ALCOHOL 121 



the carbon dioxide gas escapes so readily from the less 

 tenacious dough that it does not expand the mass properly. 

 Corn contains less proteid, more starch, and more fat than 

 wheat. Rice is poor in proteids but very rich in starch. 

 Peas and beans are rich in proteids and contain about half 

 their weight of starch. Potatoes are a poor food. They 

 contain a great deal of water and only about one part of 

 proteids, and fifteen of starch in a hundred parts by weight. 

 Other fresh vegetables, as carrots, turnips, and cabbages, 

 are valuable mainly for the salts they contain ; their weight 

 is chiefly due to water, and they contain but little starch, 

 proteids, or fats. Fruits, like most fresh vegetables, are 

 mainly valuable for their saline constituents, the other food- 

 stuffs in them being only present in small proportion. Some 

 kind of fresh vegetable is, however, a necessary article of 

 diet, as shown by the scurvy which used to prevail among 

 sailors before fresh vegetables or lime-juice were supplied 

 to them. 



Alcohol. We shall learn later that all drinks containing 

 alcohol are dangerous (Chap. XXIII.), as tending to pro- 

 duce disease, or to make the body less able to resist it, and 

 more dangerous the more alcohol they contain. For the 

 present we confine ourselves to the question, Has alcohol a 

 just claim to be called a food? Does it build tissue, or 

 strengthen the muscles, or help to maintain our animal 

 heat ? It may be useful sometimes as a medicine when 

 ordered by a physician, but is it useful to healthy persons 

 who can obtain and digest other foods ? 



How does corn differ from wheat in composition? What aliment- 

 ary principles are scarce in rice? Which one is abundant? What 

 do potatoes contain? What is the main useful constituent of most 

 fresh vegetables? Of fruits? How may scurvy be prevented? 



Why are all alcoholic drinks dangerous? What questions must 

 be answered before deciding if alcohol is a true food ? 



