Science.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 414, 21 April 1904, Page 7

Science.

POTATOES AND PASSION. observers are , oon«vsfc stantly making new discoveries, SKSre and one of them has incidentally I convinced himself that people who eat potatoes as a staple article of diet are more passionate than persons whose food is partly animal; At first sight on the old theory tbalpfedaaioaar-fastinKas far as meat is ojpfcernfd, is good for mankind, ifc is a lip§dis|oncs£ting tajba ; told that the man who takes his chop or steak or.cut-from the joint regularly, has his name more under control than the man who lives upon meagre fare. Upon that argument vegetarians ought, in theory, to be the worst wife beaters ia creation. Bat it is not vegetarianism which is said to be at fault, for that adds to potatoes, fruit and nuts, and those are the salvation of the system. Potatoes alone stand in a different category, and, though the diet may be said to be 'low/ the faot remains, it is said, that it has a-stimu-lating effect upon the temper, Encyelojffliic Authority has it that potatoes, without a nitrogenous: accompaniment, are not; favorable to the development of physical powers; and the fare persisted intoal|nghas an influence unfavorable to mental energy. Bat no oho has ever suspected that potatoes are responsible for 'tantrums' and «ven dangerous outbreaks. Children who are apt to be very troublesome without cause should be deprived of potatoes; and prisoners in gaol should not be indulged too freely in the ! passion inflaming tuber if you, wish? them to earn their maximum of good' conduct •marks. Whether the new theory can be T supported by actual statistics hereafter remains to be seen, but its investigation is closely allied to another inquiry twhich is designed to explode an equally diequieting doctrine. For it is commonly believed and frequently reiterated that Londoners die out in the third generation, and that the ..metropolis would, become a deserted oity'if it were not for the attraction-it continually exercises' to the Scot and to the alien, who together infuse into its population new blood from year to year. Bat.London apparently could get' along very wefl without either, for the expectations of life are greater in a London suburb than in a Continental city or provincial town. It is even averred that the physique of botnl 'ghjldilen,. not withstanding their pale faces, is stronger than that of the average child reared in a country village. Undoubtedly between | diet .and physique there.,ia an. intimate is< :qui'te as--important t% study, in relation fet§ the public pu>e ait, Sanitation, and water in BatteYsea there is "a municipal milk supply, the milk being sterilised. One day, perhaps, the London councils!; will not only have dairies, and baths, and washhonses, and free libraries, and art galleries, and parks, and municipal kitchens, Every tourist knows the cost of living 'en pension/ taking, the table d'hote meals, and of living in the restaurant' ala carte.' The poor of London insist upon the latter-principle, favors ing the cook shop or baked potato can as the alternative to the tea and'bloater or stew, which represents the height of their culinary achievements at homo. They never get beyond the rudiments of domestic, cooking, if as far, unless the wives have been domestic servants in middle class households, and itnea, accustomed as they have been to kitcheners end gas stoves, they cannot do much with a bedroom grate and a saucepan, A municipal kitchen might do a great deal to popularise unaccustomed food which is wholesome and sustaining porridge, hominy and lentil soup; -for instance—and it certainly would save a great deal of waste.„ And *by < taking care that, potatoes did hot occupy tod prominent a place in the daily menu, it might make it easier to prevent one's angry passions from rising~ always assuming that potatoes! are really at the bottom of the mischiefi - •! «rr '■•