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AN AMERICAN TEXT-BOOK OF PHYSIOLOGY. 



value is of a special character. Careful analyses have been made of the 

 different articles of food, mostly of the raw or uncooked foods. As might 

 be expected, the analyses on record differ more or less in the percentages 

 assigned to the various constituents, but almost any of the tables published 

 give a just idea, of the fundamental nutritive value of the common foods. 

 For details of separate analyses reference may be made to some of the larger 

 works upon the composition of foods. 1 The subjoined table is one compiled 

 by Munk from the analyses given by Konig : 



Composition of Foods. 



An examination of this table will show that the 'animal foods, particularly 

 the meats, are characterized by their small percentage in carbohydrate and by 

 a relatively large amount of proteid or of proteid and fat. With regard to 

 the last two food-stuffs, meats differ very much among themselves. Some 

 idea of the limits of variation may be obtained from the following table, 

 taken chiefly from Konig's analyses : 



The vegetable foods are distinguished, as a rule, by their large percentage 

 in carbohydrates and the relatively small amounts of proteids and fats, as seen, 

 for example, in the composition of rice, corn, wheat, and potatoes. Neverthe- 



1 Konig, Die Menschlichen Nahrungs und Genussmittel, 3d ed., 1889 ; Parke's Manual of Prac- 

 tical Hygiene, section on Food. 



2 Atwater : The Chemistry of Foods and Nutrition, 1887. 



