VI ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF OUR GARDEN VEGETABLES. 



disrepute. We still seem to see the original importance of getting the 

 store of drugs well secured in the phrase " cut and dried," applied 

 now to any well-prepared scheme. On the other hand, \\e can well 

 understand how the expression, " It is a drug in the market," arose 

 when they fell into disrepute ! 



With regard to the dietetic values of our kitchen vegetables, 1 follow 

 Professor Church's little book entitled ' ' Food. ' '* He divides them into 

 (1) those of the " salts or mineral matters contained in them "-; ( 1 2) the 

 " carbon compounds, or heat-producers "; and (3) the " nitrogenous 

 compounds, or flesh-formers." 



The value of saline ingredients lies in their connexion with the 

 rendering solid constituents of food soluble for digestion. They enable 

 the transference of organic matters from place to place, with the special 

 and directive localization of the minerals themselves as phosphorus 

 and lime to the bones, soda to the blood, silica to the teeth and 

 nails, &c. 



With regard to the important element of nitrogen, the so-called 

 nitrogenous albuminoids, or " plastic matters," are necessary for the 

 formation of muscle or flesh, bones, brain, and nerve-tissue; but it is 

 not an element especially utilized in doing mechanical work. The latter 

 is the result accruing more from carbohydrates, such as starch, sugars, 

 oils, and fats ; these contain no nitrogen, but only carbon and hydrogen, 

 with or without oxygen. These, by being " burnt " i.e. united with 

 oxygen give out heat, coupled with force, which the living being 

 utilizes in the many processes of life. It should be borne in 

 mind that none of the last-named substances and " starch " 

 includes arrowroot, sage, tapioca, tous-les-mois, cornflour (from 

 Indian corn or maize), potato-flour, &c. can furnish the materials for 

 the building up and repair of flesh, nerve, bone, or brain, which must 

 have nitrogen. Consequently the whiter bread is, from the large 

 amount of starch present, the less nutritious it is. In " milk puddings 

 it is the milk which supplies the deficiency of nitrogen in the sago, &c. 

 " Starch," however, Professor Church writes, " next to oil and fat, 

 is the most concentrated heat-giving and force-producing of all the 

 nutrients." 



In order to show at a glance the values of any vegetable, the 

 percentages of nitrogenous and of carbonaceous elements are expressed 

 as N : C. This is the nutrient ratio, while N + C is the nutrient value. 

 With regard to the generation of force in the human body out of 

 food, Professor Church tells us that, according to Dr. Frankland's and 

 others' experiments, 1 Ib. of starch or sugar would supply an average 

 of 2,860 " foot-tons," while oils and fats would give 6,450.f 



Of these amounts of force, according to Helmholtz, " the greatest 

 amount of mechanical work outside the body which a man could be 

 enabled to perform by the combustion within the body of 1 Ib. of each 

 would be about one-fifth of the above amounts." 



To represent this in a form easily understood, we may say that, if 

 * Chapman and Hall. t Op. cit. p. 42. 



