REVIEWS — DR. LANKESTEr's LECTURES. 363 



always figured in all our chemical analyses as flesh-forming matter. If we 

 take a quantity of beef or mutton, or even of pork, an 1 boil it for a certain 

 length of time, we obtain from it a substance which thickens the water as it 

 cools, and makes it into what we call a jelly. Now, that substance has been 

 supposed to be the nutritive matter of the meat. It has been extracted and sold 

 separately from the other constituents of the meat as nutritive matter ; the 

 impression is that this matter is more nutritive than other kinds of food, and it 

 is given to persons who are weak and dying for want of strength to keep them 

 up ; and yet I have an extraordinary statement to make to persons who believe 

 in this, that this is not nutritive matter at all ; and, although not to be objected 

 to when mixed with other substances, alone it certainly is not capable of sup- 

 porting life. This substance is called gelatine. It exists in the nerves and 

 muscles and all kinds of flesh of animals. It forms, in fact, the cell-walls of 

 animals. The cell-walls of plants are composed of cellulose. Both cellulose 

 and gelatine are insoluble in cold water, and the difference between them isi 

 that gelatine is soluble in hot water. Gelatine is obtained from all kinds of 

 animals, and all parts, and from bone, and skin, and membrane. This gelatine 

 is used in the arts for making size and glue, and for fining beer and wine, and 

 various other purposes. 



" The sound of the sturgeon and of various other fish is composed almost 

 entirely of this substance, and when prepared and cut into strips it is called 

 isinglass. It is obtained commercially, for dietetical purposes, from a variety 

 of things, from the skins of animals not sent to the curriers, and from bones, 

 and so on ; and very good gelatine is procured from the refuse of the tanner's 

 yard. So that the substance which we know in the arts as glue and size, and 

 as food under the uame of gelatine or isinglass, is this gelatine which you can 

 get from all parts of animals by boiling. Then, I saj', it is not a nutritive 

 substance; it is not a digestible substance, and, therefore, cannot be nutritive. 

 Many years ago, the French, being fond of soups, and the poor living principally 

 on soups, discovered that those persons who lived on soups suffered in their 

 health. This became a question, of so much importance that a commission was 

 appointed to inquire into the properties of gelatine, and the result was that it 

 was reported that gelatine had no nutritive property. The impression on the 

 public mind was, however, so favourable, that it was still used in France ; and 

 a second commission was appointed, and the result of its labours confirmed 

 the conclusions of the first commission. In Belgium, also, a public inquiry was 

 instituted, the result was the same conclusion as the two French commissions. 

 You do not find this gelatine in the blood. If it were a nutritive agent, you 

 would find it there. You do not find it in eggs, nor do you find it in milk. 

 Seeing, then, there is no gelatine in these nutritive things, which are naturally 

 prepared to form the parts of the body, we are warranted in concluding that it 

 is not a flesh-forming substance at all. Tnen it appears that this substance is 

 merely an accessory in our usual food, just what cellulose and gum are in our 

 vegetable food. Hence I have called these substances accessory foods. They 

 are not to be rejected ; they do not injure ; on the contrary, I believe there is 

 evidence that they do good. 



