FOOD. 217 



Various articles of course are made from flour, e.g., macaroni, biscuits, 

 etc., besides bread. 



/?. Vegetables, especially potatoes. 



y. Fruits contain sugar, and organic acids, tartaric, malic, citric, and 

 others. 



C. SUBSTANCES SUPPLYING PRINCIPALLY FATTY BODIES. 

 The chief are butter, lard (pig's fat), suet (beef and mutton fat). 



D. SUBSTANCES SUPPLYING THE SALTS OF THE FOOD. 



Nearly all the foregoing substances in A, B, and C, contain a greater or 

 less amount of the salts required in food; but green vegetables and fruit 

 supply certain salts, without which the normal health of the body is not 

 maintained. 



E. LIQUID FOODS. 



"Water is consumed alone, or together with certain other substances 

 used to flavor it, e.g., tea, coffee, etc. Tea in moderation is a stimulant, 

 and contains an aromatic oil to which it owes its peculiar aroma, an astrin- 

 gent of the nature of tannin, and an alkaloid, theine. The composition 

 of coffee is very nearly similar to that of tea. Cocoa, in addition to 

 similar substances contained in tea and coffee, contains fat, albuminous 

 matter, and starch, and must be looked upon more as a food. 



Beer, in various forms, is an infusion of malt (barley which has 

 sprouted, and in which the starch is converted in great part into sugar), 

 boiled with hops and allowed to ferment. Beer contains from 1 '2 to 8 '8 

 per cent, of alcohol. 



Cider and Perry, the fermented juice of the apple and pear. 



Wine, the fermented juice of the grape, contains from 6 or 7 (Ehine 

 wines, and white and red Bordeaux) to 24 25 (ports and sherries) per 

 cent, of alcohol. 



Spirits, obtained from the distillation of fermented liquors. They 

 contain upward of 40 70 per cent, of absolute alcohol. 



Effects c f cooking upon Food. In general terms this may be 

 said to make food more easily digestible, arid this includes two other 

 alterations, food is made more agreeable to the palate and also more pleas- 

 ing to the eye. Cooking consists in exposing the food to various degrees 

 of heat, either to the direct heat of the fire, as in roasting, or to the in- 

 direct heat of the fire, as in broiling, baking, or frying, or to hot water, 

 as in boiling or stewing. The effect of heat upon flesh is to coagulate the 

 albumen and coloring matter, to solidify fibrin, and to gelatinize tendons 



