So. 144.] 463 



folate, which they derive from the soil, and no land can be culti- 

 tated unless it forms a constituent, as animals feeding upon grass 

 Could not form bone, were it not for the phosphates derived from 

 the grass. Plants likewise extract from the earth, chloride of 

 potassium, nitre, sulphate of potash, and common salt. Centuries 

 ^o, fluoride of calcium must have taken the place of phosphate 

 (g* lime, as the bones discovered in Pompeii contain a large per- 

 (®ntage of fluoric acid, while the bony structure of our animals 

 (^y contain a trace of it. 



Wheat, while growing, borrows from the soil large quantities 

 dT its component parts, certain portions of which it returns befor© 

 opening Many plants are remarkable for the small quantity of 

 phosphates that they imbibe, such for instance as beans, peas, 

 flee, &c.; they contain large quantities of nitrogen; this is 

 probably the reason why they are of small value as articles of 

 j&od in comparison with other substances. Now that I have men- 

 Cloned rice, which has been erroneously considered the sole article 

 cS'food among the Japanese, Chinese and other nations, I will in 

 ^If-defence make a few remarks concerning it. Rice is not alon© 

 C& any part of the habitable world the sole support of its inhabi- 

 ^nts, from the fact that it is inadequate to support human life. 

 IXLStinct has taught those nations that they must always use with 

 fli oil, grain, meat, fish, or some other diet, to add to it the ele^ 

 ments of nutrition that it does not contain. Persons have always 

 iQpposed that the enormous bulb rice acquires by boiling, indi- 

 <^tes a like proportion of nourishment. It is undoubtedly true 

 ^at rice, by boiling, may be made to furnish a larger bulk than 

 Qie same quantity of maize, which has probably given rise to thi^ 

 Giipression that it was more nutritious, but in reality it is very faJ 

 ^erior to Indian meal in nutritious qualities. 



Kice contains eighty-six parts in every hundred of pure starch, 

 ^lich absorbs an immense amount of water, and swells into a 

 large firm mass, containing but little nutriment, comparatively 

 gj)eaking. To satisfy yourselves, boil two ounces of common 

 ^arch in a quart of water ; the firm mass of matter derived from 

 It will look like very substantial food, but the bulk thus formed 

 Contains but a small share of nutriment. You may take one 

 ^und of rice and boil it until soft in water, and it will represent 



