer. The water in the saucepan 

 is made to boil, and thereby the food is duly cooked. 



Fruits are agreeable and refreshing, but as their proportion 

 of water is high and of nitrogenous matter low, they are of little 

 nutritive value. When taken in moderation they are very whole- 

 some, counteracting the unhealthy condition which attends a diet of 

 dried and salted provisions and promoting a somewhat relaxed state 

 of the bowels. Fruit should not be taken, as is the custom, after a 

 substantial dinner. It is best eaten in the morning as a lunch, 

 with stale bread and a little water. When consumed in large 

 quantities fruit is injurious, particularly if it be unripe or over-ripe, 

 in the former case by the action of the fruit -acids, in the latter by 

 fermentation and decomposition. Fruit is very beneficial to gouty 

 and rheumatic subjects, because the alkaline vegetable salts become 

 decomposed in the system and diminish the acidity of the urine, 

 but all patients should avoid acid fruits if there is diarrhea present 

 to centra-indicate their use. The seeds of all fruits and vegetables, 

 if swallowed, prove more or less irritating to the intestines and in 

 inflamed or ulcerated conditions may do irreparable mischief. 



APPLES when raw are not easily digested, but when cooked are 

 light, digestible and wholesome. Roasted apples are somewhat 



