On lite Ti catiiiGiit of Dccai/cd Potatoes, c^c 
561 
as great. For supporting the animal frame, potatoes cannot 
BE A CHEAP FOOD. In order to obtain from them the requisite 
quantity of nutritious principle, an enormous quantity must be 
consumed, and this to the loss of a considerable quantity of the 
other useful ingredients of the food. The excrements of Irish 
peasants contain an abundance of unaltered starch granules, which 
have passed through the body unchanged, without exercising their 
peculiar function in the support of animal heat. 
The potato is a food well destined to support the heat of the 
frame, and admirably fitted as an associate of other aliments. It 
is with this view that the rich use it with meat, trusting to the latter 
for the formation of muscular tissue, and to the potato for fuel to 
keep up the heat of the body ; and in such a mixture there is 
absolute economy. Let us look at the various kinds of food with 
reference to their value as fuel, and we shall perceive that the potato 
takes its proper rank. Such a table as the following is, however, 
a mere rough approximation, for the carbonaceous matter or fuel 
is of very various kinds, and some of them give more heat than 
others by their combustion. The Table, therefore, must only 
be taken for as much as it is worth- — a rough approximation to 
truth. 
Table showing the Approximative Value of various kinds of Food as Fuel 
to sustain Animal Heat, 
4 
lbs. of potatoes contain 1 lb. 
of carbonaceous 
£. 
s. 
(1. 
fuel, and cost 
0 
0 
2 
10 
!> 
carrots 
)> 
0 
0 
2 
H 
)> 
flour 
» 
)> 
0 
0 
^ I 0 
U 
barley meal 
!> 
>> 
0 
0 
3 
» 
turnips 
>> 
0 
0 
3f 
1» 
oatmeal 
9> 
» 
0 
0 
3^ 
1 ' 
beans 
»J 
>> 
0 
0 
3| 
» 
peas 
5> 
0 
0 
Q a 
'' l 0 
2 
It 
bread 
» 
5> 
0 
0 
4 
11 A 
)5 
milk 
)5 
0 
1 
5 
It will be seen by this Table that potatoes have now mounted 
to the head of the Table as the least expensive material for fur- 
nishing fuel to keep up the heat of the body ; although it was 
about the most costly for building up the frame, or supporting 
strength. Surely no further arguments are necessary to condemn 
the use of the potato as the sole food of a people, when it was 
obviously destined as an accessory to other food. We must then 
admit the following conclusion : 
TuK Potato used by itself is one of the most expensive 
MEANS of supporting THE ANIMAL FRAME ; BUT IT FORMS A 
CHEAP ADDITION TO OTHER NUTRITIOUS ALIMENTS IN SUSTAINING 
ANIMAL HEAT. 
