SALT IN THE NAVY.

Waikato Argus, Volume III, Issue 212, 20 November 1897, Page 2 (Supplement)

SALT IN THE NAVY.

That it is only within the last few day* that the Admiralty have sanctioned the use of salt in the bluejacket's daily allowance of food will come a 3 a surprise to not a few. Hitherto, if the sailor required suit ho had to purchase it. It was practically the only condiment omitted from the ordinary cruet list, and tho reason of this omission until quite lately is not far to seek. In the old days of wooden ships Jack's diet consisted largely of salted meats, and salt on the tahle would have been an obvious, and most probably an irritating, superfluity. But owing largely to tho increased facilities and improvements in the machinery for preserving meats without the use of salts or added substances at all as well also to the fact that our modern warships arc seldom many days' steam from port, " salt horse " has. greatly to the increased comfort and well-being of our sailors, practically become a thing of the past—at any rate, as an exclusivo articlo of diet. Halt is now, therefore, a a necessity wherewith not only to season food, but as experiments have shown to assist very materially in its assimilation. As is well known, salt promotes tho diffusion of iluiils through tho membrances, and it very distinctly increases the solubility of certain nutrient substances It has been said that the entiro withdrawal of common salt from food would be fatal, an absolutely saltless diet speedily leading to albuminuria. This concession, therefore, is of the utmost importance, and it is a matter of surprise that the Admiralty have been so tardy in granting it.—Lancet.