April 15, lsso.j 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



205 



the common waj Of nutting it Speaking as chemists 

 and physiologists, we should gaj thatouj food supplies, 



l..-, *l . mJhamT ....I.,.*... ,„ -,.,.! .....l.... ..11 II 



beside mineral substances and water, albuminoids, 

 bohydrates and fats, -whose functions arc to be trans- 

 formed into the tissues and fluids of the body, muscle 

 and tendon, blood and bone, and bytheir consumption to 

 produce he.at and force. Thai wemay lix more eh-aily 

 in our minds the nature and function's of Cue food ma- 

 terials, allow me to call your attention to the table before 

 you, in which I have tried to condense some of the more 

 important facts respecting foods and nutrition : — 



XUTKIENTS OF FOODS. 



ALBUMINOIDS, CARBOHYDRATES AND FATS. 



ALBUMINOIDS OH PROTEIN COMPOUNDS. 



NITKOGliNOUS. 



■ ontain Oafhon, Oxygen, Bydrog&rt) una W)W>0W1, 



In Plants. -Ai.BUMls; CASEIN ; Etlmiir, 8. g., iiurlulrn »f wheal, 

 m Animal Body. -Albumin; e.g., in blood serum mi'l whitiMil' 

 eggs. 



J -iiMiiv; e.g., in muscle (lean meat). 

 in Milk.-AuucMtN; Oasi-.in aan.n. 



CARBOHYDRATES. 



NOS-NITIlOOEJfOCS. 



Consist of Carbon, onryn, and Uydumcn. 

 In Plants. Bug ik. Stari b : Cbt.ii uose (in woody fitter): 



VATS. 

 NOM-NITKOnii.YOUS. 



Cniisisi of Cqrbon, Oxygth, and nydrbglau 

 in Plants.— Vegetable Fats and On.s; e. ir., linseed oil, olive 



nil. 



', Uu-d, etc. 



Fi-XtTIOSS OF FOOD INGI5EDIEXT8 IN MTlUriON. 



NUTRIENTS OF FOODS OFFICES IN BODY, 



f Amsumixoids, e.f.'., in muscle,gris- 

 are | vie aud casein ol milk. 

 ALBUMisoms. J transformed Fats, ( . jr., fai meal and fat (butter) 

 into I of milk. 



[ CAnuon vdhates, e. g., milk sugar. 

 .Serve forFUEX.. 

 Carbohydrates. Serve chiefly for Fuse 



f arc ( Fats ; c. g., for meat and butter. 



At. t. Contribute to the production of Muscular Force (?) 



This schedule seems somewhat complicated at first 

 sight, as well it may when we consider the amouni 

 of painstaking and costly scientific investigation, Some 

 of whose main results it attempts to summarize, 



If the time and place permitted, I should be glad to 

 tell you something of the ways in which the facts, as far 

 •tis we know them, have been found out ; of the thousands 

 of ele.iuieal analyses of vegetable and animal substances 

 that constitute onr foods and the tissues and fluids of 

 our bodies ; of the years and years of labor of many 

 men that have been devoted to tiie experimental study of 

 the nays in which the food is used, the body built up, 

 and its tissues consumed again ; of the wonderfully com- 

 plicated and yet beautifully simple instruments and ope- 

 rations by whose aid the utmost ingenuity of science 

 has sought to discover the subtle processes by which the 

 transformations go on in the body aud flesh and fat are 

 stored aud heat and force produced. Suffice it to say, 

 that the research of the past fifteen years, especially, has 

 taught us much of the fundamental principles of nutri- 

 tion, though wo are still in the dark as to many of the 

 details, sis tho interrogation point after the last word in 

 the schedule implies. So let us return to our subject — 

 the nutrients of our foods and their functions in nutri- 

 tion. Leaving out of account the water and mineral j 

 •substances which, though essential to nutrition, are not 

 to our present purpose, wo have three classes of nutri- 

 ents in our foods — albuminoids, carbohydrates and fats. 



ALBUMINOIDS, PROTOPLASM. 



A little short of a dozen years ago, many earnest- 

 minded people on both sides oi' the Atlantic were startler! 

 by an address from Prof. Huxley, on "A Physical Basis 

 of Life." This "formal basis of life," this soulless sub- 

 stance in which vital phenomena were centered while 

 vitality, as a force, was excluded, was protaplasm. a ma- 

 terial containing "the four elements, carbon, hydrogen, 

 oxygen aud nitrogen, in very complex union. . . . , To 

 this complex combination the name protein has been ap- 

 plied, and if we use this term with such caution as may 

 arise out of our comparative ignorance of the 

 things for which it stands, it may he truly "said that allpro- 

 teplasin is protinaeeouS, or, as the white or albumen of an 

 egg is one of the commonest examples of a nearly pure 

 protein matter, we may say that all living matter is more 

 or less albuminoid." 



As the schedule indicates, we have albuminoids in 

 giants, as in the gluten of wheat; and in the animal 

 body, as in the fibrinogen and fibrinoplastic substances of 

 blood, in the fibrin of muscle, in eggalburnin (white of 

 i -v. .: i), and in the casein (curd) of milk. 



The albuminoids are the most important of the nutri- 

 ents of foods. Not only do they share in the formation 

 of the fatty tissues and in the supply of material for the 

 production of animal heat and muscular power, thus per- 

 forming all of the functions of the other food ingredi- 

 ents in. the body ; but they also have a work of their own 

 in the building up of the nitrogenous tissues, muscles. 

 tendons, cartilage, etc, in which none of the other in- 

 gredients can share. 



THE CARBOHYDRATES, 



of which we have familiar examples in sugar, starch and 

 cellulose, differ from the albuminoids in that they have 

 no nitrogen. They have, according to the best experi- 

 mental evidence, no share in the formation of nitrogen- 

 ous tissues in the body, It is hardly probable that they 

 Sire transferred into fats to any considerable extent; their 

 chief use seems to be to supply fuel for the production of 

 animal heat, and very probably of muscular power. They 

 are very important constituents of foods, but much less 

 so than the albuminoids and fats. They occur in only 

 minute proportion in meats, fish and like animal foods. 

 We are well acquainted with 



THE FATS, 

 as they occur in vegetable fats aud oils, like linseed and 

 olive oils, in fat meat, tallow and lard, and in butter, 



TABLE I. 

 \N -M.VSIS OP FISH. ING-WBDIKSl'S Olf FLUSH A\l> 01? WHOLE OK DRESSED WISH AS TAKEN FOR ANALYST.*. 



Kitul UJ Fhil lllid Ptt/Tl Tnl.cn FIM An-tli/si*. 



1 Flounders-Entrails removed 



'! Ibili'iul Pcieriin- {un-linn of iiodv.. 

 3 Hfllilml'. -Section n|' u e. 



'I id and entrails removed.... 

 " Cod Head a 



i Ei -Is 



ud i 



. uist of season) 



fiver. Ih-st lit eCOaOU). . 



•tieiu River) 



P 



83:85 17 -M 18.24 0.02 1.28 68.BJ +.37 6.38 0.20 



wiioi.i: on i>i;i:ssi:d fish. 



IMil.lr Portion. 



18 58 l'.i.r. 

 ill ...: x, y. I9.su ii ■::. 



11 lied Snapper MiiiraiN, head, .-Lin, etc 



The fats, like the carbohvd 

 gen. The fats of the food i 



fats, tit 

 fuel, but do 

 valuable tin 

 in carbon ai 



to fuel, and 



The :,lbu 



formers," ai 



substances. 



minoids alo 

 tissues of fl 



ed into carbohydrate 



are destitute of nitro- 

 >red in the body 



7.12 

 15.65 



27.18 

 10.97 



11 w 



•>■>. II 



12 it 

 i- .1 

 18 (8 



121 .»■ 



II o.i 



II Ml 



l3.r,ii 

 ll.n 



13.92 

 0.78 



It- 



nto tin 



t, and serve for 

 They arc more 

 2 they are richer 

 hidi' give value 

 f with fata, 

 i.f as (he "il...; 



. thai thealbu 



body. The functions of respiration and 

 production of muscular energy are in all probabitity 

 shared by all the nutrients. 



To Cesume briefly— asking your pardon for the repeti- 

 tion — the alttminoids. the nitrogenous constituents of 

 foods (albumen, fibrin, etc.), which make t he lean meat, 

 the muscle, the connective tissues, skin, and so on, are 

 the most important of the nutrients. Next in import- 

 ance- Come the fats, and last, the oai bohydrates — sugar, 

 standi and the like. One reason of tile inferior position 

 of ilia carbohydrates is lha fact that they have no nitro- 

 gen, The albuminoids can do their own work and all 

 the work of the carbohydrates and fats as well, while 

 : can only do their own. With lean meat 

 alone, we might make a shirt to get on for a good while. 

 but frith carbohydrates and fats alone we should speedily 

 starve. 



Now, the flesh of fish, like other animal foods, consists 

 mainly of albuminoids, but has more or Jess of fats. 

 aud contains very little of tho carbohydrates. Veg- 

 etable foods, on the other hand, consist largely of carbo- 

 hydrates, ami contain less of the albuminoids and fats. 

 Soience and experience unite in testifying that a proper 

 combination of all makes the most wholesome, as we 

 know it gives the most agreeable, diet. 



I,et us, then, note some of the maing facts concerning 



THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF FISET. 



Table I. herewith gives the results of a number of 

 analyses as samples of fish, some supplied through the 

 courtesies of "Mr. E. G.Blackford, of your .Association, 

 and some purchased at the fish markets in Hiddletown, 

 Conn., where, the analyses were made. Some of the 



nples 



i fish, others had been dressed. All 

 in as they are ordinarily sold iu the markets. 



pie on its receipt at the laboratory was weighed, 

 iesh (the edible portion) was separated as care- 

 .acticable from the skin, bones, entrails, etc., 

 md prepared for analysis. 



ires in the table show, first, tho composition of 

 (the edible portion), freed from skin, bones. 

 •tc: and second, the calculated composition of 

 I fish — that i«, Of the whole sample as rr -, ! , a 

 , in some cases, the entire fish, and in others, 



Taking the 

 points that st: 

 brous column 



edible po 

 joking do 

 is the dim 



lamples. 

 of flesh of 

 id only seven I 



•lion), one of the first 

 vn tho rather cum- 

 rence in the amounts 



;aln 



nt. of 



In one 



three of 



the flesh 



water an i 



one-sixth of the desh of cod and 



moil consisted of solids, actual r 



rest being water. The figures for some of the samples 



are : — 



In Flesh of— Water, per cent. Saltan, per cent. 



' cod we have eighty- 

 teen of solids, wliile 

 only GGJ. per cent, of 

 That is to say, about 

 a-third of that Of sal- 

 subst; 



Flaaieka 



Shl.l 



83.-1 

 78 7 



113 

 lli.l) 

 17.8 

 21.3 

 20.* 

 31.8 



68.8 



Striped Has? 



wtriped liusii 



lilue Fish 



Hull hut. dean) 



Italihut .fat) 



Mackerel 77,8 



Miectarel , 71.2 



Shad . 611.3 



Shod 04 5 



Eels (salt water) 70.4 



WMteflsh oo\o 



Brook Trout 76.7 



Cake Trout B8.7 



Salmon 0U.4 



Agood quality of beef, lean moat, free from bone, con- 

 tains about 75 per cent, water and 25 per cent, solids, 

 while the fat beef may have as low as 55 per cent, of 

 water; The fish are, on the. Whole, rather more watery 

 than beef. Still the difference is not very great. 



One of the samples, I confess, has 

 With an enthusiastic sportsman's apprc 

 game qualities aud the Haver of I he spt 

 looked for ahigher percentage of solids 

 most respected lish. The sample stands ■* 

 not at the top of the hst. But I take consolation in th. 

 fact that this is only a single analysis, and perhaps future 

 results will show that, it is below the average, The sample 

 was a cultivated trout, and until we are assured to the 

 contrary, we can assume that in his native streams he 

 would have as solid flesh as his only superior in the 

 sportsmau's eyes, the salmon. 



30.7 

 35.5 



jia.e 



30.4 

 24.3 

 37.3 

 33.0 



tinted me. 



ciation of both the 

 ickled trout. I had 

 in the flesh of that 

 veU, to be sure, but 



If now wo consider not simply the flesh, the edible 

 portion, but whole sample, as sold" in the markets, either 

 in the entire fish, or that which is left after it is dressed, 

 we have, of course, different figures, just as the percent 

 age of edible solids in a roast of beef would be less than 

 in the meat without the bone. 



Looking down the last column of Table I, we find that 

 bhesampleof flounder contained T.t percent, of edible 

 sofids; cod. 10.5 do.: mackerel. 11.4 do,; halibut, lean 

 15 do.; halibut, fatter. 27.2 do.; shad, 14i! do.; shad 

 18.7 do.: lake trout, 13.6 do.; salmon, 25.(1 do. I ought 

 to say that these figures are based upon our separations, 

 in tho laboratory, of the fresh, uncooked lish. It is not 

 as easy to get the llesh off clean from the bones in this 

 way. as it is after the fish has been cooked. So in lite 

 very bony fish more of tho flesh went to waste than 

 would be the case at the table in an economical house- 

 hold. Such fish therefore appear at somewhat of a 

 disadvantage in the figures above. I should add that 

 many of the details of the analyses, such as the per 

 centage of BO-called "extractive matters,'' albumen, gel- 

 atine, phosphorous, sulphur and other ingredients are 

 omitted from the table. Some of them, however are 

 very important. We all know what a useful article (f 

 commerce is "Liebig's Meat Extract,'' which is prepan d 

 from the flesh of cattle slaughtered in -South Ameri, a 

 and Texas. Fish can furnish an extract of equal vah.e 

 in every way. There is a fortune for somebody, I mii- 

 trust, in the extract from menhaden. 



Leaving, lor the present, the further examination of 

 the table, allow me a few words concerning 



THE NUTRITIVE VALUES OF FOODS. 



This subject has of late begun to attract very general 

 attention. The chemico-physiologieal research of (lie 

 past two decades has brought us where we can judge 

 with a considerable degree of accuracy, from the cheini- 

 :al cor xsitior. zt a food material what is ife \vl\w "sk 

 compare I with other foods, for nourishment. The bulk 

 of the best late investigation of ibis subject has been 

 made in Germany, where ch"-" 1 

 have already got so far as to fi 

 iu computing the nutritive vnl 

 ingthem in tables which are cc 



The valuations are based upo 

 oids, carbohydrates and fats. 



sts and physiologists 

 I themselves warranted 

 ?s of foods and arrang- 

 iimg Into popular use. 

 tho amouutsof albumin- 



C.'OM POSITION AN D VALUATION 



ANIMAL FOODS. 

 (I'k'Bh free from bono.) 



fleet', fat 



Veal, fat 



Mutton, medium 



Pork, fat 



hilnokud lieof 



Smoked hillii . 



oami:, fowl, EIH3, 



Venison 



Hen 



Duelc 



Mti.K, ecus, ictc. 



Hens' e«xs.". . 



Flounder 



Halibut 



Cod 



Eela 



Shad 



Striped Baas. 

 " ikerel.... 



lili 



lis I 



Salt. Maekei 

 Dried Cod . 

 Smoked Ifei 



8.71 20. Bl 1.50 



40 II a! 



17. OS 27.KI 

 27. OS 23.97 



re.7B in 77 



a a; la -I!! 



70.82 



13. 43 20 S2 ! H -tail. as Hi 27 111 fl 

 111. Ill 78. 91 78 -'a,!' 1.5(1 3111. U 

 H9. 4«|21 12. Sail - ■ \ a, . 



if 



i* 



it 



J.a 



1.13 88. .3 

 0.91 93 n 

 1.09 101.0 



50.1 

 121 

 159.1) 

 151 ,0 



From one by Dr. Ktinig, who has given more attention 

 to this especial subject than anybody else, I cite a num- 

 ber of analyses and valuations of meat, milk, etc., and 

 add corresponding computations for soma of the samples 

 of fish reported above. (See Table II.) The analyses of 



