PURE AND IMPURE FOODS. 



" What a Man Eats He Is." 

 Edited by C. F. Langworthy, Ph.D. 



Author of " On Citraconic, Itaconic and Mesaconic Acids," " Fish as Food," etc. 



DRINKING WATER WITH MEALS. 



It is often said that drinking water with 

 meals is injurious, one reason advanced 

 being that the digestive juices in the stom- 

 ach become unduly diluted and that thus 

 digestion is hindered. On the other hand, 

 the importance of taking a reasonably large 

 quantity of water during each day, is as 

 frequently insisted on. 



It is doubtful if the water taken with 

 meals, unless excessive, hinders stomach 

 digestion to any great extent, and at any 

 rate the intestines will complete the work 

 begun by the stomach ; a fact often over- 

 looked in popular discussions. Water 

 should not be used instead of thorough 

 mastication, to facilitate the swallowing 

 of food, nor does it seem advisable to drink 

 very cold water in too large quantities. 

 Otherwise, it appears from some recent ex- 

 periments made by Rnzicka that the quan- 

 tity of water taken has little effect on the 

 thoroughness of digestion. The author 

 was himself the subject of experiments in 

 which the digestibility of a mixed ration 

 was determined when a fairly large quan- 

 tity of water was consumed at intervals 

 during the day, and when practically the 

 same quantity was consumed immediately 

 before, during and after meals. In each 

 case the quantity of water consumed was 

 practically the same, averaging nearly 1,480 

 grams daily. The results obtained showed 

 that the mixed diet was somewhat more 

 thoroughly digested when the bulk of the 

 water was taken near meal-times. The au- 

 thor believes that the results are not num- 

 erous enough for general deductions, .but 

 they do not warrant the conclusion that a 

 reasonable quantity of fluid taken at meal- 

 times can have any bad effects. 



Often experiments with animals throw 

 light on problems connected with human 

 nutrition, and it is worth noting that re- 

 sults similar to the foregoing were obtained 

 by tests made by Tangl, at Budapest, with 

 horses, on the effect of watering before, 

 after and during meals. So far as was 

 observed the time of drinking had no ef- 

 fect on the digestibility of a ration of grain 

 and hay. When hay only was fed there 

 seemed to be a slight advantage in water- 

 ing before feeding. The conclusion was 

 drawn that, in general, horses may be wa- 

 tered before, during or after meals without 

 interfering with the digestion and absorp- 

 tion of food. All these methods of water- 

 ing are equally good for the horse, and 



each of them may be employed, according 

 to circumstances. It is obvious that cer- 

 tain circumstances may make it necessary 

 to adopt one or other method. For in- 

 stance, after severe loss of water, such as 

 occurs in consequence of long continued, 

 severe exertion, the animal should always 

 be allowed to drink before he is fed, as 

 otherwise he will not feed well. Although 

 all methods of watering are equally good 

 for the horse, it is not desirable to change 

 unnecessarily from one method to another. 

 Some animals appear not altogether indif- 

 ferent to such a change. In the experi- 

 ment referred to it was found that when- 

 ever a change was made from the plan of 

 watering after feeding to that of watering 

 before, the appetite fell off for some days. 

 Not that the horses did not consume the 

 whole of the food given them, but for some 

 days together they did not eat with the 

 same avidity as before; and they took a 

 longer time to consume their rations com- 

 pletely. A similar effect was not observed 

 when the change was from watering before 

 to watering after feeding, or from water- 

 ing after to watering during meals, or 

 when the change was in the opposite direc- 

 tion to the last. It is possible that the 

 method of watering before feeding, until 

 the animal has become accustomed to it, 

 produces a certain feeling of satiety. The 

 time of drinking exercised a marked effect 

 on the quantity of water consumed, and on 

 the amount of water excreted. The horses 

 drank the greatest quantity of water when 

 it was given after feeding, and the least 

 when it was supplied before feeding. This 

 was especially noticeable in the morning, 

 when water was sometimes refused if of- 

 fered before feeding. 



CAMP COOKERY. 

 The pleasure of a summer spent in camp 

 can hardly be overestimated. Those who 

 prefer to superintend the preparation of 

 their own menus know that it is not al- 

 ways easy to provide wholesome and at- 

 tractive dishes. The best ways of using the 

 ordinary food materials which should form 

 part of the equipment of every camp, and 

 the methods of cooking without the con- 

 veniences of a well equipped kitchen have 

 been treated of by a number of writers. 

 It is now some years since Miss Maria 

 Parloa published her "Camp Cookery," a 

 little book which gives clear and concise 

 directions for making many palatable 



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