A NEW DIET FOR ATHLETES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 269, 8 June 1880, Page 2

A NEW DIET FOR ATHLETES.

If the jvrt of training, in wh'ch il-iring the past lew weeks not only th<' University but a whole hoat' of individuals belonging to various 1 ranches of the at'iletic world have been engaging consists mainly in the mothod oi in.ina - ing the digestive organs of the patient, it is possible, argues the Globe, that " papaine " will befere long be as tn usetul auxiliary in the dieting of competitors. It was i tated it was stated at the last meeting ot the Chemical so.iety of France that a learned academician, M. Wurtz, had completed the exj eriments annonnced by him a year ago to the academy of Sciences on the uses and virtues of this new product. Papine is composed of the Juice extracted fro:n the fruit of a tree ailed the I'a paw tree, which is n native of south America and may jrobably be grown in any country n<'»r the' Equator.. The juice is subjec ed to various processes m >re or less unintelligible to the vulgar mind, and then mixed with a large proportion of w<»t«'r when it exhibivs strong powers o artifical dige. ton, and produces some results which are certainly curious even if th y are not destined to become particularly useful in the me lical world. In-the most, successful of his experiments M. VVanz diluted two gremme*; of papaine, which lie was obliged to use in a somewhat impure state, owing to the impossibility of freeing it entirely troni the foreign substances adhering to v, in a .glass containing 200 cubic centimetres ol water. Into the bath

tiius prepared was introduced an Hllated frog,-weighing 5o grammes, which was left to be operated npon by the spontan—ous effects < f the liquid. - In .two hoars the wretchpd o< cupant of the bath began to show signs of his impending fate, hru skin became gradually worn away by the notion of the papine. Foup'hours more elapsed, and the muscular actionf of the beast appeared to be paralysed.? Hi» movements became slack, and soon after ceased altogether. The next stage was the gradual disappearance. of the body itself, which faded away, as it were, : . after remaining in the shape of a sort J of film, the conformation of which grew every minute less distinct.' On the m>niing of the following day the frog had altopcther disappeared, and nothing but the opal tint in the water betrayed any vestage of the creature which had so lately been struggling in the liquid. The peculiarity of papaine is its power of acting independently, whereas to produce anything like a similar effect with pepsine it would be necessary to assist 'ls operation by the addition of certain kinds < f acid measured very accurately. . y'