261 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Food 



quainted with the dietetic value of bread. 

 Among all nations throughout the temper- 

 ate zone it is the principal means of nour- 

 ishment for every one, rich as well as poor, 

 high as well as lowly, young and old. It 

 forms the basis of the entire nourishment; 

 it is never wanting on the table, morning, 

 midday, or evening; it accompanies the la- 

 borer to his work, the child to school, the 

 traveler on his journey, and, altho eaten 

 every day, always remains popular, is al- 

 ways desired. UFFELMANN Das Brod und 

 dessen dietetischer Werth. (Translated for 

 Scientific Side-Lights.) 



1272. FOOD, PERMANENT SUPPLY 



OF Granaries the Invention of Woman. 

 There is abundant proof among the three 

 typical divisions of humanity still living in 

 savagery the American Indian, the negroid 

 races, and the Malayo-Polynesians that 

 women were the builders and owners of 

 the first caches, granaries, and storehouses 

 of provisions. MASON Woman's Share in 

 Primitive Culture, ch. 2, p. 18. (A., 1894.) 



1273. FOOD RATHER THAN STIMU- 

 LANT Sustaining Properties of Cocoa or 

 Chocolate A Traveler's Resource. An- 

 other essential difference between cocoa and 

 tea or coffee is that cocoa is, strictly speak- 

 ing, a food. We do not merely make an 

 infusion of the cacao-bean, but eat it bodily 

 in the form of a soup. It is .highly nutri- 

 tious, one of the most nutritious foods in 

 common use. When traveling on foot in 

 mountainous and other regions, where there 

 was a risk of spending the night al fresco 

 and supperless, I have usually carried a 

 cake of chocolate in my knapsack, as the 

 most portable and unchangeable form of 

 concentrated nutriment, and have found it 

 most valuable. On one occasion I went astray 

 on the Kjolenfjeld, in Norway, and strug- 

 gled for about twenty - four hours with- 

 out food or shelter. I had no chocolate 

 then, and sorely repented my improvidence. 

 Many other pedestrians have tried chocolate 

 in like manner, and all I know have com- 

 mended its great " staying " properties, sim- 

 ply regarded as food. I therefore conclude 

 that Linnaeus was not without strong jus- 

 tification in giving it the name of theo- 

 broma (food for the gods), but to confirm 

 this practically the pure nut, the whole nut, 

 and nothing but the nut (excepting the 

 milk and sugar added by the consumer) 

 should be used. Some miserable counter- 

 feits are offered farinaceous paste, flavored 

 with cocoa and sugar. The best sample I 

 have been able to procure is the ship cocoa 

 prepared for the navy. This is nothing but 

 the whole nut unsweetened, ground, and 

 crushed to an impalpable paste. WILLIAMS 

 Chemistry of Cookery, ch. 15, p. 263. (A., 

 1900.) 



1274. FOOD, SAVORY, THE MORE NU- 

 TRITIOUS Bone-soup Problem Conclusions 

 from Experiments of French Academy Sci- 

 ence Increases Human Sustenance. The in- 



ferences drawn by M. Edwards [from the ex- 

 periments of the French Academy on bone 

 soup] are that, to render gelatin soup equal 

 in nutritive and digestible qualities to that 

 prepared from meat alone, it is sufficient to 

 mix one-fourth of meat soup with three- 

 fourths of gelatin soup; and that, in fact, 

 no difference is perceptible between soup 

 thus prepared and that made solely from 

 meat; that in preparing soup in this way, 

 the great advantage remains that while 

 the soup itself is equally nourishing with 

 meat soup, three-fourths of the meat which 

 would be requisite for the latter by the com- 

 mon process of making soup are saved and 

 made useful in another way as by roasting, 

 etc.; that jellies ought always to be associ- 

 ated with some other principles to render 

 them both nutritive and digestible. A young 

 dog that had ceased growing, and had lost 

 one-fifth of its original weight when fed en 

 bread and gelatin for thirty days, was next 

 supplied with the same food, but to which 

 was added, twice a day, only two table- 

 spoonfuls of soup made from horseflesh. 

 There was an increase of weight on the first 

 day, and " in twenty-three days the dog 

 had gained considerably more than its orig- 

 inal weight, and was in the enjoyment of 

 vigorous health and strength." All this dif- 

 ference was due to the savory constituents 

 of the four tablespoonfuls of meat soup, 

 which soup contained the juices of the flesh, 

 to which, as already stated, its flavor is 

 due. WILLIAMS Chemistry of Cookery, ch. 

 4, p. 38. (A., 1900.) 



1275. FOOD, TOXIC SUBSTANCE NOT 



A Alcohol Not Nutritious An Undesirable 

 Saving. It is therefore wholly inappropri- 

 ate to speak of alcohol as fat-saving, and 

 there is still less sense in regarding a toxic 

 substance as food because the protoplasm 

 it has destroyed is no longer capable of ta- 

 king part in the vital processes and the oxi- 

 dations associated with them. Nor is there 

 any reason for speaking of a desirable sa- 

 ving, or, indeed, of a nourishing function of 

 alcohol, if by benumbing the brain-centers 

 it lowers the functional activity of the or- 

 gans innervated by them, and thus causes 

 a diminution of the oxidation process ac- 

 companying their activity. KASSOWITZ 7s 

 Alcohol a Food or a Poison f p. 14. (Trans- 

 lation by Mrs. J. H. W. STUCKENBERG. ) 



1276. FOOD, VARIETY OF, A NECES- 

 SITY Balance of Carbon and Nitrogen 

 Waste of Tissues Must Be Supplied. In 

 order that life may be maintained it is nec- 

 essary that the body should be supplied 

 with food in proper quality and quantity. 



The food taken in by the animal body is 

 used for the purpose of replacing the waste 

 of the tissues. And to arrive at a reason- 

 able estimation of the proper diet in twen- 

 ty-four hours it is necessary to consider 

 the amount of the excreta daily eliminated 

 from the body. The excreta contain chiefly 

 carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, but 



