FOOD AND DRINK. 69 



portant articles of food for adults, inasmuch as they are 

 richly stored with albuminoid substances, and contain 

 more or less fat. Such food is very nourishing and easily 

 digested if eaten when fresh, veal and pork being excep- 

 tions. The flesh of young animals is more tender and, in 

 general, more digestible than that of older ones. All meat 

 is more tough immediately after the killing of the animal, 

 but improves by being kept a certain length of time. 



16. Some persons prefer flesh that has begun to show 

 signs of decomposition, or is unmistakably putrid. By 

 some, venison is not considered to have its proper flavor 

 until it is tainted. In England, people prefer mutton 

 that is in a similar condition, just as on the continent of 

 Europe many delight in cheese that is in a state of decom- 

 position. In certain less civilized countries flesh is riot only 

 eaten uncooked, but in a mouldy, rotten condition. The 

 use of such food is not always immediately injurious, but 

 it predisposes to certain diseases, as indigestion and fevers. 



17. Cold is one means of preserving meat from decay. 

 In the markets of northern Russia, the frozen carcases of 

 animals stand exposed for sale in the winter air for a con- 

 siderable time, and are sawn in pieces, like sticks of wood, 

 as the purchases are made; such meat, when thawed, 

 being entirely fit for food. Beef and pork are preserved 

 by salting down in brine, and in this condition may be 

 carried on long voyages or kept for future use. Salted 

 meat is not as nutritious as fresh, since the brine absorbs 

 its rich juices and hardens its fibres. Long continued use 

 of salt meats, without fresh vegetables, gives rise to the 

 disease called scurvy, formerly very prevalent on ship- 

 board and in prisons ; but now scarcely known. 



18. Cooking. The preparation of food by the agency 



16. Preference of persons? Venison ? Mutton ? Cheese ? Uncooked flesh 



17. Cold as a preserver ? Meat in Russia? Beef and pork, how preserved 

 Salted meat as food ? Scurvy * 



18. The antiquity of the custom of cooking food? Object of cooking? Th 

 oyster ? Raw meat as an occasional food ? 



