2 Thomson, Somatose 



The following- gives the results I found by treating 100 parts of 

 Raw Lean Beef calculated on the dry materials : — 



Per cent. 

 Soluble Matter removed by digesting the meat in 

 warm water, then boiling the meat extract to 

 coagulate the albumen and filtering ... ... 19.21 



Soluble Matter obtained by heating the insoluble 

 part from the above, with water to 320 degrees 

 Fahrenheit (under a pressure of 90 lbs. to the 

 square inch) (" Somatose ") ... ... ... 51.84 



Insoluble matter from ( Non-fatty material.. ... 9.07 



above treatment | Fat ... ... ... ... 19.88 





100.00 



According to some of the most recent researches, any food 

 material to be of full value must contain " Vitamines " — principles 

 which are destroyed by excessive heat in cooking, or which may be 

 rubbed off the outside of the grains of rice (where it exists) in 

 improving its appearance by means of "polishing;" this "polish- 

 ed" rice when eaten being regarded as the cause of the disease 

 "beri-beri" through the rice having been thus deprived of its 

 vitamines. 



The process of digestion in the stomach and intestines 

 are exceedingly complicated. They depend largely on certain 

 enzymes secreted in the salivary glands, the stomach, the pancreas, 

 and the intestine, which break down the albuminous and other 

 constituents of the food to elementary molecules, and on the pro- 

 perties of other enzymes which re-build these unfolded constituents 

 or elementary molecules into the complicated structures which 

 constitute the various organs of the body. 



The structure of food of any kind is such that the various 

 enzymes are liable to act on these delicately constructed 

 molecules of which the food is composed. 



Leaving the question of vitamines out, does it seem probable that 

 on heating an albuminoid substance of the nature of fibrin to 

 a temperature of 320 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour, that the 

 delicate molecules would remain in the same condition as they 

 existed in the original fibrin? To get some information on this 

 point I heated a solution of cane sugar to the same temperature 

 with the result that the sugar was entirely destroyed and blackened, 

 and there resulted what appeared to be a mixture of charcoal and 

 water. It is obvious therefore — disregarding the presence of cer- 

 tain delicate organic bodies called Vitamines — that in the case of 

 cane sugar, the actual molecule is destroyed by heating to 320 



