118 THE BANANA 



eases of chronic dyspepsia and gastritis, the banana flour 

 properly prepared is easily digested. I consider that as 

 an infants' and invalids* food the flour properly prepared 

 with milk has a great future. The nitrogenous portion of 

 the flour is of great value, being of a fruit nature and 

 remaining quite soluble in the flour.' ' 



Pattinson's banana and flaked oats, another prepara- 

 tion for a breakfast food, is recommended as follows : 

 " The chemical analysis and general examination of this 

 product proved eminently satisfactory. It bore every 

 evidence of having been carefully blended from choice 

 bananas and Scotch oats of high quality. The addition of 

 the banana not only confers valuable anti -scorbutic proper- 

 ties, but it increases the digestibility of the combination, 

 so that those who cannot ordinarily take oaten preparations 

 can take ' Banana Oats ' with the best results. Being pre- 

 cooked it is more easily assimilated than dishes made from 

 raw oatmeal, and when prepared according to directions, 

 it contains all the essentials of a perfect diet. J. GRANT- 

 STEPHENS, D.Sc., Ph.D." 



The Journal of the Society of Arts * reports : " An alimen- 

 tary product of the banana is now announced, consisting 

 of the pulp of the banana ground to flour and mixed with 

 triturated cocoa, milk powder, and extract of malt. The 

 process of manufacture consists in volatilizing the essential 

 oil from the peel, adding it to banana flour, and mixing 

 with it a proportion of dried milk powder and pure extract 

 of malt, and also the paste prepared from cocoa, and finally 

 adding a sufficient quantity of sugar for flavouring. This 

 composition is said to possess all the essential elements of 

 a complete food in a concentrated form, namely, albuminous 

 matters or proteids, fatty substances, and hydrocarbons." 



Composition of Bananas. Dr. Wm. Tibbies, in his latest 

 work on foods, f gives the results of his study of the banana 

 as follows : " The fact that the fruit will ripen after 

 separation from the plant, and loses little of its real value 



* Journ. Soc. Arts, March 1907. 



f " Foods : their Origin, Composition, and Manufacture," 1912, 



