SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE NUTRITIVE 
VALUE OF CONDIMENTS 1 
The prevailing opinion respecting the substances known 
as condiments is that they possess essentially stimulating 
qualities, rendering them peculiarly fitted for inducing, by 
reflex action, the secretion of the alimentary juices. Letheby 
gives, as the functions of condiments, such as pepper, mus¬ 
tard, spices, pot-herbs, etc., that besides their stimulating 
properties, they give flavor to food; and by them indifferent 
food is made palatable, and its digestion accelerated. He 
enumerates as aids to digestion: proper selection of food, ac¬ 
cording to taste of the individual; proper treatment of it as 
regards cooking ; and proper variation of it, both as to its 
nature and its treatment. 
While it is difficult to give an entirely satisfactory defini¬ 
tion as to w T hat constitutes food, the following extracts from 
standard works will serve as guides. L. Hermann in his 
“ Elements of Human Physiology,” translated by Gamgee, 
published in 1883, says : “The compound must be fit for 
absorption into the blood or chyle, either directly or after 
preparation by the processes of digestion, i. e., it must be 
digestible. It must replace directly some inorganic or organic 
constituent of the body; or it must undergo conversion into 
such a constituent while in the body; or it must serve as an 
ingredient in the construction of such a constituent.” He fur¬ 
ther says that water, chlorides, and phosphates are the most 
indispensable articles of diet. Watts 2 states that “whatever 
is commonly absorbed in a state of health is, perhaps, the best, 
or rather the truest, definition of food.” 
Chemical analysis shows that the most important and widely 
applicable foods contain carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, 
1 Originally printed in The Polyclinic , Philadelphia, 1883. 
2 Dictionary 0] Chemistry , vol. iv, pp. 147, 148. 
