110 INORGANIC ELEMENTS OF FOOD. 



that it is any thing but a substantial, or, for its bulk, nutritious arti- 

 cle of sustenance. This is an important question, inasmuch as in 

 some departments of the public service rice is sometimes served 

 out as a substitute for other articles of diet. In the French navy, 

 for example, 60 grammes, or about 20 dvi^ts. of rice may be substi- 

 tuted for 60 dwts. of split peas or haricots ; but I cannot hold such 

 a substitution to be either fair or reasonable. At a period when I 

 had myself the charge of the rations for a detachment of men, I 

 found that the experience of the country where I was, assigned 3 

 lbs. of rice as the equivalent of 1 lb. of haricot beans ; and analysis 

 confirms this practical conclusion. 



Haricots, in fact, contain about 0.046 of azote ; rice no more than 

 0.014. And if the nutritious properties be really in proportion to 

 the amount of azote, it is obvious that 3| of rice will be required in 

 lieu of 1 of the leguminous seed. 



We hear it constantly repeated that rice is the sole nutriment of 

 the nations of the whole of India. But the fact would appear not 

 to be precisely so ; and I may here quote M. Lequerri, who, during 

 a long residence in India, paid particular attention to the manners 

 and customs of the inhabitants of Pondicherri. " The food," says 

 M. L., " is almost entirely vegetable, and rice is the staple ; the infe- 

 rior castes only ever eat meat. But all eat kari, an article prepared 

 with meat, fish, or vegetables, which is mixed with the rice boiled 

 in very little water. It is requisite to have seen the Indians at their 

 meals to have any idea of the enormous quantity of rice they will 

 put into their stomachs. No European could cram so much at a 

 time ; and they very commonly allow that rice alone will not nour- 

 ish them. They very generally still eat a quantity of bread."* 



^ II. OF THE INORGANIC CONSTITUENTS OF FOOD. 



We discover in the bodies of animals the several mineral sub- 

 stances, the existence of which we have ascertained in vegetables. 

 The bones, as we have seen, contain a large quantity of phosphate 

 of lime ; it is requisite therefore that the elements of this salt, phos- 

 phoric acid and lime, should form part of the ration or diet-roll ; this 

 is a point upon which all physiologists are agreed ; but the point 

 upon which there is nothing like uniformity yet attained h«.s refer- 

 ence to the precise quantity of mineral matter which must enter into 

 the constitution of the food. The analyses of ashes which I have given 

 show that if vegetable aliments all contain nearly the same inorganic 

 principles, they still contain them in very different proportions : thus 

 potatoes, wheat, oats, and beans, contain much less lime than clover, 

 straw, and peas. The phosphoric and sulphuric acids and the alka- 

 lies do not vary less ; so that we are led to ask whether a ration 

 compounded of such and such an article, or of such and such arti- 

 cles, will furnish the animals to which it is supplied with the neces- 



* The Irish peasantry, who live so much on potatoes, have buttermilk with them 

 at least, often salt herring ; and a laboring man, it is said, will consume Ji or 14 Iba 

 per diem !— £ho. Eik 



