THE CHEMISTRY OF FOOD.

Southland Times, Issue 1550, 12 March 1872, Page 3

THE CHEMISTRY OF FOOD.

A man's stomach requires to be filled with food to induce a proper action of that organ. It a person were to take merely the essence of his dinner — minus the large amount of probably useless matter— we doubt whether he would enjoy good health, or even his meal. He would, of course, obtain sufficient nutriment, but would the stomach assimilate it ? A spoonful of Liebig's extract makes a pint of excellent soup, with the etceteras ; but it is a very doubtful matter whether a spoonful taken as it is would be equally satisfying. But there is, nevertheless, much truth in the statement that " when the bone, fat, and water are deducted from butcher's meat, as usually purchased for family use, the residuum is obtained at a high cost." In bread, every hundred pounds weight is found to contain 80 pounds of nutritious matter ; butcher's meat, averaging the various sorts, contains only 31 pounds. Turnips, which are the mosfc aqueous of all vegetables used for domestic purposes, furnish only 30 pounds of nutritious substance in 100 pounds; carrots, 14 pounds ; and, what is remarkable as being in opposition to the hitherto acknowledged theory, 100 pounds of potatoes yield only 25 pounds of substance which is nutritious. According to this estimate, L pound of good bread is worth 3 pounds of potatoes ; 75 pounds of bread and 30 pounds of butcher's meat are equal to 300 pounds of potatoes ; showing that, for the sake of economy, this vegetable cannot be properly used, except when it can be obtained at a low cost. Eggs, though nutritious in some respects, cannot support life without the addition of other food containing phosphates. Liebig says, " With meat we are able to sustain the life of a carnivorous animal, but not so with eggs ; a dog eats the egg, but does not digest it ; and ia the presence of a dishful of boiled albumen, or boiled yolk of eggs, or both together, he will die of starvation. On the other hand, rice, which contains the phosphate, is wanting in albumen, and must be eaten in conjunction with meat or milk to supply this deficiency. If the matter of diet were more thoroughly looked into, increased health would frequently be obtained at a saving of expense. — English Mechanic.

Ballet girls who live by their feet live above their income.