VEGETABLE FOOD. 



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invalids except when diarrhea is present. The RASPBERRY too is 

 agreeable and wholesome. So also is the BLACKBERRY when in fine 

 condition. The MULBERRY is more acrid, and very grateful to fever 

 patients; but the juice only should be taken. 



THE MELON is a rich, delicious fruit, but not infrequently dis- 

 agrees with those whose digestive powers are weak. 



PINE- APPLE should not be eaten by invalids ; the pulp should 

 be rejected if the juice be taken. 



FIGS are sweet and nourishing; the pulp may be eaten by 

 invalids, but if eaten too freely will irritate and disorder the bowels ; 

 the skin is rather indigestible. 



TAMARINDS are cooling and laxative, and when mixed with 

 milk to produce tamarind-whey, form an agreeable drink in fevers. 



Of OLIVES, the so-called Spanish are the best, being soft, pulpy 

 und oily. Olive-oil is regarded by M. St. Cyr as the most digestible 

 of fatty foods, even more so than fresh butter; it should, however, 

 be thoroughly good, pale, clear and free from rancid smell to justify 

 this estimate. Lucca-oil with its nutty odor is the best. 



Gum is the solidified juice which exudes through the bark of 

 trees. Gum-Arabic, which flows from the acacia in Arabia, 

 Egypt, etc., is what is usually employed in the preparation of 

 drinks. In its preparation clear gum should be selected, washed in 

 cold water and then slowly dissolved in cold water. When made of 

 the powdered article or with hot water the flavor is less agreeable. 

 When flavored with a little sugar it is a refreshing and nourishing 

 beverage for invalids. Mucilage differs from gum- water in con- 

 taining a larger proportion of gum. It is admirably adapted for 

 use in inflammation of the mucous membranes generally, as in 

 catarrh, bronchitis, etc. 



Sugar is an important alimentary product, chiefly found in 

 the vegetable kingdom. It also exists in the animal economy, and 

 is there known as the sugar-of-milk. The vegetable sugar exists 

 chiefly in two varieties cane-sugar and grape-sugar. Cane-sugar is 

 very sweet, and crystallizes easily and though usually extracted from 

 the cane is also obtained from the beet and is found in other vegetable 

 forms. Grape-sugar, or glucose, is inferior in sweetness and crys- 

 tallizing power and abounds in grapes and other fruits and veget- 

 ables. It may also be obtained by chemical change from cane-sugar, 

 starch, gum, etc. It is chiefly used to adulterate cane-sugar. Sugar 

 is valuable from a dietetic point of view, not only as rendering 

 more palatable many articles of food, but also as productive of fat 

 and force. As it is readily dissolved and diffused, it requires no 

 preliminary digestion in order that it may be absorbed through the 

 mucous membranes. In ordinary cases it does not, therefore, 

 occasion any gastric derangement; but when taken in excess, or by 

 some dyspeptics, it is liable to undergo acid fermentation and 

 occasion acidity and flatulence. Sugar-of-milk, however, does not 

 undergo this change. Coarse, brown sugar always contains dirt, 



