76 THE CHEMISTRY OF FOOD 



6. Man can remain a longer time without solid food than 

 without water. He may be deprived of the former for ten or 

 twelve hours without great suffering, but deprivation of water 

 for the same length of time will produce both severe pain and 

 great weakness. The food should contain not less than two 

 parts of water to one of solid nutriment. Water constitutes 

 the great bulk of all our drinks, and is also a large constituent 

 of the meats, vegetables, and fruits which come upon the table. 

 Fruits, especially, contain it in great abundance, and, in their 

 proper season, furnish most agreeable and refreshing supplies 

 of the needed fluid. 



7. Common Salt. Salt, or sodium chloride, as an article of 

 food, is obtained chiefly from the mineral kingdom ; although 

 plants contain it in small quantities, and it is also found in the 

 tissues of nearly all animals used as food. In the human body 

 it is an ingredient of all the solids and fluids. The importance 



streams. Well-water, in towns and cities, unless brought from a great 

 depth, is wholly unfit for drinking and cooking. The immense quantity 

 of organic matter which permeates every inch of the soil, for many feet in 

 depth, precludes the possibility of water passing through it without being 

 corrupted, lliver water, polluted by sewers, is as disgusting to the senses 

 as it is destructive to health. The notion that impure water can be 

 rendered more wholesome by icing it is an erroneous one. Ice-cold 

 drinks in summer, while the body is heated, are capable of producing 

 lifetime disease, and even instant death." J. It. Black on the Ten Laws 

 of Health. 



4. The Sustaining Power of Water. "Water is the most reliable 

 and grateful drink for man. Nature has many admixtures in the juices 

 of fruits, but none so satisfying to excessive thirst as pure water. It will 

 even prolong life when nutritious food is not taken, as we have a well- 

 known instance, recorded by Dr. McNaughton, in the transactions of the 

 Albany Institute of New York for 1836. The case was that of a man 

 who lived upon water alone for fifty -three days. This he did while labor- 

 ing under some delusion which impelled him to abstain from all ordinary 

 nourishment water alone could he be induced to partake of. His 

 strength was tolerably well sustained during the first six weeks ; he was 

 able, in fact, to go out of doors ; and even on the day of his death he was 

 able to sit up in bed." Dr. James Knight. 



6. Length of time man can do without food or water ? Give the comparison. Bulk of 

 drinks ? Constituent of meats, etc. ? Fruits ? 



7. Salt, how obtained ? Where found ? In the human body ? Importance of salt ? 

 What else can you state of the value of salt ? 



