STIMULANTS 139 



sometimes added to make flour whiter. Probably the food which 

 has suffered most from adulteration is milk, as water can be added 

 without the average person being the wiser. By means of an inex- 

 pensive instrument known as a lactometer, this cheat can easily 

 be detected. Before the Pure Food Law was passed in 1906, milk 

 was frequently treated with substances like formalin to make it 

 keep sweet longer. Such preservatives are harmful, and it is now 

 against the law to add anything harmful to any food. 



Coffee, cocoa, and spices have been subject to great adulteration 

 because of the ease with which starch, ground-up date or other 

 seeds, chicory, and other cheaper substitutes may be added. 

 Detection of these adulterations is easily made by means of a com- 

 pound microscope. Honey, sirups of various kinds, cider, and 

 vinegar have all been found sometimes to be either artificially 

 made from cheaper substitutes or to be adulterated with such sub- 

 stitutes. The use of butter substitutes is legitimate, when prop- 

 erly labeled, but one must remember that pure butter has a 

 vitamin content and should be used in every dietary. Lard, 

 cottonseed oil, and nut substitutes have a useful place in cooking 

 and in salad dressings. 



Stimulants. — We have learned that food is anything that sup- 

 plies building material or releases energy in the body ; but some 

 materials used by man, presumably as food, do not come under 

 this head. Such are tea and coffee. When taken in moderate 

 quantities, they produce a temporary increase in the vital activities 

 of the person taking them. This stimulation is due to the presence 

 of a drug called caffein which acts upon the nervous system as a 

 whip acts on a tired horse. In moderation, tea and coffee appear 

 to be harmless to most adults. Some people, however, cannot use 

 either, even in small quantities, without ill effects. It is the habit 

 formed of relying upon the stimulus given by tea or coffee that 

 makes them a danger to man. Cocoa and chocolate, although both 

 contain a stimulant, are in addition good foods, having from 12 

 per cent to 21 per cent of protein, from 29 per cent to 48 per cent 

 of fat, and over 80 per cent of carbohydrate in their composition. 



Is Alcohol a Food ? — The question of the use of alcohol is of 

 much interest among physiologists and doctors. It is now over 

 thirty years since Dr. Atwater of Wesleyan Univ^ersity made his 



