THE VALUE OF FRUIT AS FOOD. 



147 



158 pints per day, and he was doing his best to get through it, but he 

 found it a hard job ! 



This is the common fallacy of many beginners in chemistry. They 

 take gooseberries, for example, and find they contain only 0*37 per cent, 

 of albuminous matter, and therefore they argue that if a man were a 

 fruitarian he would have to eat 3 lb. of gooseberries per day to get the 

 albumen of one egg, or about 42 lb. of gooseberries per day to get the 

 necessary amount of nitrogen for his daily sustenance. It would be 

 just as wise as to argue that if a man eats meat he would have 

 to eat 20 lb. of beef per day to get the necessary amount of carbo- 

 hydrates. 



I have drawn out a list of analyses of some of our commonest fruits : — 



Gooseberry Pear Pistachios 



Grape Chestnut Peanut 



Cherry Walnut Cocoanut 



Peach Filbert 



Apple Almond 





Goose- 

 berry 



Grape 



Cherry 



Peach 



Apple 



Pear 



Chestnut 





Filbert 



Almond 



Pistachios 



Peanut 



Cocoanut 



Water 



85 -36 



79-9S 



79-70 



82-01 



86-04 



83-95 



14-0 



41-5 



48-0 



6-0 



7-4 





46*6 



CH noose and sugar 



7-51 



13-78 



lU-70 



]-53 



7-58 



7-00 



17-5 















Free acid . 



1-33 



1-U2 



U-56 



0-77 



1-04 



0-07 

















Albuminous sub- 





























stances . 



0-37 



0-83 



1-01 



0-39 



0-22 



0-26 



8-5 



12-5 



8-0 



250 



22-0 



24-5 



5-5 



Soluble pectine . 



2-11 



0-5() 



0-67 



9-28 



2-72 



3-28 

















Soluble minerals 



0-24 



0-4G 



0-60 



0-76 



0-44 



0-28 

















Starch 











— 





29-9 



8-9* 





9-0 



13-0 







Dextrine 















22-9 













8-1 



Oil . . . 







- 









1-3 



31-6 



28-5 



54-0 



51-0 



50'0 



35-9 



Cellulose 



0-24 



0-46 



0-60 



0-76 



0-44 



0-28 



3-3 



0-8 



2-5 



8-0 







2-9 



Mucilage. 



In the first place : — 



Aqueous Substances. — Water is an essential of life, and water should 

 be of the purest character. There is no water more pure than that which 

 has been distilled from dew and trebly distilled from the clouds of heaven 

 and stored within the dainty myriad tanks of an apple or a pear ! There 

 is here no fear of hard or chalky water or typhoid germs. Fresh fruit 

 juice gives water at its best. 



A water melon contains about 95 per cent, water, blackberries and 

 currants 82-87 per cent., plums, peaches, apples, and pears, 82-85 per 

 cent., grapes and cherries (which people wrongfully think are the most 

 watery) from 78-80 per cent., cocoanut 46 per cent., walnut 44 per cent., 

 chestnut 14 per cent., almond 6 per cent. They are not greatly more 

 watery than milk, which, with 54 per cent, water, is a complete infant's 

 food. 



With regard to the first essentials of food, fruits fulfil the functions of 

 a perfect food. So that fruits are the first cure for drunkenness. 



With ordinary foods a man needs to drink, and, when he needs drink, 

 beer is one of the handiest, and spirits some of the most tempting, 

 of drinks to indulge in ; but with a meal of fruit no drink is needed, 



L 2 



