i) 
bean and the sweet cassava might be cited as illustrations of such 
developed foods. In other cases, as those of the bitter yam and 
young pokeberry shoots, we are able to remove the poisons from 
vegetable foods by the process of an so as to convert 
a deadly poison into a table delic 
We may note in conclusion ae it frequently happens that 
foods in the same family exhibit a general agreement in their 
nutritive properties. Thus, the cabbage, vga kohl rabi, 
brussels sprouts, turnip, radish, horse-radish, cress and mustard 
belong in the Cruciferae; the bean, pea, a and garbanza, 
in the Leguminosae; all of our cereal grains in the Gramineae; 
the spinach, beet, swiss chard and lambs-quarters in the Cheno- 
podiaceae, and the parsnip, carrot, celery, parsley and arracacia 
in the Umbelliferae. 
H. H. Russy 
THE DIGESTION OF VEGETABLE FOODS* 
. Typical eee foods” vary in digestibility, in a given 
normal individual, their texture and composition. In 
general they are a. digestible and wholesome. Mastication 
disintegrates the comparatively impervious masses, such as corn 
Masticated corn, boiled potato and similar vegetable masses, 
n eaten, expose comparatively large extents of surface to the 
digestive sae thereby mee solution and the chemical 
changes which characterize digest 
The ne fibers, baie sao crystals, gelatinous masse: 
and juices of the true “vegetable foods’ are composed ie ae 
f the following es are small number of types of con- 
stituents: 
1. Carbohydrates (starches, sugars, celluloses, etc.). 
2. Lipins (fats, lecithins, etc 
3. Proteins (albuminous substances). 
* Abstract of a lecture delivered at the New York Botanical Garden on Oc- 
tober II, 1913. 
