AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



and Sweden, tlje schivartz brod, or sour brown bread, is used, the lactic 

 acid developed in it being supposed to aid the gastric-juice. When wheat 

 meal is fermented, there is a semi-putrescent material, called cerealin, 

 developed. Tliis gives a rotten wood taste to brown bread. To avoid 

 cerealin, the bran of wheat in which it is found should be got rid of. 



The Camanches alluded to live upon a soil covered with alkalies, giving 

 the barrenness which " Greeley" mentions. The abundance of alkali sup- 

 plies the lack of salt. 



Our bodies contain fifteen chemical elements, and if any be deficient, the 

 body is imperfect. In like manner if any be in excess, there is disease. 

 The materials of the body are divisible into two great classes, nitrogenous 

 and non-nitrogenous. The food we use must, to keep us in perfect health, 

 supply both kinds in a just proportion. It is true that plants and animals 

 have a power of adaptability to circumstances, and this power is greatest 

 in the most highly developed animals, yet it is limited, and, if we exceed 

 that limit of adaptability in food, we poison ourselves. Workmen always 

 sufi'er when they take into their system substances really foreign to their 

 body. Lead, for instance, produces cholic aud paralysis in those who take 

 it into their systems. Workmen in silvering glasses or making daguerreo- 

 type plates, suffer also from fumes of mercury. So also do persons who 

 use Cayenne pepper adulterated with red lead, or mustard, or pickles con- 

 taining it. 



Mercury produces as many diseases as it is prescribed for. Phosphorus 

 also produces diseases and whatever organ contains a foreign element, or 

 any one in excess, must get rid of it before it becomes healthy. What- 

 ever articles are used for food or drink, should be pure, and labels ought 

 to be employed to enable us to trace out the original manufacturer. 



Dr. Stevens thought the cattle offered for sale as beeves in this market 

 are the best of any offered in any market in the world. 



Mr. Lamb presented several specimens of spices. He said that large 

 quantities of rotten-stone were used in the adulteration of black pepper, 

 and the color was sometimes made too dark, and pumice-stone had then to 

 he used to bring it back. Red lead was also used in the -adulteration of 

 red pepper, though he could not say that this was very largely the ease. 



The subject selected for the next evening is " The best method of con- 

 veying persons and property to and within the City of New York." 



Polytechnic Association op the American Institute, ) 



March, 22d, 1860. j 



President Mason in the chair. [No secretary.] 



During the time for miscellaneous business Dr. Young exhibited a speci- 

 men of proof-sheet, the object of which was to identify each compositor's 

 work on daily papers, when copy has to be divided among several. The 

 Improvement consists in supplying each compositor's case with slugs having 

 « raised number in the center. These are placed at the head of each por- 



