FOOD AND DRINK.
_Necessity for Food--Waste and Repair--Hunger and Thirst--Amount of
Food--Renovation of the Body--Mixed
Diet--Milk--Eggs--Meat--Cooking--Vegetable Food--Bread--The
Potato--Fruits--Purity of Water--Action of Water upon Lead--Coffee, Tea,
and Chocolate--Effects of Alcohol._
[Sidenote: 1. What follow activity? Examples? Necessity for food?]
1. NECESSITY FOR FOOD.--Activity is everywhere followed by waste. The
engine uses up coal and water to produce motion, the stream wears away its
bank, the growing corn-blade draws tribute from the soil. When the human
body acts, and it is always in action during life, some of its particles
are worn out and thrown off. This waste must constantly be repaired, or the
body suffers. In this fact is seen the necessity for food. The particles,
thus worn out, being henceforth useless, are removed from the body. Our
_food_ and _drink_ are rapidly transformed into a new supply of living,
useful material, to be in turn used up and replaced by a fresher supply.
[Sidenote: 2. Give the theory in relation to waste and repair.]
2. WASTE AND REPAIR.--In this way the healthful body, though always
wasting, is always building up, and does not greatly change in size, form,
or weight. At two periods of life the processes of waste and repair are not
exactly balanced. In early life the process of building up is more active,
and in consequence the form is plump, and the stature increases. Repair now
exceeds waste. On the other hand, when old age comes on, the wasting
process is more active, the flesh and weight diminish, the skin falls in
wrinkles, and the senses become dull. Only during the prime of life--from
about twenty to sixty years of age--is the balance exact between loss and
gain. {65}
[Sidenote: 3. System deprived of food? Warning? What is the pain? How
proved?]
3. HUNGER AND THIRST.--When the system is deprived of its supply of solid
food during a longer time than usual, nature gives warning by the sensation
of hunger, to repair the losses that have taken place. This sensation or
pain appears to be located in the stomach, but it is really a distress of
the system at large. Let a sufficient quantity of nourishment be introduced
into the system in any other way than by the mouth, and it will appease
hunger just as certainly as when taken in the usual manner.
[Sidenote: 4. Feeling of thirst? Seat of the pain? How proved? Time a
person can exist without food?]
4. The feeling of thirst, in like manner, is evidence that the system is
suffering from the want of water. The apparent seat of the distress of
thirst is in the throat; but the injection of water into the blood-vessels
is found to quench thirst, and by the immersion of the body in water, the
skin will absorb sufficient to satisfy the demands of the system. The
length of time that man can exist without food or drink is estimated to be
about seven days. If water alone be supplied, life will last much longer;
there being cases recorded where men have lived twenty days and over,
without taking any solid food.
[Sidenote: 5. Amount of food required? The young and others? Those living
in hot and cold climates? Habits?]
5. QUANTITY OF FOOD.--The quantity of food required varies greatly,
according to the individual and his mode of life. The young, and others who
lead active lives, or who live in the open air, require more food than the
old, the inactive, or the sedentary. Those who live in cold regions require
more than the inhabitants of hot climates. Habit, also, has much to do with
the quantity of food required. Some habitually eat and drink more than they
actually need, while a few eat less than they should.
[Sidenote: 6. Quantity of food daily? How divided? Compare with the weight
of the body?]
6. The average daily quantity of food and drink for a healthy man of active
habits is estimated at six pounds. This amount may be divided in about the
following {66} proportions: the mineral kingdom furnishes three and
one-half pounds, including water and salt; the vegetable kingdom, one and
one-half pounds, including bread, vegetables, and fruits; the animal
kingdom, one pound, comprising meat, eggs, butter, and the like. This
quantity is about one twenty-fourth the weight of the body, as it is
generally computed; the average weight of an adult man being placed at 140
pounds. A man, therefore, consumes an amount of solid and liquid nutriment
every twenty-four days equal in weight to that of his body, a corresponding
amount being _excreted_, or removed from the system in the same time.
[Sidenote: 7. How often then might the body be renewed? Why is it not?
Opinion? How correct? What further is stated?]
7. RENOVATION OF THE BODY.--By this process, so far as weight is concerned,
the body might be renewed every twenty-four days; but these pounds of food
are not all real nutriment. A considerable portion of that which we eat is
innutritious, and though useful in various ways, is not destined to repair
the losses of the system. An opinion has prevailed that the body is renewed
throughout once in seven years; how correct this may be it is not easy to
decide, but probably the renovation of the body takes place in a much
shorter period. Some parts are very frequently renewed, the nutritive
fluids changing more or less completely, several times during the day. The
muscles, and other parts in frequent exercise, change often during a year;
the bones not so often, and the enamel of the teeth probably never changes
after being once fully formed.
[Sidenote: 8. Habits of nations? Give the different cases.]
8. MIXED DIET.--The habits of different nations in respect to diet exhibit
the widest and strangest diversity. The civilized, cook their food, while
savages often eat it in a raw state. Some prefer it when fresh, others
allow it to remain until it has become tainted with decay. Those dwelling
in the far north subsist almost wholly on {67} animal food, while those
living in hot climates have bountiful supplies of delicious fruits with
which to satisfy all their bodily wants. One race subsists upon the banana,
another upon the blubber of seals. In temperate climates, a diet composed
partly of vegetable and partly of animal food is preferred.
[Sidenote: 9. The point to consider? Vegetable diet? Louis Cornaro? John
the Baptist?]
9. The important point to consider is, however, not one of origin, but
whether the chemical principles (mentioned in the last chapter) enter into
the composition of the diet. A purely vegetable diet may be selected which
would contain all the principles necessary to sustain life. It is recorded
of Louis Cornaro, a Venetian noble, that he supported himself comfortably
for fifty-eight years on a daily allowance of twelve ounces of vegetable
food, and about a pint of light wine. On the other hand, the food of John
the Baptist, consisting of "locusts and wild honey," is an example of the
sustaining power of a diet chiefly animal in its origin.
[Sidenote: 10. What has been found in our climate? Exclusive vegetable
diet?]
10. In our climate, those who lead active lives crave an allowance of
animal food; and it has been found by experience that with it they can
accomplish more work and are less subject to fatigue, than without it.
Among nations where an exclusively vegetable diet is employed, indigestion
is a disorder especially prevalent.
[Sidenote: 11. Necessity for change in diet? Continuous use of the same
diet? Exception? Why? Too rich diet? Horses?]
11. The necessity for occasionally changing or varying the diet, is seen in
the fact that no single article comprises all the necessary principles of
food, and that the continuous use of any one diet, whether salt or fresh,
is followed by defective nutrition and disease. There is one exception to
this rule: in infancy, milk alone is best calculated to support life; for
then the digestive powers are incompletely developed, and the food must be
presented in the simplest form possible. It should also be remembered {68}
that too rich diet is injurious, just as truly as one that is inadequate.
When the food of horses is too nutritious, instinct leads them to gnaw the
wood-work of their mangers.
[Sidenote: 12. Milk as a model food? Cow's milk? The constituents when
separated?]
12. DIFFERENT ARTICLES OF DIET--MILK.--Milk is the earliest nutriment of
the human race, and in the selection and arrangement of its constituents,
may be regarded as a model food, no other single article being capable of
sustaining life so long. Cow's milk holds casein, one of the albuminoids,
about five parts in one hundred; a fatty principle, when separated, known
as butter, about four parts; sugar of milk four parts; water and salts
eighty-seven parts. The casein and fatty substance are far more digestible
in milk, than after they have been separated from it in the form of cheese
and butter.
[Sidenote: 13. Milk as a beverage? Milk sold in cities? How to detect the
cheat?]
13. Since milk, in itself, is so rich an article of food, the use of it as
a beverage is unwise, unless the quantity of the other articles consumed be
reduced at the same time. The milk sold in cities is apt to be diluted with
water. The way to detect the cheat is by testing the specific gravity of
the article. Good milk is about 1030; skimmed milk 1035; but milk diluted
one-fifth is 1024. An instrument called the lactometer is also used, by
which the amount of cream present is ascertained.
[Sidenote: 14. Composition of eggs? Yolk? How should eggs be eaten? Why?
How boiled? Why?]
14. EGGS.--The egg is about two-thirds water, the balance is pure albumen
and fat in nearly equal proportions. The fat is in the yolk, and gives it
its yellow color. Eggs contain none of the sugar-principles, and should be
eaten with bread or vegetables that contain them. Soft-boiled eggs are more
wholesome than those which are hard-boiled or fried, as the latter require
longer time to digest.
[Sidenote: 15. Meats, whence derived? Why important? Flesh of young
animals?]
15. MEATS.--The meats, so called, are derived from the muscular parts of
various animals. They are most {69} important articles of food for adults,
inasmuch as they are richly stored with albuminoid substances, and contain
more or less fat. Such food is very nourishing and easily digested if eaten
when fresh,--veal and pork being exceptions. The flesh of young animals is
more tender and, in general, more digestible than that of older ones. All
meat is more tough immediately after the killing of the animal, but
improves by being kept a certain length of time.
[Sidenote: 16. Preference of persons? Venison? Mutton? Cheese? Uncooked
flesh?]
16. Some persons prefer flesh that has begun to show signs of
decomposition, or is unmistakably putrid. By some, venison is not
considered to have its proper flavor until it is tainted. In England,
people prefer mutton that is in a similar condition, just as on the
continent of Europe many delight in cheese that is in a state of
decomposition. In certain less civilized countries flesh is not only eaten
uncooked, but in a mouldy, rotten condition. The use of such food is not
always immediately injurious, but it predisposes to certain diseases, as
indigestion and fevers.
[Sidenote: 17. Cold as a preserver? Meat in Russia? Beef and pork, how
preserved? Salted meat as food? Scurvy?]
17. Cold is one means of preserving meat from decay. In the markets of
northern Russia, the frozen carcases of animals stand exposed for sale in
the winter air for a considerable time, and are sawn in pieces, like sticks
of wood, as the purchases are made; such meat, when thawed, being entirely
fit for food. Beef and pork are preserved by salting down in brine, and in
this condition may be carried on long voyages or kept for future use.
Salted meat is not as nutritious as fresh, since the brine absorbs its rich
juices and hardens its fibres. Long continued use of salt meats, without
fresh vegetables, gives rise to the disease called scurvy, formerly very
prevalent on shipboard and in prisons; but now scarcely known.
[Sidenote: 18. The antiquity of the custom of cooking food? Object of
cooking? The oyster? Raw meat as an occasional food?]
18. COOKING.--The preparation of food by the agency {70} of fire is of
almost universal practice, even among the rudest nations. The object of
cooking is to render food more easy of digestion by softening it, to
develop its flavor, and to raise its temperature more nearly to that of the
body. A few articles of flesh-food are eaten uncooked in civilized lands,
the oyster being an instance. Raw meat is occasionally eaten by invalids
with weak digestive powers, and by men training for athletic contests.
[Sidenote: 19. Effect of boiling meat? How may the cooking be done? The
proper method? Effect? Making of soup?]
19. In boiling meat, the water in which it is placed tends to dissolve its
nutrient juices. In fact, the cooking may be so conducted as to rob the
meat of its nourishment, its tenderness, and even of its flavor. The proper
method, in order to preserve or promote these qualities, is to place the
meat in boiling water, which, after a few minutes, should be reduced in
temperature. In this way the intense heat, at first, coagulates the
exterior layers of albumen, and imprisons the delicate juices; after that,
moderate heat best softens it throughout. When soup is to be made, an
opposite course should be pursued; for then the object is to extract the
juices and reject the fibre. Meat, for such purpose, should be cut in small
pieces and put into cold water, which should then be gradually raised to
boiling heat.
[Sidenote: 20. Roasting? How should it be done? Give the philosophy of the
process. Frying?]
20. Roasting is probably the best method of cooking meat, especially
"joints" or large pieces, as by this process the meat is cooked in its own
juices. Roasting should begin with intense heat, and be continued at a
moderate temperature, in order to prevent the drying out of the nutritious
juices, as by this process an outer coating or crust of coagulated albumen
is formed. During this process the meat loses one-fourth of its weight, but
the loss is almost wholly water, evaporated by the heat. Too {71} intense
or prolonged heat will dry the meat, or burn it. Frying is the worst
possible method, as the heated fat, by penetrating the meat, or other
article placed in it, dries and hardens it, and thus renders it
indigestible.
[Sidenote: 21. What is "Trichina?" How guarded against?]
21. TRICHINA.--It should be remembered that ham, sausages, and other forms
of pork, should never be eaten in a raw or imperfectly cooked condition.
The muscle of the pig is often infested by a minute animal parasite, or
worm, called _trichina spiralis_. This worm may be introduced alive into
the human body in pork food, where it multiplies with great rapidity, and
gives rise to a painful and serious disease. This disease has been
prevalent in Germany, and cases of it occur from time to time in this
country.
[Sidenote: 22. What part of fish is eaten? What does it resemble? Fish as
food for digestion? Fish as a diet?]
22. FISH.--The part of fish that is eaten is the muscle, just as in the
case of the meats and poultry. It closely resembles flesh in its
composition, but is more watery. Some varieties are very easy of digestion,
such as salmon, trout, and cod; others are quite indigestible, especially
lobsters, clams, and shell-fish generally. A diet in which fish enters as
the chief article, is ill adapted to strengthen mind or body, while its
continued use is said to be the fertile source of nearly every form of
disease of the skin. Some persons are so constituted that they can eat no
kind of fish without experiencing unpleasant results.
[Sidenote: 23. List of vegetable articles? Usefulness of the different
vegetables? Strychnia? What further is said in relation to the nourishing
and other qualities of vegetables?]
23. VEGETABLE FOOD.--The list of vegetable articles of diet is a very long
one, including the grains from which our bread-stuffs are made, the
vegetables from the garden, and the fruits. All the products of the
vegetable kingdom are not alike useful. Some are positively hurtful;
indeed, the most virulent poisons, as strychnia and prussic acid, are
obtained from certain vegetables. Again, of such {72} articles as have been
found good for food, some are more nourishing than others: some require
very little preparation for use, while others are hard and indigestible,
and can only be used after undergoing many preparatory processes. Great
care must therefore be exercised, and many experiments made, before we can
arrive at a complete knowledge in reference to these articles of diet. Tea,
coffee, and other substances from which drinks are made, are of vegetable
origin.
[Sidenote: 24. Wheat? "Staff of life?" White flour? Hard-grain wheats?
Bolting? Graham bread?]
24. BREAD.--Wheat is the principal and most valuable kind of grain for the
service of man. Bread made from wheat-flour has been in use for many
hundreds of years, and on this account, as well as because of its highly
nourishing properties, has been aptly called "the staff of life." We never
become tired of good bread as an article of daily food.
The white kinds of flour contain more starch and less gluten than the
darker, and are therefore less nutritious. The hard-grain wheat yields the
best flour. In grinding wheat, the chaff or bran is separated by a process
called "bolting." Unbolted flour is used for making brown or Graham bread.
[Sidenote: 25. Leavened bread? Unleavened? Hot bread?]
25. The form of bread most easily digested is that which has been
"leavened," or rendered porous by the use of yeast, or by some similar
method. Unleavened bread requires much more mastication. Hot bread is
unwholesome, because it is not firm enough to be thoroughly masticated, but
is converted into a pasty, heavy mass that is not easily digested.
[Sidenote: 26. Wheaten bread? Bread and butter? Experiment on the dog?]
26. Wheaten bread contains nearly every principle requisite for sustaining
life, except fat. This is commonly added in other articles of diet,
especially in butter,--"bread and butter," consequently, forming an almost
perfect article of {73} food. The following experiment is recorded: "A dog
eating _ad libitum_ of white bread, made of pure wheat, and freely supplied
with water, did not live beyond fifty days. He died at the end of that time
with all the signs of gradual exhaustion." Death took place, not because
there was anything hurtful in the bread, but because of the absence of one
or more of the food-principles.
[Sidenote: 27. State what is said of the Irish potato?]
27. THE POTATO.--The common or Irish potato is the vegetable most
extensively used in this country and Great Britain. Among the poorer
classes in Ireland it is the main article of food. While it is not so rich
in nutritious substances as many others, it has some very useful qualities.
It keeps well from season to season, and men do not weary of its continuous
use. It is more than two-thirds water, the balance being chiefly starch,
with a little albumen.
[Sidenote: 28. Sweet potato? Nightshades? Potatoes when germinating?]
28. The sweet potato differs from the white or common, in containing more
water and a small proportion of sugar. The common potato and the tomato
belong to the same botanical order as the "nightshades," but do not possess
their poisonous qualities, unless we except potatoes that are in the
process of germination or sprouting, when they are found injurious as food.
[Sidenote: 29. Fruits? Use of ripe fruit? Nutriment they contain? Starch in
unripe fruits? Cooking of unripe fruits?]
29. FRUITS.--These are produced, in this country, in great abundance, and
are remarkable alike for their variety and delicious flavor; consequently
they are consumed in large quantities, especially during the warmer months.
The moderate use of ripe fruits, in their season, is beneficial, because
they offer a pleasant substitute for the more concentrated diet that is
used in cold weather. The amount of solid nutriment they contain is,
however, small. The percentage of water in cherries is seventy-five, in
grapes eighty-one, in apples eighty-two. Unripe fruits contain starch,
which, during the process of ripening, {74} is converted into sugar. Such
fruits are indigestible and should be avoided: cooking, however, in part
removes the objections to them.
[Sidenote: 30. How should drinking-water be as regards color and smell?
Chemically pure water? How obtained? Agreeableness of perfectly pure
water?]
30. PURE WATER.--It is important that the water we drink and use in the
preparation of food should be pure. It should be clear and colorless, with
little or no taste or smell, and free from any great amount of foreign
ingredients. Chemically pure water does not occur in nature: it is only
obtained by the condensation of steam, carefully conducted, and is not as
agreeable for drinking purposes as the water furnished by springs and
streams. Rain-water is the purest occurring in nature; but even this
contains certain impurities, especially the portion which falls in the
early part of a shower; for in its descent from the clouds, the particles
floating in the air are caught by the falling drops.
[Sidenote: 31. Spring and well water? Whence the sparkle, or life? The
water supply of cities? Croton water? Ridgewood?]
31. Water from springs and wells always contains more or less foreign
matter of mineral origin. This imparts to the drink its pleasant taste--the
sparkle, or "life," coming from the gases absorbed by the water during its
passage under ground. The ordinary supply of cities is from some pure
stream or pond conveyed from a distance through pipes, the limpid fluid
containing generally only a small amount of impurity. Croton water, the
supply of New York City, is very pure, and contains only four and a half
grains to a gallon: the Ridgewood water of Brooklyn holds even less foreign
matter.
[Sidenote: 32. Impurities in drinking-water? Mineral springs?]
32. Drinking-water may contain as large a proportion as sixty to seventy
grains per gallon of impurity, but a much larger quantity renders it
unwholesome. The mineral spring waters, used popularly as medicines, are
highly charged with mineral substances. Some of them, such as {75} the
waters at Saratoga, contain three hundred grains and more to the gallon.
[Sidenote: 33. What is stated of the action of water upon lead?]
33. ACTION OF WATER UPON LEAD.--The danger of using water that has been in
contact with certain metals is well known. Lead is one of the most readily
soluble, and probably the most poisonous of these substances in common use.
When pure water and an untarnished surface of lead come in contact, the
water gradually corrodes the metal, and soon holds an appreciable quantity
of it in solution. When this takes place the water becomes highly
injurious: the purer the water, and the more recent the use of the metal,
the greater will be the danger.
[Sidenote: 34. Lead in pipes and other things? Advice? What takes place
after the articles of lead have been used much? What is wise?]
34. In cities, lead pipes are commonly used to convey water through the
houses; lead being also used in the construction of roofs, cisterns, and
vessels for keeping water and other liquids. After the articles of lead
have been in use several months, the danger of lead-poisoning diminishes.
An insoluble coating of the sulphate of lead forms upon the exposed
surface, thus protecting it from further corrosion. It is, however, a wise
precaution, at all times to reject the water or other fluid that has been
in contact with leaden vessels over night, or for a number of hours. Allow
the water in pipes to run freely before using.
[Sidenote: 35. Coffee as an article of diet? Of what does it consist? How
does the water affect the coffee? The peculiar stimulant? How does it
affect most persons?]
35. COFFEE.--This is an important addition to diet, and if moderately used
is beneficial to persons of adult age. As commonly employed, it consists of
an infusion in boiling water of the roasted and ground berry. The water
extracts certain flavoring and coloring matters, but that which gives it
its peculiar stimulant qualities is the alkaloid _caffein_. With most
persons its action is that of a gentle stimulant, without any injurious
reaction. It produces a restful feeling after exhausting efforts of mind or
{76} body; it tranquilizes, but does not disqualify for labor; and hence it
is highly esteemed by persons of literary pursuits.
[Sidenote: 36. Another property of coffee? Miners of Belgium? The Caravans?
Among armies? Taken with meals?]
36. Another property of coffee is, that it diminishes the waste of the
tissues, and consequently permits the performance of excessive labor upon
an economical and inadequate diet. This has been tested among the miners of
Belgium. Their allowance of solid food was below that found necessary in
prisons and elsewhere; but, with the addition of about four pints of coffee
daily, they were enabled to undergo severe labor without reducing their
muscular strength. The caravans which traverse the deserts are supported by
coffee during long journeys and lengthened privation of food. Among armies
it is indispensable in supplementing their imperfect rations, and in
relieving the sense of fatigue after great exposure and long marches. When
taken with meals, coffee is also thought to promote digestion.
[Sidenote: 37. Effects of tea-drinking? Peculiar principle? The tea
beverage, how made? Black and green tea? Excessive use of tea or coffee?]
37. TEA.--The effects of tea-drinking are very similar to those of coffee,
and are due to a peculiar principle called _thein_. This principle is
probably the same as that found in coffee, _caffein_, since the chemical
composition of both is precisely alike. Tea, as a beverage, is made from
the dried leaves of the plant by the addition of hot water; if the tea is
boiled, the oil which gives it its agreeable flavor is driven off with the
steam. There are two kinds of tea--the black and the green: the latter is
sometimes injurious, producing wakefulness and other nervous symptoms. The
excessive use of either coffee or tea will cause wakefulness.
[Sidenote: 38. Experiments made during Kane's expedition?]
38. During Dr. Kane's expedition in the Arctic regions, the effects of
these articles were compared. "After {77} repeated trials, the men took
most kindly to coffee in the morning and tea in the evening. The coffee
seemed to continue its influence throughout the day, and they seemed to
grow hungry less rapidly than after drinking tea, while tea soothed them
after a day's hard labor, and the better enabled them to sleep. They both
operated upon fatigued men like a charm, and their superiority over
alcoholic stimulants was very decided."
[Sidenote: 39. State what is said of chocolate.]
39. Chocolate is made from the seeds of the cocoa-tree, a native of
tropical America. Its effects resemble somewhat those of tea and coffee,
but it is very rich in nutriment. Linnæus, the botanist, was so fond of
this beverage, that he gave to the cocoa-tree the name, _Theobroma_--"the
Food of the Gods." Its active principle is _theobromin_.
[Sidenote: 40. Use of alcoholic drinks, how general? The rule given?]
40. ALCOHOL.--The list of beverages that are consumed for the sake of the
alcohol they contain is a very long one. Their use is almost universally
prevalent, every civilized nation, and nearly every barbarous one, having
its favorite alcoholic drink; and, as a general rule, the nations which
stand the highest in civilization have the greatest varieties of these
beverages,--at the same time using them the most intelligently and wisely.
[Sidenote: 41. The beverages produced by fermentation? The ardent spirits?
Grains and fruits employed? Long use of wine? Of distilled liquors?]
41. The wines and malt liquors that contain a small amount of alcohol are
produced by fermentation. The beverages that hold a large proportion of
alcohol, the "ardent spirits," are made by distillation. Enormous
quantities of grains and fruits are thus yearly diverted from their proper
uses as food; some of these being corn, wheat, rye, barley, potatoes, and
rice; also the grape, apple, pear, peach, sugar-cane, cherry, fig, and
orange. Wine, the fermented juice of the grape, has been in use from time
immemorial, while the introduction of distilled liquors dates from a
comparatively recent period. {78}
[Sidenote: 42. Describe the action of alcohol upon the human system?
Experience of Dr. Hayes and others?]
42. What is the physiological action of alcohol? Its first and most evident
action is stimulation: this effect is transient, and is followed by a
variable degree of depression. At first it sharpens the appetite and
quickens digestion, but its habitual use impairs both. This stimulation is
efficient in giving the system an artificial strength during some temporary
derangement, and in enabling the endurance of unusual fatigue or exposure.
The experience of Dr. Hayes, and other explorers of the polar regions, is
that alcohol does not enable the body to resist the influence of cold, but,
on the contrary, is always injurious.
[Sidenote: 43. Another property of alcohol? How do we explain the
restorative influence of wines and liquors?]
43. Another property it has in common with tea and coffee. It supports the
powers of life, economizes food, and retards the waste of tissues; in other
words, it "banks the fires," and prevents their burning wastefully. On this
principle we explain the restorative influence of wines or liquors during
exhausting diseases, in convalescence, and after excessive labors of mind
or body.
[Sidenote: 44. Alcohol, a poison? Moderate stimulants? Prevailing opinion?
Hence?]
44. Pure alcohol, or an excessive quantity of ardent spirits, is an
undoubted poison, and has been frequently known to produce fatal results.
Stimulants in moderate quantities have been thought to increase strength,
and in this view they have been called "alcoholic foods." This is not now
conceded by scientific men. The prevailing opinion is, that they serve no
useful purpose as an article of diet, and that their beneficial influence
is limited to cases where the system is enfeebled, where some unnatural
demand is made upon the vital powers, or where the supply of food is
insufficient. Hence, while alcohol has not the power to build up, it may
obstruct the process of pulling down. {79}
QUESTIONS FOR TOPICAL REVIEW.
PAGE
1. How is the necessity for food shown? 64
2. To what process of waste and repair is the body constantly
subjected? 64
3. How do you account for the sensations of hunger and thirst? 65
4. What further can you state having relation to the subject? 65
5. What can you state in regard to the quantity of food required
for the support of life? 65, 66
6. What circumstances change the needs of persons, old and young,
as regards food and drink? 65, 67
7. What becomes of all the food and drink we consume? 66
8. What further can you state in relation to the process of
renovation through which the body passes? 66
9. What can you state of the habits of nations in respect to
diet? 66, 67, 69
10. What in relation to the selection of articles for food? 67
11. What as respects the necessity for changing or varying the diet? 67
12. What has been proved as regards animal food? 67
13. Of what importance is milk as an article of food? 67, 68
14. What are the constituents of milk? 68
15. What can you state of eggs as an article of food? 68
16. Of the meats, so called, as an article of food? 68, 69
17. What effect does cold have upon meats? 69
18. In what other way may beef and pork be preserved? 69
19. What can you state of salted meat as food, and of its
continued use? 69
20. What change does meat undergo in the cooking? 70, 71
21. What directions are given for boiling meat? 70
22. What for roasting, and with what results? 70, 71
23. What is said about the frying of meats? 71
24. Give the statement in relation to trichina. 71
25. State what is said in relation to fish. 71
26. What is stated of the usefulness and other properties of the
products of the vegetable kingdom? 71, 72
27. What further is said of vegetable food? 71, 72
28. Why is bread made of wheat flour so important as an article
of food? 72
29. State whatever else you can in relation to bread. 72, 73
30. Give the statement respecting the potato. 73
31. What is stated of fruits, the use of them, their nutritious
qualities, etc.? 73, 74
32. How general is the existence of perfectly pure water? 74
33. What is stated in relation to drinking water? 74, 75
34. How does the action of water upon lead affect lead? 75
35. What further can you state on the subject? 75
36. What properties has coffee as an article of diet? 75, 76
37. In what circumstances has coffee been found peculiarly
beneficial? 76
38. What comparison is made between coffee, tea, and chocolate? 76
39. How are the wines, and malt and other alcoholic beverages
produced? 77
40. What articles are employed in their production? 77
41. Describe the physiological action of alcohol. 78
42. What comparison is made between tea, coffee, and alcohol? 78
43. What can you state of alcohol, as a poison, a stimulant, and
article of diet? 78
44. What, then, can be said of alcohol as a recommendation? 78
* * * * *
{80}