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Artificial  Foods. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t      August,  1899. 
bones  and  the  juices,  and  are  derived  from  both  animal  and  vegeta- 
ble sources. 
Water  is  the  last  but  not  the  least  in  importance,  as  about  70  per 
cent,  of  our  body  weight  is  composed  of  it,  and  from  75  to  80 
ounces  per  day  is  needed.  It  serves  for  diluting  the  fluids  of  the 
body,  for  moistening  mucous  surfaces,  as  a  solvent  for  food  and  a 
distributor  and  regulator  of  heat,  and  enters  into  all  chemical  reac- 
tions that  take  place  in  the  body. 
There  are  very  few  foods  which  can  be  directly  utilized  by  the 
human  economy  without  first  undergoing  a  process  of  physical  and 
chemical  change  or  digestion. 
This  process  takes  place  in  various  stages  in  the  alimentary 
canal.  In  the  mouth  the  food  is  mechanically  subdivided,  ground  up 
and  masticated,  in  the  stomach  it  is  thoroughly  mixed  with  the  di- 
gestive juices  and  allowed  to  pass  a  little  at  a  time  into  the  intes- 
tines, where  the  valuable  material  is  extracted  and  absorbed.  In 
other  words,  in  this  great  factory  the  mouth  is  the  mill  room,  the 
stomach  the  laboratory,  and  the  intestines  the  shipping  department 
where  the  products  are  carefully  selected,  classified  and  distributed 
throughout  the  various  parts  of  the  body. 
As  the  use  of  proper  food  is  the  source  of  our  life  and  health,  so 
the  use  of  improper  food  may  be  the  cause  of  disease,  and  in  such 
cases  the  best  cure  is  the  removal  of  the  cause  by  the  substitution 
of  proper  feeding.  Hence  we  see  food  acting  in  the  double  capa- 
city of  a  means  of  nourishment  and  a  medicine.  It  must  not  be  con- 
founded with  medicine,  however,  which  is  a  remedy  for  disease,  but 
it  is  very  convenient  when  we  can,  by  selecting  a  proper  food,  pro- 
mote life  and  cure  disease  at  the  same  time. 
A  very  large  proportion  of  the  diseases  of  children  results  from 
some  form  of  insufficient  or  improper  feeding,  and  as  very  often  the 
evil  effects  then  produced  are  carried  on  to  maturity  and  show 
themselves  in  dyspepsia,  indigestion,  deformities,  etc.,  the  question 
of  dietetics  assumes  a  very  serious  aspect.  It  is  for  this  reason  that 
artificial  foods  have  been  received  with  so  much  favor  by  physicians, 
and  the  subject  has  received  such  careful  consideration.  It  is  very 
fortunate  that  so  much  is  being  said  and  done  in  this  direction,  for  a 
practical  knowledge  of  the  feeding  of  infants  and  of  the  sick  is  of 
the  most  vital  importance  to  mothers,  nurses  and  the  general  pub- 
lic, and  it  is  just  as  necessary  to  know  what  to  avoid  as  what  to  eat. 
