

VEGETABLE FOODS, 







471 



remained dissolved in the soup. By boiling for a very long time, part of the 

 albumin may be redissolved (Mulder). The dissolved substances are : 

 1. Inorganic salts of the meat, of which 82 '27 per cent, 'pass into the soup ; the 

 earthy phosphates chiefly remain in the cooked meat. 2. Kreatin, kreatinin, the 

 inosinates and lactates which give to broth or beef- tea their stimulating qualities, 

 and a small amount of aromatic extractives. 3. Gelatin, more abundantly 

 extracted from the flesh of young animals. According to these facts, therefore, 

 flesh-broth or beef-tea is a powerful stimulant, supplying muscle with restoratives, 

 but is not a food in the ordinary sense of the term. The flesh after the extraction 

 of the broth is still available as a food. 



Liebig's Extract Of Meat is an extract of flesh evaporated to a thick syrupy 

 consistence. It contains no fat or gelatin, and is chiefly a solution of the 

 extractives and salts of flesh. 



[Mastermann has shown that the chemical analysis of beef -tea is analogous to 

 that of urine, except that it contains less urea and uric acid.] 



234. Vegetable Foods. 



a 



The nitrogenous constituents of plants are not so easily absorbed as 

 animal food (Rubner). Carbohydrates, starch, and sugar are very 

 completely absorbed, and 

 even a not inconsiderable 

 proportion of cellulose 

 may be digested (Weiske, 

 Konig). The more fats 

 that are contained in the 

 vegetable food, the less 

 are the carbohydrates 

 digested and absorbed 

 (Rubner). 



1. The cereals are most 

 important vegetable foods; 

 they contain proteids, 

 starch, salts, and water to 

 14 per cent. The nitro- 

 genous glutin is most abun- 

 dant under the husk 

 (Payen). The use of whole 



meal containing the outer layers of the grain is highly nutritive, but 

 bread containing much bran is somewhat indigestible (Rubner). 

 [A section of a wheat grain with its layers of glutin is shown in 

 Fig. 173.] Their composition is the following: 



Fig. 173. 



Microscopic characters of wheat x 200 ; , cells 

 of the bran ; b, cells of thin cuticle ; c, glutin 

 cells ; (?, starch cells ; B, wheat starch x 350. 



