342 PLEASANT WAYS IN SCIENCE. 



were wasting. They also were led by the same truthful 

 instincts to prefer the raw to cooked vegetables. Thus the 

 sick were to be seen eating raw onions with a greater relish 

 than the gourmand shows for the most appetising viands. 

 But the poor lad who was the worse of the sufferers had 

 already lost the power of eating ; and it was without a hope 

 of saving his life that some of his companions squeezed the 

 juice of onions between his lips, already quivering with the 

 tremor of approaching death. He swallowed a few drops, 

 and presently asked for more. Shortly he began to revive, 

 and to the amazement of all those who had seen the state of 

 prostration to which he had been reduced, he regained in a 

 few days his usual health and strength. 



The elements which we require in order to supply the 

 daily waste of the mineral constituents of the body are con- 

 tained in greater or less quantities in nearly all the articles 

 which man uses for food. But it may readily happen that, 

 by adopting an ill-regulated diet, a man may not take a 

 sufficient quantity of these important elements. It must 

 also be noticed that articles of food, both animal and 

 vegetable, may be deprived of a large proportion of their 

 mineral elements by boiling; and if, as often happens, the 

 water in which the food has been boiled is thrown away, 

 injurious effects can scarcely fail to result from the free use 

 of food which has lost so important a portion of its con- 

 stituent elements. Accordingly, when persons partake much 

 of boiled meat, they should either consume the broth with 

 the meat, or use it as soup on the alternate days. Vegetables 

 steamed in small quantities of water (this water being taken 

 with them), also afford a valuable addition to boiled meat. 

 In fact, experience seems to have suggested the advantage 

 of mixing carrots, parsnips, turnips, and greens with boiled 

 meat ; but unfortunately the addition is not always made in 

 a proper manner. If the vegetables are boiled separately 

 in large quantities of water, and served up after this water 

 has been thrown away, more harm than good is done by the 

 addition; since the appetite is satisfied with comparatively 



