PURE AND IMPURE FOODS. 



63 



these substances. "Proteids" is, however, 

 a better name foi them. Meat, as served 

 for culinary purposes, contains also the 

 gelatinoids, which are the principal ingre- 

 dients of tendon and similar tissues. These 

 substances do not possess much food value. 

 The various "extractives" (so called be- 

 cause they are extracted from fiesh by 

 water), such as creatin, creatinin, carnin, 

 etc., are likewise of little value as foods. 

 Finally, the fats, which are familiar to us 

 in the form of tallow and lard, in butter, 

 and in the various vegetable oils, are val- 

 uable on account of their heat-producing 

 qualities. 



Another exceedingly important food 

 constituent is the carbohydrate. Potatoes, 

 wheat and corn, as well as sugar cane and 

 sorghum, are rich in carbohydrates. 

 Starch and sugar are similar in chemical 

 composition, both being carbohydrates. 

 In certain organs of the body carbohy- 

 drates are to be found; for instance, in the 

 glycozen, or animal starch of the liver. 



Summing up, the principal nutritive in- 

 gredients are protein, fats and carbohy- 

 drates. Add to these certain mineral mat- 

 ters, such as the various phosphates, sul- 

 phates and chlorides, and we have the sum 

 total of all the ingredients necessary for 

 the proper alimentation of the body. 

 These nutritive ingredients are only to be 

 obtained in the correct proportion in the 

 mixed diet, i. e., meat, eggs, fish, milk, the 

 cereals and vegetables. 



THE COURSE DINNER AND ITS DANGERS. 

 I am inclined to believe that the greatest 

 danger of the course dinner is the wines 

 that are served with the courses. These 

 wines are mingled with the food, thus 

 establishing favorable foci for fermentation. 

 Nine-tenths of the fermentative dyspepsias 

 met with by fashionable physicians, that is, 

 doctors whose clientele is made up of the 

 so-called 400, are directly due to this wine- 

 drinking habit. As far as the course din- 

 ner without wine is concerned, there is no 

 danger. In my opinion, food should al- 

 ways be served in courses, with the small- 

 est amount of liquids possible. When food 

 is taken into the stomach after this man- 

 ner the gastric juices are not diluted and 

 can act in a normal way in disintegrating 

 food-particles and assisting chymification. 

 A writer in the Cincinnati Enquirer says: 

 "Thousands of people dig their graves 

 with their teeth every year. The number 

 of prominent men who succumb annually 

 to indiscreet and excessive eating is posi- 

 tively astounding. Recently attention has 

 been directed to the serious illness of 

 Vice-President Hobart. and it is claimed 

 he is a victim of the seductive banquet 

 table. There is a loud demand for reform 

 in the characters of evening course din- 



ners, and the diners-out should evince a 

 deep interest in the matter. Few men pay 

 proper attention to the stomach and their 

 digestive organs. If they would follow 

 the simple rules of living much of the dys- 

 pepsia could be avoided. One great diffi- 

 culty is that so much wine is usually drunk 

 with the viands at a banquet that it causes 

 fermentation, and indigestion and possibly 

 gastritis are the inevitable results. 



"A distinguished writer has recently de- 

 clared that elaborate course dinners are a 

 standing menace to the health of those 

 who indulge in them. He asserts that 

 champagne is the most objectionable of 

 any of the wines, but most, if not all of 

 them, should be let alone. Nor are the 

 regular banqueters the only class of peo- 

 ple who suffer from the bad effects of in- 

 judicious eating. Many society women 

 are confirmed dyspeptics. Medical men 

 generally agree that the stomach should 

 be absolutely clean before food is taken 

 into it. The simplest method of attaining 

 this is by drinking 2 or 3 glassfuls of 

 water an hour or more before each 

 meal. The water should be either tepid 

 or moderately cool; not so cold as to chill 

 the stomach or so warm as to cause per- 

 spiration." 



THE PROCESS OF ALIMENTATION. 



There are 2 uses of food: (1) to form 

 new material and to repair waste; (2) by 

 oxidation to yield heat in order to keep up 

 bodily warmth and muscular vigor. In 

 making the tissues and fluids of the body, 

 the food serves for building and repair; in 

 yielding warmth and muscular activity, it 

 serves as fuel. The various nutrient in- 

 gredients act in different ways. The prin- 

 cipal tissue-makers are the albuminous 

 proteids, for these make muscle and supply 

 the albuminoids of the blood, milk and 

 other fluids. The carbohydrates and fats 

 are the chief fuel ingredients. They are 

 either consumed at once or they are stored 

 up as fat for future consumption and will 

 be used when necessary. 



The albumen compounds, such as the 

 albumen of eggs, the casein of milk and 

 cheese, the gluten of wheat, and the myo- 

 sin of meat, are changed into the albu- 

 minoids and gelatinoids of the physical 

 organism. Muscle, tendon and cartilage 

 are formed from albuminoids. The albu- 

 minoids of food also serve as fuel. Says 

 Professor At water: "A dog can live on 

 lean meat; he can convert it into muscle, 

 heat and muscular power. The gelatinoids 

 of food, as the finer particles of tendon 

 and the gelatin, which is dissolved out of 

 bone and meat in making soup, though 

 somewhat similar to the albuminoids in 

 composition, are not tissue formers. But 



