FOOD AND WATER, STIMULANTS, ETC. 81 



as food ; and men prefer it when they can get it. But each 

 grain has its own advantages. Corn is rich in oil. Oats 

 have much mineral matter, and much fibrous, branny 

 substance, which make them indigestible for some delicate 

 stomachs. For the majority they are healthful. It has 

 been claimed that ground wheat is better food with the 

 bran in it, in which condition it is called graham flour, 

 than when the bran has been separated from it, and it 

 has been made into fine flour. In sifting out the bran, we 

 take away a good deal of nutritive substance; and what is 

 left is chiefly the starch. The advocates of this view were 

 numerous a few years ago, and were called Grahamites, after 

 their leader Graham. Nevertheless, fine white flour is still 

 the choice of the majority. It is true that much nourish- 

 ment is lost in the bran. But it is so mingled with woody 

 matters, that it is not easily extracted by the stomach. 

 For healthy people, it is better to use white flour, and 

 to get, in other and more digestible foods, what is con- 

 tained in the bran. But a stomach that is sluggish in its 

 action, is stimulated and aided by the presence of the bran. 

 For such, graham flour is excellent food. 



19, The potato is the most popular of all vegetables, 

 though it has not been in common use more than three 

 hundred years. It has been estimated that it forms at 

 least three-fifths of the food consumed in Ireland. Its 

 chief solid ingredient is starch. Much of the starch used 

 in the laundry is extracted from potatoes. It is superior 

 to other vegetables in being drier, and containing less 

 fibrous substance. 



20. . Pease and beans contain very little water, and a 

 great deal of solid matter. They are very nutritious, and 

 are most valuable for feeding armies, and other large 



