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LECTURES ON FOOD. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY BAILUERK, TINDALL AND COX,, 
 
 KINO WILLIAM 8TKEKT. 
 
ON FOOD: 
 
 VARIETIES, CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, NUTRITIVE VALUE, 
 
 COMPARATIVE DIGESTIBILITY, 
 
 PHYSIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS AND USES, PREPARATION, 
 
 CULINARY TREATMENT, 
 
 PRESERVATION, ADULTERATION, ETC., 
 
 BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF 
 
 cur Cantor Wtttnxtn 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF ARTS, MANUFACTURES, 
 AND COMMERCE, 
 
 IN THE MONTHS OF 
 
 JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, 1868. 
 
 BY 
 
 H. J.ETHEBY, M.B., M.A., Ph.D., &C, 
 
 PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY IN THE COLLEGE OF THE LONDON HOSPITAL, 
 
 AND MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH AND FOOD ANALYST 
 
 FOR THE CITY OF LONDON. 
 
 SECOND EDITION, 
 
 ENLARGED AND IMPROVED. 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 
 WILLIAM WOOD AND COMPANY, 
 
 27 Great Jones Street. 
 
 1872. 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 It is necessary to inform the reader that the following 
 Lectures were not originally intended for publication, 
 but were delivered, from very brief notes, before the 
 Society of Arts — the subject having been selected by 
 the Council of the Society. Finding, however, that the 
 lectures have unexpectedly received a large share of 
 attention, and have been printed verbatim in several 
 English and American Journals, and that American and 
 French editions of them were in course of publication, 
 I have been induced to revise them more carefully, and 
 to place them in an amended form before the public. All 
 the tables, therefore, have been re-calculated, in order 
 that the numbers might be in accordance with the most 
 approved analytical data. 
 
 In dealing, however, with so large a subject as the 
 economy of food, it was difficult, on the one hand, to 
 
vi Preface to the First Edition. 
 
 select points of interest, and, on the other, to treat them 
 with sufficient clearness within the narrow limits of a 
 short course of four lectures ; and therefore, after due 
 consideration, I thought it best to give a brief popular 
 account of the different varieties of human food, and their 
 dietetical values; and to point out the relation which 
 exists between food and labour; and to explain the 
 principles involved in the proper construction of dietaries. 
 Relying upon the experimental data of Dr. Frankland 
 and others respecting the thermotic power of different 
 kinds of food, and the equivalent of that power in 
 mechanical work, as ascertained by the investigations of 
 Mayer and of [Joule (a), I have endeavoured to express 
 the labour value of most of the commoner articles of 
 diet. Looking also at the actual amount of work per- 
 formed by an ordinary individual, with a certain fixed 
 diet, it has been easy to determine the opus vitale or 
 internal work of the human body in performing the 
 physiological functions of respiration, circulation, nutri- 
 tion, &c. 
 
 In the construction of dietaries I have depended largely 
 upon the enquiries of Dr. Edward Smith, and of Dr. 
 Lyon Playfair — the former having directed his attention 
 to the dietaries of the low-fed operatives of this kingdom, 
 and the latter to the dietaries of well-fed artisans and 
 
 (a) According to Joule, the heat necessary to raise i lb. of water 
 i deg. of F., is capable of lifting 772 lbs. one foot high. 
 
Preface to the First Edition. vii 
 
 others. From these data ,1 have been able to construct 
 standard proportions of food for idleness, and for labour. 
 The importance of this part of the subject cannot be 
 over-rated ; for it not only "concerns the dietetical wants 
 of the community, but it also affects the dietetical treat- 
 ment of our paupers and criminals. At present, the 
 dietaries of the prison and the workhouse, are constructed 
 upon the most capricious principles, and hence there is 
 often either a wasteful excess of food, or a serious defi- 
 ciency of it. As a rule the criminals of this country are 
 over-fed, and it is a very grave question — how much of 
 the turbulence of the jail is referable to the unemployed 
 and even explosive force of a too liberal diet. On the 
 other hand the pauper is frequently under-fed ; and the 
 consequences of it are a lowering of the vital powers, and 
 a general debility of the muscular system. These are 
 important social questions, and must ere long receive the 
 attention they deserve. 
 
 The functions of the several constituents of food 
 have been examined from new points of view ; and the 
 opinions of Liebig, as to the special force-producing or 
 motive power of nitrogenous food have been carefully 
 considered. This has become necessary from the cir- 
 cumstance that they have been recently tested by actual 
 experiment, and it has been found that the muscular 
 energies of the body may be sustained, and considerable 
 -abour performed with a purely non-nitrogenous diet. 
 
viii Preface to the First Edition. 
 
 It is even probable that the thermotic power of food is 
 at all times the true exponent of its mechanical or mo- 
 tive power ; and that this is quite independent of its 
 nitrogenous or non-nitrogenous nature ; although it is 
 evident from chemical considerations that- the carbo- 
 hydrogens, as fat, sugar, and- farinaceous matters, are far 
 more sustaining, in a thermotic sense, than nitrogenous 
 foods, whose functions are perhaps chiefly to repair the 
 waste of tissues. It must be admitted, however, that 
 this part of the subject is still incomplete, and requires 
 much experimental investigation before it can be satis- 
 factorily determined. 
 
 As regards the culinary and other treatment of food, 
 as well as the preservation of it, I have endeavoured not 
 only to discuss the general principles of the matter, but 
 also to give, especially under the last head, very copious 
 illustrations of practice. I have likewise described the 
 circumstances which render food unwholesome, and have 
 briefly adverted to its principal adulterations. In all 
 cases, however, the numerous subjects have been so 
 treated as to condense the facts as closely as possible, 
 in order that they might be brought within the limited 
 space of a very short [course of lectures ; and I submit 
 this to the reader, not merely as a claim upon his indul- 
 gence, but as an excuse for many evident imperfections, 
 and shortcomings. 
 
 LONDON, December, 1869. 
 
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 The rapid sale, within a few months, of a large im- 
 pression of the first edition of this work has been a suffi- 
 cient inducement — to use the words of Mr. Accum — for 
 the publication of a second edition ; and the delay in 
 responding to the call of the public for a reprint of the 
 work has been occasioned by the difficulty in finding 
 time, amidst continued professional engagements, for a 
 careful examination of the pages of the former edition, 
 with a view to corrections and additions, in order that 
 the work might be even more acceptable to the public. 
 
 This, the author has performed to the best of his abi- 
 lity, although, from repeated interruptions in the course 
 of his work, he is conscious of the difficulty of careful 
 supervision, and for this he still asks the reader for his 
 kind indulgence. 
 
 London, April, 1872. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Preface to the First Edition . . . page v. 
 
 Preface to the Second Edition .... ,, ix. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 VARIETIES OF FOOD — THEIR CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND NUTRITIVE 
 
 VALUE. 
 
 Nutritive Standards, as determined by the Amount of Nitrogenous 
 Matter required daily, and by the Amount of it in Human Milk. 
 Proportions of each of the Nutritive Elements in Different Kinds of 
 Food. Amounts of Carbon and Nitrogen required daily, and the 
 Quantities of each in a Poand of Different Descriptions of Food, 
 together with their Money Values. Varieties of Food. — Wheat and 
 Wheaten Flour ; Barley-Meal, Scotch and Pearl Barley ; Oatmeal, 
 Grits, and Flummery; Rye- Meal and Rye-Bread ; Maize, or Indian 
 Corn, Corn Lob, and Corn Flour ; Rice ; Millets ; Quinoa ; Pulses — 
 as Beans, Peas, Revalenta, &c. ; Manioc and Lotsa Meal ; Arrowroots 
 — as Bermuda, Jamaica, East Indian, Brazilian, Tahiti, Portland, 
 English, &c. ; Potatoes and other Esculent Vegetables — as Turnips, 
 Carrots, Parsnips, Artichokes, Onions, Leeks, Cauliflower, Cabbage, 
 &c. ; Banana and Bread Fruit ; Batata, or Sweet Potato ; Ripe Fruits 
 — as Apples, Pears, Peaches, &c. ; Marine Algee — as the Lavers, Car- 
 rageen Moss, &c. ; Fungi and Mushrooms ; Sugar and Treacle ; Milk, 
 Cream, Skim-milk, Butter-milk, &c. ; Cheese ; Meat ; Horse-flesh ; 
 Venison and the Flesh of Wild Animals ; Bacon ; Poultry ; Rabbits ; 
 Fish ; Shell-fish ; Reptiles ; Eggs ; Butter, Lard, Suet, Saline matter, 
 &c. ; Quantities of each Description of Food supplied daily to the 
 Metropolis page i 
 
£ ii Contents. 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 COMPARATIVE DIGESTIBILITY OF FOODS. FUNCTIONS OF DIFFERENT 
 
 FOODS. 
 
 Phenomena of Digestion. — Proportions of the Different Digestive Secre- 
 tions. Saliva and its Functions ; Artificial Substitutes for Saliva. 
 Gastric Juke and its Functions ; Preparation of Pepsin . Pancreatic 
 Fluid and its Functions ; Preparation of Pancreatin and Pancrealised 
 Fat. Pile and its Functions. Intestinal Secretions. — Proportions of 
 Food which Escape Digestion. Relative Digestibility of Different 
 Foods, and of the Individual Constituents of Food — as Albuminous 
 Matters, Fibrinous Substances, Gelatine, Tendon, Fat, Starch, Cel- 
 lulose, Gum, and Saline Compounds. Functions of Food — as of Water, 
 Albuminous Matters, Fat, Sugar, Starchy Substances, Saline Com- 
 pounds, &c. Hypothesis of Liebig, as to the Force Function of 
 Nitrogenous Matter. Experiments of Fick and Wislicenus on a Non- 
 nitrogenous Diet. Amount of Labour Performed and Nitrogen 
 Excreted as Urea, &c. Parke's Experiments in the like manner on 
 Two Soldiers. Smith's Experiments on the Carbonic Acid Exhaled 
 from the Lungs when the Body is at Rest and when at Work. Func- 
 tions of Fat. Functions of S tarchy and Saccharine Matters. Ther- 
 motic and Motive Powers of Fat, Sugar, and Starch. Functions of 
 Saline Compounds — as of Salt, Alkaline nnd Earthy Phosphates, &c. 
 Functions of Tea, Coffee, Cocoa, &c. Functions of Alcohol, and of 
 the Various Condiments as Pepper, Mustard, Spices, &c. Actual and 
 Potential Energy of a Given Quantity of Different Foods, when Con- 
 sumed in the Body, and when Burnt in Oxygen. Mechanical Power 
 of a Subsistence Diet and a Working Diet. Amount of Work Per- 
 formed Daily by Different Individuals. Amount of Internal Work, 
 as of Circulation and Respiration. Relative Cost of Human Labour, 
 Horse Labour, and the Work of a Steam Engine ; Weight and Cost 
 of Different Articles of Food to Perform the same Amount of Work. 
 Fattening Functions of Food. — Proportions of the several Constituents 
 of Food Appropriated by Different Animals during the Process of 
 Fattening rAGE 46 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 CONSTRUCTION OF DIETARIES—PREPARATION AND CULINARY TREAT- 
 MENT OF FOODS. 
 
 Considerations involved in the Construction of Dietaries.— Actual Dieteti- 
 cal Wants of the Body, as Determined from the Dietaries of Farm 
 
Contents. xiij 
 
 Labourers and others, and from the Amounts of Carbon and Nitro- 
 gen Excreted. Amounts of Food yielding the Plastic Matter Neces- 
 sary for a Man's Daily Diet. Dietaries of Low-fed Operatives, and 
 of Well-fed Operatives. Dietaries of Hospitals, Prisons, Workhouses, 
 and Lunatic Asylums. Model Dietaries for the Poorer Classes. 
 Dietaries of Children. Dieraries for the Development of Muscular 
 Tissue, as in Training, and for the Production of Fat, as well as for 
 the Suppression of it. Mr. Banting's Dietary. Modes of Associating 
 Different Foods so as to Secure the Proper Proportions of the Chief 
 Cons ituents. Times for Taking Food. Habits of the Romans, and 
 of the English, in the Middle Ages. A Modern Dinner. A Dinner 
 of Horse-flesh. Proportions of Food at Breakfast, Dinner, and 
 Supper. Diseases arising from Over-feeding, and from Under-feeding, 
 and from an Improper Association of Foods. Treatment of Foods, as 
 in the Preparation of Farinaceous Foods — Arrow-root, Semola, Semo- 
 lina, Maccaroni, Vermicelli, Bread, &c. Different Kinds of Bread — 
 Fermented and Unfermented. Farinaceous Foods for Infants — 
 Liebig's Preparations of Malt, Milk, and Wheaten Flour. Fermented 
 Vegetable Substances, as Sauer-Kraut. Pickles. Preparation of Tea, 
 Coffee, Cocoa, Chocolate, &c The Coffee and Chocolate Houses of 
 London. Treatment of Animal Foods, as in Boiling, Baking, Roast- 
 ing, and Frying — Relative Advantages and Economy of thee Pro- 
 cesses. Preparation of Soup. Liebig's Extract of Meat. Economy 
 of the Kitchen. Cook-shops PAGE 104 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 PRESERVATION OF FOOD — UNWHOLESOME AND ADULTERATED FOOD. 
 
 Preservation of $Ieat. History of the Process and General Principles 
 of it Preservation of Food by Drying. Charqui or South American 
 Beef, Pemmican, Preserved Eggs, Preserved Milk, Dried Vegetables . 
 — the Patents of Edwards, Grillett, Masson, Devaux, Chollett, and 
 others. Preservation of Food by Excluding Atmospheric Air, as in 
 the Patents of Plowden, De Heine, Appert, Goldner, Warrington, 
 Redwood, and others. Preservation of Food by Cold, and by Chemi- 
 cal Agents, as Vinegar, Salt, Spirit, Syrup, &c. Unsound and 
 Diseased Meat. Custom of the Jews in Searching fjr Disease in 
 Slaughtered Animals. Overseers of the Markets of Ancient Rome. 
 Regulations respecting the Sale of Meat on the Continent. Inspec- 
 tion of Meat in the City Markets. Quantity Seized and Condemned 
 Annually. Signs of Good and of Bad Meat. Effects of Diseased 
 Meat on the Human System. Effects of Meat Infected with Parasites, 
 
xiv Contents. 
 
 as Measles, Trichina, &c. Meat RenJered Unwholesome by the Food 
 of the Animal. Poisonous Fishes. Effects of Putrid Meat and 
 Mouldy Meat, as German Sausages and Musty Cheese. Poisonous 
 Grain, as Ergotised Grain, Darnel, Mouldy Flour, Bread, &c. 
 Adulterations of Food. Accum's Treatise thereon. Various Classes of 
 Adulterations, as when it is Practised to Increase the Bulk or Weight 
 of the Article, to Improve its Appearance, and to Give it a False 
 Strength. Examples of each of these Kinds of Adulteration. Con- 
 clusion page 182 
 
 TABLES. 
 
 FAGE. 
 
 I. Proportion", of Different Foods required to Yield 1,220 
 
 Grains of Nitrogenous Matter - 3 
 
 II. Nutritive Equivalents, calculated according to the Amounts 
 
 of Nitrogen in the Dry Substances ; Human Milk being 
 
 100 3 
 
 III. Nutritive Values of Food as regards Composition - 5 
 
 IV. in Relation to Cost 6 
 
 V. Percentage Amounts of Nitrogen and Mineral Matter in the 
 
 Different Products of the Mill - - - 11 
 
 VI. Composition of Milk of Different Animals - - 31 
 
 VII. Percentage Proportions and Nutritive Value of Carcass and 
 
 Offal .............. 36 
 
 VIII. Amounts of Digestive Fluids Secreted Daily, and the Pro- 
 portions of their Chief Constituents - 47 
 IX. Relative Digestibility of Animal Substances 56 
 
 X. of Vegetable Substances ... - jg 
 
 XI. Calorific and Motive Power of 10 Grains of certain Foods in 
 
 their Natural State 77 
 
 XII. Percentage Composition of the Mineral Matters in the Blood 80 
 XIII. Thermotic Power and Mechanical Energy of Various Foods 
 in their Natural Condition, when completely Burnt in 
 Oxygen, and when Oxidised into Carbonic Acid, Water, 
 and Urea, in the Animal Body - - - 94 
 
Contents. xv 
 
 XIV. Actual Daily Work in lbs. riised I foot high - - 96. 
 
 XV. Weight and Cost of various articles of Diet required to 
 
 Raise a Man (140 lbs. ) to the Height of 10,000 feet - 98 
 XVI. Proportions of the several Constituents of Food, Appro- 
 priated and Used by Different Animals - - - - 99, 
 XVII. Average Daily Diet of Farm Labourers in the United 
 
 Kingdom- 106- 
 
 XVIII. Daily Diet according to Work Done 107 
 
 XIX. — Requirements of the Body - - 1 10. 
 
 XX. Amounts of Food Yielding 200 Grains of Nitrogen or 
 2 '97 ozs. of Plastic Matter, Necessary for a Man's Daily 
 Diet ... ... - - in 
 
 XXI. Weekly Dietaries of Low-fed Operatives, calculated as 
 
 Adults. (Dr. E. Smith) 113, 
 
 XXII. Daily Dietaries of Well-fed Operatives (Playfaik.) - - 115, 
 
 XXIII. Dietaries to Furnish" as nearly as possible, 30,100 Grains 
 
 of Carbon, and 1,400 Grains of Nitrogen per Man Weekly 
 
 — Women take One-tenth less - - - - - - 117- 
 
 XXIV. Maximum, Minimum, and Average Composition of Woman's 
 
 Milk compared with the Average Composition of Cow's 
 
 Milk - - 118. 
 
 XXV. Daily Proportions of Carbon and Nitrogen required in the 
 
 Food at Different Ages per Pound Weight of the Body - 120. 
 
 XXVI. Relative Proportions of Food at Different Meals - - 136 
 
 XXVII. Composition of the Extracts of Meat of Commerce - 174 
 
 XXVIII. Composition of Various Samples of Condensed Milk - - 192 
 XXIX. Specific Gravity of Skimmed Milk when Diluted with Dif- 
 ferent Proportions of Water - - - - 235, 
 
Erratum. — For Table VIII., at page 47, read as follows 
 
 
 Table VIII. 
 
 
 Amounts of Digestive 
 
 Fluids Secreted Daily, 
 
 and the Proportions 
 
 of 
 
 their chief 
 
 Constituents 
 
 Rolil 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 Slitters 
 
 Active Princ pies. 
 
 
 lbs. 
 
 gIB. 
 
 grs. 
 
 Saliva 
 
 3'53 
 
 231 
 
 116 of ptyalin. 
 
 Gastric Juice . 
 
 14 - 1I 
 
 2963 
 
 1482 of pepsin. 
 
 Pancreatic fluid 
 
 0-44 
 
 3°9 
 
 39 of pancreatin. 
 
 Bile 
 
 3 '53 
 
 1234 
 
 -58{1 e S iC 
 
 Intestinal mucus 
 
 0-44 
 
 46 
 4783 
 
 i of organic 
 ~__ ) ferment. 
 
 Total 
 
 2205 
 
 _ » of special 
 '~ i t solvents. 
 
ON FOOD. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 VARIETIES OF FOOD — THEIR CHEMICAL COMPOSITION 
 AND NUTRITIVE VALUE. 
 
 The economy of food, in its fullest signification, is a 
 matter of national importance ; for the political influence 
 of a nation is as much dependent upon 'the muscular 
 strength of the people as "upon their intelligence and 
 commercial industry ; and this strength is wholly refer- 
 able to a right use and proper distribution of food. 
 
 We perceive this not merely in the calamities of actual 
 want, as in the fevers of famine, but also in the less pro- 
 minent, but equally significant, decline of health in times 
 of only partial distress, when the vigour and energy of the 
 poorer part of the population are so reduced as to render 
 them an easy prey to disease. In fact, the experience of 
 our public hospitals too often elicits the fact that the 
 wasted power of the patient has been the advent of in- 
 curable disorder. Nor is this all ; for as Mr. Simon 
 observes — " Long before insufficiency of diet is a matter 
 of hygienic concern, long before the physiologist would 
 think of counting the grains of nitrogen and carbon 
 which intervene between life and starvation, the house 
 
 B 
 
On Food. 
 
 hold will have been utterly destitute of material comfort ; 
 clothing and fuel will have been scantier than food ; 
 against inclemencies of weather there will have been no 
 adequate protection; dwelling-space will have been 
 stinted to the degree in which over-crowding produces 
 or increases disease ; the home will be where shelter can 
 be cheapest bought, where sanitary appliances are least 
 considered, and where cleanliness is almost impossible." 
 And all this distress falls heaviest upon those who are 
 least able to bear it — the mother and her children ; for 
 the father, to be able to work, even lightly, must eat, and 
 thus the others are the largest sufferers. Bad, however, 
 as the immediate consequences are, they are nothing in 
 comparison to the remote — the sickly race that comes of 
 want. 
 
 In examining, therefore, this question of the economy 
 of food, we must not only look at the nutritive value of 
 different articles of diet, but we must also consider how 
 food can be best distributed and utilised. 
 
 To-day we will investigate the principal varieties of 
 food, and ascertain their peculiar qualities and dietetical 
 values. For this purpose it would be a great advantage 
 to have some simple standard of comparison, but this is 
 avowedly a difficult matter, for if we compare foods 
 according to the proportions of their principal consti- 
 tuents, as the albuminous, starchy, saccharine, and saline, 
 we shall find that the relative quantities vary to such 
 a degree as to make the comparison almost useless; and 
 if we fix our attention on one of these constituents — the 
 nitrogenous, for example —and make it the exponent of 
 nutritive value, we get into the difficulty of either over- 
 loading the equivalent with a large amount of carbona- 
 ceous material, or having it deficient therein. If, for 
 instance, we desire to know the quantities of different 
 foods which would furnish the 1220 grains of nitrogenous 
 matter required by a man in his daily diet, we should 
 find that the following are the proportions : — 
 
Nutritive Standards. 
 
 Table I. 
 
 
 Proportions of Different Foods Required to Yield 
 
 1220 Grains of 
 
 Nitrogenous Matter. 
 
 
 Grains. 
 
 Pounds. 
 
 Skirm cheese . . . 2,723 
 
 0'4 
 
 Lean meat . 
 
 
 
 2,42 1 
 
 09 
 
 White fish . 
 
 
 
 6,740 
 
 10 
 
 IFat meat . 
 
 
 
 8,971 
 
 1 "3 
 
 • IEat bacon . 
 
 
 
 12,449 
 
 r8 
 
 ©read . . 
 
 
 
 15,062 
 
 2"I 
 
 Jlice . . . 
 
 
 
 19,365 
 
 2-8 
 
 "New milk . 
 
 
 
 29,756 
 
 4-2 
 
 IPotatoes 
 
 
 
 58,095 
 
 8-3 
 
 [Parsnips or turnips 
 
 1 1 1,000 
 
 159 
 
 13eer or porter 
 
 
 
 1,110,000 
 
 158-6 
 
 In this manner tables have been constructed of the 
 ■nutritive values of food, and I show you one of them. 
 
 Table II. 
 
 Nutritive equivalents — calculated according to the amounts of 
 Nitrogen in the Dry Substances; Human milk being 100/ — 
 
 Rice . . 
 
 . . 81 
 
 IPotatoes . 
 
 . 84 
 
 Maize 
 
 . 100 
 
 IRye . . 
 
 . 106 
 
 IRadish . 
 
 106 
 
 Wheat . 
 
 . 119 
 
 IBarley . 
 
 • 125 
 
 Human milk 
 'Cow's milk. 
 "Yolk of egg 
 '•Oysters . . 
 
 Vegetable. 
 
 Oats . . . 
 White bread 
 Black bread 
 
 Peas . . . 
 
 Lentils . . 
 
 Haricots. . 
 
 Beans . . , 
 
 Animal. 
 
 100 Cheese . . 
 
 237 Eel . . . 
 
 305 Mussel . . 
 
 305 Ox-liver . . 
 
 138 
 142 
 166 
 
 239 
 276 
 
 283 
 
 320 
 
 331 
 434 
 528 
 
 570 
 2 
 
4 
 
 On Food. 
 
 
 Pigeon . . 
 
 756 
 
 , Veal . . 
 
 • • 873 
 
 Mutton . . 
 
 773 
 
 Beef . . 
 
 . . 880 
 
 Salmon . . 
 
 776 
 
 Pork . . 
 
 • • 893 
 
 Lamb . . 
 
 833 
 
 Turbot . 
 
 . . 898 
 
 White of egg 
 
 845 
 
 Ham . . 
 
 . . 910 
 
 Lobster . . 
 
 . 859 
 
 Herring . 
 
 . .914 
 
 Skate . . 
 
 ■ 859 
 
 
 
 From which it would seem that ham and red herring 
 in the dry state are more than nine times as nutritious 
 as the dry matter of human milk. I hardly need say 
 that comparisons of this description are of little practical 
 value, -for they furnish no indication of the digestive 
 labour required to utilise the products ; besides which, 
 we are far from being assured, at the present time, that 
 the nitrogenous elements of our foods are the most im-; 
 portant. 
 
 In framing, therefore, a table of alimentary equiva- 
 lents, regard must be paid to all the constituents, and 
 this I have endeavoured to do in Table No. 3, wherein I 
 have shown the percentage proportions of nitrogenous 
 and carbonaceous matters ; but here again the actual 
 value of the several carbonaceous compounds is very 
 different ; for, although the fattening and respiratory 
 powers of starch, gum, sugar, and pectin are perhaps 
 nearly the same, yet the power of fat, is about 2-5 times 
 as great as that of sugar ; and this must be considered 
 irrespective of other functions of fat in estimating the 
 value of carbonaceous food. I have therefore given the 
 proportions of carbonac g us matters when calculated as 
 starch. 
 
 Another method of determining the values of food, is 
 by estimating the proportions of nitrogen and carbon in 
 them, afad comparing them with the proportions required 
 in a standard diet. 
 
 Judging from; the minimum quantities of food which 
 an ordinary individual is capable of existing on, without 
 
Nutritive Values of Food. 
 
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 On Food. 
 
 suffering in health, it would seem that about 3,888 grains 
 of carbon and 181 grains of nitrogen are required in his 
 daily diet. These proportions have been determined 
 from a large number of observations, as by those of Dr. 
 Lyon Playfair, in his inquiries into the dietaries of hos- 
 pitals, prisons, and workhouses, and by those of Dr. 
 Edward Smith, in his examination of the amounts of 
 food which the Lancashire operatives were capable of 
 living on during the cotton famine, and also by his in- 
 quiries into the dietaries of in-door labourers. The pro- 
 portions which Dr. Smith gives as a famine or barely 
 sustaining diet, are as follows : — 
 
 Adult woman 
 Adult man . 
 
 Carbon (grains). 
 
 39°° 
 
 4300 
 
 Nitrogen (grains). 
 180 
 20O 
 
 Average adult . 
 
 4100 
 
 190 
 
 These proportions are contained in 2lbs., and in 
 2lbs. 40ZS. of bread ; and they closely accord with 
 another set of facts, derived from an examination of the 
 amounts of carbon and nitrogen exhaled and secreted 
 from the body during health and idleness. 
 
 Taking these numbers, therefore, as the exponents of 
 the nutritive values of food, we are able to construct 
 the following table : — 
 
 Table IV '.—Nutritive Values of Food. 
 
 Gas. per Pound. Ges. for One Weeklv Cost op 
 
 Value Penny. Famine Diet for 
 
 
 t 
 
 
 Pouhd. 
 
 
 28,700grs 
 
 .1330grs. 
 
 
 Carbon. 
 
 Nitrogen. 
 
 Carbon. 
 
 Nitrogen. 
 
 Carbon. '. 
 d. 
 
 10 -e 
 
 Nitrogen. 
 
 Split peas . 
 
 . 2,698 
 
 24S 
 
 1 2,698 
 
 248 
 
 5-4 
 
 Indian meal 
 
 . 3,016 
 
 120 
 
 1 3,016 
 
 120 
 
 9-5 
 
 11-1 
 
 Barley meal 
 
 . 2,563. 
 
 68 
 
 1 2.563 
 
 68, 
 
 11-2. 
 
 19-6 
 
 Eye meal . 
 
 . 2,693 
 
 86 
 
 \\ 2,154 
 
 69 
 
 13/3 
 
 19-3 
 
 Seconds fl-our 
 
 . 2,700 
 
 116, 
 
 14 1,800 
 
 77 
 
 15-9 
 
 17-3 
 
 Oatmeal 
 
 . 2,831 
 
 136 
 
 2 1,415, 
 
 68. 
 
 20-3 
 
 19 '6 
 
 Bakeia' bread 
 
 . 1,975 
 
 sa 
 
 14 1*317 
 
 59. 
 
 21-7 
 
 22-5 
 
Ntitritive Values of Food. 
 
 
 Ges. per Poukd. 
 
 Gjrs. fob One 
 
 "Weekly Cost of 
 
 
 
 
 Value 
 
 Penny. 
 
 Famine Diet fok 
 
 
 '" 
 
 Pound 
 
 /■ 
 
 
 28,700 grs. 1330 grs 
 
 
 Carbon. 
 
 Nitrogen 
 
 t 
 
 d. 
 
 2 
 
 Carbon. 
 
 Nitrogen. 
 
 Carbon. 
 
 Nitrogen. 
 d. 
 
 29-5 
 
 Pearl barley 
 
 . 2,660 
 
 91 
 
 1,330 
 
 45 
 
 d. 
 21-6 
 
 Rice . 
 
 . 2,732 
 
 68 
 
 2 
 
 1,366 
 
 34 
 
 21-0 
 
 39 1 
 
 Potatoes 
 
 . 769 
 
 22 
 
 0\ 
 
 1,538 
 
 44 
 
 18-6 
 
 30-2 
 
 T-umips 
 
 . 263 
 
 13 
 
 04 
 
 526 
 
 26 
 
 54-7 
 
 51-1 
 
 Green vegetables 
 
 . 420 
 
 14 
 
 04 
 
 40 
 
 28 
 
 34-1 
 
 47-5 
 
 Carrots 
 
 . 508 
 
 14 
 
 1 
 
 508 
 
 14 
 
 56-5 
 
 95-0 
 
 Parsnips 
 
 . 554 
 
 12 
 
 1 
 
 554 
 
 12 
 
 51-8 
 
 110-8 
 
 Sugar 
 
 2,955 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 591 
 
 — 
 
 48-6 
 
 — 
 
 Treacle 
 
 . 2,395 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 2,395 
 
 , — 
 
 12-0 
 
 — 
 
 Buttermilk . 
 
 . 387 
 
 44 
 
 0i 
 
 774 
 
 88 
 
 37-1 
 
 15-1 j 
 
 "Whey . 
 
 . 154 
 
 13 
 
 0i 
 
 626 
 
 52 
 
 45-8 
 
 25-6 
 
 Skimmed milk 
 
 . 438 
 
 43 
 
 1 
 
 438 
 
 43 
 
 65-5 
 
 30-9 
 
 New milk . 
 
 , 599 
 
 44 
 
 2 
 
 299 
 
 22 
 
 96-0 
 
 60-5 
 
 Skim cheese 
 
 . 1,947 
 
 483 
 
 3 
 
 649 
 
 161 
 
 44-2 
 
 8-3 
 
 Cheddnr cbee3e , 
 
 3,344 
 
 306 
 
 8 
 
 418 
 
 38 
 
 68 -b - 
 
 35-0 
 
 Bullocks' liver . 
 
 934 
 
 204 
 
 3 
 
 311 
 
 68 
 
 92-2 
 
 19-6 
 
 Mutton 
 
 1,900 
 
 189 
 
 5 
 
 380 
 
 38 
 
 75-5 
 
 35 
 
 Beef . 
 
 .1,854 
 
 184 
 
 8 
 
 232 
 
 23 
 
 123-7 
 
 57-8 
 
 Fat pork 
 
 ..■4,113 
 
 106 
 
 7 
 
 588 
 
 15 
 
 48-8 
 
 88-7 
 
 Dry bacon . 
 
 , 5,987 
 
 95 
 
 9 
 
 665 
 
 11 
 
 431 
 
 120-9 
 
 Green bacon 
 
 , 5,426 
 
 76 
 
 8 
 
 678 
 
 10 
 
 423 
 
 133-0 
 
 White fish . 
 
 871 
 
 195 
 
 2 
 
 436 
 
 98 
 
 65-8 
 
 13-6 
 
 Bed herrings 
 
 , 1,435 
 
 217 
 
 ' 4 
 
 359 
 
 54 
 
 80-0 
 
 24-6 
 
 Dripping . 
 
 . 5,456 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 909 
 
 — 
 
 31-6 
 
 — 
 
 Suet . 
 
 4,710 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 , 673 
 
 — 
 
 42-6 
 
 — 
 
 Lard . 
 
 4,819 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 535 
 
 — 
 
 53-6 
 
 — 
 
 Salt butter . 
 
 . 4,585 
 
 — 
 
 • 12 
 
 382 
 
 — 
 
 75-1 
 
 — 
 
 Fresh butter 
 
 6,456 
 
 — . 
 
 16 
 
 -403 
 
 — 
 
 71-2 
 
 — 
 
 Cocoa 
 
 3,934 
 
 140 
 
 4 
 
 983 
 
 35 
 
 29-2 
 
 38-0 
 
 Beer and porter . 
 
 274 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 274 
 
 1 
 
 104-7 
 
 1330-0 
 
 And now we proceed to examine in detail the general 
 properties and the nutritive qualities of different foods. 
 
 Primarily, all our foods are derived from the vegetable 
 kingdom, for no animal has the physiological power 
 of associating mineral elements and forming them into 
 food. What we may yet do by means of chemical 
 agencies in the laboratory is another question ; but 
 within our own bodies there is no faculty for such 
 conversion. As I shall hereafter explain to you, our 
 functions are of an opposite kind. We are destructive 
 
8 On Food. 
 
 creatures, not constructive. It is our province to pull 
 down what the vegetable has built up, and to let loose 
 the affinities which the plant has brought into bondage, 
 and thus to restore to inanimate Nature the matter and 
 cosmical force which the growing plant had taken from 
 her. 
 
 Vegetable Foods. 
 
 Foremost, therefore, of our foods are those which 
 come at once from the vegetable kingdom ; and of these 
 the cereals are the most important, as wheat, barley, oats, 
 rye, maize, or Indian corn, rice, millet or durra, and 
 Guinea corn. 
 
 Wheat. — Different species of this grain are culti- 
 vated, but the most common in this country is Triticum 
 vulgare, of which there is a summer and winter variety. 
 
 The grain varies a good deal in composition according 
 to season, climate, and soil ; but, as a rule, the wheat of 
 southern climates, and warm seasons, is richer in gluten, 
 and harder of texture than that of colder climes. The 
 grains are then called stronger, although the wheat from 
 colder climates, from its being softer and kinder, gives a 
 larger proportion of flour. Some of the hardest varieties 
 of wheat, as rivets, are used to strengthen the flour of 
 new grain, which is always unmanageable, and to im- 
 prove that of bad seasons and of damaged quality. 
 
 The structure of the grain is like that of all the cereals ; 
 there is an outer siliceous and woody covering, which is 
 altogether valueless as food ; then there is a layer of rich 
 nitrogenous matter, containing. a digestive body called 
 cerealine, and within that is the flour, which forms the 
 great bulk of the seed. 
 
 When ground whole, it forms brown meal, which is *■ 
 rarely used in England at the present time, although it 
 was the common food of our forefathers, and even now 
 is much employed in Westphalia to make the dark- 
 coloured bread called pumper-nickel. It contains from 
 5 to 12 per cent, of indigestible matter, in the form of 
 
Vegetable Foods. — Wheaten Floiir. 9 
 
 bran, the removal of which, according to Liebig, is only 
 a refinement of luxury ; but, as we shall hereafter see, 
 opinions differ on this important subject. 
 
 The practice at the present time is to bolt or sift the 
 ground meal through sieves, or silks of different degrees 
 of fineness, and thus to remove the coarser bran. The 
 products have different names in different places, and 
 have also different values ; but generally a hundred 
 pounds of wheat will yield from 78 to 80 parts of good 
 serviceable flour, besides about 2 parts of specks, or tails, 
 or tippings ; from 2 to 3 parts of sharps ; about 3 of fine 
 pollard ; from 3.5 to 6 of coarse pollard ; and from 4 to 
 10 of bran. The relative wholesale values of these are 
 about as follows : — 
 
 Vegetable Foods. ^ ^ 
 
 Fine flour ... 56 
 
 Seconds flour 
 Sharps . . . 
 Fine pollards . 
 Coarse pollards 
 Bran .... 
 
 Price per 
 bushel. 
 b. d. 
 
 Price per 
 20 lbs. 
 s. d. 
 
 10 
 
 3 7 
 
 7 9 
 2 
 
 2 9 
 1 6 
 
 1 
 
 1 1 
 
 10 
 
 1 2 
 
 9 
 
 1 3 
 
 56 
 26 
 18 
 
 14 
 12 
 
 The coarser descriptions are used for feeding pigs, and 
 as a condiment for horses. 
 
 Seconds flour is practically the best for domestic use ; 
 and of this there should be at least 80 per cent, obtained 
 from the grain. Attempts have often been made to 
 increase the produce ; for as the bran contains a good 
 deal of nitrogenous matter, and is, moreover, rich in fat 
 and saline substances, it has been thought wasteful to 
 remove it ; but the experimental researches of Poggiale, 
 the learned professor at Val-de-Grace, have shown that 
 at least 50 per cent, of the bran is. perfectly indigestible, 
 and may be passed successively through the bodies of 
 four or five animals without undergoing change. It, 
 moreover, acts as an irritant ; and, by hurrying the food 
 through the alimentary canal, is very likely to cause 
 
io On Food. 
 
 waste. Those who labour hard, as railway navigators, 
 invariably choose the whitest bread for food, believing 
 that it is not only more digestible, but is really stronger, 
 and will enable them to do more work. Without doubt, 
 however, there is room for improvement in the treatment 
 of flour, and in the complete utilisation of its several 
 constituents. M. Mege Mouries has invented a process 
 whereby the outer skin only of the wheat may be re- 
 moved, and from 86 to 88 per cent, of flour realised. 
 The process was examined in 1857, an d reported very 
 favourably of by Dumas, Pelouze, Payen, Peligot, and 
 Chevreul. It will be fully described hereafter. 
 
 M. Mege Mouries also directed attention to the fact 
 that the bran contains a portion of very soluble nitro- 
 genous matter, cerealine, which is of the nature of dias- 
 tase, and has the property of dissolving starch. If it 
 were not that it gave a dark colour and a soft consis- 
 tence to bread, it might be utilised by treating the bran 
 with warm water, and using the water in the preparation 
 of the dough for bread. 
 
 The nutritive value of wheat is shown in Tables No. 3 
 and No. 4 ; and although the average amount of gluten 
 is there set down at about 1 1 per cent., it ranges from 
 8 to 15 per cent. — the largest quantity being found in 
 the wheaten flour of India, Egypt, South America, and 
 the South of Europe. The flour of Genesse, New York, 
 and of Canada, contains about 9.8 per cent. ; Ohio, 
 Maryland, and Richmond (Virginia), from 11.3 to 11.8 
 per cent. ; George Town (South Carolina), and New 
 Orleans, from 13.4 to 13.7 per cent. ; Dantzig, Ham- 
 burgh, and the North of Europe, from 8.9 to 13.3 per 
 cent. ; Spain, Portugal, and the Black Sea, from 10 to 
 15 ; and English from 10.4 to 10.8 per cent. 
 
 It appears, too, that the quantity of gluten, as repre- 
 sented by nitrogen, increases with the coarseness of the 
 flour, and so, also, does the amount of mineral matter, 
 of which phosphoric acid is the chief constituent. 
 
Vegetable Foods. — Barley Meal. I f 
 
 Table V. 
 
 Per-centage amounts of Nitrogen and Mineral Matter in the 
 different Products of the Mill : — 
 
 Mineral 
 Nitrogen. matter. 
 
 Fine flour 170 071 
 
 Tails i'86 0-99 
 
 Fine sharps 2 - 2i r89 
 
 Coarse sharps 2-58 3"8o 
 
 Fine pollard 2-44 5 '50 
 
 Coarse pollard 242 6-50 
 
 Braii 2-39 Too 
 
 Average in whole grain . . i'82 i'62 
 
 The starch and sugar amount to about 70.5 per cent, 
 and the fat to 2 - o ; so that the carbonaceous matters (as- 
 starch) are to the nitrogenous as 7 to 1, which are good 
 proportions. Other facts relating to its nutritive value 
 are shown in Table No. 4. 
 
 Wheaten bread is preferred to all other varieties of 
 bread,- because of its sweetness, and because it may be 
 eaten alone. The nutritive constituents of it are in the 
 same proportion as in wheat — namely, as 1 to 7, and a 
 little more than two pounds of bread will supply the 
 requirements of the system ; although, as I shall here- 
 after explain, it cannot be used alone without loss of 
 health and strength. 
 
 Barley Meal is the chief food of a large number of 
 people in the North of Europe and in the South of Eng- 
 land, where the labourer is partly paid his "wages in meal 
 or grain. It is also used in Wales and Scotland, espe- 
 cially in winter time, when wheaten bread is dear; and 
 to some extent in Ireland. It is employed by about 
 ninety per cent, of the out-door labouring population of 
 England. At the time of Charles I. (1626), according 
 to M'Culloch, it was the usual food of the ordinary sort 
 of people ; and as late as the middle of the last century, 
 
12 On Food. 
 
 hardly any wheat was used in the northern counties of 
 England. In Cumberland the" principal- families used 
 only a small quantity of wheaten bread about Christ- 
 mas-time. The crust of the everlasting goose-pie, 
 which adorned the table of every country family, was 
 invariably made of barley meal. 
 
 The grain is almost always ground whole, and the 
 farina has much resemblance to wheaten flour, but the 
 amount of gluten is very different ; in fact, the nitro- 
 genous matter, which amounts to about six per cent, is 
 chiefly in the form of albumen, hence the bread is heavy 
 and compact, for albumen will not vesiculate or sponge 
 like gluten. The common way of making it into bread 
 is by mixing it with an equal proportion of wheaten 
 flour ; and sometimes it is mixed with oatmeal and rye- 
 meal, and baked into cakes. But the best way of using 
 it is in the form of thick gruel, or stirabout, . which is 
 made by stirring the meal into boiling water. 
 
 Pearl Barley and Scotch Barley are the grain 
 deprived of its husk, and rounded by attrition. The 
 former is more carefully prepared than the latter, but 
 both are used to give consistence to broth. 
 
 The nutritive value of barley meal is somewhat in- 
 ferior to that of wheaten flour, but as the meal is 
 cheaper than flour it is more economical to use it ; in 
 fact, it is almost the cheapest article of diet, as may be 
 seen by reference to Table No. 4. 
 
 Oatmeal and Rye Bread were once the chief diet 
 •of the servants of the wealthy, and even now the former 
 is used by 90 per cent, of the agricultural labourers of 
 England, and by a still larger proportion of the Scotch. 
 The grain is very rich in gluten and fat, and it contains ■ 
 a good quantity of sugar and starch, the microscopic 
 form of which is remarkable. The Scotch meal is always 
 preferable to the English, on account of its higher nutri- 
 tive power. It is prepared by grinding the kiln-dried 
 grains, previously deprived of their skins. The Scotch 
 
Vegetable Foods. — Oatmeal. 
 
 grind it rather coarsely as compared with the practice in 
 England. 
 
 Oatmeal is not nearly so white as wheaten flour, and 
 its taste is peculiar, being at first sweet, then rough and 
 bitter. Like barley meal, it cannot be vesiculated into 
 bread, but it makes good cakes, and these may be either 
 leavened, as is the custom in Yorkshire, or unleavened, 
 as in Scotland. The finer variety of oatmeal is baked 
 thin, but the coarser kind is made into thick cakes, 
 called bannocks. Cakes of this description were the 
 common food of the natives of Lancashire and York- 
 shire : in fact, so lately as the commencement of the 
 Peninsular War, a regiment was raised in East Lanca- 
 shire under the name of " the Haver cake lads," from the 
 circumstance that the recruiting sergeant carried an oat- 
 cake on the point of his sword, as a badge of its nation- 
 ality. In Norway the common food of the peasantry is 
 a thin cake called flad brod, which is made of ground 
 oats (husk and all) mixed with potatoes, and baked on 
 a griddle or frying-pan. A very palatable and rather 
 savoury dish is made in some parts of Scotland by 
 toasting oatmeal before a bright fire, then mixing it 
 with a little beef or mutton fat, and after seasoning it 
 with pepper, salt, and onions chopped small, again 
 toasting it. 
 
 The common method of cooking it, however, is by 
 stirring it with boiling water until it has the consistence 
 of hasty pudding, and in this manner Scotch brose is 
 made ; but if more diluted and boiled for a short time 
 it makes porridge. In Ireland it is mixed with Indian 
 meal, and then stirred into boiling water, thus making 
 the mixture called stirabout. Whey and milk are often 
 used instead of water, and the mixture should be well 
 boiled, as otherwise it is apt to produce pyrosis and 
 flatulence. 
 
 The decorticated grain constitutes grits or groats, and 
 when these are crushed or bruised they go by the name 
 
14 On Food. 
 
 of Emden groats. The sole use of them is for making 
 gruel, a drink that seems to have been a favourite with 
 our forefathers; for in the London Gazette, for Friday, 
 August 13, 1695, there is an advertisement to the effect 
 that water-gruel was always ready at the Marine Coffee- 
 house, in Birchin-lane, Cornhill, every morning from six 
 to eleven o'clock, where as much as from four to five 
 gallons of it were consumed daily. 
 
 The husks of the grains are sold in Scotland under 
 the name of seeds, and these, when steeped in water for 
 a few days, until they become a little sour, like stale 
 brewers' grains, and then squeezed out, produce a liquid 
 which, when boiled down to the consistence of gruel, or 
 ■fchickened with a little oatmeal, makes the food called 
 Jlummery or sowans in Scotland, and sncan in South 
 Wales, which is generally eaten with milk. If it be 
 boiled still more, until it becomes as thick as jelly, it 
 forms bicdrum, or brwchan, as it is named in Wales. 
 Oatmeal is, no doubt, rather hard of digestion, and 
 -causes irritation of the bowels, especially if not suffi- 
 ciently cooked. There is a notion also that it produces 
 heat and irritation of the skin ; and formerly, when suffi- 
 •cient care was not taken to remove the husk from the 
 grain before it was ground, it was not an uncommon 
 ■occurrence to find calculi or concretions of phosphate of 
 lime, mixed with the silky bristles of the grain, in the 
 alimentary canal. Somewhat similar concretions are 
 found at the present time in the bowels of horses that 
 'feed too freely on bran or grains. The nutritive value of 
 ■oatmeal is shown in Tables No. 3 and No. 4, and it will 
 'be noticed that although it is, weight for weight, more 
 nutritive than wheaten flour, yet, considering its price, it 
 : is not so economical. 
 
 Rye Meal is the chief food of northern nations, and 
 was once a common article of diet with ourselves. It 
 forms the dark-coloured and sour-tasting bread of the 
 !North of Europe, and throughout Germany and Holland, 
 
Vegetable Foods. — Indian Corn. 15 
 
 where it is the ordinary food of the lower classes. Some- 
 times it is placed in thin slices between white bread and 
 butter, forming the black bread sandwiches of the rich. 
 In this country it is rarely eaten alone, but is mixed 
 with about twice its bulk of wheaten flour, forming what 
 in many places is called masting and is then made into 
 bread. The nutritive power of rye-meal is a little less 
 than that of flour, and the proportion of the nitrogenous 
 to the carbonaceous constituents is as 1 to 9/8. 
 
 Maize or Indian Corn is one of the most exten- 
 sively used grains in the world. It enters largely into 
 the food of the inhabitants of America, Natal, Italy, 
 Corsica, Spain, the South of France, and the Danubian 
 Principalities. In Mexico and Natal it is literally the 
 staff of life, hardly any other food being used. The 
 ration for a Kafir servant is three pints of Indian corn 
 meal per day, and, although he rarely gets anything else 
 to eat, he manages to keep in good health. The plant 
 was originally obtained from Mexico, where it grows 
 wild, but it has been introduced into Europe, Asia, and 
 Africa, and is largely cultivated in the South of Europe, 
 on the African coast of the Mediterranean, in Turkey, 
 Egypt, India, China, and the islands of the Indian 
 Archipelago. Since the potato famine of 1846 it has 
 been more or less used in Ireland, but its flavour is 
 somewhat harsh, and, therefore, it is not liked when 
 more agreeable food can be obtained. 
 
 The meal is called hominy, or cominy, and its farina 
 has a remarkable form and structure, by which it is 
 easily recognised under the microscope. 
 
 Although the meal is rich in nitrogenous matter and 
 fat (see Table III.), yet it does not make good bread, 
 and therefore it is cooked by either baking it into cakes 
 or by stirring it into boiling water or boiling milk, as in 
 the case of oatmeal, whereby a sort of hasty pudding or 
 thick porridge is obtained. This is the common method 
 of using it in Ireland, and it is flavoured with salt, or 
 
16 On Food. 
 
 butter, or treacle. The favourite mess called corn-lob by 
 the Creoles of British Honduras is prepared with hominy 
 or cominy and milk in the same way, and the favourite 
 polenta of the Italian peasantry is a like preparation, 
 mixed with vegetables and flavoured with bacon. 
 
 Throughout Mexico, where maize is the staple article 
 of food, it is cooked by baking it into cakes — Tortillas. 
 The ripe grain is taken from the cob and boiled with 
 water and a little lye of wood ashes until it is perfectly 
 soft to the core. It is then allowed to cool, and is taken 
 from the pot in small portions at a time, and crushed 
 into a paste between stones — one of the stones being flat 
 (metati), and the other round, like a rolling-pin (metla- 
 pili). In this condition it is kneaded into flat cakes, 
 about six inches in diameter and a third of an inch in 
 thickness. These are immediately baked or toasted 
 upon a thin stone or tile placed over a wood fire, and are 
 served hot. Thinner cakes or biscuits, called totoposte" 
 or totoporte, are made for keeping, and for soldiers' rations 
 on the march. 
 
 Indian meal mixed with maple sugar, and baked into 
 cakes, formed, at one time, the chief article of diet of the 
 now almost extinct Delaware Indians. 
 
 There is a sweet and tender variety of Indian corn 
 called sugar corn, the cob or spike of which is cooked 
 entire while in a young green state, and is either thus 
 served to table as corn in the cob, or the grains are sepa- 
 rated and served like green peas. This is an American 
 luxury of great delicacy. 
 
 When deprived of its gluten and harsh flavour by 
 means of a weak solution of caustic soda, and then dried, 
 it forms the expensive food called Oswego, Maizena, or 
 cornflour, which is now largely used for puddings. 
 
 Lastly, it is often mixed with wheaten flour and baked 
 into bread, but its harsh taste is never completely 
 covered. 
 
 The grain is said to cause disease when eaten for a 
 
Rice. 17 
 
 long time, and without other meal — the symptoms being 
 a scaly eruption upon the hands, great prostration of the 
 vital powers, and death after a year or so, with extreme 
 emaciation. These effects have been frequently ob- 
 served among the peasants of Italy, who use the meal 
 as their chief food ; and the sallow, wheezen look of the 
 natives of the Northern States of America is thought to 
 ' be due to the indigestible preparations of Indian corn, 
 called mush, hominy, or Johnny, which constitute the 
 , chief portion of their daily meals ; but I am not aware 
 of any such effects having been seen in Ireland, where 
 it is often the only article of diet for many months 
 together. 
 
 The nutritive power of Indian meal is very high, and, 
 considering its price, it is , almost, if not altogether, the 
 cheapest food for the poor. Calculated according to 
 the physiological wants of the system, a week's diet for 
 an adult will only cost about lid., and excepting split- 
 peas, which are of difficult digestibility, there is nothing 
 approaching it for economy. 
 
 Rice is the principal food of eastern and southern 
 nations, and is probably coeval with the human race. It 
 is called oruz by the Arab, oruza by the Greek, oryza by 
 the Roman, riz by the French, and reis by the German. 
 It is extensively cultivated in India, China, Arabia, 
 South America, and the southern countries of Europe, 
 and it gives nourishment to not less than a hundred 
 millions of persons. In this country, however, it is 
 rarely employed, except as an adjunct to other .foods. 
 Now and then, in times of scarcity, it is used in the 
 place of potatoes. Perhaps 50 per cent, of our labouring 
 classes use it in this manner. It is imported into this 
 •country in a decorticated or cleaned condition, but 
 when it has the husk upon it, it is called paddy. The 
 kinds which are most esteemed in this country are 
 Carolina and Patna ; but, according to Dr. Watson, 
 there are many Indian varieties which are nearly equal 
 
On Food. 
 
 to the American. The proportion of gluten in it is only 
 about 63 per cent, and it rarely exceeds 7. It is, in 
 fact, one of the least nitrogenous of all the cereals, and 
 cannot be made into bread unless it is mixed with 
 wheaten flour, as is the custom in Paris in making the 
 best white bread. The proportion of nitrogenous to 
 carbonaceous matter is as 1 to 12S, this being about 
 twice the amount of the respiratory constituents of 
 wheat. Rice, therefore, is a good adjunct to highly 
 plastic foods, as ox-liver, poultry, .veal, fish, and even 
 beans and lentils ; with all of which it goes well, espe- 
 cially in the savoury form of curry. Boiled with milk 
 also, and dressed with egg, as rice pudding, it forms a 
 substantial meal ; but in no country is it eaten alone. 
 
 The Millets, called also Dhurra or Dhoora, are 
 another kind of grain, and are derived from many 
 species of plants, as sorghum, penicellaria, p&niscum, &c. 
 Like rice, they are extensively cultivated in India, 
 Egypt, Algeria, and the interior of Africa, where they 
 are important articles of diet. They are a little more 
 nutritious than rice, for they contain, on an average, 
 about 9 per cent, of nitrogenous matter, with 74 of 
 starch and sugar, 26 of fat, and 2*3 of mineral' matter. 
 We have no experience of their nutritive properties in 
 this country, except in feeding birds ; but in India the 
 grains are ground whole and made into bread. The 
 favourite food of the Kaffir in South Africa is crushed 
 millet toasted into the form of brown sawdust. The 
 name by which he knows it is " Amabele" and it is served 
 in a small pot, from which the guests take pinches at a 
 time. A species of millet, called Kaffir corn, is also 
 used in South Africa, and when mixed with maize and 
 fermented it forms a thick* gruel-like drink, named 
 " tchualla" or Kaffir beer. 
 
 The last of the grains of any importance is QuiNOA, 
 a species of chenopodium. It is hardly known in this 
 country, although it is extensively cultivated and con- 
 
Pulses. 1 9 
 
 sumed on the high table-lands of Chili and Peru. Mr. 
 Johnston has described it, and he says there are two 
 varieties of it — the sweet and bitter — both of which 
 grow at an elevation of 13,000 feet above the level of 
 the sea, where barley and rye refuse to ripen. It is very 
 nutritious, and approaches oatmeal in its chemical com- 
 position, the amount of gluten bemg about 19 per cent., 
 the starch and sugar 60 per cent., and the fat 5. 
 
 The next class of farinaceous foods are the PULSES, 
 as peas, beans, and lentils of this country, and the dholls 
 and grams of India. They are grown and eaten in all 
 parts of the world, and are everywhere regarded as very 
 nutritious when they can be digested. Nothing, however, 
 but the most prolonged cooking will serve to help in this 
 particular. As will be seen by reference to the tables, 
 where the composition of peas, the type of all of them, is 
 given, they are rich in nitrogenous matter, for peas and 
 beans contain about 23 per cent, of it, and lentils about 
 25 ; but the carbonaceous constituents amount to only 
 59 per cent., or 1 to 27. They are, therefore, when 
 eaten, invariably associated with fat. In India, the 
 favourite pea {cajanus Indicus) is rubbed with oil before 
 it is cooked. In Yucatan, and throughout the whole of 
 Central America, where black beans, called frijoles, are 
 extensively used as food, they are well boiled in water, 
 and eaten with pepper, salt, and fat pork. Egyptian 
 horse-beans boiled in water and flavoured with ghee and 
 pepper, are much used by the Arabs, especially when 
 they are occupied in laborious work ; and the Hindoo 
 adds lentils to his rice and ghee when he has to work 
 hard, as -in rowing on the Ganges. Peas bannocks, or 
 cakes made from the meal, are a favourite food, with fat 
 and milk, in the south-east of Scotland ; and in this 
 country, butter with peas, and fat bacon with beans, are 
 inseparable companions, and have been for centuries. 
 In the time of Elizabeth, according to Fuller, peas were 
 brought from Holland, and were " fit dainties for ladies, 
 
 C 2 
 
20 On Food. 
 
 they came so far and cost so dear." They were, there- 
 fore, a great luxury. We read, in fact, that on the 19th 
 of May, I5S4, when the Princess Elizabeth was released 
 from the Tower, she went to perform her devotions at 
 the church of Allhallows, Staining, and thence she pro- 
 ceeded to a neighbouring tavern, the King's Head, in 
 Fenchurch Street, where she dined off pork and peas. 
 A commemorative dinner of the same kind was, until 
 recently, given annually at the same tavern, which still 
 exists ; and on these occasions, the common metal dish 
 and cover used by Elizabeth, were shown to the guests. 
 Nearly two centuries later, in 1698, when the French 
 traveller, Sorbiere, visited the Metropolis, he says the 
 common people feed much upon grey peas, and they 
 delight in them most at supper, for every night there 
 goes a woman crying grey peas and bacon, " though I 
 take it," he says, " that peas be too windy for supper 
 meat." Revalenta or ground lentils with cocoa, which 
 contains over 50 per cent, of fat, are mixed in a well- 
 known fancy preparation. The nitrogenous matter of 
 the pulses is not of the nature of gluten, but is more 
 like casein, or the cheesy matter of milk, and it is named 
 by Braconnot, its discoverer, Legumine. It is very prone 
 to decay, and hence the sourness and irritating effect of 
 pea soup, when it has been kept a little while. During 
 the Franco-Prussian war, a Berlin cook named Griin- 
 berg discovered a process for preserving a preparation of 
 peas without becoming sour, and he obtained a reward 
 of ;£5>555 from the Prussian Government for the secret. 
 They also established a manufactory at Berlin for making 
 sausages with this preparation mixed with bacon, onions, 
 &c. ; and as many as 75,000 of them, weighing a pound 
 each, were daily made and forwarded to the troops in 
 France — a single sausage being the daily ration of a 
 soldier — and it was easily cooked by boiling it for a 
 short time in water. 
 
 Other farinaceous foods, of little importance to us, are 
 
Starches and Arrow-roots. 
 
 21 
 
 the meal of the edible chestnut, which is largely used by 
 the peasants of Lombardy ; the Manioc and Lotsa merl, 
 which Dr. Livingstone says are the chief vegetable foods 
 of the natives in some parts of South Africa ; perhaps, 
 also, the horse-chestnut and the acorn might be added to 
 the list, for there is hope of their being easily freed 
 from the bitter principle which now renders them 
 useless. 
 
 And last of this class of foods are the STARCPIES and 
 Arrowroots, which are largely imported or prepared 
 in this country. They are Bermuda, Jamaica, or West 
 Indian arrow-roots, from maranta arundinacea ; East 
 Indian arrowroot, from various species of curcuma; 
 Tous-les-mois from canna ; Brazilian arrowroot from 
 Jatropha manihot, which, when dried and partially 
 cooked on hot plates, makes tapioca ; and which, when 
 baked in its whole condition, forms cassava bread ;' sago 
 and sago-meal, from the fruit of various species of sagus; 
 Tahiti arrowroot, from a tacca ; Portland arrowroot, from 
 the tubers of an arum ; and English arrowroot from 
 potatoes. All these are obtained in the same way — 
 namely, by crushing, or bruising, or rasping the root or 
 other substance containing them, and after diffusing 
 through water and fermenting, the starch or faeculoid 
 matter deposits, and is collected on a cloth and dried. 
 In this country, starches are obtained by soaking the 
 grain in an alkaline liquor, which dissolves the gluten ; 
 then crushing between mills, straining to keep back the 
 husk and cellulose, and finally washing with water, and 
 allowing the starch to subside. By this method of 
 manufacture a quantity of gluten is obtained, which can 
 be set free from the alkali by an acid, and collected for 
 food. 
 
 All the starches and arrowroots are known by their 
 microscopic characters; and although they have the 
 same chemical composition and nutritive value, yet 
 they are very different in their digestibility, for the 
 
22 On Food. 
 
 true arrow-roots of the West Indies, as Bermuda and 
 Jamaica, will often remain on the stomach of an invalid 
 when the others will be rejected. 
 
 They contain no nitrogen, or but a trace of it, and 
 therefore have no nitrogenous value, but they are useful 
 for their carbonaceous properties ; and they are best 
 cooked by stirring them into boiling water or boiling 
 milk, and then simmering for a minute or so. 
 
 The next class of vegetable foods are those which 
 contain much water, and which may be called SUCCU- 
 LENT Vegetable Foods, of which the potato is the 
 most important. 
 
 The Potato was brought to us from America, in the 
 sixteenth century, as a rarity, by Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 who planted it in his garden at Youghall, in the county 
 of C.ork, in Ireland, on his return from the unfortunate 
 colonial enterprise in Virginia, in 1586; and it appears 
 that he was so disappointed with the result, for he 
 mistook the fruit, or apples, as they are called, for the 
 potato which he had eaten with so much relish in 
 Virginia, that he ordered his gardener to dig up the 
 plants and throw them away, when he unexpectedly 
 discovered that the real crop was attached to the roots 
 in the ground. It does not seem, however, that this 
 experiment of Raleigh's commanded much attention 
 for Gerarde, who wrote his "Herbal" in 1597, merely 
 mentions the potato as a rarity, and not fit for common 
 food. In the reign of James the First (1603 to 1625) 
 it was so scarce and so great a delicacy that in the list 
 of articles provided for the household of the Queen it 
 is mentioned as costing two shillings a pound, in money 
 of that day. Even as late as the year 1663 its merits 
 were not generally appreciated, for in that year Mr. 
 Buckland drew the attention of the Royal Society to 
 the value of the tuber as an article of food, and he 
 recommended the cultivation of the plant as a safeguard 
 against famine. Accordingly the members of the Society 
 
Potatoes. 
 
 who had gardens were invited to try experiments with 
 it, and Mr. Evelyn was requested to mention the subject 
 in his " Sylva." It is evident, however, that he thought 
 very little of it, for he said nothing about it for more 
 than thirty years, when he spoke of the fecundity of 
 the potato in his Kalandarum Plantarum. In 1687 Mr. 
 Woolridge described the potato as having been planted 
 in various places in this country with good advantage ; 
 but he adds, " I do not hear that it has yet been essayed 
 whether they may not be propagated in great quantities 
 for the use of swine and other cattle." The celebrated 
 Ray, who began to publish his " Historia Plantarum " in 
 1868, merely alludes to the potato as a thing that may 
 be dressed in the same manner as Spanish batatas (the 
 sweet potato) ; and in Mortimer's Gardeners' Kalendar 
 for 1708 it is stated that " the root is very near the 
 nature of the Jerusalem artichoke, although not so good 
 and wholesome ; but it may prove good for swine." 
 More than ten years afterwards Bradley, a great autho- 
 rity in horticulture at that time, said of them that " they 
 are of less note than horse-radish, radish, scorzovera, 
 beets, and skirret ; but as they are not without admirers, 
 I will not pass them by in silence." Necessity, however, 
 gradually overcame all prejudice, and at last, chiefly by 
 the agency of the poor themselves, whose little plots of 
 ground were fortunately the means of trying the ques- 
 tion, the potato has become an almost universal article 
 of diet ; for its advantages are so numerous that it could 
 not fail to be a favourite food. It is, for example, easily ' 
 cultivated, easily kept, easily cooked, and easily digested ; 
 besides which it' requires but little flavouring matter, 
 and never wearies the palate. It is therefore used in 
 times of plenty by all classes of persons, and is often , 
 eaten in quantities that approach very nearly to the rice 
 allowance of a hungry Hindoo. " In Ireland," says Dr. 
 Edward Smith, " when the season arrives and the potatoes 
 are plentiful, as much as 3| lbs. are consumed three time s 
 
24 On Food. 
 
 in a day by an adult. This, indeed, is the regular allow- 
 ance of an Irishman, who finds no difficulty in consuming 
 his rations of ioj lbs. of potatoes daily." In England 
 the farm labourer consumes, on an average, hardly as 
 much in a week. In Anglesea, however, potatoes are 
 eaten twice a day, and the consumption is about i6\ lbs. 
 per adult weekly ; and in Scotland the average allowance 
 is 1 5 lbs. per head weekly. 
 
 The nutritive value of the potato is not great, 'for, in 
 the first place, it contains only about 25 per cent, of solid 
 matter, and of this hardly 21 is nitrogenous: in many 
 descriptions of potato the amount of glutenous matter 
 ranges between o - S and 1 9 per cent, and the starch does 
 not exceed 9 per cent. Potatoes are also deficient of 
 fat, and therefore they require admixture with nourishing 
 materials. They go well with meat and fish, and are 
 considerably helped with a little dripping or butter ; but 
 the great adjunct is milk. In Ireland potatoes and 
 buttermilk are the principal diet, even in times of plenty ; 
 and in Holland, when boiled in fat with other vegetables, 
 they form the ordinary repast of the working classes, 
 who rarely taste meat except on Sundays. 
 
 Considering the cheapness of potatoes, they are a 
 most economical food. At the price of a halfpenny a 
 pound, as set down in Table No. 4, it costs but two 
 shillings and sixpence a week to provide the carbon and 
 nitrogen required by an adult ; but when potatoes are 
 cultivated upon cottage ground, by the labourer's wife 
 and children, as is the practice almost everywhere, as 
 much as seven pounds can be easily obtained for a 
 penny, and then the cost of the weekly diet would be 
 rather less than eightpence. At this price no vegetable 
 food can compete with it. 
 
 Potatoes are best cooked in their skins, for the waste 
 is then only 3 per cent, or half an ounce in a pound; 
 whereas if they are pealed first, it is not less than 14 
 per cent, or from two to three ounces in the pound. 
 
Potatoes. 25 
 
 The mealy varieties are more digestible than the 
 close and waxy : in fact, when they are in this state, as 
 is. the case with new potatoes, and potatoes late in the 
 season, which have begun to grow, they are best cooked 
 by stewing them. When in good condition, however, they 
 should always be cooked so as to swell out to the fullest 
 extent the starch granules which form the bulk of the- 
 tuber ; by this means the cells are burst, and the potato- 
 acquires a mealy appearance. If this is not attended to> 
 (and great art is required in the matter) the tuber is 
 sodden, waxy, and disagreeable. Most- probably this 
 circumstance had something to do with the early preju- 
 dice against the potato as an article of diet ; for it is- 
 said that the first specimens, which were cultivated in 
 the county of Forfar, about the year 1730, were so badly- 
 cooked that when they were eaten they stuck to the 
 teeth like glue, and had a very disagreeable flavour. It 
 was fortunate that a gentleman who was present had 
 tasted the potato properly cooked in Lancashire, and 
 therefore, suspecting the cause of the failure, he ordered 
 them to be returned to the turf ashes, and kept there 
 until they were thoroughly done. By this means the- 
 reputation of the plant was established, when it was 
 nearly lost. 
 
 All succulent vegetables are endowed with anti-scor- 
 butic powers, but potatoes are especially renowned for 
 this property. As far back as the year 178 1 Sir Gilbert 
 Blane, in his work on the "Diseases of the Fleet," 
 alluded to the beneficial action of the potato in scurvy,. 
 and from that time to the present its salutary powers 
 have been repeatedly observed. The late Dr. Baly 
 remarked, in his inquiries into the diseases of prisoners, 
 that wherever potatoes were used scurvy was unknown ;- 
 and it is the almost universal practice now to carry 
 potatoes, fresh or preserved, in all ocean-going vessels, 
 with the view of preventing scurvy. 
 
 Other succulent vegetables in common use, as turnips, 
 
26 On Food. 
 
 parsnips, carrots, artichokes, onions, leeks, asparagus, cauli- 
 Jlower, cabbages, and greens, have, among themselves, 
 nearly the same nutritive value, but they are all much 
 less nutritious than the potato, as will be seen by 
 reference to the Table No. 3 ; in fact, they do not con- 
 tain more than from 9 to 17 per cent, of solid matter, 
 and of this only about V2 is nitrogenous. They are 
 •chiefly valuable for their anti-scorbutic properties, and 
 for their quality of flavouring insipid food, and diluting 
 .strong ones. We have a host of such vegetables in the 
 leaves and young shoots of the wild plants of this 
 -country, as the nettles (Urtica dioica, and Lamium 
 album), the sea beet (Beta laritima), the good King 
 Henry (Chenopodium Bonus Henricus), the sharlock 
 {Sinapis arvensis), the leaves of chicory (Cichorium 
 Intybus), of dandy lion (Taraxacum officinale), of salsify 
 {Fragapoga porrifolium), of the wild Itop (Humulus 
 Jupuhcs), and the young shoots of Ornithogalicm pyre- 
 naicum, which are collected in spring time in the mid- 
 land and western counties, and sold as French asparagus. 
 Banana and Bread-Fruit are also valuable escu- 
 lent foods, and are largely used in the tropics. The 
 former contains about 27 per cent, of solid matter, of 
 nearly the same nutritive value as rice. About 6| lbs. 
 •of the fresh fruit, or 2 lbs. of the dry meal, with a quarter 
 ■of a pound of salt meat or. fish, is a common allowance 
 for a labourer. The bread-fruit is largely eaten by the 
 natives of the Indian Archipelago, of Central America, 
 and of the Islands of the South Sea. There are several 
 varieties of it which come into season at different times,. 
 It is very juicy, containing about 80 per cent, of water, 
 and is generally gathered before it is ripe, when the 
 starch is in a mealy condition, and has not undergone 
 •change into sugar. The fresh food is cooked, by peeling 
 it, wrapping it in leaves, and baking it between hot 
 stones. It then tastes like sweet bread ; but much of 
 the ripe fruit is preserved by peeling it, cutting it into 
 
Ripe Fruits. 2 7 
 
 slices, and packing it very closely in pits in the ground, 
 made water-tight, and lined with banana leaVes. After 
 a while it undergoes a sort of fermentation, or, as we 
 should call it from the smell, putrefaction, and the fruit 
 settles into a mass, of the consistence of soft cheese. 
 When it is required for use, it is well kneaded, wrapped 
 in leaves, and baked, like the fresh fruit, between hot 
 stones. 
 
 The Spanish BATATA or Sweet Potato (Convolvulus 
 Batatas) is largely used for food in Central America ; 
 and attempts were made as early as the middle of the 
 1 6th century to cultivate it in England, but it would not 
 bear the cold of our winters. It was introduced here by 
 Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins, who had tasted 
 it in tropical America, and a good crop of it was grown 
 at Formby, in Lancashire, The tubers contain about 
 32 per cent, of solid matter — of which 16 are starch, 10 
 sugar, 1 -5 albumen, n gum, o - 3 fat, and 2-9 mineral 
 matter. The root of the Yucca (Manihot Utilessima), 
 when well boiled, is also a good substitute for potato, 
 and is more succulent and digestible than the Yam 
 (Dioscorea alata). Cassava bread is made from the root 
 of the Manihot, by first expressing the juice, then grind- 
 ing into a coarse meal, and baking in the form of cakes 
 upon thin iron plates. When steeped in oil, and flavoured 
 with cayenne, and lightly broiled upon a gridiron, they 
 -are not unpalatable. 
 
 Ripe Fruits, as apples, pears, peaches, pine-apples, 
 oranges, &c, are not of much nutritive value, for they 
 rarely contain above 13 per cent, of solid matter, and 
 this is of no more value than so much rice, but they 
 have agreeable flavours, and serve the purpose of anti- 
 scorbutic drinks. Fruits which contain much sugar, as 
 dates, figs, and grapes or raisins, are very nutritious, espe- 
 cially when they are dried. In tropical countries they 
 are largely used for food : the date, for example, is next 
 to bread the staple food of the Arab. New dates (called 
 
28 On Food. 
 
 ruteb) lasts him for two months in the summer, and 
 during the rest of the year he uses the hard pressed fruit 
 (called adjone), of which there are many varieties. 
 
 Marine K*lcm. — Everywhere along our coasts there 
 is abundance of comparatively nutritious food, which 
 may, by a little management, be made palatable. I 
 allude to our sea-weeds ; and this Society has distin- 
 guished itself by its efforts to utilise this stock of now 
 almost profitless food, Judging from the analyses of 
 Dr. Davy and Dr. Apjohn, of Dublin, it would seem that 
 sea-weeds, in a moderately dry condition, contain from 
 1 8 to 26 per cent, of water; and that the nitrogenous 
 constituents amount to from gj to 15 per cent., while 
 the starchy matter and sugar average about 66 per cent. 
 These results place sea-weeds among the most nutritious, 
 of vegetable substances ; in fact they are richer in nitro- 
 genous matter than oatmeal or Indian corn. 
 
 The varieties of sea-weed at present used are the 
 following : — 
 
 Porphyra laciniata and vulgaris, called laver in Eng- 
 land, stoke in Ireland, and slouk in Scotland. 
 
 Clondrus crispus, called carrageen or Irish-moss, and 
 also pearl-moss and sea-moss. 
 
 Laminaria digitata, known as sea girdle in England, 
 tangle in Scotland, and red ware in the Orkneys ; and 
 laminaria saccharina, alaria esculenta or bladder-lock, 
 called also hen-zvare and honey-ware by the Scotch. 
 
 Ulva latissima or green laver. — Rhodomenia palmata, 
 or didse of Scotland. — These, with many others, are eaten 
 by the coast inhabitants of this country and the Conti- 
 nent. In some parts of Scotland and Ireland they form 
 a considerable portion of the diet of the poor. 
 
 To prepare them for food, they should first be steeped 
 in water to remove saline matter ; and in some cases a 
 little carbonate of soda added to the water will remove 
 the bitterness. They are then stewed in water or milk 
 until they are tender and mucilaginous; and they are 
 
Lichens — Sugar and Treacle. 29 
 
 best flavoured with pepper and vinegar. Under the 
 name of marine sauce, the lavers were J once a luxury in 
 London. 
 
 Several LICHENS are used as food in Arctic regions, 
 where, during the greater .part of the year no other food 
 is procurable. Iceland Moss {Cetraria Icelandicd) and 
 Rein-deer Moss, {Cladonia rangeferina) are examples of 
 this. The former contains as much as from 27 to 3 1 per 
 cent, of starchy matter, and the latter about 5 per cent. 
 Two species of lichen — the Gyrophora proboscidea_ and 
 Gyrophora erosa furnished the Tripe de Roche of our 
 Arctic navigators, which was their chief food in time of 
 scarcity. Professor Stanberg, of Sweden, has recently 
 devoted much attention to the nutritive properties of 
 Lichens, and has shown, that when they are deprived of 
 their bitter principles, by soaking in an alkaline lye, and 
 then in cold water, they may be made to yield a 
 palatable food. This is especially so with Iceland moss, 
 which in conjunction with rye-meal, forms good and 
 nutritious bread. 
 
 As to the last of the vegetable foods — namely, the 
 Fungi or Mushrooms — I have but little to say; for 
 .although the edible varieties are highly nutritious, 
 yet they can never become an important article of 
 diet. Most of them are employed at the present time as 
 ilavouring agents; and among these are the common mush- 
 room for ketchup, the morel for gravies, and the truffle 
 for turkeys and the livers of geese (Pdt4 de foie gras). 
 
 Sugar and Treacle. — Both of these are very gene- 
 rally consumed on account of their flavouring and fatten- 
 ing qualities. Dr. Edward Smith found that 98 per 
 cent, of indoor operatives partook of sugar, to the extent 
 of j\ ozs. per adult weekly. 96 per cent, of Scotch 
 labourers use it, and 80 per cent, of Irish. In Wales, also, 
 it is commonly used to an average extent of 6 ozs. per 
 adult weekly ; but there is a marked difference in the rate 
 -of consumption in the northern and southern portions of 
 :the country. In North Wales, for example, the average 
 
io On Food. 
 
 amount per head is \\\ ozs. ; whereas, in South Wales, 
 it is only 3 ozs., and the principal use of it is to sweeten 
 tea. Statistical inquiries have shown, that about 
 1,142,000 tons of sugar are annually consumed by the 
 Anglo-Saxon populations of England and America — 
 averaging 41-4 lbs. per head; and that the Latin race, 
 including the inhabitants of France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, 
 Portugal, and Switzerland, consume about 506,000 tons 
 per annum, or 12 34 lbs. per head; whilst the Teutonic 
 race of the Zollverein, Austria, Holland, the Hanse towns, 
 and Denmark, consume about 262,000 tons per annum, 
 or 7-3 lbs. per head. Lastly, the poor of Russia, Poland, 
 Turkey, and Greece, consume only about 125,000 tons a 
 year, or only 3*3 lbs. per head. 
 
 Treacle has more flavour than sugar, and it is also 
 cheaper. It is, therefore, more largely employed ; and 
 that description of it properly called molasses, which is 
 the draining from the raw or unrefined sugar — treacle 
 being the drainings from refined sugar— is preferred on 
 account of its stronger flavour, and is most usually sold 
 for treacle. They go well with all descriptions of fari- 
 naceous food, as porridge, pudding, dumpling, and bread. 
 
 Sugar contains from 4 to 10 per cent, of moisture, and 
 treacle about 23. The rest is carbonaceous matter, 
 without nitrogen. They are, therefore, heat-producing 
 and fattening agents, and their power, in these respects, 
 is about the same as with starch. Whether they can 
 produce disease when used in excess is a matter of doubt; 
 but Dr. Richardson has asserted that they cause blind- 
 ness by creating opacity of the lens {cataract). 
 
 Animal Foods. 
 
 First on the list of these is Milk, a liquid which con- 
 tains all the elements of food required by the very 
 young, and is therefore regarded as the type or standard 
 of food. 
 
 In some countries, as in Switzerland, it is the chief diet 
 of the p£asantry , and everywhere, if easily obtained, it 
 
Atrimal Foods — Milk. 
 
 is largely consumed. 76 per cent, of the labouring- 
 classes of England make use of it ; 83 per cent, take it 
 as buttermilk; and 53 per cent, as skimmed milk. In 
 Wales, the average consumption of it by farm labourers 
 is 4^ pints per adult weekly — South Wales averaging 
 only 3 pints, while in North Wales it is 7 J. In Scotland 
 the consumption among the labouring classes is still 
 larger, for it amounts to 6\ pints per head weekly, and 
 in Ireland it reaches 6f pints. Those who take least 
 of it are the poor in-door operatives of London, as the 
 weavers of Spitalfields, who use only about y6 ozs. per 
 head weekly, while those of Bethnal Green take only a 
 fraction above i| ozs. per head. In Sweden and Den- 
 mark, sheep's milk is used ; in Switzerland, goat's milk ;: 
 in Lapland, reindeer's milk; and in Tartary, mare's 
 milk. 
 
 When examined under the microscope, milk is found 
 to consist of myriads of little globules of butter floating 
 in a clear liquid. On standing for a few hours the oily 
 particles rise to the surface and form cream, the propor- 
 tion of which is the test of quality, in cow's milk it 
 should average about 12 percent, by volume. Cows' 
 milk is heavier than water in the proportion of from 1030 
 or 1032 to 1,000. Asses' milk is the lightest, for its 
 gravity is only about 1019 ; then comes- human milk, 
 1020 ; and lastly, goats' and ewes' milk, which is the 
 heaviest of all, from 1035 to 1042. The average com- 
 position of the milk of different animals is, according to» 
 M.M. Henri and Chevalier, as follows. 
 
 Table VI. — Composition of Milk of different Animals. 
 
 Asses Woman's Cows' Goats' Ewes' 
 
 Milk. Milk. Milk. Milk. Milk. 
 
 Caseine ..... 1"82 1-52 4-48 4-02 4-50 
 
 Butter I'll 355 3-13 3-32 420 
 
 Sugar of Milk. . . 6-08 6-50 477 5 28 5 00 
 
 Yarious salts . . . 0-34 o"45 0-60 0-58 0-68 
 
 Total Solids . . . 9"35 12-02 12-98 13-20 14-38 
 "Water 90'65 87-98 87-02 86-80 85-62 
 
 To'al. . . 100-00 100-00 10000 100-00 100-00 
 
32 On Food. 
 
 The quality of milk varies with the breed of the 
 animal, the nature of its food, and the time of milking, 
 for, in the case of cows' milk, afternoon milk is always 
 richer than morning, and the last drawn than the first, 
 taking, however, the average of a large number of 
 samples, it may be said that cows' milk contains about 
 127 per cent, of solid matter, y6 of which are casein, 47 
 .sugar, 3 6 butter, and 0.8 saline matter. The relation of 
 nitrogenous to carbonaceous is 1 to 2-3 ; but as fat is 2\ 
 times more powerful than starch, the relation may be 
 said to be as 1 to 3 "8. 
 
 When milk is heated to the boiling temperature, the 
 casein is coagulated to some extent ; and if the milk has 
 stood before it is heated, so that the cream may rise, the 
 coagulum includes it, and makes the so-called clotted 
 ■cream of Devonshire and Cornwall. 
 
 Acids also coagulate the casein, an d produce a curd, 
 as when milk becomes sour, and in the making of 
 cheese, and cnrds and whey. In some countries milk is 
 allowed to curdle before it is drank. This is the practice 
 in Central Africa, the natives of which never make use 
 of new milk without causing it to become sour by put- 
 ting it into vessels charged with the remains of former 
 operations. They call the drink Amasi, and they con- 
 sider it to be far more wholesome than fresh milk. 
 
 CREAM is rich in butter, as will be seen by reference 
 to Table No. 3. It contains 34 per cent, of solid matter, 
 267 of which are butter, and its gravity is about 1,013 
 A quart of good cream will generally yield from 13 oz. 
 to 15 oz. of commercial butter. In good seasons, when 
 the cows are fed on rich pasture land, a quart of cream 
 will often yield about 16 oz. of butter, and if they are 
 fed on oil cake, as much as from 22 oz. to 24 oz. are 
 obtained. 
 
 Skim-milk is the milk from which the cream has been 
 removed. It contains only about half as much butter as 
 new milk, or even less, and its gravity is about 1037. In 
 all other respects it is similar to new milk. 
 
Cheese. 33 
 
 Butter-milk is the residue of the milk or cream 
 from which the butter has been removed by churning. 
 It is still poorer in fat than skim-milk, containing, in fact, 
 only about half as much. Unless it is very fresh, it is 
 generally a little acid, and frequently the acidity has 
 gone so far as to set the milk into a kind of jelly. 
 
 The Whey of milk is the opalescent liquor from 
 which the curd has been removed in making cheese. 
 Although not highly nutritious, it still holds a little 
 casein in solution, as well as the sugar and saline matter 
 of the milk. It is rarely used as food even by the poor, 
 but it is given to pigs. In Switzerland, however, it is con- 
 sidered to have medicinal virtues, especially for the cure of 
 chronic disorders of the abdominal organs, and the treat- 
 ment, which is somewhat fashionable, goes by the name 
 of cure de petit lait. There is a popular notion, that the 
 whey of milk is sudorific, and hence we have our wine 
 ■whey, cream of tartar whey, alum whey, tamarind whey, 
 &c, when the milk has been curdled by these several 
 substances. 
 
 Cheese is the coagulated product of milk, obtained 
 by the addition of rennet or a little vinegar, and its 
 richness depends upon the quality of the milk, and the 
 proportion of cream or butter contained, therein ; when, 
 for example, the cream itself is coagulated it makes 
 cream cheese, which will hardly bear keeping, but must be 
 eaten fresh. It contains about half its weight of butter, 
 and a fifth of its weight only of curd. 
 
 When cream is added to new milk, and the mixture is 
 curdled, it forms very rich cheese, as Double Gloucester 
 and Stilton. 
 
 When new milk alone is' used the cheese is less rich, 
 but still of high quality, as Cheddar. 
 
 When an eighth or a tenth of the cream has been 
 taken off, it produces the quality of cheese which is 
 most sought after, as Single Gloucester, Chester, Ame- 
 rican, &c. 
 
 D 
 
34 On Food. 
 
 And when all the cream has been removed, and the 
 skim-milk is curdled, it forms the poor cheese of Holland, 
 Friesland, Suffolk, Somersetshire, and South Wales. 
 
 At first every variety of cheese is soft and compara- 
 tively tasteless, but by keeping they undergo change, and 
 develope their flavours when they are said to be ripe. 
 The change is dependant upon the growth of fungi, and 
 the formation - of pungent fatty acids.. 
 
 Analyses of two of the most important of them are 
 shown on Table No. 3, and it will be noticed that they 
 contain from 56 to 64 per cent, of solid matter, about 
 half of which is curd. In skim-milk cheese the curd 
 amounts to 44 - 8 per cent, and the fat to only 6'3 ; whereas, 
 in Cheddar; the curd is only 284 per cent, and the fat, 
 31T. In nutritive power, therefore, especially in nitro- 
 genous matter, cheese ranks high, and is a valuable 
 article of diet ; but there is a limit to its digestibility, 
 and hence it cannot be taken in large quantity. Con- 
 sidering its price, also, it is hardly so profitable as many 
 other foods ; although, where good skim-milk cheese 
 can be purchased at from 2jd. to 3d. a pound, it form's, 
 in small quantities at a time, a good adjunct to 
 bread. 
 
 Meat. — There is hardly a class of individuals, how- 
 ever poor, who do not make a strong effort to obtain 
 meat. It would seem, therefore, to be a necessary article 
 of diet. In this metropolis the indoor operatives eat it 
 to the extent of 14-8 ozs. per adult weekly ; 70 per cent, 
 of English farm labourers consume it to the extent of 16 
 ozs. per man weekly ; 60 per cent, of the Scotch ; 30 of 
 the Welsh ; and 20 of the Irish also eat it. The Scotch, 
 probably, have a larger allowance than the English, con- 
 sidering that braxy-mutton is the perquisite of the Scotch 
 labourer ; but the Welsh have only an average amount 
 of 2 \ ozs. per adult weekly ; and the Irish allowance is 
 still less. 
 
 It is difficult to obtain accurate returns of the quantity 
 
Butchers Meat. 35 
 
 of meat consumed in London ; but if the computation 
 of Dr. Wynter is correct, it is not less than 30I oz's. per 
 head, weekly, or about 4J ozs. per day for every man, 
 woman, and child. In Paris, according to M. Armand 
 Husson, who had carefully collected the octroi returns, it 
 is rather more than 49 ozs. per head, weekly, or just 7 ozs. 
 a day. It would seem from this we are not such large 
 meat eaters as the French ; although there are physio- 
 logical reasons for believing that we consume more 
 animal food than any other European nation. Looking 
 at the relative proportions of urea in the secretions of 
 Frenchmen, Germans, and Englishmen, Lehmann declares 
 that they are not to be accounted for but by differences 
 in diet — the Frenchman using least nitrogenous matter, 
 and the Englishman most. He says, indeed, that any 
 given number of Londoners, eat six times as much 
 animal food as an equal number of Parisians, and this, 
 he says, is proved by statistics. 
 
 About 4 per cent, of the meat consumed in England 
 is imported, but not less than 20 per cent, of that made 
 use of in London comes from abroad, and the quantity is 
 annually increasing. 
 
 Butchers' Meat differs very much in nutritive value 
 according to the proportions of fat and lean ; and there 
 is a strong prejudice in favour of beef as the strongest 
 kind of meat. In reality, however, the lean of all meat 
 is of nearly the same nutritive power, provided it is 
 digested ; but in this respect there are large differences. 
 The flavour also varies with the nature of the animal, 
 and with its mode of feeding. Pampas-pig, and indeed 
 most wild swine, are horribly rank, but by proper feed- 
 ing they become delicious. In store animals the pro- 
 portion of lean is always greater than the fat, and the 
 solid matter does not amount to more than 28 or 29 per 
 cent. ; not so, however, in fat animals, for in them the 
 fat is largely in excess of the lean, and the solid matters 
 make up about half the total weight. The tendency 
 
 D 2 
 
36 
 
 On Food. 
 
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 £ 
 
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 £=i f=) fri m ffl PH 
 
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 SO 
 
 CC t=H 
 
Horse-Flesh. 37 
 
 in fact, of the fattening process is' to substitute fat for 
 water in the carcass ; and the quality of the meat de- 
 pends on the intimate intermixture of fat with the 
 muscular tissue. All animals are not alike in their 
 method of depositing fat, for some put it upon the 
 surface of the body, and others accumulate it among the 
 viscera. The art of breeding and feeding stock is to 
 overcome both of these tendencies, and, at the same time, 
 to produce a fat which will not melt or boil away in 
 cooking. Oily foods have always a tendency to make 
 soft fat, which which will not bear cooking. 
 
 The average proportions of fat and lean in the offal 
 and carcasses of animals are shown in Table No. 7 ; and 
 Table No. 3 exhibits the proportion of the principal 
 nutritive constituents in different kinds of meat. Under 
 the head of albumen, &c, is included the gelatinous tis- 
 sues, which are always more abundant in young animals 
 than in old. In veal, for example, it amounts to about 
 7 - 5 per cent, and in beef and mutton to about 6 per cent. 
 Lean meat is evidently deficient of carbonaceous matter, 
 and this is best supplied in bread or potato ; but in fat 
 meat, considering that the nutritive power of fat is twice 
 and a half as great as that of starch or sugar, the carbo- 
 naceousmatter is often in excess of the right proportion ; 
 it is remarkably so in pork, which will bear dilution with 
 the flesh of rabbit, poultry, and veal. 
 
 The amount, of bone in meat varies : it is rarely less 
 than 8 per cent. In the neck and brisket of beef it 
 is about IO per cent, and in shins and legs of beef it 
 amounts to one-third, or even half the total weight. The 
 most economical parts are the round and thick flank, 
 then the brisket and sticking-piece, and lastly the leg. 
 In the case of mutton and pork the leg is most profit- 
 able, and then the shoulder. 
 
 Horse-flesh is hardly known in this country, except 
 as canine food ; but on the continent, and especially in 
 Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland, it is regularly sold 
 
38 On Food. 
 
 in the public markets, and is considered by many per- 
 sons superior to beef. Possibly we have often eaten it 
 on the Continent without knowing it. A Chateaubriand? 
 or double beef-steak of Paris, is said to be best of horse- 
 flesh ; and no doubt the frequenters of the restaurants of 
 Paris have unwittingly acquired a fondness for it, and 
 have relished it as good beef. A story is told by a writer 
 in the Saturday Review of a Frenchman who blandly 
 remonstrated with an Englishman for his scorn of French 
 beef. " I have," he said, " been two times in England, 
 but I navere find the bif supe>ieur to ours. I find it vary 
 conveenient that they bring it -you on little pieces of 
 stick for one penny, but I do not find .the bif sup6rieur," 
 " Good heavens ! " cried the Englishman, red with asto- 
 nishment, " you have been eating cat's meat." To be 
 serious, however, I do not see why the flesh of healthy 
 horses should not be used as human food. It has, in- 
 deed, many powerful advocates, among whom is the 
 great naturalist, Geoffroy St. Hilaire ; and attempts 
 have been made in this country to naturalize it, as it^ 
 were, through the instrumentality of French cookery, 
 but in vain, for our prejudices are strongly against it. 
 In times of scarcity, however, horse-flesh has often been 
 found a very acceptable food. During the siege of Paris, 
 for example, in 1870, it was eagerly purchased, and it 
 soon became an important article of diet. At first its 
 price was about 6|d. per lb. for the best parts, but as it 
 became scarcer it rose to nearly 5 s. a lb. Under ordi- 
 nary circumstances as many as 3,000 horses are slaugh- 
 tered annually in France for human food ; but during 
 the four autumn months of 1870 there were not less than 
 30,000 horses consumed in Paris. Mules and asses were 
 in like manner pressed into the public service, and at 
 last the scarcity of animal food was so great that dogs, 
 cats, and even rats were made use of. A writer in the 
 Food Journal for December, 1870, says that cats were 
 publicly sold at six francs each, and that dogs were 
 
QffaL 39 
 
 quoted at four francs the half animal. At the house of 
 a gourmet the bill of fare on one occasion was filet de 
 c/teval roti, escalloppes d'anon, plum-pudding, attgraisse de 
 bceuf. But why should this be so marvellous when we, 
 know that in China certain breeds of cats, dogs, and rats 
 are regularly fattened for the public markets, and are 
 the choice food of the epicure. According to Hippocrates, 
 puppies, as well as the flesh of the horse and ass, were 
 eaten by the Greeks ; and the Arabs and the Patagonians 
 eat the horse, ass, and camel. 
 
 Venison and the dark flesh of other wild animals 
 differs from butchers' meat in the circumstance that it is 
 leaner, and that it contains more blood ; but its nutritive 
 power, when properly cooked, is not inferior to that of 
 beef or mutton, and it is always more digestible. 
 
 The Offal of Meat constitutes about one-third of 
 the entire weight of the slaughtered animal. (See Table 7.) 
 It consists of the blood, the head and its contents (the 
 tongue and brain), the heart and lungs, the abdominal 
 viscera — as the diaphragm, the liver, spleen, pancreas, 
 stomach, intestines and reproductive organs, the feet, tail, 
 and skin. In the case of the pig, the skin and head are 
 parts of the carcass. 
 
 Nearly all these, when properly treated, are good for 
 food. The blood of the pig is mixed with groats and fat, 
 and converted into black pudding, which contains about 
 II per cent, of nitrogenous matter. The stomach of the 
 bullock is cleaned and boiled for tripe, which contains 13 
 per cent, of albumen and 16 of fat. The heart, lungs, and 
 pancreas, which constitute about 7 per cent, of the live 
 weight of animals, are as nutritious as lean meat. The 
 head, especially of the ox, makes good soup ; but it re- 
 quires long boiling to extract the nutriment. Boiled for 
 eight or nine hours it will yield one-fourth of its weight 
 of gelatine ; besides which an ox-cheek will furnish about 
 four pounds of good meat. Bones also contain much fat 
 and nitrogenous matter, which they give up when broken 
 
40 On Food. 
 
 small and boiled for 'many hours. Six pounds of bones 
 are equal to one of meat for nitrogen, and to nearly two 
 pounds of meat for carbon. 
 
 Bacon differs from fresh meat in the relatively large 
 amount of fat and small proportion of water. ,It is an 
 almost universal article of diet among the labouring 
 classes. 74 per cent, of farm-servants use it to the ex- 
 tent of from \ lb. to 2 lbs. per adult weekly. 69 per 
 cent, of the Scotch use it, and 40 per cent, of the Irish. 
 It is preferred to butchers' meat for many reasons — as 
 that it goes further, especially with children, who do not 
 generally like fat ; it has more relish ; it is easily cooked, 
 and suffers less waste in cooking ; besides which it is 
 easily kept, and is always handy. Preference is nearly 
 always given to English bacon, notwithstanding that it 
 is double the price of American, for the flavour is better, 
 and it does not boil away in cooking. No doubt the in- 
 feriority of American bacon is due to the method of 
 feeding the pigs, for they run wild and eat large quanti- 
 ties of acorns and oily nuts. Good bacon should not 
 lose more than from 10 to 1 5 per cent, in cooking. 
 
 The nutritive values of both green and dried bacon 
 are shown in Table No. 3 and Table No. 4. Their pecu- 
 liarity is the large amount of carbonaceous matter they 
 contain as compared with nitrogenous. Calculated as 
 starch, it is as 21 or 24 to I. Hence it is that it improves 
 the value of substances which are rich in nitrogen, as 
 e gg s j veal, poultry, beans and peas. 
 
 Poultry and the White Meat of Rabbits are not 
 of themselves very nourishing. They contain too much 
 nitrogenous matter and too little fat. In the case of 
 aquatic birds, as the goose and duck, the fat is more 
 abundant ; but it contains certain flavouring matters 
 which are not easy of digestion. The darker flesh of 
 game is also somewhat indigestible, and requires manage- 
 ment in its culinary treatment. 
 
 FlSH is not a favourite article of diet with the labour- 
 
Fish. 41 
 
 ing classes, unless it is salted or smoked, and then it is 
 chiefly used for its flavouring qualities. There is a pre- 
 judice that it has no nutritive strength, and it arises, 
 perhaps, from the circumstance that it does not easily 
 satisfy hunger, and is quickly digested, but the inhabi- 
 tants of our coasts use it largely as food. In Holland, 
 Sweden, and Russia, where the poor rarely taste meat, 
 the staple article of diet, with coarse bread, is dry, 
 salted fish, and it is found to be sufficiently nutritious. 
 
 The quantity of fish supplied to Billingsgate Market 
 during the year is considerable, amounting to about 
 95,373 tons annually, and of this about 38,000 tons 
 come by rail, and 57,000 tons by water. About 800 
 tons of live eels are brought from Holland, and 2,300 
 tons of mackerel, and 1,500 tons of herrings from Nor- 
 way. Beside all these there is a very large delivery of 
 fish to Columbia Market. 
 
 The nutritive values of the white varieties of fish, as 
 whiting, cod, haddock, sole, plaice, flounder, and turbot, are 
 shown in the Tables No. 3 and 4, and it will be re- 
 marked that they contain only about 22 per cent, of 
 solid matter — 18 of which is nitrogenous. They want 
 butter, therefore, to increase their nutritive value. 
 
 Mackerel, eels, salmon, and trout, are, however, richer 
 in fat, for the former contains about 7 per cent, and 
 the latter 6, while the oily matter of eels amounts to 
 nearly 14 per cent. The same is the case with the 
 sprat, the herring, and the pilchard, and with most of our 
 fresh-water fish, especially the lamprey, which, at one 
 time, was considered a great luxury. Every one 
 has heard of the fatal surfeit of Henry the First of 
 England, who, when at Rouen, in December, 1 135, on 
 his way home, " desired gretely after a day's hunting to ■ 
 ete a lampray ; for that mete," says Capgrave, who 
 described his illness, " loved he well, and evir it did him 
 harme." According to Pennant it was so much prized, 
 that annually it had been an old custom at Gloucester 
 
42 On Food. 
 
 to present His Majesty with a lamprey pie ; ,and yet, 
 although these fish are caught in great abundance in 
 the Thames and the Severn from October to March, 
 yet they are rarely eaten, but are sent to Holland as 
 bait for cod and turbot. 
 
 All fish are in their best condition at the time of the 
 ripening of the milt and roe, for not only are they fatter 
 at that time, but when cooked they have a better 
 flavour, and the flesh is solid and opaque. On the 
 other hand, when they are out of condition the flesh 
 is semi-gelatinous and watery. Most of our fresh- 
 water fish, in fact, are very deficient of flavour, and are 
 more or less woolly in their texture. They, therefore, 
 require good treatment by the cook to render them 
 palatable. In olden times it was the custom to boil 
 them in wine, and to serve them with savoury sauces ; 
 but to our fancy they are best broiled directly they are 
 taken from the water. The flesh of the sturgeon and of 
 the pike, is firmer than that of other fish, and ap- 
 proaches veal in consistence. 
 
 Shell-fish of all descriptions have nearly the same 
 nutritive values. They contain about thirteen parts of 
 solid matter in the hundred, and this has the composi- , 
 tion of white fish. The digestibility varies — mussels, 
 limpets, and whelks being rather hard of digestion, while 
 scallops, cockles, periwinkles, lobsters, and crabs are, per- 
 haps, a little more easily digested, and oysters still more 
 so. "None of them, however, are suited for delicate 
 stomachs, although the poorer inhabitants on the coast 
 eat them freely. Vineyard snails on the Continent, and 
 even slugs in China, have a reputation for delicacy and 
 nutritive power. 
 
 Reptiles furnish but few examples of articles that 
 are used as food. The green turtle of the West Indian 
 Islands and the Southern Coast of America, and the 
 edible frog of France and Austria, are the best illustra- 
 tions ; but besides these the land tortoise is eaten by the 
 
Eggs— Fat. 43 
 
 inhabitants of Italy and the Levant, and the iquana by 
 the natives of tropical America. The flesh of all of 
 them is delicate and full of gelatinous matter. 
 
 EGGS contain about 26 per cent, of solid matter, 14 of 
 which is nitrogenous, and 10J carbonaceous or fatty. 
 The yolk is the part which contains the fat, for it there 
 amounts to 31 per cent, while the white of the egg, 
 which is entirely free from fat, is the richest in nitrogen 
 — the albumen amounting to 2C4 per cent. Altogether, 
 however, eggs are very deficient of carbonaceous matter, 
 for, calculated as starch, it is only in the proportion of 
 175 to 1 of nitrogenous. Hence it is that eggs consort 
 well with oil in salads, with fat bacon, and with all 
 kinds of farinaceous matters in puddings. 
 
 Fat of some description, as butter, lard, suet, or drip- 
 ping, is universally consumed. In many cases it exists 
 in sufficient quantity in the food, as in bacon and fat 
 meat, but when this is not the case, it is invariably sup- 
 plied from some other source. 99 per cent, of farm 
 labourers use fat of some sort — butter or dripping, to 
 the extent of 5 \ ozs. weekly per adult. It is difficult to 
 say how much is really required by the human system, 
 ' but looking at the proportion in milk, which we may 
 regard as model food, it would seem to be not less than 
 28 per cent, of the dry, solid matter of food. The fats 
 in common use contain about 80 per cent, of real fatty 
 matter, the rest being water and salt, and although 
 butter is the fat ordinarily purchased, yet dripping is 
 equally valuable, and so are other fats of even a com- 
 moner quality. During the siege of Paris, when it 
 became necessary to utilise every available article of 
 food, the fat of horses was largely employed instead of 
 butter, and, according to Payen, it was superior in all 
 respects to the fat of oxen, as it never had the objection- 
 able tallow-like smell which the latter acquires when- 
 ever it has once been heated above the temperature of 
 boiling water ; its odour, in fact, was rather agreeable 
 than otherwise for it was like ripe apples ; besides 
 
44 On Food. 
 
 which the fat of the soft tissues was more solid than 
 that of beef, requiring a temperature of 6l° to set, 
 whereas the latter is fluid at 40 of Fahrenheit. The 
 fat of bones, however, is always very soft. The re- 
 searches of Dubrunfaut have shown that the bad odour 
 of all fats may be removed by passing steam through 
 them, and then they may be utilized for food- The 
 vegetable fats of the tropics are also good dietetical 
 agents. Cocoa and chocolate owe their chief value as 
 foods to the fat they contain. Cocoa is composed of 50 
 per cent, of solid fat, called cocoa butter, and chocolate 
 is a sweet preparation of it. 
 
 Of liquid articles of diet, beer and porter stand first in 
 nutritive value. They contain about 9 per cent, of solid 
 matter, 8f of which are sugar and gum. Their nutri- 
 tive power is not, therefore, great ; and yet, according 
 to Liebig, whenever beer and porter are not used in a 
 household, there is always a larger consumption of 
 bread. 
 
 The nutritive functions of tea and coffee are not at all 
 understood ; for although they are largely used, and, as 
 it were, from an instinctive craving, yet their actual 
 nourishing power is insignificant. I shall, however, deal- 
 with this subject hereafter, when I come to the functions 
 of food. 
 
 The last constituent of food we have to consider is 
 Saline Matter: Broadly, it may be stated that we 
 require phosphates and sulphates of potash, lime, and 
 magnesia, and that we also want a still larger propor- 
 tion of common salt. In most cases the phosphates and 
 sulphates are in sufficient quantity in ordinary foods ; 
 in fact, Mr. Lawes found in his experiments on the 
 fattening of animals that for every single part of saline 
 matter retained in the system of the pig, there were 
 from 14 to 15 parts in the food ; not that the whole of 
 this was lost, for probably it performed important func- 
 tions in the process of assimilation and secretion. Com- 
 
Supply of London. 45 
 
 mon salt, however, is not present in the food to any- 
 large extent, and therefore it must be added to it. 
 
 And now, before leaving this part of the subject, let 
 us pause to consider the vast machinery which is in 
 operation for the supply of food to this metropolis. At 
 the present time over three millions of people have to 
 be fed daily ; and yet sd regular is the supply, that no 
 one considers even the possibility of its failing. On the 
 other hand, there is no redundancy ; and not only does 
 this supply regularly reach the metropolis, but it is dis- 
 tributed to our very doors. About 300 tons of fish ; 
 over 4,000 sheep ; nearly 700 oxen ; about 90 calves ; 
 4,000 pigs, including bacon, and hams ; not less than 
 5,000 fowls, and other kinds of poultry; besides a 
 million or so of oysters ; and eggs innumerable, with 
 flour enough to make nearly a million quartern loaves ; 
 and vegetables, butter, and beer in proportion, are daily 
 brought to this city. " Imagine," as Archbishop Whate- 
 ley says, "a Head Commissioner entrusted with the 
 office of furnishing all these things regularly to the 
 people. How would he succeed ?" And yet all this 
 goes on with the regularity and precision of a machine 
 — without Government or even municipal interference, 
 but simply through the magical power and unfettered 
 action of free-trade. 
 
 Note. — Taking one year with another the consumption of wheat 
 and wheat flour in the United Kingdom is assumed to be at the 
 rate of 5 \ bushels per head, and of this quantity two-thirds are 
 produced at home, and one-third is imported. In the case of 
 meat, about four per cent, is supplied from abroad, and the 
 quantity is fast increasing. During the year 1866 only about £,yio> 
 worth of preserved meat was imported from Australia, whereas in 
 1870, it amounted to ,£204,000, and in 1871, it exceeded half a 
 million sterling. 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 COMPARATIVE DIGESTIBILITY OF FOODS — FUNCTIONS 
 OF DIFFERENT FOODS. 
 
 DIGESTION. 
 
 The phenomena of digestion are altogether of a physical 
 and chemical nature ; there is nothing whatever of a 
 vital quality about them ; for the comminuted food is 
 brought successively under the influence of special sol- 
 vents furnished by the saliva, the gastric juice, the 
 pancreatic 'fluid, the biliary secretion, and the intestinal 
 mucus ; all of which are associated with a large volume 
 of water. Digestion, indeed, as Berzelius remarked, is a 
 true process of rinsing — the amount of fluid secreted 
 into the alimentary canal, and again absorbed- from it, 
 being, according to the researches of Bernard, Bidder, 
 and Schmidt, not less than three gallons in the twenty- 
 four hours. The following, in fact, are the daily pro- 
 portions of the several secretions and their solid con- 
 stituents : — 
 
Digestion — The Saliva. 
 
 47 
 
 Table VIII. 
 
 Amounts of Digestive Fluids Secreted Daily, and the Proportions 
 of their chief Constituents. 
 
 lbs. 
 
 Solid 
 
 Matter, 
 grs. ■' 
 
 grs. 
 
 Active Principles. 
 
 Saliva 3-54 
 
 Gastric Juice 
 Pancreatic fluid 
 
 Bile .... 
 
 Intestinal mucus 
 
 Total . . . 
 
 14-11 
 882 
 
 3'54 
 047 
 
 3048 
 
 231 107 of ptyalin. 
 
 2690 316 of pepsin. 
 
 6172 773 of pancreatin. 
 J of organic 
 ii \ ferment. 
 
 46 28 f °J or s an } c 
 ^ j ferment. 
 
 >57 -97 j" solvents. 
 
 All of which, by their special solutive actions on the 
 several constituents of food, rob it of its nutritive prin- 
 ciples, and carry them into circulation. 
 
 Each of the fluids so largely secreted into the alimen- 
 tary canal, has its special functions. 
 
 The Saliva, which is a secretion from many glands 
 opening into the mouth, is a thin, glairy liquid, of slight 
 alkaline reaction, except while fasting ; and containing 
 about I per cent, of solid matter — half of which is a 
 peculiar organic body, called ptyalin, and the rest is com- 
 posed of chloride and phosphate of sodium, with a little 
 carbonate and sulphocyanide. Ptyalin is a nitrogenous 
 substance, of the nature of diastase — the ferment which 
 in the vegetable converts starch into sugar, and hence it 
 has been called animal diastase by Mialhe, who attaches 
 great importance to it as the principal agent concerned 
 in the digestion of starchy foods — one part of ptyalin, 
 according to him, being capable of converting 8,000 parts 
 -of insoluble starch into soluble glucose. Saliva has 
 
48 On Food. 
 
 no chemical action on fat, or fibrin, or albuminous bodies 
 — its real functions being to lubricate the food for deglu- 
 tition, to carry oxygen into the stomach, and, above all, 
 to furnish a solvent for starch and tender cellulose. 
 Those animals, therefore, which feed chiefly on woody 
 matters, as the beaver, and most of the rodents, have 
 large salivary glands, and provision is also made for pro- 
 longed contact of the secretion with the vegetable tissue, 
 so as to ensure its transformation. 
 
 An artificial saliva, may be obtained from seeds which 
 have sprouted or fermented, and in which the diastase is 
 abundant. Licbig's extract of meat is an example of 
 this ; and Mr. Morson has taken advantage of the dis- 
 covery of M. Mege Mouries, that the inner layer of bran 
 contains a nitrogenous digestive principle called cerealin, 
 of the nature of diastase, and has extracted it, and con- 
 solidated it with sugar, in a preparation which he has 
 named saccharated wheat phosphates. Both of these are 
 aids to the digestion of farinaceous matters, and when 
 properly applied are useful in the treatment of infants' 
 food, as will be hereafter described. 
 
 GASTRIC Juice is a secretion from the entire surface 
 of the stomach. It is a transparent liquid, of a pale, 
 yellow colour, and of a saline and acid taste. It is much 
 heavier than water, (sp. gr. about 1020), and it contains 
 from 2 to 3 per cent, of solid matter — about 17 of which 
 is a remarkable nitrogenous organic body, called by 
 Schwann, its discoverer, pepsin. Its peculiarity is that, 
 in the presence of an acid, it converts almost every des- 
 cription of albuminous and fibrinous matter into a 
 soluble form of albumen, called by Lehmann peptone, 
 and by Mialhe albuminose, which differs from common 
 albumen in many particulars — it is, for example, more 
 liquid ;'< it is not coagulated by heat, nor by weak spirits, 
 nor by acids, nor by most mineral salts ; it is not very 
 prone to decomposition ; and it is capable of dialysis? 
 that is, of transudation through animal membrane, and, 
 
Gastric Jtiicc. 49 
 
 therefore, of absorption, which albumen is not. The 
 digestive power of pepsin is very great, for Wasmann 
 found that an acid liquid containing only one part of it 
 in 60,000 of the solution — that is, about a grain in a 
 gallon, was capable of dissolving meat ; and Lehmann 
 ascertained that 100 parts of the gastric juice of a dog 
 would digest 5 parts of coagulated albumen. 
 
 The nature of the free acid in gastric juice is some-* 
 what doubtful ; Lehmann, who has frequently examined 
 it, says it is lactic acid, but Schwann asserts that he has 
 often found free hydrochloric acid. It is very possible 
 that the chlorides contained in the stomach are partially 
 decomposed by lactic acid, during the process of analysis, 
 and thus the hydrochloric acid may, to some extent, be 
 accounted for, but the evidence is strongly in support of 
 the opinion that this acid, as well as lactic, butyric, and 
 phosphoric, or acid phosphates, are present in the fresh 
 gastric juice. It so happens, however, that when the 
 acids are in too large excess, the digestive action is 
 abnormal, and the same is the case when they are defi- 
 cient ; Lehmann states that the best proportion is when 
 100 parts of the gastric juice is just neutralized with 1-27 
 of potash. 
 
 Considering the importance of pepsin as a digestive 
 agent, the preparation of it for dietetical purposes is 
 largely practised. In France it is obtained from the 
 stomach of the pig by carefully washing it, and scraping 
 off the soft mucous membrane, then rubbing it down 
 with a little water, filtering, precipitating the foreign 
 matters, with acetate of lead, again filtering, and finally 
 precipitating the excess of lead with sulphuretted hydro- 
 gen, after which it is allowed to stand, or it is warmed, to 
 get rid of excess of sulphuretted hydrogen ; it is then 
 filtered once more, and after carefully evaporating to 
 the consistence of syrup, it is consolidated with dry 
 starch. In this country it is prepared from the stomach 
 of the sheep as well as of the pig) and we have our 
 
 E 
 
50 On Food. 
 
 pepsina ovis and pepsina porci ; besides which, the use of 
 lead and sulphuretted hydrogen is avoided by precipi- 
 tating the foreign matter with alcohol — pepsin being 
 soluble in weak spirit. The process recommended by 
 Dr. Lionel Beale, in 1858, was to press the mucous from 
 the glands pi the pig's stomach, and then to dry it 
 upon glass ; after which it is to be powdered, and pre- 
 served in stoppered bottles. It keeps well for years, and 
 is always ready for use — a grain of it being sufficient to 
 dissolve 800 grains of coagulated white of egg. Distilled; 
 water dissolves it, and, when filtered, yields a clear, 
 colourless solution. On the lecture table are specimens 
 of Boudault's pepsin as well as those of Mr. Morson, of 
 London, Messrs. Turner and Co., and Mr. Claridge, of 
 Warwick, all of which are in operation, showing their 
 relative digestive powers on animal fibrin. 
 
 The pepsin preparations on the table contain varying 
 proportions of starch, as from 20 to 50 per cent. ; but the 
 digestive power of any specimen may be easily tested by 
 putting a dose of the preparation into a small bottle 
 with half an ounce of water, acidulating with 20 drops 
 of hydrochloric acid, and then adding half a drachm of 
 hard-boiled egg chopped small, or the same weight 
 of lean meat, or 120 grains of the fibrin of blood. 
 On standing in a warm place at a temperature of from 
 I00 Q to II0 Q of Fahrenheit the digestion should 
 be complete in two hours. Tried in this manner, Dr. 
 Pavy found, some time ago, that nearly all the prepara- 
 tions in common use were inert ; not so, however, at the 
 present time, for, as you will notice, digestion is proceed- 
 ing rapidly. 
 
 I am told that the strongest pepsin is obtained from 
 young healthy pigs kept hungry, and excited by savoury 
 food which they are not allowed to eat ; and then while 
 the influence of the expected meal is strong upon them, 
 and the secretions of the stomach are being poured out 
 in large quantity, the animals are killed. 
 
Pancreatic Fhiid. 51 
 
 Pepsin, like diastase, is rendered inert by a temperature 
 of from 120 to 130 F. ; and, therefore, very hot drinks 
 alter a meal- are hurtful. 
 
 Pancreatic Fluid is a secretion from the pancreas 
 or sweet-bread. Until recently its true digestive func- 
 tions were not well determined. It is a colourless fluid 
 of a gravity of 1008 or 1009. Like the saliva, it is gene- 
 rally a little alkaline, and it contains about l - 3 per cent, 
 of solid matter, one-eighth of which is a nitrogenous 
 organic substance of the nature of ptyalin or diastase, 
 and is called pancreatin. 
 
 More than twenty years ago, Bernard proved what 
 Valentin had long before suspected, that the pancreatic 
 fluid was concerned in the digestion of fatty matters ; 
 but he fell into error in supposing "that its action was to 
 saponify the fat and to set glycerin free. Here is a 
 specimen of glycerin and of lead-soap obtained from fat , 
 upon which the pancreatic fluid had previously acted 
 showing that saponification had not been effected. The 
 true action of the pancreatic secretion is evidently to 
 break up the large granules, crystals, and globules of 
 oil and fat, into myriads of minute particles of from 
 1-3,000 to 1-15,000 of an inch in diameter. In this way 
 the fat is emulsified and converted into a milky liquid, 
 which mixes freely with water, and passes through the 
 tissues cf the intestines into the lacteals. We are in- 
 debted for this knowledge to Dr. Dobell, who had long 
 been of opinion that the secretions of the pancreas were 
 important in certain diseases, and required elucidation. 
 With the assistance of Mr. Julius Schweitzer, of Brighton, 
 the then manager of the laboratory of Messrs. Savory and 
 Moore, he made a large series of investigations into the 
 properties of the pancreatic secretion, and he found that 
 when the fresh pancreas, (and best of the pig) is rubbed 
 down in a mortar with twice its weight of hog's, lard, it 
 rapidly emulsifies it; and on adding abbutfour or five times 
 the bulk of water, and straining through muslin, there is 
 
 E 2. 
 
52 On Food. 
 
 obtained a thick milky liquid, of the consistence of cream, 
 which gradually consolidates. If this be treated with 
 ether, the pancreatised fat dissolves ; and when the ether 
 is separated by distillation, there remains the purified 
 pancreatised fat, which is still miscible with water ; in 
 fact, when mixed with four or five parts of water it forms 
 the creamy emulsion which is used dietetically and medi- 
 cinally in doses of a teaspoonful at a time. 
 
 The properties of the pancreatic fluid have been well 
 described by Dr. Dobell, in a paper recently read before 
 the Royal Society of London ; and it would seem that 
 the fluid has not only the remarkable property of 
 emulsifying oil and fat, and so rendering them capable 
 of absorption, but it has also the power of dissolving 
 starch by converting it into glucose. In this respect its 
 action is like that of saliva, but it is much more energe- 
 tic ; for in its fresh state, one part of the pancreas will 
 dissolve eight parts of starch, and even after it has emul- 
 sified fat, it will dissolve two parts of starch. It is, 
 therefore, a powerful agent of digestion, in so far as fat, 
 and starch,, and young cellulose are concerned, but it 
 has little or no action on albuminous substances. 
 
 I am indebted to Dr. Dobell and to Mr. Morson for 
 the specimens of pancreatin and pancreatised fat upon the 
 table. The first of these preparations is obtained by 
 treating the fresh pancreas with water, and carefully 
 evaporating the solution to the consistence of syrup, and 
 then consolidating it with the flour of malt. Perhaps 
 the dried pancreas, powdered and mixed with ground 
 malt, would be a stronger preparation. 
 
 Bile is a complex liquid, consisting of biliary acids 
 (taurocholic, glycocolic, &c.) in combination with soda. 
 Its reaction is slightly alkaline, and it contains about 
 14 per cent, of solid matter, not less than 12 of which are 
 organic. 
 
 The true function of the bile is unknown ; perhaps it 
 
Intestinal Secretion. 5 3 
 
 aids in neutralising the acid peptones from the stomach ; 
 perhaps, also, in emulsifying fat ; and it may be that it 
 helps the digestion of starchy foods, and aids in the 
 transformation of sugar. Lehmann thinks it is a rich 
 residuum from the manufacture of blood globules in the 
 liver, and that it is secreted into the alimentary canal, 
 only to be reabsorbed into the blood. Mr. Lea, also, is 
 of opinion, from his examination of the fcetal liver, that 
 it separates a highly nutritious substance from the portal 
 blood, which is elaborated in the intestines. ' Its func- 
 tions, however, are manifestly obscure. 
 
 Dr. Macvicar is of opinion that it serves to prevent the 
 formation of plant tissue (plyto-cellulosi) from the vege- 
 table matters of food, and determines the productions of 
 animal tissue (zoo-cellulose), the former being a simpler 
 and inferior molecular or morphological change, to which 
 vegetable food is naturally prone. It is therefore, an 
 animalising agent. Further investigations, however, are 
 ■ wanted for the real functions of bile. 
 
 Lastly, the Intestinal Secretion which is thrown 
 out along the whole course of the small intestines, is, 
 according to the researches of Bidder and Schmidt, a 
 powerful agent of digestion ; for it combines the activity 
 and digestive power of all the other secretions — starch, 
 fat, and albuminous substances being all equally well- 
 digested by it. 
 
 It will be easily understood therefore, how, when the 
 food comes into contact with these special solvents, and 
 is copiously drenched with fluid, it gives up its nutritive 
 constituents. Admirable, however, as this provision is 
 for the digestion of all kinds of food, yet a considerable 
 portion of useful matter often passes through the bowel 
 unchanged ; for cellulose, starch globules, and muscular 
 fibre are common constituents of sewage. Dr. Lyon 
 Playfair says that in the case of an adult man, with good 
 digestion, i-i2th of the nitrogen of the food passes away 
 
54 On Food. 
 
 with the excreta, and others have computed it at i-8th. 
 In a dry state the faeces of man contain about &$ per 
 cent, of nitrogen, and in the fresh state, I "J. In Ranke's 
 experiments, it was ascertained that the nitrogen in the 
 feces was to that in the urine as i to i2 - 5. Much of this 
 is, doubtless, derived from the secretions which have 
 done the work of digestion, and have thus become effete; 
 indeed, Dr. Marcet'is of opinion that the alvine dis- 
 charges are chiefly composed of the residuum of albumi- 
 nous substances which have been secreted into the bowel 
 for the purposes of digestion, but they also contain the 
 remains of undigested food. In ordinary individuals they 
 amount to from 4 ozs. to 5 '5 ozs. a day — (Wehsurg says 
 46 ozs. ; Liebig, 5-5 ozs. ; Lawes, 4"2 for a middle-aged 
 adult, and 6 - 2 for a person over 50 — the mean amount 
 for adult males being 5' 2 ozs -> and for adult females 
 1 "4 ozs.); and when calculated in a dry state they amonnt 
 to about i'i ozs. for male, and 04 ozs. for females daily. 
 It would, seem, however, that when indigestible and 
 irritating food is used, the quantity of fecal matter is 
 increased, as if the food was hurried through the intes- 
 tines without undergoing digestion. At the Wakefield 
 Prison, for example, it was found that when brown 
 bread, containing bran, was given to the prisoners, the- 
 weight of the feces was 7 ozs. per head daily ; and the 
 same fact has been observed at the Coldbath-fields 
 Prison. This is a strong argument against the use of 
 whole meal for bread. 
 
 With this general account of the digestive function of 
 the different secretions discharged into the alimentary 
 canal, we are prepared to inquire into the digestibility of 
 different alimentary substances. 
 
Digestibility of Foods. 55 
 
 Digestibility of Foods. 
 
 Nitrogenous, Proteinaceous, or Albuminous 
 Substances, constituting the leading articles of diet, are 
 evidently digested by the gastric juice and the intestinal 
 mucus. In the former case they are converted into 
 acid peptones, of which, according to Lehmann, there 
 are several varieties, albumino-peptones, fibrino-peptones, 
 caseino-peptones, gelatino-peptones, &c, according as they 
 are derived from albumen, fibrin, casein, gelatin, &c, and 
 of these substances the fluid form of albumen is most 
 easily converted ; then coagulated albumen; then fibrin; 
 then casein ; and, lastly, the derivatives of albumen, 
 gelatin, chondrin, and cartilage, as the tegumentary 
 forms of albumen, hair, wool, feathers, &c, which are 
 entirely indigestible. Here is an example of the indi- 
 gestibility of hair ; it is a ball of it, obtained from the 
 alimentary canal of a cow, where it has remained perhaps 
 for years, having been originally licked off from a calf. 
 Serpents and other animals that swallow their prey entire, 
 digest the soft tissues and bones, but they disgorge the 
 hair and feathers unchanged. 
 
 It is difficult to speak of the comparative digestibility 
 of different nitrogenous foods ; for the well-known ex- 
 periments of Dr. Beaumont on the Canadian with a fistu- 
 lous opening in the stomach, and even experiments made 
 in bottles with pepsin, do not represent the full and 
 natural conditions of the process : at the same time there 
 can be no doubt that there are great differences in the 
 digestibility of different animal substances. Reverting 
 to Dr. Beaumont's inquiries, he found that soused pigs' 
 feet, and soused tripe were the most digestible of all 
 foods, and that boiled tendon of meat was the least 
 digestible. The following, in fact, are the times given by 
 him for the chymification of different animal foods : — 
 
On Food. 
 
 Table IX. 
 
 Relative Digestibility of Animal Substances. 
 
 Time of 
 
 Articles of diet. How cooked. chymification. 
 
 H. M. 
 
 Pigs' feet (soused) .... Boiled I o 
 
 Tripe (soused) Boiled i o 
 
 Eggs (whipped) Raw I 30 
 
 Salmon trout Boiled 1 30 
 
 Venison steak Broiled 1 30 
 
 Brains Boiled 1 45 
 
 Ox liver Broiled 2 o 
 
 Codfish (cured dry) .... Boiled 2 o 
 
 Eggs Roasted 2 15 
 
 Turkey Boiled 2 25 
 
 Gelatine Boiled 2 30 
 
 Goose Roasted 2 30 
 
 Pig (sucking) Roasted 2 30 
 
 Lamb Broiled 2 30 
 
 Chicken Fricasseed 2 45 
 
 Beef Boiled 2 45 
 
 Beef Roasted 3 o 
 
 Mutton Boiled 3 o 
 
 Mutton Roasted 3 15 
 
 Oysters Stewed 3 30 
 
 Cheese Raw 3 30 
 
 Eggs ■ • • Hard Boiled 3 30 
 
 Eggs Fried 3 30 
 
 Beef Fried 4 o 
 
 Fowls Boiled 4 o 
 
 Fowls Roasted 4 o 
 
 Ducks Roasted 4 o 
 
 Cartilage Boiled 4 15 
 
 Pork Roasted 5 15 
 
 Tendon Boiled 5 30 
 
 Cheese and tendons are perhaps digested only in small 
 
Digestibility of Vegetable Foods. 57 
 
 quantity ; and it is evident, from these experiments, as I 
 shall hereafter explain, that cooking has considerable 
 influence on the digestibility of food. 
 
 It is a curious problem why the stomach does not 
 digest itself, seeing that it belongs to the class of most 
 
 1 easily digestible substances, as tripe. Hunter explained 
 it by referring the protective power to the vital force, for 
 when dead the stomach digests itself in common with 
 the food contained in it ; but Bernard's and Pavy's ex- 
 periments have proved that this is not the right expla- 
 nation, for if the legs of living frogs, or the ears of living 
 rabbits, are introduced into the stomach of a dog through 
 a fistulous opening in the side, they digest like other 
 proteinaceous substances. Liebig supposed that the pro- 
 tective power was in the thick mucus which lined the 
 stomach, but Pavy denuded a part of the inner walls of 
 a dog's stomach, and found that the tissue did not digest, 
 
 - but, on the contrary, quickly healed, and he is of opinion 
 that the protective power is in the alkaline condition of 
 the blood, which circulates so freely through the capil- 
 lary vessels of the stomach during digestion. 
 
 Starchy Substances and Cellulose are digested 
 by the ptyalin of the saliva, and the pancreatin of the 
 pancreatic fluid, as also by the animal diastase of intes- 
 tinal mucus. The solution is effected by the conversion 
 of the starch and cellulose into a low form of sugar, 
 called glucose, which is either freely absorbed into the 
 circulation, or is changed in the stomach into lactic acid, 
 where it serves an important function in the digestion of 
 nitrogenous matter. If, however, by mal-assimilation, 
 through the agency, perhaps, of putrefactive processes, 
 it becomes changed into butyric acid, it hinders diges- 
 tion, and causes much discomfort. It is on this account 
 that saccharine foods are apt to disagree with the stomach ; 
 and it is very probable that this abnormal transforma- 
 tion is due to the presence of those infusorial creatures 
 which swarm in putrifying animal matters. The time 
 
58 On Food, 
 
 necessary for the digestion of different vegetable sub- 
 stances, as determined by Dr. Beaumont, is as follows : — 
 
 Table X. 
 
 Relative Digestibility of Vegetable Substances, 
 
 Time of 
 Articles of Diet. How prepared. Chymification. 
 
 H. M. 
 
 Rice Boiled I o 
 
 Apples (sweet and mellow) . Raw i 30 
 
 Sago Boiled 1 45 
 
 Tapioca . . . f Boiled 2 o 
 
 Barley ........ Boiled 2 o 
 
 Apples (sour and mellow) . . Raw 2 o 
 
 Cabbage with vinegar . . . Raw 2 o 
 
 Beans Boiled . 2 30 
 
 , Sponge cake Baked 2 30 
 
 Parsnips - . Boiled 2 30 
 
 Potatoes Roasted 2 30 
 
 Potatoes , Baked 2 33 
 
 Apple dumpling Boiled. 3 o 
 
 Indian corn cake Baked 3. o 
 
 Indian corn bread Baked 315 
 
 Carrot Boiled 3 15 
 
 Wheaten bread Baked 3 30 
 
 Potatoes Boiled 3 30 
 
 Turnips 'Boiled 3 30 
 
 Beets Boiled 3 45 
 
 Cabbage' Boiled 4 o 
 
 It would seem from this that the time of digestion is 
 in proportion to the amount of cellulose or woody tissue 
 in the food. No doubt there is a more complete solution 
 of these matters in the small intestines, where the pan- 
 creatic secretion and intestinal mucus, aided by the alka- 
 line condition of the fluids, exert the greatest action on 
 them, but it is very doubtful whether hard cellulose and 
 
Gttm — Fatty Matters. 59 
 
 woody matter are at all digested by man. Even in the 
 case of the pig, whose digestive powers are singularly 
 active, it is thought by Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert, from, 
 their experiments on the fattening of animals, that there 
 is little or no digestion of these substances ; and, under 
 any circumstances, a very prolonged contact with the 
 secretions is necessary for their digestion. Raw starch 
 will pass a considerable distance along the alimentary 
 canal of man without much change, and it is only to- 
 wards the end of the small intestines that the starch 
 granules undergo marked disintegration. Those ani- 
 mals which feed entirely on vegetables have always a 
 contrivance for keeping the food a long time in contact 
 with the secretions. It occurs as the paunch in rumi- 
 nants, the crop in birds, the large caecum in rabbits and 
 other rodentia, and as the long alimentary canal of all 
 of them ; but even then a large portion of the vegetable 
 tissue passes through the bowels unchanged. Cooking, 
 grinding, and otherwise disintegrating the tissue, help 
 considerably in the digestion of it ; and so also does the 
 prolonged contact of the .starchy matters of food with 
 the natural diastase of the vegetable. An infusion of 
 malt will rapidly sweeten barley, as the brewer knows 
 from daily observation ; and the starch of potatoes can 
 readily be converted into glucose by digesting it for a 
 few hours with the parings of the potato, This opera- 
 tion, in fact, is largely practised by German farmers in 
 the preparation of food for fattening pigs. 
 
 Gum and Pectin are probably not digested at all, for 
 as they are unchanged by contact with the secretions, 
 and are incapable of dialysis or absorption, they must 
 pass through the alimentary canal without serving any 
 purpose in nutrition, beyond acting as demulcents. 
 
 Fatty Matters are digested by the emulsifying ac- 
 tion of the' pancreatic fluid ; and by being thus broken 
 up into extremely minute globules they are freely ad- 
 mitted into the lacteal vessels ; in fact the emulsified 
 
■6o On Food. 
 
 globules of fat are seen covering the villi of the intes- 
 tines, penetrating their tissues, pervading the subjacent 
 -cellular bodies, and thus entering the lacteals ; and, no 
 doubt, the peristaltic action of the intestines contributes 
 largely to this emulsifying process. 
 
 Saline Substances are generally soluble in water, 
 and are therefore easily absorbed, but when this is not 
 the case, as with the earthy phosphates, they are attacked 
 by the acid constituents of the gastric juice. 
 
 And, here, in concluding this part of the subject, I 
 may remark that the great aids to digestion are : — 
 
 ist. Proper selection of food, according to the taste 
 and digestive power of the individual. 
 
 2nd. Proper treatment of it as regards cooking, flavour- 
 ing, and serving it. 
 
 3rd. Proper variations of it, both as to its nature and 
 treatment, so that the appetite may not fail, or be 
 wearied. 
 
 4th. Exercise, warmth, and a genial disposition. 
 
 5 th. Regularity of meals, with a proper interval be- 
 tween them. 
 
 Functions of Food. 
 
 Although much attention has been directed to the im- 
 portant subject of the immediate arid remote functions 
 •of food, yet it must be admitted that the difficulties of 
 the question have not been surmounted, and that we are 
 ^hardly able to particularise the phenomena which are 
 incidental to the transformations of food. We can see 
 clearly enough that its ultimate destiny is the manifes- 
 tation of force — the letting loose of the cosmical agencies 
 which are bound up in it, as when, by undergoing oxida- 
 tion, it returns more or less completely to its original 
 forms — carbonic acid, water, and ammonia ; but how and 
 where these changes occur, and what are the subsidiary 
 phenomena, and concurrent functions, besides those of 
 
Functions of Food. — Water. 61 
 
 common motion and animal heat, are as yet almost un- 
 known to us. Nor are we sufficiently acquainted with 
 the special attributes of the principal constituents of 
 food, as the albuminous, the fatty, the farinaceous, the 
 saccharine, and the saline ; for although the well-known 
 opinions of Liebig, with regard to the dynamic or force- 
 producing functions of the nitrogenous or plastic ele-, 
 ments of food, and of the thermotic or respiratory powers 
 of the carbonaceous have been generally received, yet 
 there are abundant reasons for believing that both of 
 these classes of food may perform exactly the same 
 functions in respect of the development of force ; and, 
 again, it is more than probable that the nitrogenous or 
 plastic constituents of food may, like the carbonaceous, 
 be pxidised and consumed in the living body without 
 ever entering into the composition of tissue. In these 
 respects, therefore, there are great points of divergence 
 from the views of Liebig. • 
 
 Looking, however, at the proximate elements of food, 
 it may, perhaps, best serve our present purpose if we in- 
 quire generally into the several functions of water, albu- 
 minoid compounds, fatty substances, farinaceous and sac- 
 charine matters, and mineral salts. 
 
 i st. Water is unquestionably of great physiological 
 value, for as much as 75 per cent, of the muscular tissue 
 of the animal frame is composed of it ; and of the 20 lbs. 
 of blood which an average-sized adult contains in his 
 body, about 15^ lbs. are water. It is computed, also, 
 that not less than 30 lbs. of fluid {vide Table No. 8), ebb 
 and flow daily from the blood and alimentary canal by 
 secretion and absorption. Bidder, indeed, estimates that 
 about 28-6 lbs. of chyle and lymph are carried daily by 
 the thoracic duct alone into the circulation — a quantity 
 of fluid that amounts to nearly one-fifth of the entire 
 weight of the adult human body ; and then with regard ^0 
 the excretions; we find that rather more than a pound of 
 water is exhaled daily by the breath, about a pound and 
 
■62 On Food. 
 
 three-quarters by the skin, and not less than two pounds 
 and three-quarters by the kidneys, making altogether 
 .about five pounds and a half per adult daily. 
 
 These results indicate the importance of water in the 
 functions of the animal body. It serves indeed to dis- 
 solve the food and carry it into the circulation ; to effect 
 the distribution of it throughout the system ; to dis- 
 solve effete matters, as the metamorphosed constituents 
 of worn-out tissues, and so convey them out of the 
 body ; to establish the chemical activity which is neces- 
 sary for nutrition and decay ; to combine mechanically 
 ■with the tissues and lubricate them, so that they may 
 perform their functions easily ; and lastly, to evaporate 
 by the air-passages and skin, and thus maintain the 
 proper temperature of the body. 
 
 2nd. The second constituents of our food — namely, 
 Albuminous, Nitrogenous, or Plastic Matters, 
 were once, and until very recently, thought to have the 
 sole function of constructing and repairing the muscular 
 parts of the body ; and having so entered into the com- 
 position of tissues, their oxidation and decay were at- 
 tended with the manifestations of force which were the 
 •working powers of the animal machine. " We see," says 
 Liebig, " as an immediate effect of the manifestation of 
 mechanical force, that a part of the muscular substance 
 'loses its vital properties, — its character of life ; that this 
 portion separates from the living part, and loses its 
 capacity for growth and its power of resistance. We find 
 that this change of properties is accompanied by the 
 entrance of a foreign body (oxygen) into the composi- 
 tion of the muscular fibre; and all experience proves 
 that this conversion of living muscular fibre into com- 
 pounds destitute of vitality, is accelerated or retarded 
 according to the amount of force employed to produce 
 motion. Nay, it may safely be affirmed, that they are 
 mutually proportional ; that a rapid transformation of 
 muscular fibre, or, as it may be called, a rapid change 
 
Functions of Nitrogenous Matters. 63 
 
 ■of matter, determines a greater amount of mechanical 
 force; and conversely, that a greater amount of me- 
 chanical motion (of mechanical force expended in 
 motion), determines a more rapid change of matter." 
 He further remarks that "the amount of azotised food 
 necessary to restore the equilibrium between waste and 
 supply is directly proportional to the amount of tissue 
 metamorphosed," that " the amount of living matter, 
 which in the body loses the condition of life, is, in equal 
 temperatures, directly proportional to the mechanical 
 effects produced in a given time." That " the amount 
 of tissue metamorphosed in a given time may be 
 measured by the quantity of nitrogen in the urine ; " and 
 " that the sum of the mechanical effects produced in two _ 
 individuals in the same temperature, is proportional to 
 the amount of nitrogen in their urine ; whether the 
 mechanical force has been employed in voluntary or 
 involuntary motions ; whether it has been consumed by 
 the limbs, or by the heart and other viscera." 
 
 These are the generalisations of Liebig and they go 
 to show, not only that the dynamical action of the 
 animal body depends wholly on the transformation of 
 muscular tissue, and may be measured by the quantity 
 of nitrogen excreted as urea ; but also that no oxida- 
 tion of nitrogenous matter can take place until it has 
 passed from the condition of food to tissue, and has 
 thus become organised. According to this view, the 
 mechanical force of the human ; machine is derived 
 entirely from its own combustion, and not from the 
 oxidation of matters contained in the food. 
 
 For some time past there, have been suspicions that 
 this view of the case is not correct ; and the doubts of 
 physiologists have been strengthened by the circum- 
 stance that great labour might be performed for a short 
 period without the use of a nitrogenous diet ; and that 
 while there was always a relation between the quantity 
 of nitrogen in the food and that excreted as urea, there 
 
64 On Food. 
 
 was no such relation between the dynamical actions of 
 the body and the proportions of urea. Moritz Troube, 
 in fact, asserted in 1861, after a careful examination of 
 the subject, that all muscular force was derived from, 
 the oxidation of fat and hydrocarbons, and none from 
 the oxidations of tissue. Haidenham, in 1864, arrived 
 at a similar conclusion, and Donders was likewise of 
 opinion that tissue transformation would not account 
 for all the force of the animal body. 
 
 The hypothesis of Liebig has been further shaken by 
 the investigation of Dr. Edward Smith, who has shown 
 that the proportion of nitrogen in the urine does not 
 increase with exercise, although the amount of carbonic 
 acid exhaled by the lungs does. But the most con- 
 vincing proof of the fallacy of the hypothesis was fur- 
 nished in 1866 by the experiments of Dr. A. Fick, the 
 Professor of Physiology at Zurich, and Dr. J. Wislicenus, 
 the Professor of Chemistry. 
 
 On the 29th of August of that year they prepared 
 themselves for an ascent of the Faulhorn, one of the 
 Bernese Alps, which rises 6417-5 feet above the Lake of 
 Brientz. For seventeen hours before the journey, they 
 took nothing in the way of solid food but cakes com- 
 posed of starch, fat, and sugar; and on the following 
 morning, at half-past five o'clock, they began the ascent, 
 choosing the steepest of the practical paths from the 
 little village of Iseltwald on the Lake of Brientz.' At 
 twenty minutes past one in the afternoon their journey 
 was accomplished without fatigue, and from that hour 
 to seven in the evening they remained at rest in the- 
 hotel at the top of the mountain. During the whole of 
 that time (a period of thirty-one hours) they took no- 
 other food than the non-nitrogenous cakes, but at seven 
 o'clock they had a plentiful meal of meat, &c. 
 The urine was collected at three intervals, namely : — 
 1st. From 6 o'clock p.m. of the 29th to 5 a.m. of 
 the 30th ; and this they called the night urine (before- 
 work). 
 
Sources of Muscular Power. 65 
 
 2nd. From 5 a.m. of the 30th to 1.20 p.m. ; and this 
 they called the work urine. 
 
 3rd. From 1.20 p.m. to 7 p.m. ; and this they called 
 the after-work urine. 
 
 4th. From 7 p.m. on the 30th, to 5.30 of the morning 
 of the 31st; and this they called the night urine (after 
 work). 
 
 All these were analysed for nitrogen, and the results 
 were as follows : — 
 
 Grains of Nitrogen Excreted by 
 
 Fick. Wislicenus. 
 
 1st. Night urine (before work) . . . 1067 103*2 
 
 2nd. Work urine S 1 ' 1 ! 8fi.fi 4§'3 I a t .c 
 
 3rd. After work urine 37-5 \ oa ° 37-3 \ . 5 ° 
 
 4th. Night urine (after work)- . ... 74/3 82 - 5 
 
 So that not only were they able to perform the work 
 without a nitrogenous diet, but the quantity of nitrogen 
 excreted was less during the work than before or after. 
 Even calculated at the hourly rate of excretion it stands 
 thus : — 
 
 Grains of Nitrogen Hourly 
 Excreted. 
 
 , * > 
 
 Pick. Wislicenus. 
 
 During 1st night 970 9'38 
 
 During time of work 6'I4 5 "89 
 
 During rest after work ; ... 6*63 6 "59 
 
 During 2nd night after work 7'08 7 "86 
 
 The work which they had performed was estimated 
 thus : — Fick with clothes and equipments weighed 
 145 - S lbs. avoirdupois, . and Wislicenus 767-5 lbs. ; and 
 as they ascended 6417-5 feet, it is clear that Fick had 
 raised 933,746 lbs. one foot high (145-5 * 6417-5), and 
 Wislicenus 1,074,931 lbs. (167-5 x 6417-5); so that for 
 an expenditure of muscular tissue, represented in the 
 one case by 88 - 6 grains of nitrogen, and in the other 
 by 85-9 grains, the foregoing amounts of work had been 
 done. Now, as one of nitrogen represents 6-49 of dry 
 
 F 
 
66 On Food. 
 
 muscular tissue", it is evident that Fick had consumed 
 575 grains of muscle, and Wislicenus 555-5 grains. 
 
 At the time of the experiment, the thermotic and 
 mechanical powers of these proportions of flesh were 
 not accurately known, but they have since been deter- 
 mined in a very careful manner by Dr. Frankland, who 
 finds that when pure dry lean of beef, albumen, and 
 urea are completely oxidised in a proper apparatus, 
 they develope the following amounts of heat and 
 mechanical force : — 
 
 
 Lbs. of water 
 
 Lbs. lifted one 
 
 
 raised i° Fahr. 
 
 foot high. 
 
 10 grains of pure dry beef . 
 
 . I3'I2 
 
 IO,I28 
 
 10 grains of pure albumen . 
 
 . 12-85 
 
 9,920 
 
 10 grains of pure urea . . 
 
 • 5-67 
 
 4,400 
 
 In considering the mechanical power of muscular 
 tissue, it must be remembered that it is never com- 
 pletely oxidised in the animal body, but is changed into 
 carbonic acid, water, and about one-third of its weight 
 of urea, so that the potential energy of muscle is not so 
 great as in the preceding results. Calculated, indeed, 
 according to the proportions of urea formed, the tissues 
 of Fick and Wislicenus were capable of the following 
 amounts of physiological energy : — 
 
 Fick. Wislicenus. 
 
 Q r^d mUSde } S^ogrs. SSS-Sgr, 
 
 A M.yb™n e t gy : f }58 2 ,36oft,lb, 562,6,0 ft.-lbs. 
 Available energy, \ 
 
 deducting the [-498,525 ft.-lbs. 481,618 ft.-lbs. 
 
 urea .... J 
 Work actually done 933,746 ft.-lbs. 1,074,931 ft.-lbs. 
 
 So that in the case of Fick 435,221 foot-pounds of 
 work, and, in the other, 593,313 foot-pounds are unac- 
 
Source of Muscular Power. 67 
 
 counted for. But this is not all, for, besides the mere 
 labour of ascending the mountain, there were the move- 
 ments of respiration, and the beating of the heart, and 
 other internal motor actions, to be added to the work 
 actually done. 
 
 Now each beat of the heart is estimated as equal to 
 a lift of 4-63 lbs. one foot high ; and it is considered 
 from Donder's well-known investigations that the work 
 of respiration is nearly the same — namely, 4^56 lbs. a 
 foot high. Fick says that during the ascent his pulse 
 beat at the average rate of 120 a minute and his 
 respirations were 25. The beating of his heart, there- 
 fore, during the 5 \ hours actually taken in the ascent 
 was equal to 183,348 lbs. lifted a foot high ; and the 
 respiration to 37,620 lbs. If the internal labour, or, as 
 it may be called, the' opus vitale of Wislicenus was in 
 proportion to his bodily weight, as compared with 
 Fick's — that is, as 7 to 6, then the ascertainable work 
 done, was to the power of the muscle consumed as 
 follows : — 
 
 Work of ascending the \ 
 mountain . . . . j 
 Work of circulation 
 Work of respiration . 
 
 Total ascertainable work 
 
 Actual energy of the "j 
 
 consumed muscle . . j 
 
 Energy unaccounted for 656,189 851,109 
 
 From which it appears that taking only the three 
 factors of ascertainable work — namely, external labour, 
 circulation and respiration, and disregarding other un- 
 ascertainable motor actions of the body, which are esti- 
 mated by many as greater than all the rest, the work 
 
 F 2 
 
 Fick. 
 Ft. -lbs. 
 
 Wislicenus. 
 Ft. -lbs. 
 
 933,746 
 
 1,074,931 
 
 183,348 
 37,620 
 
 213,906 
 43,890 
 
 1,154,714 
 
 I,33 2 ,727 
 
 498,525 
 
 481,618 
 
68 On Food. 
 
 actually performed exceeds the energy of the oxidised 
 uiuscle by more than as much again. 
 
 It may be said, and truly, that these experiments of 
 Fick and Wislicenus were of too short a duration to 
 afford an opportunity of ascertaining whether the oxi- 
 dised- muscle was not afterwards excreted ; but the 
 recent researches of Dr. Parkes on the elimination of 
 nitrogen by two healthy men (soldiers) in the prime of 
 life, during a period of seventeen days, and under differ- 
 ent conditions of diet and exercise, have shown that, 
 although the results are not altogether accordant with 
 those of Fick and Wislicenus — yet the conclusions are 
 certainly borne out, that a non-nitrogenous diet will 
 sustain the body during exercise for a short time, and 
 that exercise produces no notable increase in the nitro- 
 gen of the urine. On the contrary, the amount of urea 
 is actually less during work than at a period of rest ; 
 and he thinks that the muscle, instead of oxidising, and, 
 therefore, losing its substance during labour, actually 
 appropriates nitrogen and grows — its exhaustion being 
 dependent, not so much on its decay, as on the accumu- 
 lation of the oxidised products of hydro-carbon, as lactic 
 acid, &c, in its tissue, which require rest and time for 
 their removal. That some decay of the muscle takes 
 place there can be no doubt ; for, as Dr. Parkes ob- 
 serves, " although it is certain that very severe exercise 
 can be performed on non-nitrogenous diet for a short 
 time, yet it does not follow that nitrogen is unnecessary. 
 The largest experience shows, not only that nitrogen 
 must be supplied, if work is to be done, but that the 
 amount must augment with the work. For a short 
 period the well-fed body possesses sufficient nitrogen to 
 permit muscular exertion to go on for some time with- 
 out a fresh supply; but the destruction of nitrogenous 
 tissues in these two men is shown by the way in which, 
 when nitrogen was again supplied, a large amount was 
 retained in the body to compensate for previous depriva- 
 
Source of Muscular Power. 69 
 
 tion." It would seem, too, from the great exhaustion of 
 the men on the second day of a non-nitrogenous diet, 
 that their muscles and nerves were becoming struc- 
 turally impaired, and that if the experiments had been 
 continued for a third day there would have been a large 
 diminution in the amount of work. The work which 
 they actually performed on a non-nitrogenous diet of 
 starch and butter, in the form of biscuits and arrowroot, 
 was walking exercise of 2376 miles the first day, and 
 3278 the second. The first day's work occupied, with 
 intervals of rest, about ten hours and three-quarters, and 
 it was done without fatigue ; but the second day's work 
 took twelve hours, and the last thirteen miles were ac- 
 complished with great fatigue. Calculated according to 
 Haughton's formula (that walking upon a level surface 
 is equal to lifting i-20th of the weight of the body 
 through the distance walked), the labour in the two 
 days was, for — 
 
 S. T. 
 
 Weighing with Weighing with 
 
 clothes 162-4 lbs. clothes 124-2 lbs. 
 
 The first day .... 1,018,676 ft. -lbs. ' 779,062 ft. -lbs. 
 
 The second day . . . 1,405,397 ft.-lbs. 1,074,817 ft. -lbs. 
 
 Total work . . . . 2,424,073 ft.-lbs. 1,853,879 ft.-lbs. 
 
 Total nitrogen excreted . 529-16 grains. 492-46 grains. 
 
 Equal to muscle oxidised 3,434-25 grains. 3,196-07 grains. 
 
 The energy of which) flb 2)77c , g93 ft-Iba 
 
 (minus urea) is . . ) >yii>tyj >" >^-> 
 
 The amount of nitrogen excreted during the time of 
 actual exercise was only about half the above ; and, 
 calculated in this way, it would only account for about 
 two-thirds of the labour-force. The results, therefore, 
 prove that although the basis for the calculations of 
 Fick and Wislicenus was too narrow for accurate deduc- 
 tions, yet the mechanical force of the oxidised muscle is 
 not sufficient to account for external and internal work ; 
 and the conclusion is that, in the above experiments, the 
 motive power of the muscles was not derived from their 
 
On Food. 
 
 own oxidation, but from the oxidation of non-nitro- 
 genous matters. 
 
 The researches of Dr. Edward Smith have thrown 
 additional light on the subject, for he ascertained that 
 the amount of carbonic acid exhaled by the lungs was 
 in proportion to the actual work performed. 
 
 • Grs. per hour. 
 
 During sleep it was at the rate of . . . 293 
 
 When lying down and approaching sleep 
 
 In a sitting posture 
 
 When walking two miles an hour . . . 
 When walking three miles an hour . . 
 And when working at the treadmill . . 
 
 355 
 
 491 
 
 1,088 
 
 i»552 
 2,926 
 
 It is highly probable, therefore, that the largest 
 amount of muscular force is derived from the hydro- 
 carbons of our food ; not that the nitrogenous matters 
 of it may not also be a source of power, as in some cases 
 they must be ; but there is no necessity, as Liebig sup- 
 poses, for their being previously constructed into tissue. 
 The experiments of Mr. Savory with rats, and of 
 Bischoff and Voit with dogs, show that these animals 
 can live and be in health for weeks on a purely nitro- 
 genous diet, and it is nearly certain that under these 
 circumstances the nitrogenous matters are in great part 
 oxidised without entering into the composition of tissue. 
 This, as I have said, is the main point of divergence 
 from the hypothesis of Liebig ; and it is further sup- 
 ported by the fact that the amount of nitrogen excreted, 
 as urea, is not in proportion to the work done, but to the 
 quantity 'of it in the food, and this is observed even 
 when there is no muscular exertion. 
 
 That the chief function of nitrogenous matters is to 
 repair tissue there can be no doubt, for animals kept on 
 a purely carbonaceous diet, quickly lose weight, and at 
 last die from disintegration of tissue ; but it is equally 
 certain that the nitrogenous constituents of food have 
 other offices to perform. A daily diet of 2 lbs. of bread 
 contains enough nitrogen to supply the mechanical 
 
Source of Muscular Power. yi 
 
 wants of the system, but it will not maintain life, for an 
 addition of animal food is required. Indeed, the in- 
 stincts and habits of the human race show, beyond all 
 question, that a comparatively rich nitrogenous diet is 
 necessary for the 'proper sustenance of life, especially 
 when work is performed. It is very probable that nitro- 
 genous matters assist the assimilation of hydrocarbons ; 
 and in this way they may help in the development of 
 force without contributing directly to it. This may 
 serve to explain the fact, that there is always a relation 
 between the amount of nitrogen contained in the food 
 and the labour value of it. Carnivorous animals, for 
 example, are not only stronger and more capable of 
 prolonged exertion than herbivorous, but they are also 
 fiercer in their disposition — as if force were superabun- 
 dant. The bears of India and America, says Playfair, 
 which feed on acorns, are mild and tractable, while those 
 of the Polar regions, which consume flesh, are savage 
 and untameable ; and, to take instances of people, the 
 Peruvians, whom Pizarro found in the country at its 
 •conquest, were gentle and inoffensive in their habits, 
 and they subsisted chiefly on vegetable food ; whilst 
 their brethren in Mexico, when found by Cortes, were a 
 warlike and fierce race, feeding for the most part on 
 animal diet. The miners of Chili, who work like horses, 
 also feed like them, for Darwin tells us that their com- 
 mon food consists of bread, beans, and- roasted grain. 
 Again, the Hindoo navvies, who were employed in mak- 
 ing the tunnel of the Bhore Ghat Railway, and who had 
 very laborious work to perform, found it impossible to 
 sustain their health on a vegetable diet ; and being left 
 at liberty by their caste to eat as they pleased, they 
 took the common food, of the English navigators, and 
 were then able to work as vigorously. According to 
 Liebig, it is the rich nitrogenous diet of Englishmen 
 •which is the great source of their indomitable energy, 
 for " it is only necessary," he says, " to compare the per- 
 
72 On Food. 
 
 formances of German workmen, who consume bread and 
 potatoes chiefly, with those of English and American 
 workmen, who eat meat, in order to acquire a clear per- 
 ception of the degree in which the magnitude, energy, 
 and duration of the work done by the latter are aug- 
 mented by the kind of food they live upon. Again," he 
 says, " compare the English statesman, who, in expound- 
 ing his views or maintaining a debate in Parliament, 
 delivers a speech lasting five hours or more, who at sixty 
 years of age retains the capability of taking part in field 
 sports, with the German philosopher, who at the same 
 age keeps up with difficulty the remains of his power in 
 order to be capable of work, while he becomes fatigued 
 by a walk of a few hours." Abundant examples of this 
 description — some of which will be further discussed as 
 we proceed, may be cited in proof of the direct relation 
 of plastic food to mechanical work ; but there is no proof 
 that this material must first form tissue before its dy- 
 namical power can be elicited ; that is to say that the 
 nitrogenous . matter of food must be converted into 
 muscle before it can develop muscular force, as this 
 force, according to Liebig, is entirely referable to a 
 transformation of the tissue of the moving muscle, oxy- 
 gen taking part therein, but not directly causing it, and 
 urea being the product of the change. At one time 
 Liebig would not allow that urea had any other origin 
 than this, but he now admits that the experiments of 
 Bischoff and Voir., in Munich, have proved beyond doubt 
 that urea may be derived from the nitrogenous matters 
 of food, as well as from the living muscular tissues, and, 
 therefore, that its proportions in the secretions are not. 
 as he once believed, the measure of the quantity of mus- 
 cular work performed. He even acknowledges that the 
 error of his former opinions has confused the question of 
 the origin of muscular force ; but he still maintains that 
 the force is generated by the transformation of the nitro- 
 genous constituents of the living muscle, in which oxy- 
 
Functions of Nitrogenous Food. 73 
 
 gen takes part, though without causing it, and, therefore, 
 not by combustion. Others, however, are of opinion that 
 this force is due to the combustion of carbo-hydrogens, 
 which may or may not be nitrogenous ; and experiments 
 have been made to determine the actual energy of 
 different articles of diet (see Table 1 3), but of this anon. 
 
 It would seem that all forms of nitrogenous food have 
 not the same nutritive value. The glutinous matters of 
 barley and wheat, for example, though almost identical 
 in chemical composition, have very different sustaining 
 powers. It is the same with muscular flesh, and arti- 
 ficially prepared fibrin and gelatine. Majendie found 
 that dogs, fed solely for 120 days on raw meat from 
 sheep's heads, preserved their health and vigour during 
 the whole of the time ; but more than three times the 
 amount of isolated fibrin, with the addition of much 
 gelatine and albumen, were insufficient to preserve life. 
 
 We may conclude from all this, that although the main 
 functions of nitrogenous matters are to construct and 
 repair tissue, yet they have manifestly other duties to 
 perform of an assimilative, respiratory, and force-pro- 
 ducing quality which are far from being understood. 
 What do we know, indeed, of the actual modus operandi 
 of the nitrogenous ferments — ptyalin, pepsin, pancreatin, 
 &c, which are secreted so abundantly into the alimen- 
 tarp canal ; or of the conjugate nitrogenous compounds 
 which are present in the bile ? and how far have we 
 advanced in interpreting the functions of the nitrogenous 
 constituents of tea, coffee, mat6, guarana, cocoa, &c, 
 which the instincts of mankind in every part of the 
 globe have evidently chosen for some physiological pur- 
 pose ? The same may be said of the crystalline nitro- 
 genous matters of soup — as creatin, creatinin, inosinic 
 acid, &c, which can hardly be regarded as foods, al- 
 though they have powerful sustaining properties. But 
 enough of this for the present ; and before leaving this 
 part of the subject, I would direct attention to the fact,. 
 
74 On Food. 
 
 that nitrogenous matters, when oxidised in the animal 
 body, never yield up the whole of their potential energy, 
 for, by being converted into urea, which is the chief pro- 
 duct of their decay, there is at least a seventh part of 
 their power lost in this secretion. It may be that this is 
 a necessity arising out of the circumstance that if they 
 were completely oxidised in the animal body and con- 
 verted into carbonic acid, water, and nitrogen, the last- 
 named gas would be unable to quit the system, because 
 of its insolubility in the animal fluids. 
 
 3rd. Functions of Fat.— The hydrocarbons which 
 go by the name of fat differ from other hydrocarbons, 
 as sugar and starch, in the circumstance that the oxygen 
 is never in sufficient quantity to satisfy the affinity of 
 the hydrogen, and therefore fat is more energetic as a 
 respiratory or heat-producing agent. Its power, indeed, 
 in this respect, is just twice and a-half as great as that 
 of dry starch or sugar ; for ten grains of it in a dry 
 state will, by combining with oxygen, develop sufficient 
 heat to raise 23-32 lbs. of water 1 deg. F. ; and according 
 to the deductions of both Joule and Meyer, this is equiva- 
 lent to the power of raising 18,003 lbs. one foot high. 
 In cold countries, where animal warmth is required, food 
 rich in fat is always preferred ; and the fat bacon of the 
 English labourer contributes in no small degree to the 
 production of mechanical force. 
 
 But besides this, fat serves important functions in 
 the processes of digestion, assimilation, and nutrition. 
 According to Lehmann, it is one of the most active 
 agents in the metamorphosis of animal matter ; and this 
 is seen not merely in the solution of nitrogenous articles 
 of food during digestion, but also in the conversion of 
 nutrient plastic substances into cells and masses of fibre. 
 Elsasser long since observed that during the process of 
 artificial digestion, the solution of nitrogenous foods was 
 considerably accelerated by means of fat ; and Lehmann 
 has since determined, by actual experiment on dogs, 
 
Functions of Fat. 75 
 
 that albuminous substances deprived of fat remain longer 
 in the stomach, and require more time for their meta- 
 morphosis than the same substances impregnated with 
 fat. It is probable, indeed, that the digestive power of 
 the pancreatic fluid is due, in great measure, to the pre- 
 sence of fat ; and that the subsequent chymification of 
 food, and its absorption into the blood, is greatly assisted 
 by it. There is also good reason for believing that it is 
 largely concerned in the formation of bile, and that the 
 biliary acids are conjugated fatty compounds. This 
 may account for the well-known action of fat bacon 
 and other such foods in promoting the secretion of 
 bile. 
 
 The digestive power of fat is certainly considerable ; 
 and it is no less active in the subsequent conversion of 
 nitrogenous matters into cells and tissues, and perhaps 
 also in effecting their retrograde decay. Colourless blood 
 corpuscles receive, perhaps, the first impulse of their 
 formation from the metamorphosis of fat ; and thus it 
 may be an important aid in the genesis of blood. It 
 would appear, too, from the latest investigations of 
 physiologists that it plays an equally important part in 
 every kind of cell development. Acherson showed, as 
 far back as 1840, that albumen always coagulates from 
 its solution around a fat globule, and this is seen in the 
 little fatty particles of milk, which , have a covering like 
 a cell-wall of' consolidated casein. Hunefield, Nasse, 
 and others, have further shown that the nucleoli of cells 
 invariably consist of fat, and that recently formed plasma 
 always contains more fat than the mature cell. The 
 conclusion, therefore, is that it takes an active part in 
 all the processes by which the nutrient constituents of 
 food are converted into the solid substrata of organs ; 
 and so energetic are its powers in this respect, that when 
 the nitrogenous matters of the fluids are not in sufficient 
 quantity to form cells with the fat, it borrows the material 
 from muscular or other tissues, and thus produces a fatty 
 
7 6 On Fooa. 
 
 degeneration of. the part. This is observed in the 
 muscular structures of over-fed animals, in the tissues 
 of drunkards, who take a large amount of fat-forming 
 foot, and in the livers of geese that are crammed with a 
 farinaceous diet. 
 
 And not only is it concerned in the formation of new 
 tissue, but it also pervades, and finally disintegrates, the 
 older structures, especially when the vitality of them is 
 low. In this manner it helps in the solution and subse- 
 quent removal from the animal body of decayed and 
 morbid products of the protein type. 
 
 Again, its presence in large quantity in the tubules of 
 nerves, and in the ganglionic centres, indicates that it 
 performs some highly important functions in nervous 
 action. 
 
 And lastly, the distribution of it in the tissues, and the 
 accumulation of it around certain organs, serve to fill up 
 the vacuities of the body, to give rotundity to the form, 
 to equalise external pressure, to diminish the friction of 
 parts, to give suppleness to the tissues, and by its bad 
 conducting property to retain the animal warmth. Fat, 
 therefore, must enter largely into the composition of 
 our food, for other hydrocarbons, though capable of 
 transformation into fat, cannot entirely take its place. 
 
 4th. Functions of Starch, Cellulose, and Sac- 
 charine Matters. — These substances are well called 
 hydrates of carbon, for the oxygen and hydrogen con- 
 tained in them are nearly always in the proportion to 
 form water, the carbon alone being capable of oxidation. 
 According to Liebig, their functions are entirely calorific 
 or respiratory; but, like other heat-producing agents, 
 they must also have an equivalent of mechanical power, 
 for everything that will raise the temperature of a pound 
 of water i deg. F. will, by another mode of action, raise 
 772 lbs. a foot high. The energies, however, of this class 
 of substances are not nearly so great as with fats, for in 
 the last case, as I have said, there is much available 
 
Functions of Starch and Sugar. 77 
 
 hydrogen, as well as carbon, for oxidation. The diagram 
 which is before you will make this clear. 
 
 Table XI. 
 
 Calorific and Motive Powers of 10 Grains oj the Substance in its 
 Natural State. 
 
 Grape sugar 
 Lump sugar 
 Arrowroot 
 Butter . , 
 Beef-fat . 
 
 Lbs. of water Lbs. lifted one 
 
 raised 1°F. foot high. 
 
 8-42 65OO 
 
 86l 6647 
 
 io - o6 tj66 
 
 18-60 1 442 1 
 
 20.91 16,142 
 
 So that in round numbers the calorific power of fat in 
 its natural state is about twice as great as that of starch 
 and sugar, and when dry it is twice and a-half as great. 
 
 But these substances have other duties to perform 
 besides the development of animal heat, which is, in fact, 
 the final result of their oxidation, for after becoming 
 changed into glucose by digestion, they take the form of 
 various acid compounds, as lactic acid, which occurs in 
 the stomach and in the juice of flesh ; butyric, formic, 
 and acetic acids, which are found in the perspiration. 
 The exact functions of these acids are not known to us, 
 although, as I have already explained, the presence of 
 lactic acid in the stomach is essential to the digestion 
 of nitrogenous matters ; and perhaps its occurrence in 
 the juice of flesh is for a similar object — namely, the 
 solution of effete tissues. 
 
 Starches and sugars are also concerned in the pro- 
 duction of fat. This was once the subject of an ani- 
 mated discussion by Liebig and Dumas, whose views of 
 it were in complete antagonism ; but the experiments of 
 Boussingault, Persoz, Lawes, and others, on the feeding 
 of animals, have proved beyond all question that , fat 
 may be derived from the hydrates of carbon, and that 
 
78 On Food. 
 
 therefore the views of Liebig were correct. Common 
 experience, indeed, has fully taught us that foods which 
 are rich in farinaceous matters and sugar are very capable 
 of producing fat. The dietary system of Mr. Banting, 
 and the opposite system in Turkey, whereby the ladies 
 of the harem are fattened on honey and thick gruel, are 
 examples in point, and so also are the processes used for 
 fattening poultry. 
 
 5th. The Saline or Mineral constituents of food 
 are largely concerned in the metamorphosis of matter ; 
 and, perhaps, this is their principal function, for it is a 
 speciality of these substances to give a soluble form to 
 the plastic constituents of food and of the animal tissues. 
 They are, therefore, concerned in the phenomena of 
 digestion, absorption, sanguification, assimilation, dis- 
 integration, and secretion. In truth, they are the chief, 
 if not the only, media for the transference of organic 
 matter from place to place in the animal body — being 
 on one hand the purveyors of nutrient materials into the 
 system, and on the other the carriers of effete substances 
 out of it ; besides which, it is very probable that they are 
 the agents whereby liquid colloidal forms of nutriment 
 are changed into solid or pectous, as in the formation of 
 solid tissues from the blood, and conversely the solid 
 into liquid. In the case of digestion and absorption, the 
 plastic elements of our food, as albumen, fibrin, gelatin, 
 &c, are not of themselves capable of dialysis by passing 
 through the walls of the alimentary canal ; and, there- 
 fore, absorption must be assisted by some physical 
 agent. This agent is the highly diffusive acids and salts 
 which are secreted so freely into the stomach during 
 digestion ; and it is very probable that they not only 
 effect a solution of the proteinaceous matter of food, but 
 by converting it into peptones, as Lehmann expresses 
 it, they also change the molecular form of the material, 
 and make it pass from an unabsorbable colloid into a 
 highly diffusive crystalloid. If, indeed, it be, as Mr. 
 
Functions of Saline Matter. 79 
 
 Graham supposed, that a colloid molecule is but a group 
 of smaller crystalloids, the action of the saline and acid 
 constituents of the gastric juice may be to break up the 
 larger colloid molecule and thus give it the property of 
 diffusion and absorption. An opposite condition of 
 things would occur in the alkaline blood, whereby the 
 colloid molecule would regain its structure, and lose its 
 diffusive tendency ; but, coming to the tissues, where an 
 acid condition of the fluids again exists, it once more 
 changes its molecular structure, and quits the blood to 
 serve the purposes of nutrition. The exact nature of the 
 phenomena that occur when the liquid nutrient matter 
 which thus escapes is changed into solid tissue is un- 
 known to us ; but there is good reason for believing that 
 it is no more than a molecular movement effected by 
 the agency of saline matter. In the case of certain 
 structures which contain more than a common amount 
 of mineral salts, this is unquestionably so, for it occurs 
 in the consolidation of the spiculse of sponges, the cal- 
 careous tissues of polypes, the hard dermal structures of 
 the radiata, mollusca, Crustacea, &c, and in the calcareous- 
 deposits of bone, teeth, tegumentary scales, egg-shells, 
 &c, of the vertebrata. In all these instances the secreted 
 matter must first have been crystalloidal, or it could not 
 have been secreted ; it then takes the form of a liquid 
 colloid or jelly ; and finally, by a further molecular 
 movement, it passes into the condition of a pectous 
 solid — the saline constituents, according to their nature 
 and proportion, determining the degrees of hardness. 
 
 Again, the removal of effete matters, and worn-out 
 tissues is undoubtedly effected by the agency of saline 
 substances ; for during the process of oxidation, acid 
 compounds are produced, which, by acting chemically 
 on the saline constituents of the animal fluids, give them 
 a solutive power upon plastic matters, and thus enable, 
 them to remove the debris of worn-out tissue. 
 
 As to the special functions of each of the several saline 
 
8o On Food. 
 
 constituents of food, little can be said ; but it is a re- 
 markable fact that the alkaline or basic phosphate of soda 
 is invariably found in the blood, while acid phosphate of 
 potash is the chief constituent of the juice of flesh. Most 
 likely the former is concerned in preserving the liquid 
 colloidal condition of albumen and fibrin, and so keeping 
 them from being lost by secretion ; while the latter is 
 engaged in an opposite duty. The alkalinity of the 
 blood also helps in the oxidation of organic matters; 
 and as the basic phosphate of soda is endowed, like an 
 alkaline carbonate, with the power of absorbing carbonic 
 acid, it is the chief agent whereby this compound is 
 removed from the system. This is a remarkable pro- 
 perty, and is one of the chief uses of basic phosphate of 
 soda in the blood. In point of fact, when it is not there 
 in sufficient quantity to perform this function^ it is re- 
 placed by an alkaline carbonate. We find this to be so 
 in the blood of herbivorous animals, where the propor- 
 tions of the two salts are the reverse of what they are 
 in man and carnivora. Some notion may be formed of 
 the relative importance of the saline matters of the 
 blood by reference to this Table from Liebig. 
 
 Table XII. 
 
 Percentage Composition of the Mineral Matters of Blood. 
 
 Phosphoric Acid .'. 
 Alkalies 
 Alkaline Earths 
 Mineral Acids and ) 
 Oxide of Iron \ 9 22 9 9° 5*7 2-n 24'54 , 22-32 
 
 Man. 
 
 Kg. 
 
 Dojt. 
 
 Fowl. 
 
 Sheep. 
 
 Ox. 
 
 3179 
 
 3,6-5° 
 
 36-82 
 
 47-26 
 
 14-80 
 
 14-04 
 
 55-°° 
 
 49-80 
 
 55-24 
 
 48-41 
 
 5579 
 
 60 -oo 
 
 3 '33 
 
 3-8o 
 
 2-07 
 
 2 '22 
 
 4-87 
 
 3-64 
 
 Total ... ioo-oo loo-oo 10000 ioo-oo 10000 ioo-oo 
 
 And in those cases where the phosphoric acid is defi- 
 cient, it is replaced by carbonic acid. In man, for 
 example, the quantity of combined carbonic acid, in 
 the ashes of the blood is only 378 per cent, whereas in 
 
Functions of Common Salt. 81 
 
 the calf it is g^S, and in the sheep 19*47 per cent., so 
 that in all cases the alkalinity of the blood remains the 
 same. 
 
 In cow's milk, according to Hardless, the saline mat- 
 ters amount to from ' 5 to 8 parts in a thousand of milk 
 — the average being 5*83, of which the individual consti- 
 tuents are as follows : — Phosphate of lime, 288 ; phos- 
 phate of magnesia, CV53 ; phosphate of peroxide of iron, 
 - 07 ; chloride of potassium, v6$ ; chloride of sodium, 
 029 ; and free soda, 04.3. 
 
 The salts of potash in the juice of flesh have, no doubt, 
 an equally important duty to perform, although of an 
 opposite character ; for while the alkaline phosphate of 
 soda in the blood prevents the transudation of nutrient 
 matter, the acid phosphate of potash in the muscular 
 fluid promotes it ; and thus it "is concerned in nutrition 
 and in the solution of worn-out tissues. 
 
 Earthy phospfiates, especially phosphate of lime, are, 
 perhaps, the agents for the consolidation of tissue ; for not 
 only are they present in the hard structures of the body, 
 as the bones and teeth, but they also enter into the 
 composition of flesh, 
 
 And not less important in the morphological functions 
 of the animal body is the presence of common salt. It is 
 a large constituent of every one of the secretions, and. 
 forms about half the total weight of the saline matters of 
 the blood. Unlike the phosphates, however, it does not 
 enter into the composition of tissue, but seems to be only 
 a medium of absorption and secretion ; and so necessary 
 is it for this purpose, that it is not possible to alter, to 
 any large extent, its proportion in the blood. If we 
 drink water containing but little common salt in solu- 
 tion it does not permanently dilute the blood, but passes 
 off immediately by the kidneys ; and if we try to increase 
 the amount in the blood, by drinking solutions of salt, as 
 sea-water, it refuses to be absorbed. This normal pro- 
 portion of it in the blood is evidently a physiological 
 
82 On Food. 
 
 necessity, which the conditions for diffusion imperatively 
 demand. It is a curious fact, also that common salt has 
 the faculty of forming crystallisable compounds with 
 most of the unorganised and effete constituents of the 
 body. May it not, therefore, be an important agent of 
 diffusion, and be thus concerned in the phenomena [of 
 absorption and secretion ; for as colloidal matters — 
 albumen and fibrin — cannot pass through the walls of 
 the intestines or the blood-vessels, it may well be that 
 through the agency of common salt and the free acid of 
 the gastric and muscular juices, they temporarily assume 
 a crystalloidal condition, and are thus absorbed or 
 secreted. 
 
 The constant presence of common salt in the secre- 
 tions, and the necessity for it- in due proportion in the 
 blood, indicate the importance of a proper supply of it 
 with the food. We perceive this in the instinct of 
 animals, and in our own craving for it when it does not 
 exist in sufficient quantity in the food. Animals, in fact, 
 will travel long distances, and brave the greatest dan- 
 gers, to obtain it. Men will barter gold for it ; indeed, 
 among the Gallas and on the coast of Sierra Leone, 
 brothers will sell their sisters, husbands their wives, and 
 parents their children, for salt. In the district of Accra, 
 on the Gold Coast of Africa, - a handful of salt is the 
 most valuable thing upon earth after gold, and will pur- 
 chase a slave or two. Mungo Park tells us that with the 
 Mandingoes and Bambaras the use of salt is such a 
 luxury, that to say of a man " he flavours his food with 
 salt " is to imply that he is rich ; and children will suck 
 a piece of rock-salt as if it were sugar. No stronger 
 mark of respect or affection can be shown in Muscovy, 
 than the sending of salt from the tables of the rich to 
 their poorer friends. In point of fact, the value of salt 
 in a dietical and sanitary point of view, has been recog- 
 nised from the earliest time. In the Book of Leviticus, 
 it is expressly commanded as one of the ordinances of 
 
Functions of Common Salt. 83 
 
 Moses, that every oblation of meat upon the altar shall 
 be seasoned with salt, without lacking ; and hence it is 
 called the Salt of the Covenant of God. The Greeks and 
 Romans also used salt in their sacrificial cakes ; and it is 
 still used in the services of the Latin Church — the 
 " parva mica" or pinch of salt being, in the ceremony of 
 baptism, put into the child's mouth, while the priest says, 
 " Receive the salt of wisdom, and may it be a propitia- 
 tion to thee for eternal life." Everywhere, and almost 
 always, indeed, it has been regarded as emblematical of 
 wisdom, wit, and immortality. To taste of a man's salt, 
 was to be bound by the rites of hospitality ; and no oath 
 was more solemn than that which was sworn upon bread 
 and salt. To sprinkle the meat with salt was to drive 
 away the devil, for in the quaint language of an old 
 divine, " He loveth no salt on his meat, for that is a sign 
 of immutability," and to this day, nothing is more un- 
 lucky than to spill the salt. 
 
 The experiments of Boussingault on animals have 
 shown that, although salt mixed with the fodder does not 
 much affect the quantity of flesh, fat, or milk obtained 
 from them, yet it seriously affects their appearance and 
 general condition ; for animals deprived of salt, other 
 than that contained naturally in the food, soon get heavy 
 and dull in their temperament, and have a rough and, 
 staring coat. Reulin states that animals which do not 
 find it in their food or drink, become less prolific, and 
 the breed rapidly diminishes in number. This is con- 
 firmed by Dr. Le Saine, who says, in his prize-essay on 
 salt, that it increases the fertility of the male and the 
 fecundity of the female, and it doubles the power of 
 nourishing the foetus. During the period of suckling, 
 also, salt given to the mother renders the milk more 
 abundant and more nutritious. It likewise accelerates 
 growth, and gives a finer condition to the skin ; and the 
 flesh of animals fed with it is better flavoured, and more 
 easily digested, than that of animals which do not par- 
 
 G 2 
 
84 On Food. 
 
 take of it. In barbarous times, the most horrible of 
 punishments, entailing certain death, was the feeding of 
 culprits on food without salt ; and in the experiments of 
 the French Academicians, flesh deprived of its saline 
 constituents by being washed with water, lost its nutri- 
 tive power, and animals fed on it soon died of starva- 
 tion. Even after a few days, with such a diet, the in- 
 stincts of the animals told them it was worthless as food, 
 and they fed on it with reluctance ; indeed, for all pur- 
 poses of nutrition, it was, as Liebig says, no better than 
 the eating of stones, and the utmost torments of hunger 
 were hardly sufficient to induce them to continue the 
 diet. There was plenty of nutritious matter in the food, 
 but there was no medium for its solution and absorption, 
 and hence it was useless. 
 
 The Oxides of iron, and their homologues, the oxides of 
 manganese, are largely concerned in the processes of 
 sanguification and oxidation. They enter into the com- 
 position of the globules of the blood — manganese being 
 the chief mineral constituent of the corpuscles of white- 
 blooded animals, and iron of red. Jn fact; the colouring- 
 matter of the blood discs (hcemoglobin), as well as that of 
 the muscles (rnyochrome\ is a compound of iron and 
 albumen {globulin}, which has a remarkable property of 
 absorbing oxygen when exposed to the air, and of giving 
 it out again in the presence of reducing agents. In the 
 one case it acquires an arterial tint, and in the other a 
 venous ; and the spectrum informs us that these two con- 
 ditions of it are easily assumed — one by the presence of 
 atmospheric oxygen, and the other by decaying organic 
 matter. It is hardly to be doubted that these are the con- 
 ditions of it in blood — the bright red oxidised haemoglo- 
 bin being the form of it in arterial blood, and the dark 
 reduced variety of it in venous. The functions, there- 
 fore, of both haemoglobin and myochrome are entirely 
 of a respiratory nature; for in the former case it is the 
 medium whereby oxygen is absorbed from the air in the 
 
Proportions of Saline Matters in Food. 85 
 
 lungs, and is carried with the blood-discs throughout the 
 body, and in the latter it is probably the agent of inter- 
 stitial oxidation. 
 
 Lastly, there is a mineral constituent of our food, 
 silica, which enters into the composition of all the tegu- 
 mentary appendages. Its presence is not of so much 
 importance to us as to the lower animals, whose warmth 
 is retained by a natural covering of hair, or wool, or 
 feathers. In the case of birds, indeed, the quantity of 
 silica in the feathers is very considerable, and Gorup- 
 Besanez has ■ described its physiological relations, 
 showing how necessary is the presence of silica in their 
 food. 
 
 As to the proportions of mineral substances required 
 in the food, it is difficult to speak. Dr Edward Smith 
 says that an adult man requires daily from 32 to 79 
 grains of phosphoric acid; from 51 to 175 grains of 
 chlorine (equal to from 85 to 291 grains of common salt) ; 
 from 27 to 107 grains of potash ; from 80 to 171 of 
 soda; from 2-3 to 6"3 of lime ; and from 2"5 to 3 of mag- 
 nesia. According to Mr. Lawes, a very small portion of 
 these salts is retained in the system ; for in fattening 
 pigs he found that of every 11 lbs. of mineral matter 
 contained in the food, only 12 ozs were stored up in the 
 body, and this was chiefly the earthy phosphates, all the 
 rest being either unabsorbed, or else used in the work of 
 absorption, assimilation, and secretion. In most cases, 
 therefore, there is sufficient saline matter, excepting com- 
 mon salt, in all ordinary food ; but for all this, the pre- 
 sence of it in the water we drink is not an unimportant 
 question. Four-fifths of the earth's surface are composed 
 of calcareous strata, which yield water which is more or 
 less rich in carbonate and sulphate of lime ; and it may 
 be that this is a wise provision for the supply of these 
 salts to the animal system. As Mr. Johnson has truly 
 observed in his " Chemistry of Common Life," " The 
 bright sparkling hard waters which gush out in frequent 
 
86 On Food. 
 
 springs from our chalk and other limestone rocks are 
 relished to drink, not merely because they are grateful to 
 the eye, but because there is something exhilarating in 
 the excess of carbonic acid they contain and give off as 
 they pass through the warm mouth and throat; and 
 because the lime they hold in solution removes acid 
 matters from the stomach, and thus acts as a grateful 
 medicine to the system. To abandon the use of such a 
 water, and to drink daily in its stead one entirely free 
 from mineral matter, so far from improving the health, 
 may injure it ; " in fact, the water of a country may 
 determine the diet of its inhabitants. The soft waters of 
 the lakes of Scotland, for example, may have had some- 
 thing to do with the choice of brown meal, which contains 
 so much saline matter ; and but'for the calcareous waters 
 of Ireland the potato could not have become a national 
 food. 
 
 And now, before I leave this part of the subject, it is 
 right that I should say a few words respecting the FUNC- 
 TIONS of Certain Beverages (as Tea, Coffee, and 
 Fermented Liquors), which have been more or less in 
 use in all ages, as if from an untaught physiological 
 instinct. We find, indeed, that vegetable infusions con- 
 taining the same active principles — namely astringent 
 matter, volatile oil, and a crystallisable body rich in nitro- 
 gen, have been resorted to for some undefined purpose 
 by the natives of every country ; in fact, to use the words 
 of Mr. Johnson, " the practice has prevailed equally in 
 tropical and in arctic regions. In Central America, the 
 Indian of native blood, and the Creole of mixed Euro- 
 pean race, indulge alike in their ancient chocolate. In 
 Southern America the tea of Paraguay is an almost 
 universal beverage. The native North American tribes 
 have their Apallachian tea, their Oswega tea, their La- 
 brador tea, and many others. From Virginia to Louisiana, 
 in the United States, and over all the West India Islands, 
 the naturalised European races sip their favourite coffee; 
 
Uses of Tea and Coffee. 87 
 
 while over the Northern States of the Union, and in the 
 British provinces, the tea of China is in daily and cons- 
 tant use. 
 
 " All Europe, too, has chosen its prevailing beverage ; 
 Spain and Italy delight in chocolate ; France and Ger- 
 many, and Sweden and Turkey, in coffee ; Russia, Hol- 
 land, and England, in tea ; whilst poor Ireland makes its 
 warm drink of the husks of the cocoa, — the refuse of the 
 chocolate-mills of Italy and Spain. 
 
 " All Asia feels the same want, and in different ways 
 has long gratified it. Coffee, indigenous in Arabia, or 
 the adjoining countries, has followed the banner of the 
 Prophet, wherever in Asia or Africa his false faith has 
 triumphed. Tea, a native of China, has spread spon- 
 taneously over the hill country of the Himalayas, the 
 table lands of Tartary and Thibet, and the Plains of 
 Siberia ; has climbed the Altais, overspread ail Russia, 
 and is equally despotic in Moscow as in St. Petersburg. 
 In Sumatra, the coffee-leaf yields the favourite tea of 
 the dark-skinned population ; while Central Africa boasts 
 of the Abyssinian chaat as the indigenous warm drink 
 of its Ethiopian people. Everywhere, in fact, unintoxi- 
 cating and non-narcotic beverages are in general use 
 among tribes of every colour, beneath every sun, and in 
 every condition of life. The custom, therefore, must 
 meet some universal want of our nature, some physio- 
 logical function which science has not yfet explained : and 
 considering that these beverages contain esssentially the 
 same chemical compound, it is remarkable that they 
 should have been selected from the whole range of the 
 vegetable kingdom." As Mr. Johnston truly observes, 
 " What constitutional craving common to us all have 
 prompted to such singularly uniform results ! Through 
 how vast an amount of. unrecorded individual experiences 
 must these results have been arrived at !" 
 
 The principal constituents of these vegetable sub- 
 stances are : — 
 
88 On Food. 
 
 ist. A volatile oil on which their aroma depends, and 
 which rarely amounts to one part in 150. 2nd. An 
 astringent acid, of the nature of tannic acid in tea, and 
 called caffeic acid in coffee, which give them their bitter 
 styptic taste; it amounts to from 13 to 18 per cent, in 
 tea, and to about 5 per cent, in coffee ; and 3rd. A 
 crystallised nitrogenous substance of an alkaline nature 
 called theine or caffeine, and theobromine. The average 
 amounts of the alkaloid in different vegetable substances, 
 according to Dr. Stenhouse, are here recorded : — 
 
 Theine or Caffeine 
 percent. 
 Guarana or Brazilian Cocoa, from Guarana officinalis 5 - 07 
 
 Good Black Tea 2'13 
 
 Black Tea from Kemaon, E. I. l - 97 
 
 Dried Coffee leaves ; .. 1-26 
 
 Mate or Paraguay Tea, from Ilex Paraguaymsis . . 1 "20 
 
 Various samples of Coffee beans, from . . - 8to l'OO 
 
 These results were obtained at a time when the 
 chemical process of analysis was not so perfect as it now 
 is in the hands of Dr. Stenhouse, and it is probable that 
 the quantities of them are understated ; for a good 
 sample of Himalayan green tea has lately yielded 4/94 
 per cent, of the alkaloid. 
 
 The physiological properties of them and of its homo- 
 logue, theobromine, are not clearly discoverable. 
 Mulder states that they are not the agents concerned in 
 the peculiar action of tea and coffee. Liebig, however, 
 points to the fact that, with the addition of oxygen and 
 the elements of water, they can yield taurine, which is 
 the nitrogenised constitutent of bile ; and he asks 
 whether they may not be concerned in the production 
 of bile. Theine, he also states, is related to kreatinine 
 — that remarkable compound, produced in the vital pro- 
 cess, and occurring in the muscular system of animals ; 
 and to glycocol, which we may suppose to exist in gela- 
 tine coupled with another compound. In fact, according 
 to him, there are no drinks which in their complexity 
 
Functions of Tea, Coffee, &c. 89 
 
 and in the nature of certain constituents, have more 
 resemblance to soup than tea and coffee ; and it is very- 
 probable, he says, that the use of them as a part of food 
 depends on the exciting and vivifying action which they 
 have in common with soup. Reasoning in this way, it 
 may be said that theine or caffeine and theobromine are 
 closely related in their composition to nervous tissue, and 
 that therefore they are suited for the repair and renova- 
 tion of the exhausted brain. Experiments made by 
 Lehmann, in 1854, with infusion of" roasted coffee and 
 caffeine, went to show that their chief influence on the 
 human body was to retard the waste of tissues ; that 
 when, for example, an infusion of three-quarters of an 
 ounce of roasted coffee was taken daily for a fortnight, 
 the amount of urea and phosphoric acid excreted by the 
 kidneys was less by one-third than when the same food 
 was taken without the coffee. The empyreumatic oil 
 was found to exert a stimulating action on the nervous 
 system, and when taken in excess caused excitement and 
 wakefulness. It also operated on the skin by producing 
 a gentle perspiration, and it removed the sensation of 
 hunger. , The conclusion from both these experiments 
 was, that both tea and coffee exhilarate the nervous 
 system, and by lessening waste, enable the food to go 
 further in its nutritive action ; that with a given quan- 
 tity of food, more work could be performed when these 
 beverages were taken than otherwise ; and that in old, 
 infirm persons, where the desire for tea is so strong, the 
 waste and decay of the system was lessened. It operates, 
 in fact, as a sort of lubricant to the animal system, and, 
 as it were, by oiling the machinery, enables it to work 
 easier and longer. 
 
 The more recent experiments of Dr. Edward Smith, 
 are not exactly to the same purpose ; for, in his opinion 
 tea promotes rather than checks the chemico-vital 
 functions of the body, for directly after it is taken, the 
 quantity of carbonic acid emitted from the lungs, and 
 
90 On Food. 
 
 the quantity of air inspired are increased, and there is 
 greater depth and freedom of respiration. In this way, 
 he thinks it promotes the transformation of starchy and 
 fatty food ; besides which, it increases the action of the 
 skin, and by inducing perspiration lessens the heat of 
 the body. Coffee, he says, has an opposite effect, for it 
 lessens the action of the skin, and promotes that of the 
 bowels ; and its influence on the respiratory processes is 
 somewhat less than that of tea. 
 
 It is manifest from all this, that we have yet tq learn 
 what are the special actions of these beverages ; and 
 why it is that they have been used in all times, and in 
 all countries, as a means of supplying some natural 
 want which science is unable to discover — that every- 
 where the poor and the needy, -the aged and the infirm, 
 will make a sacrifice of even nutritious food for some 
 such beverage as tea and coffee — that not less than 
 500 millions of the human race make use of an in- 
 fusion of tea ; that more than 100 millions drink 
 coffee from the roasted berry, and perhaps 2 millions 
 from the dried leaves ; that about 50 millions drink 
 cocoa, or use it as chocolate; and that not less than 
 10 millions of the inhabitants of Peru, Paraguay, and 
 the Brazils, use an infusion of mat£ or guarana. But 
 besides this, about 40 millions use chicory, either 
 alone or mixed with coffee ; 400 millions eat or smoke 
 opium ; 300 millions haschish or Indian hemp ; and 
 nearly all the people of the earth smoke or chew 
 tobacco, and drink intoxicating beverages. In this 
 country more than 100 millions of pounds of tea are 
 consumed annually, and perhaps, about half as much of 
 coffee. All this looks like the influence of some deep- 
 seated necessity, which our philosophy is unable to 
 fathom, and which science has yet to explore. 
 
 With regard to the use of fermented liquors, there is. 
 the same universal indication of their serving a pro- 
 found physiological purpose, and supplying a common 
 
Functions of Alcohol, &c. 91 
 
 want. It is no argument that because these things 
 have been abused, they serve no purpose in man's 
 economy. On the contrary, the fact of their use in all 
 time, and that no saccharine liquid, or juice of ripe fruit, 
 can be exposed to the air without spontaneous and 
 almost immediate fermentation, are striking evidences 
 of design for some useful purpose. They may not enter 
 into the composition of tissues, but they may stimulate 
 the energies of the living frame, and rouse them into 
 increased activity. It is not merely the brick-work and 
 marble, so to speak, of the human body, nor yet the 
 rough movements of the machine, that have to be 
 sustained, for there are rarer forms of matter, and higher 
 manifestations of force, concerned in man's existence; 
 and his resort to such beverages as these may be for 
 something more than the nourishment of the system, or 
 even the mere raising of his spirit above the common 
 concerns of this work-o'-day world. 
 
 That alcohol stimulates the action of the nervous 
 system there is no doubt, and it is equally certain that 
 it increases the respiratory changes, but the effect must 
 not be carried too far. Dr. Parkes found, in his experi- 
 ments, on a young healthy soldier, that small quantities 
 of alcohol increased the appetite, and roused the action 
 of the heart and capillary vessels, accelerating the circu- 
 lation ; but in larger quantities, as when narcotism began, 
 the effects were distressing. The same was the case 
 with good claret (Haut Brion), 10 ounces of which, con- 
 taining one ounce of pure alcohol, taken in the course of 
 the day, did good, while twice this quantity did harm 
 by making him feverish and uncomfortable, besides 
 which the alcohol began to appear in the urine, showing 
 that it was in excess in the body. Dr. Edward Smith 
 is of opinion that alcohol lessens the action of the 
 muscles which are subject to volition, and increases, in a 
 certain degree, the action of those which are inde- 
 pendent of it, as the heart and respiratory muscles. He 
 
92 On Food. 
 
 finds, too, that it diminishes the functions of the skin, 
 and by thus lessening the waste of animal heat, it has 
 a - conservative tendency. The effects of alcohol are, 
 however, much modified by the substances with which it 
 is associated in different alcoholic liquids — beers and ale, 
 for example, act on the respiratory functions by reason 
 of the saccharine and nitrogenous- matters they contain ; 
 wine, also, as well as cider and perry, have a similar 
 action, and in proportion to their saccharine and acid 
 constituents ; brandy and gin lessen the respiratory 
 changes, and the latter acts on the kidneys by reason of 
 the volatile oil in it ; whisky is uncertain in its effect on 
 the lungs ; while rum, like beer and ale is a true restora- 
 tive, as it sustains and increases the vital powers ; he 
 says, indeed, that the old-fashioned combination of rum 
 and milk is the most powerful restorative with which he 
 is acquainted. 
 
 Liebig is of opinion that alcohol is burnt or oxidised 
 in the system, and is therefore a calorific agent ; but the 
 researches of Lallemand, Perrin, and Duray, as well as 
 those of Dr. Edward Smith, have demonstrated that a 
 large portion of it passes through the system un- 
 changed, and appears in the breath and perspiration, as 
 well as in the urine. They, therefore, conclude that 
 alcohol is not a food, but it is a mere excitor of the 
 nervous centres. On the other hand, Dr. Thudichum, 
 in a rather large experiment on the students of his class 
 (33 in number), found that of the 61,730 grains of 
 alcohol in the 44 bottles of wine which they drank at 
 one sitting, only 1 54-3 grains appeared in the urine ; 
 and assuming that the same quantity was exhaled by 
 the breath and skin, he concluded that only o - S per 
 cent, of alcohol escaped unchanged. He therefore be 
 lieves that alcohol is oxidised in the .body, and is a true 
 food. 
 
 But besides this, the inquiries of Poiseuille have shown 
 that it is a physical as well as a chemical and physio- 
 
Uses of Condiments. 93 
 
 logical agent, for it hinders the flow of liquids in narrow- 
 tubes, and may act in the same way on the movements 
 of the blood in the capillary vessels. He found, for 
 example, that when the flow of a certain quantity of 
 water through a small tube occupied 575*8 minutes, and 
 of the serum of blood , 1048:5 minutes, the flow of the 
 same quantity of Madeira wine under the same circum- ' 
 stances was 1138 minutes; of sparkling Sillery, 1463; 
 >and of Jamaica rum,' 1832. May it not be, then, that 
 the increased action of the heart, and the influence of 
 alcohol, is an effort or struggle to overcome the resistance 
 by the capillaries. The functions of alcohol are mani- 
 festly of a complicated nature ; in fact, the whole subject 
 is remarkably obscure, and requires the light of science 
 to illuminate it. As in the case of tea and its allies, 
 ages of empiricism are waiting for a philosophical inter- 
 pretation. 
 
 7th, and lastly. As to the FUNCTIONS of CONDI- 
 MENTS, as Pepper, Mustard, Spices, &c. They are 
 merely stimulants of the digestive organs, promoting 
 the flow of saliva, the gastric juice, and other intestinal 
 secretions, and increasing the peristaltic movements of 
 the viscera. They thus aid in the processes of digestion, 
 and by giving flavour to the food, they whet the appetite, 
 and so increase the relish for it ; indifferent food is thus 
 made palatable, and its digestion accelerated. As an 
 example of this, I may mention the curry powder of the 
 East, which gives^such a relish to the otherwise insipid 
 rice, and which, for the same reason, we use with the 
 almost flavourless mixtures of rice with chicken, rabbit, 
 or fish. In Ceylon, where it is prepared in perfection, it 
 consists, according to Dr. Balfour, of a piece of green 
 ginger, two fragments of garlic, a few coriander and 
 cummin seeds, six small onions, one dry chili, eight 
 peppercorns, a small piece of turmeric, half a dessert- 
 spoonful of butter, half a cocoanut, and half a lime ; but 
 
94 On Food. 
 
 to have it in perfection it must x be made on the same 
 day on which it is cooked. 
 
 Pot-herbs are used for the same purpose, and especially 
 for flavouring broth and soup. 
 
 Thermotic, Mechanical, and Fattening Powers of 
 Food. 
 
 And now, in conclusion, we may safely inquire, as a 
 supplementary question to the functions of food, what 
 are the probable mechanical and thermotic powers, as 
 well as the fattening capabilities, of various articles of 
 diet? 
 
 Thermotic Powers of Food. — Dr. Frankland has 
 made some very careful determinations of the calorific 
 values of different substances used as food ; and remem- 
 bering that every pound of water . raised i deg. F. repre- 
 sents a mechanical force of 772 lbs. lifted a foot high, it 
 is easy to calculate the possible working energy of any 
 substance from its thermotic power when burnt in 
 oxygen, or when less perfectly consumed in the animal 
 body. Arranging the results under these two heads, we 
 •shall find that the energies of different articles of diet 
 may be expressed as follows : — 
 
 Table XIII. 
 
 Thermotic Power and Mechanical Energy of 10 Grains of the 
 Material, in its Natural Condition, when Completely Burnt in 
 Oxygen, and when Oxidised into Carbonic Acid, Water, and 
 Urea, in the Animal Body. 
 
 
 
 Lbs. of Water 
 
 Lbs. Lifted 1 foot 
 
 
 Percent, 
 of 
 
 Eaised L> F. 
 
 high. 
 
 
 
 t ^ 
 
 Name of Food 
 
 Water 
 
 When When 
 
 When When 
 
 
 in 
 
 Burnt in Oxidised 
 
 Burnt in Oxidised 
 
 
 Material. 
 
 Oxygen, in the Body. 
 
 Oxygen, in the Body. 
 
 Butter 
 
 15 
 
 18-68 18-68 
 
 14,421 14,421 
 
 Cheshire cheese 
 
 24 
 
 11-95 11-20 
 
 9,225 8,649 
 
 Oatmeal 
 
 15 
 
 10-30 10-10 
 
 7,952 7,800 
 
 "Wheat flour 
 
 15 
 
 10-12 9-87 
 
 7,813 7,623 
 
Thermotic and Motive Powers. 
 
 95 
 
 v 
 
 
 Lbs. of Water 
 
 Lbs. Lifted 1 foot 
 
 
 Per cent, 
 of 
 Water 
 
 Raised 1° 
 
 F. 
 
 hiffh. 
 
 Name of Food. 
 
 When 
 
 When 
 
 When 
 
 When 
 
 
 in 
 
 Burnt in 
 
 Oxidised 
 
 Burnt in 
 
 Oxidised 
 
 
 Materia] 
 
 Oxygen. 
 
 in the Body. 
 
 Oxygen. 
 
 in the Body. 
 
 Pea-meal 
 
 15 
 
 10-12 
 
 9-57 
 
 7,813 
 
 7,487 
 
 Arrowroot . 
 
 18 
 
 10-06 
 
 10-06 
 
 7,766 
 
 7,766 
 
 Ground rice 
 
 13 
 
 9-80 
 
 9-52 
 
 7,566 
 
 7,454 
 
 Yolk of egg 
 
 47 
 
 8-82 
 
 8-50 
 
 6,809 
 
 6,559 
 
 Lump sugar 
 
 19 
 
 8 61 
 
 8.61 
 
 6,649 
 
 6,649 
 
 Grape sugar 
 
 20 
 
 8-42 
 
 8-42 
 
 6,510 
 
 6,510 
 
 Entire egg (boiled. 
 
 62 
 
 6-13 
 
 5-86 
 
 4,732 
 
 4,526 
 
 Bread crumb 
 
 44 
 
 5-74 
 
 5-52 
 
 4,431 
 
 4,263 
 
 Ham (boiled) 
 
 54 
 
 5-09 
 
 4-30 
 
 3,929 
 
 3,321 
 
 Mackerel 
 
 71 
 
 4-60 
 
 4-14 
 
 3,551 
 
 3,200 
 
 Lean beef 
 
 71 
 
 3-03 
 
 3-66 
 
 3,111 
 
 2,829 
 
 Lean veal 
 
 71 
 
 3.38 
 
 3-01 
 
 2,609 
 
 2,324 
 
 Guinness's stout 
 
 88 
 
 2-77 
 
 2-77 
 
 2,138 
 
 2,188 
 
 Potatoes 
 
 73 
 
 2-60 
 
 2-56 
 
 2,007 
 
 1,987 
 
 Whiting 
 
 80 
 
 2-32 
 
 2-03 
 
 1,791 
 
 1,569 
 
 Bass's ale 
 
 88 
 
 1-99 
 
 1-99 
 
 1,536 
 
 1,536 
 
 White of egg 
 
 86 
 
 172 
 
 1-48 
 
 1,328 
 
 1,143 
 
 Milk : 
 
 87 
 
 '.;-' 1-70 
 
 1-64 
 
 1,312 
 
 1,246 
 
 Carrots 
 
 86 
 
 4^7 1-12 
 
 1-33 
 
 1,050 
 
 1,031 
 
 Cabbage 
 
 89 
 
 1-08 
 
 864 
 
 834 
 
 It will be understood, of course, that to obtain these 
 results in the animal body the materials must be com- 
 pletely absorbed, and fully oxidised into carbonic acid, 
 urea, &c. 
 
 Estimated in this manner, it may be said, that a daily 
 subsistence diet of 2-67 ozs. of dry nitrogenous food, and 
 17-65 ozs. of dry carbonaceous, calculated as starch ; 
 and a daily working diet of 4-48 ozs. of dry nitrogenous 
 matter, and 22-14 ozs - of dry carbonaceous, have the 
 following mechanical energies : — 
 
 Lbs. Lifted 1 foot high. 
 
 Kind of Diet. 
 
 When Burnt in 
 Oxygen. 
 
 8,497,23; 
 11,159,904 
 
 When Oxidised 
 in the Body. 
 
 8,256,486 
 10,874,136 
 
 Subsistence diet 
 Working diet 
 
 But the actual working power of the human body does 
 mot approach this. In fact, although a man's daily 
 
9 6 
 
 On Food. 
 
 labour ha,s a very large range, as from 300,000 foot- 
 pounds when lifting dung into a cart, to 1,500,000 foot- 
 pounds when pushing or pulling horizontally ; yet, the 
 average is not much above one million foot-pounds, as 
 will be seen from this diagram : — 
 
 Table XIV. 
 
 Actual Daily Work in Pounds Raised 1 Foot High. 
 
 Kind of labour. 
 
 Bricklayer's labourer carry- 
 ing bricks 
 Coal whipping 
 Ascending Faulhorn 
 Ascending Faulhorn 
 Treadmill 
 Treadmill 
 Turning a winch 
 Pedestrians (20 miles a day) 
 Paving and pile driving . 
 Porters carrying loads 
 Shot-drill punishment 
 
 Average . 
 
 Amount of work 
 in foot-pounds. 
 
 Authority. 
 
 j- 1,627,200 Mayhew. 
 
 1,774,221 
 
 1,074,913 
 
 933,746 
 
 1,008,000 
 
 , 865,166 
 
 837,766 
 
 792,000 
 
 788,480 
 
 732,48o 
 
 694,400 
 
 1,01 1,670 
 
 Mayhew. 
 
 Wislicenus. 
 
 Fick. 
 
 Mayhew. 
 
 Ed. Smith. 
 
 Coulomb. 
 
 Haughton. 
 
 Coulomb. 
 
 Coulomb. 
 
 Haughton. 
 
 And even when we add the calculated internal work 
 of a man's body, as the beating of the heart and the 
 movements of respiration, the total of it does not much 
 exceed a million and a-half foot-pounds a day. 
 
 Foot-pounds. 
 
 External work or actual labour .. 1,011,670 
 
 Work of circulation (75 beats a-minute) 500,040 
 Work of respiration (15 a minute)' . 98,496 
 
 Total ascertainable work per day 
 
 1,610,206 
 
Working Power of Food. 9 7 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that a large portion of our food 
 must escape digestion and absorption (although the 
 thermotic power of the food actually consumed daily, as 
 estimated by the carbonic acid exhaled and the urea 
 secreted, is almost sufficient to raise the temperature of 
 10,000 lbs. of water 1 deg. F. This is equal to a force 
 of 7,720,000 lbs. lifted a foot high.) Consequently it 
 would seem that the ascertainable internal and external 
 work of the food is only about one-sixth of its actual 
 energy, the rest of the power being consumed in 
 molecular movements, which cannot be estimated within 
 the animal body. Helmholtz asserts that the external 
 work should be a fifth part of the mechanical force of 
 the digested food, but labour must be well applied to 
 develop anything like this proportion of its energy. 
 
 In the steam-engine, according to Sir William Arm- 
 strong, only a tenth part of the actual power of the fuel 
 is realised as work. The human machine is therefore 
 more economical of its force than a steam-engine ; in 
 fact, it is assumed by Heidenham and others that not 
 less than half the force applied to the living muscles, as 
 it is developed in their tissue, is utilised. But although 
 the animal machine is so much more economical of force 
 than the steam-engine, yet on account of the costliness 
 of its fuel, &c, it is far more expensive. Taking, for 
 example, a steam-engine of one-horse power (that is, a 
 power of raising 33,000 lbs. a foot high per minute), it 
 will require two horses in reality to do the same work 
 for ten hours a day, or twenty-four men ; and the cost, at 
 the -utmost, would be only iod. for the steam-engine, 
 while it would be 8s. 4d. for the two horses, and just £2 
 sterling for the twenty-four men. 
 
 Dr. Frankland has estimated the weight and cost of 
 various articles of food required to be oxidised in the 
 animal body in order to raise 140 lbs. (a rather small 
 man), to the height of 10,000 feet, supposing that as 
 
 H 
 
98 On Food. 
 
 much as one-fifth of the actual energy of the food is 
 manifested as external work. 
 
 Table XV. 
 
 Weight and Cost of various Articles of Diet required to raise a Man 
 ( 140 lbs.) to the height of 10,000 feet. 
 
 Name of Food. Price per lb. Ozs. required. Cost, 
 s. d. 
 
 Oatmeal 2| 20-5 3£ 
 
 Flour 2| 21-0 8| 
 
 Pea-meal SJ 21-4 0, 4{ 
 
 Bread . . ' 2 37"5 0' 4| 
 
 Potatoes 1 81-1 5j 
 
 Bice '. 4 21-5 5£ 
 
 Beef-fat or Dripping .... 10 8-9 5| 
 
 Cheshire cheese ...... 10 18-5 114 
 
 Cabbage 1 192-3 1 0£ 
 
 Butter 16 11-1 1 04 
 
 Hard-boiled Eggs 64 35-3 1 24 
 
 Lump sugar 6 24-1 1 3 
 
 Milk (per quart) 5 128-3 1 34 
 
 Leaubeef 10 56-5 3 6j 
 
 Guiuness's Stout 10 6J bottles. 5 7| 
 
 Bass's Pale Ale • 10 9 bottles. 7 6 
 
 The motive power of fatty foods is thus shown to be 
 far higher than that of lean meat or farinaceous sub- 
 stances, and this accords with experience, for the labour- 
 ing classes have long since discovered that fat bacon is 
 a good material for heavy work. Its efficacy may, in 
 great part, depend on the ease and certainty with which 
 it is digested and utilised in the body. 
 
 The fattening and flesh forming powers of food are 
 liable to great variation, not merely from the quality of 
 the food itself, but from the peculiarity of the individual 
 consuming it. This is a matter of common observation, 
 arid is well-known to the breeders of stock. Messrs. 
 Lawes and Gilbert found in their experiments on the 
 feeding of bullocks, sheep, and pigs, that very different 
 quantities of food were required to produce the same 
 increase of weight. Oxen and sheep, for example, feed- 
 ing on the same diet, namely oil-cake, hay, and turnips, 
 
Fattening Powers of Food. 99 
 
 consume, in one case (that of oxen), 1,109 lbs. of dry 
 substance for every 100 lbs of increase in the live weight, 
 while in the other, the sheep consume only 912 lbs.; and 
 pigs fed on barley-meal, will fatten to the same extent 
 on 42Q lbs. of the dry material. Pigs, therefore, store up 
 about one-fourth of their food, reckoned in this way, 
 sheep about one-ninth, and oxen only one-eleventh 
 
 The proportion's of the several constituents of the 
 food are also very differently used by these animals ; for 
 in every 100 parts of the dry food eaten, the several 
 amounts of nitrogenous, carbonaceous, and mineral 
 matters are thus disposed of: — 
 
 Table XVI. 
 
 Proportions of the several Constituents of Food appropriated and used 
 oy different Animals. 
 
 Proportions Proportions Proportions Proportions 
 
 Constituents of the Dry Food. 
 
 [ Nitrogenous 
 Ofcen < Carbonaceous 
 ( Mineral 
 
 in Dry 
 Food. 
 19 66 
 72-86 
 7-48 
 
 Stored in 
 
 Animal. 
 
 0-8 i 
 
 5-2* 
 
 0-2 
 
 in 
 Manure, 
 
 29-1 
 
 7-4 
 
 lost in 
 Respiration 
 
 57-3 
 
 
 
 10000 
 
 6-2 
 
 36-5 
 
 57-3 
 
 Sheep 
 
 [ Nitrogenous 
 < Carbonaceous 
 ( Mineral 
 
 19-41 
 
 73-57 
 
 7-02 
 
 0.8 I 
 7-0 > 
 0-2 
 
 25-1 
 6-8 
 
 601 
 
 
 
 100-00 
 
 8-0 
 
 31-9 
 
 60-1 
 
 Pigs 
 
 j Nitrogenous 
 i Carbonaceous 
 ( Mineral 
 
 12-38 
 
 85-00 
 
 2-62 
 
 17} 
 15-7 1 
 0-2 
 
 14-3 
 
 2-4 
 
 65-7 
 
 100-00 17-6 16:7 65-5 
 
 So that the power of appropriation is greatest with pigs 
 and least with oxen ; in fact, of every ioo lbs. of the 
 several constituents of the food, the following are the 
 proportions stored up in the three classes of animals : — , 
 
 H 2 
 
On 
 
 Food. 
 
 
 
 
 • p.-g-. 
 
 Sheep. 
 
 Oxen. 
 
 
 13-5 
 
 4'2 
 
 4'i 
 
 us 
 
 i8-5 
 
 94 
 
 7-2 
 
 
 7 '3 
 
 3'i 
 
 i-9 
 
 IOO 
 
 Of ioo Nitrogenous 
 Of ioo Carbonaceous 
 Of ioo Mineral 
 
 It will be noticed, too, that the proportions lost in res- 
 piration are very different in the three cases ; for it is 
 greatest in the pig — amounting to 66 per cent, of all the 
 food eaten, and least in the ox — 57-3 per cent. These 
 proportions represent the vital work of the body during 
 the processes of growth and repair, it being evident that 
 where the growth is fastest, as in pigs, the vital work, as 
 represented by the food lost in respiration, is most ener- 
 getic. 
 
 The time also that is occupied in producing fat and 
 muscular tissue is different with these animals, for the 
 pig increases from 6 to 6 - 5 per cent, of its weight per 
 week; the sheep not more than 175 per cent. ; and the 
 ox only 1 per cent. Some of this difference is doubtless 
 due to the quality of the food made use of, for the pigs 
 were fed on a nutritious and easily digestible diet — oat- 
 meal ; while the sheep and oxen made use of food with 
 a large quantity of cellular tissue and woody fibre ; and 
 here, I may remark, that the power of utilising the in- 
 ferior varieties of food is very different with different ' 
 classes of animals. Man, as I have already explained, 
 is unable to digest woody fibre, or even the harder kinds 
 of cellulose ; it is doubtful, indeed, whether he can digest 
 cellulose at all. The pig also has but a limited capacity 
 for this kind of work ; whereas oxen and sheep, and the 
 herbivora generally, can eat woody tissues with advan- 
 tage, and convert them into flesh and fat. In eating 
 meat, therefore, we are utilising the digestive powers of 
 other animals; and are, in fact, economising force by 
 employing their stomachs to do for us that which we 
 could not do for ourselves without a large expenditure 
 of vital energy. This, as Mr. Lawes says, is proved, not 
 
Functions of Food. ior 
 
 merely by the testimony of common experience, but also 
 by certain anatomical facts' relating to the structure and 
 comparative size of the stomach in different animals. In 
 oxen, for example, the stomach weighs 51 ozs. for every 
 100 lbs. of live weight ; in sheep it weighs 39 ozs. ; in 
 pigs 14 ozs. ; and in man only 6 ozs. It is manifest, 
 therefore, that the food of man should be more concen- 
 trated than that of the lower animal ;' and that he acts 
 wisely in eating flesh and fat, which are the very essence 
 of food, for he thereby economises labour, and employs 
 the assimilative powers of other creatures to bring the 
 crudest materials into a nutritious and highly digestible 
 form. It is true that man, in common with other 
 animals, is able to convert starch and sugar into fat, and 
 the lower qualities of vegetable albumen into flesh, but 
 by so doing he expends force, for in the case of fat he 
 locks up in it twice and a half the potential power of 
 sugar and starch ; and in that of flesh, he 'concentrates 
 to an unknown extent the energies of albumen in the 
 several constituents of muscle and its juice. 
 
 Looking, therefore, broadly at the functions of food, it 
 is evident that, however intricate are the various pro- 
 cesses of chemical and bther molecular changes to which 
 food is subject within the living animal body, yet the 
 ultimate destiny of it is the development of heat and 
 other modes of motion, which constitute the physio- 
 logical phenomena of animal life. It is obvious, in fact, 
 that the animal machine is a contrivance for the mani- 
 festation of these phenomena through the latent energies 
 of food — energies which were locked up in it by the 
 plant during the processes of reduction or deoxidation 
 to' which it was subject in the course of its formation ; 
 and which the animal lets loose in reversing the opera- 
 tions of the vegetable by processes of oxidation or com- 
 bustion. In most cases, it is thought, that these pro- 
 cesses occur in the blood, where the constituents of food 
 
102 On Food. 
 
 v . „— ., — . 
 
 are dissolved ; but it is still a question whether, under 
 some circumstances, as in the generation of muscular 
 force, the changes may not occur in the muscular tissues 
 themselves. In the former case, it is supposed that the 
 constituents of food are oxidised while circulating with 
 the blood, and, therefore, without entering into the com- 
 position of the animal structures ; but in the latter, it is 
 maintained that the nitrogenous elements of food must 
 become muscular tissue before they can undergo the 
 transformations which are the source of muscular power. 
 Liebig and his followers are of this opinion, for they 
 argue that muscular force is always generated by trans- 
 formation of the nitrogenous constituents of muscle, in 
 which oxygen takes part, though without directly causing 
 it ; while others contend that all manifestations of force 
 within the living animal body are referable to the com- 
 bustion of matters dissolved in the blood, and that these 
 matters are generally of a non-nitrogenous nature. A 
 portion of tissue, they say, no doubt decays in the trans- 
 ference of its energies to other forms of action, and r 
 therefore, requires repair ; but the decay is not, as Liebig 
 supposes, the cause of muscular motion, but the effect of 
 it. " In man," says Dr. Frankland,- "the chief materials 
 for muscular power are non-nitrogenous ; but nitrogenous 
 matter can also be employed for the same purpose, and 
 hence the greatly increased evolution of nitrogen under 
 the influence of a flesh diet, even with no increase of 
 muscular exertion. The non-nitrogenous matters, also, 
 which find their way into the blood, yield up all their 
 potential energy as actual energy ; whereas the nitro- 
 genous, in leaving the body as urea, carry with them a 
 portion (at least one-seventh) of their potential energy 
 unexpended. The transference of potential energy into 
 muscular power is necessarily accompanied by the pro- 
 duction of heat within the body, even when the muscular 
 power is exerted externally. This is, doubtless, the 
 
Functions of Food. 103 
 
 chief, and probably- the only source of animal heat." 
 All, however, are agreed that the functions of food -are 
 the development of force ; the manifestations of which 
 are motion — muscular and molecular. Further investi- 
 gations must determine whether, under any circum- 
 stances, food must, as a physiological necessity, enter 
 into the construction of the animal body before it can 
 generate force, or whether all the force of the living 
 animal is the result of transformations and oxydations 
 of the dietetical matters dissolved in the blood. 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 CONSTRUCTION OF DIETARIES— TIMES OF MEALS— PRE- 
 , PARATION AND CULINARY TREATMENT OF FOODS. 
 
 CONSTRUCTION OF DIETARIES. 
 
 THE construction of dietaries involves a variety of 
 considerations, as — ist. The determination of the real 
 wants of the body under different circumstances of age, 
 sex, constitution, labour, and climate ; 2nd. A proper 
 selection ■ of food, as regards quality, nutritive power, 
 appetising property, digestibility, and price; 3rd. The 
 association ,of foods in such wise as not to offend the 
 appetite or burden the digestive powers ; 4th. A right 
 treatment of them by cooking, &c, so as to render them 
 most useful to the system ; and 5th. A just distribution 
 of the daily diet in appropriate meals. 
 
 As regards the first question- — namely, THE DETER- 
 MINATION of the Actual Dietetical Wants of 
 the Body — it may be answered from two sets of facts, 
 as those which pertain to the minimum quantities of 
 food capable of being used without loss of health or 
 bodily vigour, and those which relate to the amounts of 
 carbon and nitrogen exhaled from the body during 
 different conditions of labour. 
 
 In a general way it may be said that a healthy 
 vigorous man consumes from 700 to 750 lbs. of solid 
 food (dry) in a year. This amounts to about 2 lbs. of 
 
Dietetical Wants of the Body. 105 
 
 dry solid matter daily ; and the quantity of water (free 
 and combined) is about sj lbs. daily. 
 
 Pursuing the inquiry a little farther, we find that a 
 man cannot live on a punishment prison diet of 1 lb. of 
 bread a day with water, for in three days he will lose 
 about 3 lbs. in weight, and will show signs of com- 
 mencing starvation. This diet contains 1*3 ozs. of nitro- 
 genous matter and 8'8 of carbonaceous ( = 1,975 grains 
 of carbon and 88 of nitrogen). Even the poor needle- 
 women of London can only just exist, in a state of feeble 
 vitality, with an average diet of 1^ lbs. of bread a day, 
 with about 1 oz. of dripping. This contains nearly 2 ozs. 
 of nitrogenous matter, and 147 of carbonaceous, calcu- 
 lated as starch (=3,366" grains of carbon and 132 of 
 nitrogen). And in military prisons, where as much as 
 3 - 8 ozs. of nitrogenous food, and 22'2 ozs. of carbona- 
 ceous (= 5,090 grains of carbon and 256 of nitrogen), 
 are supplied daily to prisoners for short terms of con- 
 finement, they frequently lose weight and give evidence 
 of decay ; so that for longer periods of imprisonment it 
 is found necessary to increase the diet to 4*7 ozs. of 
 plastic matter, and 27-8 of respiratory ( = 6,362 grains 
 of carbon and 317 of nitrogen); in fact, according to 
 Dr. Christison, the men confined in the prison at Perth 
 cannot even do the work of pumping the water for the 
 prison on a daily diet of 6 ozs. of plastic matter, and 25 
 of respiratory ( = 6,082 grains of carbon, and 404 of 
 nitrogen). 
 
 During the siege of Paris, when provisions were almost 
 exhausted, it is said that the daily rations were reduced 
 to 300 grammes (4,629 grains of bread, and 30 grammes 
 (463 grains) of meat per head daily — the bread being 
 composed of 30 parts wheat, 30 rice, 20 rye, and 20 oats. 
 This is in the proportion of only 1 44 ozs. of dry nitro- 
 genous matter ( = 94 grains of nitrogen) and icoi ozs. 
 of dry carbonaceous matter, calculated as starch 
 ( = 2,234 grains of carbon) daily. ' It is not possible, 
 however, to maintain life on such a diet. Earlier in the 
 
io6 On Food. 
 
 siege, when the French Government became anxious 
 about the food supply, they consulted the leading phy- 
 sicians of Paris on the subject, and Dr. Sde was instructed 
 to lecture on it at the School of Medicine. He said that 
 the daily diet of an adult might be made up as follows : 
 — ioo grammes ( = i,S43'2 grains) of beef, 20 grammes 
 ( = 308-6 grains) of salt-fish, 750 grammes ( = 11,574-3 
 grains) of bread, 50 grammes ( = 771-6 grains) of bacon, 
 and 50 grammes of vegetables. These contain 3-14 ozs. 
 of dry nitrogenous matter ( = 235 grains of nitrogen) 
 and 18-53 ozs. of carbonaceous, calculated as starch 
 ( = 4,241 grains of carbon) ; but these proportions are 
 barely sufficient to maintain life, even when the body is 
 performing no work beyond its own physiological move- 
 ments. 
 
 Dr. Edward Smith found in his inquiries into the 
 dietaries of adult male operatives of Lancashire and 
 Cheshire, during the cotton famine, and also into those 
 of the low-fed operatives of England, that the daily 
 amount of food, only barely sufficient for existence, 
 must contain 2.84 ozs. of nitrogenous matter, and 19-25 
 of carbonaceous ( = 4,321 grains of carbon and 191 of 
 nitrogen). These are contained in 2 lbs. 4 ozs. of bread, 
 which is regarded as a famine diet. The farm labourers 
 of England consume daily an average of 3-18 ozs. of 
 plastic matter and 26-01 of respiratory. In Scotland, 
 Wales, and Ireland, the amounts are somewhat larger, 
 as will be apparent from this diagram : — 
 
 Table XVII. 
 
 Average Daily Diet of Farm-Labourers in the United Kingdom. 
 
 Dry 
 
 Dry Carbonaceous Containing 
 
 Nitrogenous Matter as 
 
 Matter. Starch. Carbon. Nitrogen. 
 
 OZS. 0Z. wrs. ova 
 
 In England. . 318 29-32 5,705 214 
 
 In Wales . . 4-12 35-51 6,909 277 
 
 In Scotland . 476 36-30 7,063 321 
 
 In Ireland . . 494 34 '26 6,'665 333 
 
 Average of nil . 4-25 33-35 6,585 238 
 
Dietetical Wants of the Body. 107 
 
 These are the results of inquiries into the dietaries of 
 many hundreds of families, the proportions being com-, 
 puted as for adults ; but it is. very probable, as Dr. Smith 
 remarks, that the nourishment obtained by the labourer 
 himself is somewhat above the average. This, in fact, 
 is confirmed by the more extensive investigations of 
 Dr. Lyon Playfair, who concludes, from a large series of 
 observations, that the following may be regarded as the 
 average proportions of the several constituents of food in 
 the daily dietary of an adult man under different circum- 
 stances of existence : — 
 
 
 Table XVIII. 
 
 
 Daily Diet according 
 
 to Work Done. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Carbonaceous- 
 
 Daily Diets for 
 
 Hflsh- 
 former. 
 
 Fat. 
 
 Starch Nitro- 
 and Sugar, genous. 
 
 Calculated 
 as Starch. 
 
 
 ozs. 
 
 ozs. 
 
 ozs. ozs. 
 
 ozs. 
 
 Subsistence only 
 
 20 
 
 0-5 
 
 12-0 = 2-0 
 
 + 13'3 
 
 Quietude ... 
 
 2-5 
 
 1-0 
 
 12-0 = 2-5 
 
 + 14-3 
 
 Moderate exercise 
 
 4-2 
 
 1-8 
 
 187 = 4-2 
 
 + 23-2 
 
 Active labour . . 
 
 5-5 
 
 2-5 
 
 20-0 5-5 
 
 + 26-3 
 
 Hard work . . 
 
 6-5 
 
 2-5 
 
 20-0 = 6-5 
 
 + 26-3 ' 
 
 These conclusions accord pretty well with the determi- 
 nations of Pettenkofer and Voit, who say that an adult 
 requires daily, when at work, 5.22 ozs. of nitrogenous' 
 matter and 22-38 of carbonaceous (calculated as starch). 
 A Bavarian wood-cutter, according to Liebig, receives 
 from his employer, when he goes after breakfast on a 
 Monday into the forest, 34. lbs. of dripping, and 7'8 lbs.. 
 of meal, and 4-5 lbs. of bread. He comes home on 
 Saturday evening to supper. This quantity of food ,is> 
 therefore, sufficient for five days .; and it represents a. 
 daily supply of 43 1 ozs. of dry nitrogenous matter 
 (=290 grains of nitrogen), and 49/91 ozs, of carbona- 
 neous, calculated as starch (=9704 grains of carbon)., 
 A Russian peasant, whose yearly rations are accu- 
 rately apportioned, has an average daily ration con- 
 
io8 On Food. 
 
 taining 5-67 ozs. of dry nitrogenous matter (=381 grains 
 of nitrogen), and 42-41 ozs. of carbonaceous, calculated 
 as starch (= 8,246 grains of carbon) ; and a Chinese 
 labourer, receives as food from his employer, an average 
 ■daily dietary containing 4 - 66 ozs. of dry nitrogenous 
 matter (= 313 grains of nitrogen), and 36-32 ozs. of car- 
 bonaceous matter calculated as starch (= 70-62 grains of 
 carbon). 
 
 Taking, therefore, the mean of all these researches, it 
 maybe said that a man requires daily in his food, the 
 following amounts at least, of carbonaceous and nitro- 
 genous matters for idleness, for ordinary labour, and for 
 active labour : — 
 
 Daily Diets for 
 
 Nitrogenous. 
 
 Carbonaceous. 
 
 Carbon. 
 
 Nitrogen. 
 
 
 OZS. 
 
 ozs. 
 
 KT J . 
 
 grs. 
 
 Idleness . . . 
 
 2-67 
 
 19-61-* 
 
 (3,816 
 
 180 , 
 
 Ordinary labour 
 
 4-56 
 
 29-24 \ = 
 
 \ 5,688 
 
 307 
 
 Active labour . 
 
 5-81 
 
 34-97 J 
 
 (6,823 
 
 391 
 
 By pursuing the second method of inquiry and esti- 
 mating the wants of the body from the amounts of 
 .carbon and nitrogen exhaled and secreted, it is found 
 that the proportion of carbon evolved as carbonic acid 
 from the lungs of a man in health varies from 6 ozs. to 
 13I ozs. daily, the difference being dependent on tem- 
 perature, exercise, &c. Dr. Edward Smith says that it 
 amounts to — 
 
 7-85 ozs. daily while the body is quiet ; 
 9-11 ozs. daily with moderate exercise ; 
 I2'9 ozs. daily with considerable labour. 
 
 And he considers that a healthy man of average weight 
 {150 lbs.) emits 8-57 ozs. of carbon from his lungs daily. 
 This, added to the quantity discharged from the skin 
 and bowels, is not less than 9-6 ozs. daily (= 4,200 grains) 
 or just 28 grains per lb. of the man's weight. During 
 light labour, he says it ranges from 9'6 ozs. to 10-5, and 
 during hard work from 12-5 to 14 ozs. These are in the 
 
Dietetical Wants of the Body. 109 
 
 proportions of 216 ozs. of dry carbonaceous matter, cal- 
 culated as starch for idleness ; 23*63 ozs. for moderate 
 exercise; and 31 "5 ozs. for hard labour; but these pro- 
 portions do not include the carbon excreted by the 
 kidneys, which would bring them up to the quantities 
 before mentioned. 
 
 The amount of nitrogen excreted as urea, &c, in the 
 urine is also subject to great variation, according to 
 diet and exercise. Dr. Parkes found in his experiments 
 on two soldiers, that with an ordinary diet and no exer- 
 cise, it amounted to 2 03 grains per lb. weight of the 
 body ( = 304 grains per 150 lbs.); and that with a non- 
 nitrogenous diet, and no exercise, it was 095 grains per 
 lb. weight (= 142 grains per 150 lbs.); and with the same 
 diet and active exercise it was 242 grains per lb. weight 
 ( = 364 grains per 1 50 lbs.) 
 
 Professors Fick and Wislicenus observed that the 
 nitrogen secreted during an ordinary diet, and no exer- 
 cise, was at the rate of i"S3 grains per lb. weight ( = 203 
 grains per 1 50 lbs.) ; and that it fell to a little less than 
 one grain per lb. weight with a non-nitrogenous diet 
 during the labour of ascending the Faulhorn. 
 
 The researches of the Rev. Dr. Haughton, of Dublin, 
 have led him to conclude that an average-size man per- 
 forming routine work, secretes 187 grains of nitrogen as 
 urea daily (=1*25 grains per lb. weight) ; and Dr. Edward 
 Smith has estimated it at from 0*93 to 1 4 grains per 
 lb. weight — a fair average being 1-15 (=173 grains per 
 150 lbs.). 
 
 The more extensive inquiries of Playfair, Ranke, Beigel, 
 Moos, Vogel, and others, give a daily average of 171 
 grains of nitrogen as urea for a healthy man at rest, and 
 252 grains for ordinary labour. 
 
 It may therefore be safely concluded that with an ordi- 
 nary diet, an average-size man excretes daily as urea 
 175 grains of nitrogen ; and during labour of a moderate 
 description it amounts to about 250 grains. Adding to 
 
no On Food. 
 
 these the proportions of nitrogen excreted in other forms 
 in the urine, and the quantities passed from the bowels, 
 the total amounts are probably about 190 grains while 
 at rest, and 300 grains when at routine work ; the diffe- 
 rence, perhaps, being more dependent on the food than 
 on the metamorphosed tissues of the body. 
 
 It thus appears that the proportions of carbon and 
 nitrogen excreted correspond very closely with those 
 contained in the diets which experience has proved to 
 be necessary for man's sustenance ; for when the results 
 are put into a tabular form they stand thus : — 
 
 Table XIX. 
 
 Daily Requirements of the Body. 
 
 During idleness f By dietaries . 
 as determined I By excretions 
 
 Nitro- 
 genous 
 Food. 
 
 OZB. 
 
 . 2-67 
 . 278 
 
 Carbon- 
 aceous 
 Food, 
 oza. 
 
 19-61 
 
 21-60 
 
 = 
 
 Carbon.' Nitrogen. 
 
 grs. gre. 
 3,816 180 
 4,199 187 
 
 Average . . 
 
 . 273 
 
 20-60 
 
 == 
 
 4,005 184 
 
 Routine work J By dietaries . 
 as determined I By excretions 
 
 . 4-56 
 . 4-39 
 
 29-24 
 23-63 
 
 = 
 
 5,688 307 
 4,694 296 
 
 Average . . 
 
 . 4-48 
 
 26-44 
 
 = 
 
 5,191 302 
 
 The first of these averages is represented by 2 lbs. 2 oz. 
 ■of bread, and the second by about l\ lbs. 
 
 It appears also that the relation of the nitrogenous 
 to the carbonaceous constituents of food should be about 
 as 1 to 6 or 6 J. These, in fact, are the proportions 
 which Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert found to be best suited 
 for fattening pigs. In milk the proportions are as 1 to 
 3 -6 (the butter being calculated as starch); and no 
 doubt these are the right proportions for the dietaries of 
 children, who have to build up their structures,, and 
 therefore require a large proportion of nitrogenous 
 matter. Again, it will be observed, that the relation of 
 nitrogen to carbon is nearly as 1 to 19 ; whereas in milk 
 
Daily Requirements of the Body. 1 1 1 
 
 it is about as i to 13. Referring to Table No. 3, it will 
 be noticed that the proportions in bread are as 1 to 23, 
 and in meat as 1 to 10, showing that the former requires 
 the addition of plastic matter, and the latter of respi- 
 ratory. 
 
 In preparing dietaries, however, it will be best to 
 take a rather liberal view of the question, and, there- 
 fore, I shall adopt the conclusions of Dr. Edward 
 Smith — that even in periods of idleness a man's daily 
 food should contain not less than 4,300 grains of carbon, 
 with 200 of nitrogen ; and a woman'sat least 3,900 grains 
 of carbon, with 180 of nitrogen — these bring the pro- 
 portions which, in his opinion, are necessary to avert 
 starvation diseases ; and they are represented in the 
 case of a man's diet by 22 ,oz. of carbonaceous food, 
 with 2-97 of nitrogenous. The diagram before you 
 exhibits the amounts of different articles of diet capable 
 of furnishing this quantity of nitrogenous matter and it 
 also shows the proportions of carbonaceous matter 
 (calculated as starch) associated with it : — 
 
 Table XX. 
 
 Amounts of Food Yielding 200 Grains of Nitrogen 
 Plastic Matter necessary for a Man's Daily 
 
 Carbonaceous 
 
 or 2.97 ozs. of 
 Diet. 
 
 Description of Food 
 
 Skim-cheese 
 White fish 
 Lean meat 
 Skim milk 
 
 2tfew milk 
 Oatmeal . 
 Baker's bread 
 Wheat flour 
 Indian meal 
 Eye meal 
 Barley meal 
 Rice 
 J?acon 
 
 6 6 
 16-4 
 15-6 
 74-2 
 11-2 
 72-4 
 23-6 
 367 
 27-5 
 26-8 
 37-1 
 47-1 
 47 1 
 33-7 
 
 Matter in i l 
 
 as Starch. 
 
 ozs. 
 
 089 
 
 1-19 
 
 1-78 
 
 7 43, 
 
 8-02 
 10-6 9 
 18-41 
 20-20 
 26-79 
 22-84 
 2911 
 3S-02 
 38-31 
 61-78 
 
 Carbon 
 in it. 
 grs. 
 778-1 
 836 
 951 
 2,049 
 2,164 
 2,683 
 4.184J 
 4,532 
 4,647 
 5,046 
 6,265 
 7,997 
 8'053 
 12,617 
 
H2 On Food. 
 
 So that, whilst the first seven of these substances are 
 deficient of carbonaceous matter (22 ozs. being required), 
 the last seven contain it in excess. It is, therefore, not 
 difficult to construct a dietary from the several Tables 
 which I have placed before, you; but perhaps it would 
 interest you to know exactly what are the actual dietaries 
 in use among different classes of persons; and first I will 
 direct your attention to what Dr. Edward Smith found to 
 be the average weekly dietaries of the low-fed operatives 
 of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. (See "Table 
 XXI. on next page). 
 
 You will see from this table that the poor needle-women 
 of London are the worst fed of all the operatives in the 
 three kingdoms, for they subsist on a weekly allowance 
 of "11771 ozs. of carbonaceous food, calculated as dry 
 starch with 14-10 ozs. of nitrogenous (=16-82 ozs. car- 
 bonaceous, with 2 - oi ozs. nitrogenous daily), while the 
 farm labourers of Ireland are, as regards the real nutri- 
 tive value of their food, the best fed of the lower opera- 
 tive classes. But it will also be noticed that the cost of 
 the weekly dietary of the Irish labourer is only is. 9fd. 
 per week, while that of the needle-woman is 2s. 7d. — r 
 the latter feeding chiefly on bread, bacon, and tea, which 
 are expensive foods, while the former consumes potatoes, 
 milk, and Indian meal — foods which yield more nutri- 
 ment for their money value than the more expensive 
 foods of the English, Welsh, and Scotch labourers. 
 
 I have already described the diet of the Bavarian 
 wood-cutter — consisting for five days of 34 lbs. of drip- 
 ping, 7-8 lbs. of meal, and 4-5 lbs. of bread, with a little 
 fruit which he finds for himself. 'This yields him 4.31 
 ozs. of dry nitrogenous matter, and 49-91 ozs. of carbo- 
 naceous daily, and he sustains himself well upon them. 
 According to Mr. Yapp, the monthly allowance to a 
 Chinese weaver, is 60 lbs. of rice, costing 4s. ; 13-3 lbs. of 
 fish, costing 2s. 66. ; icr6 lbs. of pork, costing 9s. 8d. ; 
 2 fowls, costing 3s. 6d. ; and 2s. 6d. worth of vegetables. 
 
Actual Dietaries of the Poor. 
 
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ii4 On Food. 
 
 This, with a little tea and tobacco, costs the employer a 
 little more than iod. a day ; and it yields 4-66 ozs. of dry 
 nitrogenous matter, and 36-32 ozs. of carbonaceous. The 
 yearly dietary of a Russian peasant consists of 45 1 lbs. 
 of rye flour, worth 19s. English money; 421 lbs. of wheat 
 flour, worth £1 6s. 7d. ; Sf bushels of grits, buckwheat, 
 &c, worth 4s. 9|d. ; 30! lbs. of peas, worth Is. if d. ; \j\ 
 lbs. of oil and butter, worth 4s. 6d. ; 32^ lbs. of salt, 
 worth Is. 4fd. ; 117 lbs. of meat, worth 13s. 2d. ; and fish 
 and cabbage costing 9|d. ; so that a Russian peasant, 
 when most favourably situated, will get 12 ozs. of meat, 
 principally in soup, on 155 days in the year, and 2 lbs. 
 6 ozs. of bread and flour, besides buckwheat, peas, &c, 
 at a cost of 2jd. per diem ; and this amounts, on an 
 average of the whole year, to 5-67 ozs. of dry nitroge- 
 nous matter, and 4241 ozs. of carbonaceous, calculated 
 as starch, daily. 
 
 And now we will contrast the dietaries of the poorer 
 classes of operatives with those of better-fed persons, 
 as soldiers, sailors, navigators, &c. ; and for this pur- 
 pose I shall avail myself of the accurate returns ob- 
 tained and published by Dr. Lyon Playfair: — (Table 
 XXII.) 
 
 In all these cases the carbonaceous matters of the 
 food are estimated as starch ; and I may state that the 
 soldiers' dietary, when at peace, is calculated from the 
 rations of the English, French, Prussian, and Austrian 
 service ; and when at war, it is derived from the actual 
 dietaries of European and American soldiers during 
 recent wars. When our volunteers were in camp in 
 September, 1871, the daily ration per man consisted of 
 1 1 lb. of bread, or 1 lb. of biscuit ; £ lb. of fresh meat, or 
 1 lb. of salt meat, or \ lb. of preserved meat ; one-sixth 
 of an oz. of tea ; one-third of an oz. of coffee ; 2 ozs. of 
 sugar; 1 oz. of salt; and a very small quantity of 
 pepper, the charge per man being 6d. This, exclusive 
 of the tea and coffee, contains 270 grains of nitrogen, 
 
Actual Dietaries of Operatives. 1 1 5 
 
 and 4721 of carbon, which are equal to only 24-27 ozs. 
 of dry carbonaceous matter, calculated as starch, and 
 4 ozs. of nitrogenous — quantities which are barely suffi- 
 cient for active duty, and which were no doubt supple- 
 mented by other food at the cost of the volunteers. 
 
 Table XXII. 
 
 Daily Dietaries of Well-fed Operatives (Playfair). 
 
 Containing " Containing 
 
 Class o£ Labourer. ™*±, Fats. Starch and 
 
 formers. • sugar. Carbon- Nitro- c ,. b: . n Nitro- 
 
 aceoua. geuous. l ' ,lru >' n - g en . 
 
 ozs. s ozs. ozs. ozs. grs. grs. 
 
 Fully-fed tailors . 4-61 -37 1847 2164 4-61 5136 325 
 
 Soldiers in peace . 4-22 1-85 18-69 22-06 4-22 5246 297 
 
 Royal Engineers ) g. 08 2 gl 22 . 22 29 . 3g g. og 6m g58 
 
 (work) 
 
 Soldiers in war .' 5-41 2-41 17'92 23-48 5"41 5561 381 
 
 English sailor . 5-00 2-57 14-39 20-40 5'00 4834 252 
 
 French sailor . . 574 1-32 2360 2670 5"74 6379 405 
 
 Hard-worked / 5 . g3 1 . 53 21 . 8g 2 g. 42 5 . 33 6020 375 
 
 weavers . . \ 
 
 English navvy j 573 g . 27 13>21 21 . 06 5 - 73 50U 404 
 
 (Unmea) . ) 
 
 English navvy ) g . 84 3 . g2 27 . gl 37 . 08 6 . g4 g295 4g2 
 
 (Kauway) . ) 
 
 Blacksmith . . 6-20 2-50 23-50 29-50 6-20 6864 437 
 
 Prize-fighters 
 (training) 
 
 9-80 3-10 3 27 1070 9'80 4366 690 
 Mean of all . . 5-81 2-42 18-63 24-31 581 5837 400 
 
 Mean of low-fed ) 3 . Q4 QM 21 . 18 22 . 7g g . 04 4ggl 214 
 operatives . J 
 
 It would be interesting, if time permitted, to compare 
 these dietaries with the dietaries of hospitals, prisons, 
 workhouses, and lunatic asylums ; for we should then per- 
 ceive not merely how greatly they vary in their nutritive 
 value, but also how little attention is paid to the prin- 
 ciples which ought to guide our public authorities in 
 the construction of public dietaries. In the prisons of 
 England, Scotland, and Ireland, the several dietaries 
 
 I 2 
 
1 1 6 On Food. 
 
 for short terms of imprisonment, as well as for longer 
 periods, and for hard labour, vary respectively to so 
 great an extent as to furnish an inducement for the 
 commission of crime in certain districts rather than in 
 others, because of the richness of the prison rations ; 
 and in all cases the dietaries of prisons are so greatly in 
 excess of the union, that in times of distress they offer 
 encouragement for misdemeanour, in order that the 
 prison may be reached in preference to the workhouse ; 
 in short, while the day's ration of an unfortunate in- 
 mate of a union contains only about 17 ozs. o.f dry, 
 nutritious matter, that of a destitute debtor contains 
 19/4 ozs., and that of a convict 22 ozs. ; moreover, a 
 prisoner confined for more than a month, without hard 
 labour, in the jails of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 
 would have i8 - 8 ozs., 22-4, and 23-9 of dry nutriment 
 respectively ; the average rations for hard work contain- 
 ing about 217 ozs., 31-5, and 25-6 in the prisons of the 
 three countries. 
 
 Dr. Edward Smith has drawn attention to the serious 
 want of uniformity in the dietaries of the unions of his 
 district, and has urged the workhouse authorities to im- 
 prove them. He also submitted to the Privy Council 
 tables of dietaries, which are well suited to meet the 
 requirements of the body at the lowest money cost. 
 Here are a few of them, which may, perhaps,' prove 
 useful to those who are engaged in the benevolent work 
 of supplying food to the poor in times of distress ; and 
 you will perceive that at various sums, from about 2s. to 
 3s. a week per adult, very substantial rations may be 
 provided. (See Table XXIII. on next page.) 
 
 The dietaries of women should be about one-tenth 
 less than those of men in the case of indoor operatives, 
 but they ought to be from one-third to one-fourth less 
 than the larger dietaries of men engaged in out-door 
 labour. 
 
 As regards the dietaries of children, it may be stated 
 
Dietaries for the Poor. 
 
 117 
 
 
 
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1 1 8 On Food. 
 
 generally that the chief part of their food should be 
 milk. Up to the age of nine or ten months it should, 
 if possible, be the milk of woman, which is richer in 
 sugar than cow's milk, and much less rich in caseine ; 
 failing this, however, ass's milk is a good substitute, as 
 it contains nearly the same amount of sugar and caseine 
 as human milk. I have already given the table from 
 MM. O. Henri and Chevalier, of the proportions of the 
 several constituents in ioo parts of the milk of different 
 animals (Table VI., page 31), from which it will be seen 
 that the solid constituents of the milk of different 
 animals range from 9/35 per cent, in .ass's milk to H'38 
 in ewe's. Very recent inquiries by my lecture colleague, 
 Dr. Tidy, have shown that the composition of woman's 
 milk varies to the following extent : — 
 
 Table XXVI. 
 
 Maximum, Minimum, and Average Composition of Woman's 
 Milk, compared with the Average Composition of Cow's Milk. 
 
 Woman's Mili. " CoVs 
 
 , < , Milk. 
 
 Max. Min. Average. Average. 
 
 Caseine 4-36 2-97 3-52 3-64 
 
 Butter 5-18 4-45 4-02 3-55 
 
 Sugar of milk. 4-43 329 4-27 470 
 
 Various salts 0-23 0-38 0-28 081 
 
 Total solids . . . 14-20 11'09 12-09 1270 
 
 "Water ...... 85-80 8891 8791 87-30 
 
 Total .... 100-00 100-00 100-00 100-00 
 
 According to Sourdat the milk of the right breast is 
 generally much richer in butter and caseine than that of 
 the left. 
 
 Attempts have been made to produce an artificial 
 milk, but they are not very successful. Dr. C. A. Con- 
 dereau, for example, recommends a mixture of 8 eggs 
 with 2 ozs. of sugar, and enough water to make a pint 
 
Dietaries of Children. 119 
 
 and a half of liquid, to which he adds a little lime water 
 and a small quantity of sulphate of potash and chloride 
 of sodium. Dubrunfaut states that a good substitute 
 for milk may be made by emulsifying about 900 grains 
 of olive oil, or other comestible fatty matter, with from 
 600 to 870 grains of sugar (milk-sugar, cane-sugar, or 
 glucose), from 300 to 460 grains of dried albumen (the 
 dried white of egg, as met with in Paris), and from 15 
 to 30 grains of crystals of carbonate of soda, dissolved 
 in a pint of water. The liquid thus prepared has the 
 appearance of cream, and requires to be mixed with 
 twice its volume of water to produce a liquid like milk. 
 But experience has shown that although these substi- 
 tutes may serve the purposes of milk under some 
 circumstances, as when they are used by adults, yet 
 they cannot be safely used in the nourishment of. 
 children, for, as Dumas suggests, it is very probable 
 that there are minute quantities of other substances 
 than albumen, fat, sugar, and salts in milk, which are 
 necessary for the nutrition of infants. Even cow's milk 
 ■does not always agree with them, the curd being very 
 •different from that of woman's milk, and it always 
 requires to be diluted with about one-third of its bulk 
 ■of water, and to be sweetened with sugar before it is 
 given to children. 
 
 Up to six or seven months no other food but milk 
 should be administered, for infants have not the power 
 of digesting farinaceous or fibrinous substances ; and a 
 ■child may take from two to three pints of milk thus 
 •diluted daily. After seven months, and to about twenty 
 months, farinaceous matters may be mixed in gradually 
 increasing quantities with the milk ; but they should be 
 well cooked by first baking them and then thoroughly 
 dissolving them by boiling. After this age, and up to 
 the third year, the quantity of well-cooked farinaceous 
 matters may be .still further increased, and given as 
 puddings with a little egg. Bread and butter may also 
 
I2a On Foad. 
 
 be eaten, and towards the end of the time, the child will 
 digest well-boiled potato, with a little gravy of meat. 
 From the third to the fifth year a little meat may also 
 be given, and at the end of the ninth year it may 
 partake of the usual food of the family ; but all along it 
 should make use of a large proportion of milk, in the 
 various forms of bread and milk, or milk puddings, with 
 eggs. About the tenth year a child will require about 
 half as much food as a woman; and at the fourteenth 
 year it will eat quite as much as a woman ; in fact, the 
 proportion of food required by the child is much greater 
 per pound weight of the body than by adults, because it 
 has to form its tissues and build up its several structures. 
 Dr. Edward Smith calculates that the proportions of 
 carbon and nitrogen in the daily food at different ages 
 should be about as follows : — 
 
 Table XXV. 
 
 Daily Proportions of Carbon and Nitrogen in the Food at Different 
 Ages, per Pound Weight of the Body. 
 
 Carbon. Nitrogen, 
 
 grs. grs. 
 
 In infancy 69 678 
 
 At ten years of age 48 2 - 81 
 
 At sixteen years of age 30 2 - 16 
 
 At adult life 23 1-04 
 
 In middle age 25 1-13 
 
 So that for its weight the infant requires three times as 
 much carbonaceous food and six times as much nitro- 
 genous as an adult. 
 
 The construction of dietaries for particular purposes, 
 as for training, for developing muscular tissue, for pro- 
 ducing fat, or for reducing it, is beyond the scope of 
 these lectures ; but it may generally be said that, as in 
 training the object is to form muscular tissue, with great 
 endurance of action, and, at the same time, to reduce 
 the weight of the body, it is accomplished by the use 
 of nitrogenous food, with but little fat or farinaceous 
 
Dietaries for Fat Persons. 1 2 1 
 
 matter, and as little fluid as possible — so that muscular 
 tissue may take the place of fat and water ; and by con- 
 stant exercise, the endurance and strength of the mus- 
 cular tissue is increased, and the proportion of water in 
 the tissues is diminished. King, in training, is said to 
 have taken for his breakfast two lean mutton-chops, 
 somewhat under-done, with dry toast or stale bread, 
 and a single cup of tea, without sugar ; for dinner, 1 lb. 
 or 1 \ lb. of beef or mutton, with toast or stale bread, 
 and very little potato or other vegetable, and half-a-pint 
 of old ale, or a glass or two of sherry ; for tea, a single 
 cup of unsweetened tea, with an egg and some dry 
 toast ; and for supper, half-a-pint of oatmeal-porridge or 
 half-a-pint of old ale. The action of this is to produce 
 only a short-lived state of effectiveness, for, carried a 
 little beyond the appointed time, it leads to disease; 
 •• and even after such training, there is often, as in the case 
 of Heenan, terrible prostration of the system, and a 
 necessity for returning immediately to an ordinary 
 diet. 
 
 Foremost among the foods for developing fatty tissue 
 are fats, as fat of meat, butter, milk, cream, &c. ; next 
 to these are sugar and all sweet substances, as honey, 
 saccharine fruits, parsnips, &c. ; and after these are 
 farinaceous matters, as arrowroot, bread, potato, pastry, 
 farinaceous pudding's, &c. Fermented liquors, as beer 
 and porter, have also a high reputation for their fat- 
 producing properties, and for their capability of forming 
 milk when drunk by nursing women. Malt liquors, in 
 fact, contain so much nutriment that tiplers, like Boni- 
 face, may be said to eat and drink their ale. Aristotle 
 and Xenophon have spoken of the invigorating pro- 
 perties of barley wine, and the poor labourer who often 
 experiences the sustaining power of a glass of beer, will, 
 as Dr. Pereira observes, by no means admit the truth of 
 Dr. Franklin's assertion, that a penny loaf and a pint of 
 water yield more nourishment than a pint of beer. 
 
122 On Food. 
 
 Even Hogarth, in his illustration of the drunkards of 
 Beer alley and Gin lane, has made a striking difference 
 between the plump condition of the one,- and the 
 emaciated appearance of the other. In cases of 
 •obesity, therefore, all these foods, but especially fat and 
 sugar, should be avoided, or used but sparingly: 
 they are, however, well suited for the lean and hungry 
 constitution. The ancient physicians were well aware 
 of this, and have left us many excellent rules for the 
 dietetical treatment of those who are corpulent or thin. 
 Four hundred years before Christ, Hippocrates of Cos, 
 who is called the Father of Physic, wrote the most pre- 
 cise instructions concerning it ; in fact, the writings of 
 all the older physicians abound with illustrations of the 
 effects of different kinds of food on the body. Cor- 
 nelius Celsus, for example, who lived at the time of our 
 Saviour, and Claudius Galen, who practised medicine 
 in the second century — both having been keen ob- 
 servers of the luxurious habits of the Romans — have 
 given very circumstantial accounts of the way in which 
 the human system is to be dietetically treated in health 
 and disease — the three books of Galen, " De Alimen- 
 torum Facultatibus" being devoted not only to the 
 properties of different kinds of food, but also to a de- 
 scription of a fat and lean mode of life. Later still, 
 in the 17th century, the specific effects of food on the 
 weight of the body were accurately determined' by 
 Sanetorius, the celebrated medical professor of Padua ; 
 and he tells us in one of his aphorisms, that " the body 
 will be rendered heavier by 4 ozs. of very nourishing 
 food, as pork, eels, and all fat meats, than by 6 ozs. of a 
 slender nourishment, as fish, chickens, small birds, and 
 others of the like kind." But the most striking illustra- 
 tions of the fat-producing power of farinaceous foods 
 were furnished by Liebig in his experiments on the 
 fattening of geese ; for he found that a lean goose, 
 weighing only 4 lbs., gained 5 lbs. in weight in 36 days, 
 
Dietaries for Fat Persons. 123 
 
 by feeding it on maize alone ; and of these slbs., 3 \ lbs. 
 were fat — thus .proving that farinaceous matters are 
 capable of quickly forming fat; and a like conclusion 
 was derived from his experiments on sugar. In Turkey, 
 and throughout the East, where the beau-ideal of female 
 beauty is a fat and well-rounded figure, the women are 
 sometimes fattened in much the same manner ; for 
 Mrs. Walker tells us; in her work on " Female Beauty," 
 that in the Bey's seraglio at Tripoli, the women are 
 fattened against a certain day by means of a diet of 
 Turkish flour mixed with honey — the operation being 
 assisted by enemata of rich soups, and frequent bathing. 
 In fifteen days the operation is complete — the beauty 
 being then as plump as an ortolan. Very recently the 
 effect of such food on persons disposed to be corpulent 
 has been graphically described by Mr. Banting, whose 
 gross obesity had become a positive torture to him. In 
 vain he strove to reduce it by physic, by baths, by violent 
 exercise, and by all the depletive artillery of scientific 
 medicine ; but nothing touched it until he practised the 
 ancient rules of Hippocrates, and avoided fat and fari- 
 naceous foods. He then found, by the test of Sanctorius, 
 that he rapidly decreased in bulk — falling in the course 
 of twelve months from a weight of 202 lbs., or about 14J 
 stone, to 1 50 lbs., or rather less than 1 1 stone. It may 
 interest you to know exactly what was his daily diet. 
 " For breakfast," he says, " at 9 a.m., I take 5 or 6 ozs. 
 of either beef, mutton, kidneys, broiled fish, or cold 
 meat of any kind excepting pork or veal ; a large cup of 
 tea or coffee, without milk or sugar; a little biscuit, or 
 one ounce of dry toast ; making together six ounces of 
 solid and nine of liquid. For dinner, at two p.m., five or 
 six ounces of any fish except salmon, herrings, or eels ; 
 any meat except pork or veal ; any vegetable except 
 potato, parsnip, beet-root, turnip, or carrot ; one ounce 
 of dry toast, fruit out of a pudding, not sweetened ; any 
 kind of poultry or game, and two or three glasses of 
 
124 On Food. 
 
 good claret, sherry, or Madeira — champagne, port, and 
 beer forbidden ; making together ten or twelve ounces 
 solid, and ten liquid. For tea, at six p.m., two or three 
 ounces of cooked fruit, a rusk or two, and a cup of tea 
 without milk or sugar; making together two to four 
 ounces solid, and nine liquid. For supper, at nine p.m., 
 three or four ounces of meat or fish, similar to dinner, 
 with a glass or two of claret or sherry and water, making 
 together four ounces solid, and seven liquid. For night- 
 cap, if required, a tumbler of grog (gin, whisky, brandy, 
 without sugar), or a glass or two of claret or sherry ;" 
 and "this plan," he says, "leads to an excellent night's 
 rest, with from six to eight hours' sound sleep." It is 
 difficult to estimate the carbonaceous constituents of the . 
 43 ozs. of liquid made use of, but the 24 ozs. of solid 
 contain about 3*21 ozs. of nitrogenous matter, and 4 - o6 
 carbonaceous — the proportions for ordinary routine work 
 being, as I have already explained, 448 ozs. of nitrogenous 
 and 22-14 carbonaceous. There is, therefore, a large de- 
 ficiency of the latter; nevertheless, it appears that the 
 diet is quite capable of sustaining health ; for having 
 pursued it for nearly seven years, Mr. Banting finds that 
 he keeps very closely to his standard weight of eleven 
 stone, never varying so much as three pounds on either 
 side of the scale, except when he is making experiments 
 on himself, as when he takes sugar or farinaceous food. 
 Sugar, he says, is the most active of all fat-forming foods ; 
 for he has repeatedly observed that five ounces of sugar 
 distributed over seven days (less than an ounce a day) 
 will augment his weight nearly one pound by the end of 
 that time. Other forbidden substances are not so marked 
 in their results ; but his rule is to avoid all roots or vege- 
 tables grown underground, all fat, and all farinaceous 
 matters — taking bread only when it has been well 
 toasted. 
 
How to Combine Foods. 125 
 
 How to Associate Different Articles of Diet. 
 
 In associating different articles of diet, so as to secure 
 the right proportions of the several constituents of food 
 — fat, sugar, or starch, and nitrogenous matter — we find 
 that we may not only rely on the sound indications of 
 science, but may also trust, and trust safely, to the un- 
 erring guidance of our instincts, provided they have not 
 been vitiated by fashion or perverted by evil habits. 
 Science teaches us that the best proportions for the 
 common wants of the animal system are about 9 of fat, 
 22 of flesh-forming substances, and 69 of starch and 
 sugar ; and experience also shows that these are the 
 very proportions which we are constantly striving to 
 maintain in our daily dietaries. Borrowing largely from 
 the graphic illustrations of Liebig and Johnston, I may 
 state that, whenever one kind of food is wanting in any 
 particular constituent, we invariably associate it with 
 another that contains an excess of it. Certain meats, 
 for example, which are deficient of fat are always eaten 
 with substances that are rich in it — bacon is associated 
 with veal, with liver, and with fowl, or we capon the 
 latter, and thus increase its natural fat. We use melted 
 butter with most kinds of fish, or we fry them in oil ; 
 while the herring, the salmon, and the eel are usually 
 fat enough in themselves, and are dressed and eaten 
 alone. It is • with a view to similar adjustment that we 
 mix eggs and butter with sago, tapioca, and rice ; that 
 we add oil and the yolk of an egg to salad ; that we boil 
 rice with milk, and eat cheese with maccaroni. The 
 same instinct has determined the use of vegetables with 
 meat, and butter with bread. Bacon and greens, or 
 beans and bacon, like pork and peas-pudding, is a con- 
 junction of viands which does not owe its popularity, to 
 old habit or the mere taste of the epicure ; and so with 
 a dish, common in Ireland, under the name of Kol-can- 
 non — the potato, which is poor in gluten, and the cab- 
 
126 On Food. 
 
 bage, which is usually rich in this ingredient, are mixed 
 together, and thus they approach the composition of 
 wheaten bread, but both of these substances are deficient 
 in fat ; add, therefore, a little bacon or fat pork to the 
 mixture, and you have a Kol-cannon which has all the 
 good qualities of the best Scotch oatmeal, and to many 
 it is more savoury and palatable. Again, the mixture so 
 usual in Ireland and Alsace, of butter-milk or curdled 
 milk and potatoes, and the combinations of rice and fat, 
 which make the diet of eastern nations ; even the little 
 dab of butter upon the poor man's potato, and the bit of 
 cheese that he eats with his dinner, are matters not of 
 luxury but of necessity, and they show how, by long ex- 
 perience, we have at last learned to adjust the proximate 
 constituents of food so as best to maintain the health 
 and vigour of the body. 
 
 Number, Variety, and Distribution of Meals. 
 
 And then, again, the times for taking food and the 
 proper distribution of it in _ appropriate meals, are ques- 
 tions of considerable importance, notwithstanding that 
 they have ever been influenced by the caprices of fashion 
 and the artificial habits of society. How much they have 
 had to do with the modification of the human species 
 and" even with the extinction of whole races of men, is 
 an etiological problem of much interest. 
 
 Man in his savage condition feeds with great .irregu- 
 larity, for when he finds that food is plentiful he eats, 
 from morning to' night, and knows no other pleasure 
 than that of eating and drinking and sleeping ; but when 
 it is more scarce he is content with a single meal a day. 
 In both cases, however, the quantity of food consumed 
 is excessive. We are told by travellers that the Hotten- 
 tots, the Bushmen, and the inhabitants of South Africa, 
 who feed in this manner, are enormous gluttons. " Ten 
 
Meals of Savages. 127 
 
 of them," says Barrow, " ate, in his presence, an ox, all 
 but the hind legs, in three days ; and the three Bosjes- 
 men that accompanied his waggon, devoured a sheep on 
 one occasion in less than twenty-four hours." Parry, 
 Ross, and others have also given the most astonishing 
 • accounts of the dietetical capabilities of the Esquimaux. 
 Captain Parry once tried the capacity of a young lad 
 scarcely full-grown, and in twenty-four hours he had 
 eaten 4 lbs. 4 ozs. of the raw, hard-frozen flesh of a sea- 
 horse, the same quantity of it boiled, 1 lb. 12 ozs. of 
 bread and bread-dust, besides a pint and a quarter of 
 rich gravy-soup, a tumbler of strong grog, three wine- 
 glasses of raw spirits, and nine pints of water. Accord- 
 ing to Sir John Ross, the daily rations of an Esquimaux 
 are 20 lbs. of flesh and blubber. But the most marvel- 
 lous example of gluttony is given by Captain Cochrane, 
 on the authority of the Russian Admiral Saritcheff, who- 
 was told that one of the Yakuti had consumed the hind 
 quarter of a large ox in twenty-four hours, together with 
 20 lbs. of fat, and a proportionable quantity of melted 
 butter. To test the truth of this, he gave him a thick 
 porridge of rice boiled down with 3 lbs. of butter, weigh- 
 ing together .28 lbs. : although the glutton had already 
 breakfasted, yet he sat down to the meal with great 
 eagerness, and consumed the whole without stirring from 
 the spot; and, except that his stomach betrayed more 
 than ordinary fulness, he showed no signs of inconveni- 
 ence. Captain Cochrane further adds, that a good calf, 
 weighing 200 lbs., will just serve for a meal for four or 
 five Yakuti ; and that he has himself seen three of them 
 consume a reindeer at a meal. Liebig accounts for this 
 by saying that a nation of hunters, especially when they 
 go naked and are exposed to great losses of temperature,, 
 must consume large quantities of respiratory food ; and 
 if it so happens that the food is in its least effective form, 
 as lean flesh, the quantity disposed of is enormous. 
 Among civilized nations, and until comparatively 
 
128 On Food. 
 
 recent times, there were but two meals a-day- — namely, 
 dinner and supper. These were the meals of the Romans 
 — the prandium or dinner, being for the most part a light 
 refreshment, eaten while standing, at about nine o'clock 
 in the morning ; and it generally consisted of the cold 
 remains of yesterday's supper. It was commonly taken 
 without wine, and, in fact, there was so little ceremony 
 about it that Plautus, in his comedies, has facetiously 
 called it caninum prandium. The great meal of the day 
 was the supper, or caena, which was taken about three or 
 four o'clock in the afternoon, and to which friends were 
 invited. This was the ceremonious- meal for which the 
 wealthy and high families of Rome exhausted the re- 
 sources of luxury and art. It always consisted of three 
 parts — the gustus, or antepast, which was intended as a 
 mere smack or relish to whet the appetite. Then came 
 the main part of the feast — consisting of many courses, 
 with a chief dish or caput ccence, and when in thrifty 
 families it was the only dish which went the round of 
 the frugal board, it was aptly termed the ccena ambitions. 
 After this there came the second course, or mensa 
 secunda, composed of fruits and pastry, like a modern 
 dessert. 
 
 The sums of money expended by the wealthy Romans 
 on this meal were often ruinous. Vitellius is said to have 
 spent as much as 400 sestertia (about £3,228 of our 
 money) on his daily supper ; and the celebrated feast to 
 which he invited his brother Lucius cost no less than 
 5, OCX) sestertia, or £40,350 sterling. It consisted, accord- 
 ing to Suetonius, of 2,000 different dishes of fish and 
 7,000 of fowls, with other equally numerous meats. His 
 daily food, says our classical writers, was of the most 
 rare and exquisite .nature, the deserts of Libya, the 
 shores of Spain, the waters of the Carpathian Sea, and 
 even the coasts and forests of Britain, were diligently 
 searched for dainties to supply his table ; and had he 
 reigned long he would, says Josephus, have exhausted 
 
Ancient Habits of Dining. 129 
 
 the great opulence of the Roman Empire. ./Elius Verus 
 another of those worthies, was hardly less profuse in the 
 extravagance of his suppers ; for it is said that a single 
 entertainment, to which only about a dozen guests were 
 invited, cost above six million sesterces (6,000 sestertia, 
 or nearly £48,500) ; and we are told by historians that 
 his whole life was wasted in eating and drinking — being 
 spent in the voluptuous retreats of Daphne, or else at 
 the luxurious banquets of Antioch. So profuse, indeed, 
 was the extravagance of those times, that to entertain an 
 emperor at a feast was to encounter almost certain finan- 
 cial ruin — one dish alone at the table of Heliogabalus 
 has been known to cost about £4,000 of our money ; no 
 wonder, therefore, that these imperial feasts were length- 
 ened out for hours together, and that every artifice, often 
 revolting in the extreme, was used to prolong the plea- 
 sure of eating, or that Philoxenus should have wished 
 that he had the throat of a crane with a delicate palate 
 all the way down. 
 
 Hardly less extravagant were the dining propensities 
 of our own forefathers, who in every way copied too 
 closely the luxurious habits of their Roman conquerors. 
 In fact, no circumstance, as Mr. Wright observes, is more 
 remarkable in ancient history than the readiness with 
 which the people who came under the sway and influence 
 of Rome, abandoned their nationality, and followed the 
 luxurious habits of their rulers. Even so late as the time 
 of Holinshed, the famous chronicler of the 16th century, 
 the manners of the English were the subject of severe 
 comment-; for he tells us that " in number of dishes and 
 changes of meat, the nobility of England, (whose cooks 
 are, for the most part, musical-headed Frenchmen and 
 foreigners), do most exceed ; sith there is no day in 
 manner that passe th over their heads wherein they have 
 not only beef, mutton, veal, lamb, kid, pork, cony, capon, 
 pig, or so many of them as the season yieldeth, but also 
 some portion of the red and fallow deer, beside great 
 
 K 
 
130 On Food. 
 
 variety of fish and wild fowl, and thereto sundry other 
 delicates, wherein the sweet hand of the seafaring Portin- 
 gale is not wanting ; so that for a man to dine with one 
 of them, and to taste of every dish that standeth before 
 him, is rather to yield unto a conspiracy with a great deal 
 of meat for the speedy suppression of natural health, 
 than the use of a necessary meal to satisfy himself with 
 a competent repast to sustain his body withal." He adds, 
 too, " that gentlemen and merchants keep much about 
 the same rate ; and when they make their ordinary or 
 voluntary feasts, it is a world to see what great provision 
 is made of all manner of delicate meats from all parts of 
 the country, wherein, beside that, they are often com- 
 parable herein to the nobility of the land ; so that they 
 will seldom regard anything that the butcher usually 
 killeth, but reject the same as not worthy to come in 
 place. In such cases, also, geliffes of all colours, mixed 
 with a variety in the representation of sundry flowers, 
 herbs, trees, forms of beasts, fish, fowls, and fruits ; and 
 thereunto marchpane,, wrought with no small curiosity ; 
 tarts of divers hues and sundry denominations ; conserves 
 of old fruits, foreign and home-bred ; suckets, codiniacs, 
 marmalades, sugarbread, gingerbread, florentines, wild 
 fowl, venison of all sorts, and sundry outlandish con- 
 fections, altogether seasoned with sugar, besides infinite 
 devices, not possible for me to remember." 
 
 The learned Caius, also, in his " Counseill against the 
 Sweat," of the same century (1552), comments, in severe 
 terms, on the gluttony of his time, saying that the reason 
 why the disease attacks the English more than others is 
 that they have " so moche sweating stuffe, so many euille 
 humoures laid up in store, fro this displeasante, feareful, 
 and pestilent disease, cause of their euille diet, which 
 destroy more meates and drynckes withoute al ordre, 
 conveniet time, reason, or necessite, the either Scotlande, 
 or al other countries under the sunne." 
 
 Gradually, too, as the dinner got to be later in the day, 
 
Modern Dinners. 131 
 
 and reached noontime, there was necessity for a light, 
 early meal, or breakefaste, as it was called ; and as the 
 dinner became later and later still, a fourth meal was 
 added — the lunch or luncheon, which literally meant a 
 slice of bread. In process of time, also, with the intro- 
 duction of tea and coffee into England, there came a 
 fifth meal ; but all along, the dinner was the great feast 
 of the day ; and the rule in using it was pretty much as 
 Dr. Kitchener, in his time, advised — namely, to eat until 
 there was a sense of satiety, the stimulus of every 
 fresh dish being but as a whip to the appetite, so 
 that the sense of satiety might come and go a dozen 
 times. " It is produced in us," says Christopher North, 
 " by three platefuls of hotch-potch ; and to the eyes of 
 an ordinary observer our dinner would seem to be at an 
 end : but no ; strictly speaking, it is just going to begin. 
 About an hour ago did we, standing on the very beauti- 
 ful bridge of Perth, see that identical salmon, with his 
 back-fin just visible above the translucent tide, arrowing 
 up the Tay, bold as a bridegroom, and nothing doubting 
 that he should spend his honeymoon among the gravel- 
 beds of Kinnaird or Moulenearn, or the rocky sofas of 
 the Tummel, or the green marble couches of the Tilt. 
 What has now become of the sense of satiety ? John — 
 the castors ! — mustard — vinegar — cayenne — catsup — 
 peas and potatoes, with a very little butter — the biscuit 
 called ' rusk ; ' and the memory of the hotch-potch is as 
 that of Babylon the Great." Sense of satiety, indeed ! — 
 " We have seen it for a moment existing on the dis- 
 appearance of the hotch-potch — dying on the appearance 
 of the Tay salmon — once more noticeable as the last 
 plate of the noble fish melted away — extinguished 
 suddenly by the vision of the venison — again felt for an 
 instant, and but for an instant, for a brace and a half of 
 as fine grouse as ever expanded their voluptuous bosoms 
 to be devoured by hungry love." 
 
 We smile at the accounts given of the gormandising 
 
 K 2 
 
132 On Food. 
 
 powers of the natives of Arctic regions, and the savages 
 of Southern Africa, but our own habits in eating and 
 drinking are scarcely less preposterous. Look at a 
 modern dinner ; beginning with soup, and perhaps a 
 glass of cold punch ; to be followed by a piece of turbot 
 or a slice of salmon with lobster-sauce : and while the 
 caput ccence, the venison or South Down, is getting ready, 
 we toy with an oyster pat6 or a bit of sweetbread, and , 
 mellow it with a bumper of Madeira. No sooner is the 
 venison or mutton disposed of, with its never-failing 
 accompaniments of jelly and vegetables, than we set the 
 whole of it in a ferment with champagne, and drown it 
 with hock or sauterne. These are quickly followed by 
 the wing and breast of a partridge, or a bit of pheasant 
 or wild duck ; and when the stomach is all on fire with 
 •excitement, we cool it for an instant with a piece of iced 
 pudding, and then immediately lash it into a fever with 
 undiluted alcohol, in the form of cognac, or a strong 
 liqueur; after which there comes a spoonful or so of 
 jelly as an emollient, a morsel of ripe stilton or pate de 
 foie-gras as a digestant, a piquante salad to whet the 
 appetite for wine, and a glass of old port to persuade 
 the stomach, if it can, into quietness. All these are 
 more leisurely succeeded by the mensa secunda, or 
 dessert, with its ices, its preserves, its bakemeats, its 
 fruits, its geliffes, codiniacs, and suckets, as Holinshed 
 would call them, and its strong drinks ; to be afterwards 
 muddled with coffee, and complicated into a rare mixture 
 with tea, floating with the richest of cream. 
 
 As a modest example of this sort of thing, and an 
 indication, moreover, of the kind of novelties yet in store 
 for us, let me read to you the menu of a late dinner at 
 the Langham, where horse-flesh was the principal viande. 
 It is very appropriately prefaced with a little bit of 
 French philosophy — Les prijuges sont des maladies de 
 I esprit humain." 
 
 " Potages — Consomme" de cheval. Puree de destrier. 
 A montillado. 
 
Dinners of Horseflesh. 133 
 
 " Poissons — Saumon a la sauce arabe. Filets de soles 
 a l'huile hippophagique. Vin du Rhin. 
 
 " Hors-d 'ceuvres — Terrines de foie maigre chevalines. 
 Saucissons de cheval aux pistaches syriaques. Xeres. 
 
 "Relev/s — Filet de Pegase roti aux pommes de terre 
 a la creme. Dinde aux chataignes. Aloyau de cheval 
 farci a la centaure, et aux choux de Bruxelles. Culotte 
 de cheval braisee aux chevaux-de-frise. Champagne sec, 
 
 "Entries — Petits pates a la moelle Bucephale. 
 Kromeskys a la Gladiateur. Poulets garnis a l'hippo- 
 griffe. Langues de cheval a la Troyenne. Chateau 
 Perayne. 
 
 " Second Service. 
 
 " Rdts — Canards sauvages. Pluviers. Volney. May- 
 onnaises de homard a l'huile de Rossinante. Petits pois 
 a la francaise. Choux-fleurs au parmesan. 
 
 " Entremets — Gelee de pieds de cheval au marasquin. 
 Zephirs sautes a l'huile chevaleresque. Gateau veteri- 
 naire a la Ducroix. Feuillantines aux pommes des 
 Hesperides. Saint-Peray. 
 
 " Ghees — Creme aux truffes. Sorbets contre-pr^- 
 juges. Liqueurs. 
 
 " Dessert — Vins fins de Bordeaux. Madere. Cafe. 
 
 " Buffet— Collared horse-head. Baron of horse. Boiled 
 withers." 
 
 Even put into plain English all this would sound 
 remarkable ; and taken, as it is said to have been, with- 
 out shying or gibbing, although, perhaps with a little 
 bolting, it must have puzzled the stomach ; and, like all 
 our modern dinners, must also have severely taxed its 
 powers, in selecting from the complicated mess the right 
 proportions of fat and flesh and farinaceous matter 
 required for the sustenance of the body. 
 
 During the siege of Paris, in December, 1870, the 
 resources of the epicure were severely taxed, and 
 the following is said to have been the menu of a 
 diner de siege, given by the Paris Jockey Club. It 
 
134 On Food. 
 
 was entrusted to the famous epicure, the Baron 
 Brisse, and consisted of the following items : — 
 
 Hors-d ceuvre — Radishes, herring marine, onions a la 
 Provencale, slightly salt butter, gherkins, and olives. 
 
 First course — Soup of slightly salted horse, with 
 vegetables ; ass-flesh cutlets, with carrots ; mule's liver 
 sautd aux champignons ; horse's lights, with white sauce ; 
 carped la matelotte ; fried gudgeons ; celery heads, with 
 seasoning. 
 
 Second course — Quarter of dog braised ; leg of dog 
 roasted ; rats, cooked upon the ashes ; rat pie, with 
 mushrooms; Eel a la broche ; salad.of celery and small 
 salad. 
 
 Dessert — Dutch cheese, apples, pears, marmalade au 
 Kirsch, gateau d'ltalie au fromagede Chester. 
 
 The banquet, which was served in one of the principal 
 establishments of the Chaussee d'Antin, is stated to have 
 been a complete success. 
 
 Mr. Cochran has given an account of a Mandarin's 
 dinner, which was served with great ceremony. The 
 dinner began with hot wine, made from rice, and sweet 
 biscuits of buckwheat. Then followed the first course of 
 custards, preserved rice, fruits, salted earth-worms, 
 smoked fish and ham, Japan leather, and pigeons' eggs, 
 having the shells softened by vinegar : all of which were 
 cold. After this came shark's fins, birds' nests, deer 
 sinews, and other dishes of an appetising and dainty 
 character. These were succeeded by more solid foods, 
 as rice and curry, chopped bears' paws, mutton and beef 
 cut into small cubes and floating in gravy; pork in 
 various forms ; the flesh of puppies and cats boiled in 
 buffalos' milk ; shantung or white cabbage, and sweet 
 potatoes ; fowls split open, flattened, and grilled, their 
 livers floating in hot oil ; and cooked eggs of various 
 descriptions, containing embryo birds. " But the sur- 
 prise of the entertainment was to come. On the re- 
 moval of some of the flower vases, a large covered flat 
 
Absurd modes of Dining. 135 
 
 dish was placed in the centre of the table, and at a 
 signal the cover was removed. The hospitable board 
 immediately swarmed with juvenile crabs, which made 
 their exodus from the vessel with surprising agility ; " 
 for the crablets had been thrown into vinegar just as the 
 guests sat down, and this made them sprightly in their 
 movements ; but fast as they ran, they were quickly 
 seized by the nearest guests, who thrust them into 
 their mouths, and crushed them without ceremony, 
 swallowing the strange gelatinous morsel with evident 
 gusto. After this, sot was handed round, which is a 
 liquor made from a Japan bean, and is intended to 
 revive the jaded palates. Various kinds of shell and 
 fresh fish followed, succeeded by several thin broths, and 
 it was concluded by the costly birds'-nest soup. The 
 dessert being a variety of scorched seeds and nuts, with 
 sundry hot wines, and tea. 
 
 In America the elaborateness of the menu for break- 
 fast, dinner, and supper is very striking — the breakfast 
 in the large hotels being from eight to eleven, luncheon 
 from one to three, dinner from six to eight, tea from 
 eight to nine, and supper from ten to twelve ; making 
 ten hours a day for the disposal of most elaborate meals. 
 
 On the other hand it is hardly right to content our- 
 selves, like savages, with a single meal a day, as was the 
 custom of Dr. Fordyce, the celebrated professor of 
 chemistry of the last, century, who, by studying the 
 habits of carnivorous animals, and reflecting on the 
 principles of chemistry and physiology, came to the con- 
 clusion that man requires but one meal a-day for all his 
 physiological wants ; and for more than twenty years 
 his daily mode of dining was generally as follows : — At 
 lour o'clock of the afternoon, he would present himself 
 at " Dolly's chop-house," and take his seat at the table 
 reserved for him. Immediately on his arrival, the cook 
 would place a pound and a half of rump-steak upon the 
 gridiron, and while it was cooking the doctor would 
 
136 On Food. 
 
 amuse himself with some such trifle as half a boiled 
 capon, or a plate of fish, and a glass or two of brandy — 
 his regular allowance being a quarter of a pint. Then 
 came the steak with a full accompaniment of bread and 
 potato, and it was always served with a quart tankard 
 of strong ale. This was followed by a bottle of old 
 port ; and when the dinner was finished, as it invariably 
 was in an hour and a half, he walked leisurely to his 
 rooms in Essex Street, in the Strand, where he met 
 his class and gave his lecture on chemistry. 
 
 But these are not the habits of the great bulk of man- 
 kind, and although they may be practised for a while 
 with impunity, yet they serve not as illustrations of what 
 ought to be done in the way of eating, but rather as 
 examples of the wonderfully accommodating power of 
 the stomach under the most disadvantageous circum- 
 stances ; for experience teaches us that three meals a day 
 of the simplest quality, are best suited for our wants-^ 
 breakfast to supply the place of long fasting, and to 
 restore the waste of secretion during the night ; dinner 
 in the middle of the day to support the system during 
 the fatigue of ordinary labour ; and a light meal at night, 
 in the form of tea, or an early supper to carry on the 
 functions of repair and secretion during the night. 
 According to Dr. Edward Smith, the daily distribution of 
 the food, supposing a physiological diet of 43,000 grains 
 carbon, with 200 grains of nitrogen to be taken, should 
 be somewhat in this manner : — 
 
 Table XXVI. 
 
 Relative Proportions of Food at Different Meals. 
 
 Equal to 
 
 Carbon. Nitrogen Carbon- Nifcro- 
 
 aceons genoua. 
 
 £**• g 1 " 9 - ozs. ozs. 
 
 For breakfast . . . . 1,500 70 fi-62 1-04 
 
 For dinner. . . . 1,800 90 7 '85 1-34 
 
 For supper 1,000 40 4-52 0-59 
 
 Total in the day . . . . 4,310 200 18-99 2-97 
 
Proper arrangement of Meals. 137 
 
 So that about one part should be eaten for supper, 
 one and a half for breakfast, and about two parts for 
 dinner. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to say that, in constructing 
 dietaries, the foods should be associated in such a way as 
 not to offend tlie appetite or burden the digestive powers ; 
 and that they should also be varied from time to time, 
 not merely in their kind, but also in their treatment, and 
 in the manner of cooking and flavouring them ; for the 
 best descriptions of food will, if eaten in the same fashion 
 day after day, occasion disgust, and be wasted. This is 
 often the case in the badly arranged dietaries of work- 
 houses, and on ship-board. It was once so with the 
 dietaries of the English army, when the same daily rations 
 of boiled meat were provokingly served out to the men, 
 while they listened to the tune of " Oh the roast-beef of 
 old England." All this is easily provided for, and it is 
 true economy to do it, as by varying the food, the mode 
 of cooking it, the manner of flavouring it, and by serving 
 it, in the case of dinner, with different kinds of vegetables. 
 In constructing dietaries, therefore, the main considera- 
 tions are the due proportions of nitrogenous and carbon- 
 aceous matters ; for when these are not adjusted in a 
 proper manner, the health is endangered, and the consti- 
 tution may be slowly undermined. To use the words of 
 Liebig — " There is a law of nature which regulates these 
 things, and it is the elevated mission of science to bring 
 this home to our minds ; it is her duty to show why man 
 and animals require such admixture in the constituents 
 of their food for the support of the vital functions, and 
 what the influences are which determine, in accordance 
 with the natural law, changes in the admixture." 
 
 " The knowledge of the law elevates man, in regard to 
 an important function which he possesses in common 
 with the lower animals, above the level of those beings 
 which are destitute of reason, and supplies him, in the 
 regulation of those bodily wants which are essential to 
 
138 On Food. 
 
 his existence and prosperity, with the protection which 
 the lower animals do not require, because in them the 
 commands of the instinctive law are not opposed or over- 
 powered by the allurements of sense, or by a perverted 
 and resisting will." 
 
 The recognition of this law, and the practical appli- 
 cation of it to the dietaries of a community, are obviously 
 of great advantage, for not only would they tend to 
 increase the health and strength of the population, but 
 they would also effect a great economy in the general 
 use of food. That there are difficulties in the way of 
 such an application cannot be doubted ; in fact, the 
 natural peculiarities of individuals, to say nothing of the 
 differences of occupation, and the ever-varying quality 
 of the food itself, are enough to create a doubt as to the 
 possibility of its general application until the progress of 
 science has gone far beyond its present position. Never- 
 theless, there are certain well-acknowledged facts 
 at our disposal which may safely serve as a guide to 
 practice • and these I have endeavoured to explain. 
 
 Diseases arising from Improper Food. 
 
 The diseases which are incidental to an abuse of the 
 law can hardly be discussed in this place, but it may be 
 said, in general terms, that too much or too little of 
 either of the main constituents of food will soon be fol- 
 lowed by marked derangement of the animal body. An 
 excess of respiratory food not only promotes the growth 
 of fat, but actually interferes with the nourishment of 
 muscular tissue. Those who feed largely on rice, potatoes, 
 or other farinaceous foods, or who indulge too freely in 
 malt liquors, have commonly a bloated appearance, and 
 have no faculty for sustained exertion. The brewer's 
 drayman, for example, is a bad subject for the ward of 
 an hospital ; for although he generally looks strong and 
 muscular, yet in reality his vital power is feeble, and his 
 
Consequences of Low Feeding. 139 
 
 tissues are fatty rather than muscular. The same is often 
 the case with animals in the Zoological Gardens, when 
 too large a quantity of respiratory food has been eaten, 
 and their flesh has undergone a kind of fatty degener- 
 ation. 
 
 On the other hand, wJien the plastic elements of the 
 food are in excess, the system becomes excited ; too much 
 blood is formed, and diseases of a plethoric character 
 are induced. Medical travellers say that savages who 
 feed almost entirely on animal food are subject to itch,, 
 scurvy, leprosy, malignant ulcers, and putrid fevers ; but 
 besides this, according to Liebig and his followers, an 
 excess of force is developed, which manifests itself in 
 irritability of temper, and in a savage disposition. How 
 far this may be concerned in the frequently ungovern- 
 able conduct of our over-fed convicts may be deserving 
 of consideration. A nation of animal feeders, says 
 Liebig, is always a nation of hunters, for the use of a 
 rich nitrogenous diet demands an expenditure of power, 
 and a large amount of physical exertion, as is seen in 
 the restless disposition of all the carnivora of our me- 
 nageries. 
 
 A deficiency of food, however, is quickly followed by 
 a general breaking up of the animal frame. Plague, 
 pestilence, and famine are always associated in the 
 public mind ; and the records of every country show 
 how closely they are related. The medical history of 
 Ireland is remarkable for illustrations of how much 
 mischief may be occasioned by a general deficiency of 
 food. Always the habitat of fever, it every now and 
 then becomes the very hot-bed of its development. Let 
 there be but a small failure in the usual imperfect 
 supply of food, and the lurking seeds of pestilence burst 
 into frightful activity. The famines of the present 
 century, and notably those of 18 17 and 1847, are 
 forcible illustrations of this, for they produced epidemics 
 which have not been surpassed by the most appalling of 
 
140 On Food. 
 
 the middle age. The principal form of the scourge, was 
 known as the contagious famine fever (relapsing fever), 
 and it spread, not merely from end to end of the 
 country in which it had originated, but, breaking 
 through all boundaries, it crossed the broad ocean, and 
 made itself painfully manifest in localities where it was 
 previously unknown. Thousands fell under the viru- 
 lence of its action, for wheresoever it came it struck 
 down a seventh of the people ; and when it was largely 
 associated with typhus, the mortality was frightful. 
 Even those who escaped the fatal influence of it were 
 left the miserable victims of scurvy and low fever. 
 Another example, not less striking, of the terrible con- 
 sequences of what may be truly called famine, was the 
 condition of our troops during the early part of their 
 sojourn in the Crimea. With only just enough of food 
 to maintain the integrity of the system at a time of 
 repose, and at ordinary temperatures, they were called 
 upon to make large muscular exertions, and to sustain 
 the warmth of the system in the midst of severe cold. 
 What, therefore, could be expected but that the scourges 
 which wait upon famine, as fever, diarrhoea, dysentery, 
 and scurvy, should make their appearance in great force, 
 and that the soldiers should suffer severely. With an 
 average strength of 24,000 men, the deaths from sick- 
 ness alone, in the course of seven months, were at the 
 rate of thirty-nine per cent., and, in some cases, it 
 amounted to seventy-three. " Never before," says 
 Colonel Tulloch, "is there record of a British army 
 having sustained so frightful a loss in so short a time." 
 During the Peninsula War, though the troops occasion- 
 ally suffered much from sickness, the loss from that 
 cause did not average above twelve per cent, for a 
 whole year. Even in the ill-fated expedition to Wal- 
 cheren, which threw the nation into mourning, the deaths 
 amounted to only about 10-3 per cent, for the half- 
 year; and here, in this great city, with all the aggra- 
 
Effects of Famine. 141 
 
 vating circumstances of want, vice, infancy, old age, 
 and disease, it did not reach two per cent, during the 
 time that our strong men were dying by thousands. 
 " Armies have perished by the sword, and have been 
 overwhelmed by the elements, but never, perhaps," says 
 Colonel Tulloch, " since the hand of the Lord smote 
 the host of the Assyrians, and they perished in a night, 
 has such a loss from disease been recorded as on this 
 occasion." May the lesson of so great a calamity be 
 wisely applied in the future. 
 
 The brain and nervous system also become impaired 
 or deranged by low diet. Madness, for example, is not 
 uncommon with ship-wrecked sailors, after long and 
 severe privation, and the hallucinations of the mind 
 after Lent are clearly referable to the same cause. The 
 great witchcraft epidemic of the 16th century, which 
 broke out among the nuns of a convent at Hoorn, in 
 Flanders, appeared at the close of Lent, when the sisters 
 had been living very sparingly on a coarse, vegetable 
 diet. 
 
 The connection -of scurvy with improper or insuffi- 
 cient food is a matter of medical history, and its preven- 
 tion by the use of fresh vegetables, especially potatoes, 
 is so well known that it has often been the subject of 
 legislation. Rarely appearing in the cabin, where the 
 dietary is good, it is a frequent visitor to the forecastle ; 
 so that half of the men of our sea-going vessels are 
 found to be suffering from the disease when they return 
 to port. As many, indeed, as 70 per cent, of a ship's 
 crew are not unfrequently disabled by it ; and there is 
 no saying how many of the disasters at sea are caused 
 by the inability of the men to work the vessel in times 
 of severe weather. The legal supplementary allowance 
 in emigrant vessels is 8 ozs. of preserved potato, 3 ozs. of 
 other preserved vegetables (carrots,turnips, onions, celery, ' 
 and mint), besides pickles, and 3 ozs. of lemon juice for 
 each person weekly ; and this is found to be a perfect 
 
142 On Food. 
 
 prophylactic of the disease, so that the one essential 
 cause of it is evidently a privation of vegetable food. 
 
 And not less important are the morbific results of too 
 much or too little saline matter in the food. I have 
 already spoken of the salutary effect of certain calcare- 
 ous salts in the water we drink ; but according to Dr. 
 Grange, the presence of magnesian salts in the water of 
 a district may have something to do with the develop- 
 ment of those remarkable forms of disease which are 
 known as goitre and cretinism. In France, Germany, 
 England, Sardinia, and elsewhere, among all classes of 
 people, of all habits, and in every variety of climate, 
 these diseases are endemic where the soil is composed of 
 magnesian rock, and the water is charged with magnesian 
 salts. How far the connection extends is a chemico- 
 physiological problem that has yet to be determined. 
 
 TREATMENT OF FOODS. 
 
 In the treatment of vegetable foods it is important to 
 remember, that all corky and woody tissues, as the skins 
 of fruits, tubers, and cereals, are quite indigestible, and 
 that, in consequence of their irritating action, they hurry 
 food through the alimentary canal, and so occasion 
 waste. (See p. 9.) It is necessary, therefore, that all 
 such tissues should be removed as completely as pos- 
 sible, or be disintegrated and softened by cooking or 
 other culinary treatment. 
 
 When it is required to obtain the starchy farina- 
 ceous matters of vegetables, one or other of the following, 
 processes is followed. 
 
 (a). The material is pulped or crushed, and diffused 
 through a considerable volume of cold water. It is then 
 strained and allowed to stand until the farina or starch 
 subsides. 
 
 (b). Or it is allowed to pass into a state of putrefactive 
 decomposition, whereby the albuminous matter, as the 
 gluten, &c, decay, and leave the starch untouched. 
 
Treatment of Vegetable Foods. 143 
 
 (c). Or it is subjected to the action of a weak alkaline 
 solution, generally of caustic soda, which dissolves the 
 gluten, and allows the starch to subside. The gluten 
 thus dissolved may be again recovered by neutraliising 
 the akaline solution with acid, and collecting the pre- 
 cipitated gluten, as in the processes of Durand and 
 others. 
 
 I have already explained (page 9) that in the treatment 
 of the ground meal of wheat and other grain, the bran 
 and coarser kinds of flour are separated by sieves of 
 different degrees of fineness, and that in this manner 
 about eight or nine varieties of product are obtained, as 
 biscuit flour, best' or fine households, seconds, tails, fine 
 sharps or middlings, coarse sharps, fine pollard, coarse 
 pollard, and long bran, the proportions of which from 
 ordinary brown meaL will vary according to circum- 
 stances ; but processes have been invented by M. Mege- 
 Mouries, M. D'Arblay, and others, whereby the yield of 
 fine flour is increased to 86 or' even 88 per cent, of the 
 grain, and by which the quantity of gluten is also regu- 
 lated. The process of M. Mege-Mouries is as follows : — 
 The corn is moistened with from 2 to 5 per cent, of 
 water satuated with sea salt, and at the end of some 
 hours the exterior covering only became moist and 
 tender. The grain is then thrown between nearly-closed 
 millstones, and 70 per cent of flour is obtained without 
 cerealine ; besides which there is from 10 to 14 per cent, 
 of meal, which is subsequently bruised between light 
 stones, and separated by winnowing from the greater' 
 part of the husk remnants. The process is used ex- 
 tensively at the Scipion Works, Paris, where large quan- 
 tities of bread are made for the public charities, and 
 for the workmen of Paris. 
 
 When the flour is rich in gluten, as i% the case with 
 the hard wheat of Sicily, Russia, Sardinia, Algeria, and 
 Egypt, or when it is strengthened with gluten obtained 
 from flour in the process of starch making, it is well 
 
144 On Food. 
 
 suited for the manufacture of certain granular powders 
 and dried pastes, which are known as Semola, Semolina, 
 Soujee, Mannacroup, Maccaroni, Vermicelli, and Cagliari 
 paste. The last three are generally imported from Naples 
 or Genoa, where they are made from a highly glutinous 
 wheaten flour, by kneading it into a thin dough or tena- 
 cious paste, and then forcing it through holes or slits in 
 a metallic plate. In this way the several varieties of 
 pipe, celery, and ribbon maccaroni, are obtained ; and the 
 fancy forms of it, called Cagliari paste, which are in the 
 shape of stars, rings, Maltese crosses, &c, are produced 
 by stamps. All these varieties of raw wheaten paste 
 are cooked by boiling or baking, and are associated 
 with soup or beef tea, or milk, or are mixed with eggs, 
 cheese, &c. 
 
 The best variety of flour for bread is that which con- 
 tains less gluten than the preceding, as from 8 to 10 per 
 cent, of it instead of from 12 to 14 or 15. Dantzic flour 
 and soft Spanish, as well as the American called Gen- 
 essee, are the best examples of it, and are highly 
 esteemed by bakers on account of the fine quality of 
 bread which is procurable from them, the richer 
 varieties of hard glutenous wheat being used only to 
 impart strength to weak and inferior descriptions of 
 flour. 
 
 The tests for good flour are its sweetness and freedom 
 from acidity or musty flavour ; and its nutritive value, as 
 far as gluten is concerned, is estimated by the process of 
 Beccaria, who discovered gluten in wheat more than a 
 century ago.. A given weight of flour (say 500 grains) 
 is made into rather stiff dough, and is carefully washed 
 by tender manipulation under a small stream of water. 
 The gluten remains, and when it is baked it expands 
 into a clean-looking ball, which should weigh, when 
 thoroughly dried, about 54 grains. Bad flour makes a 
 thin ropy-looking gluten which is very difficult to deal 
 with, and which has a dirty brown colour when baked. 
 
Preparation of Bread. 145 
 
 Bread, which is the most important preparation of 
 flour, owes its value as an article of diet to a good 
 and equable vesiculation of the dough, the vesiculation 
 being effected by the diffusion of small bubbles of car- 
 bonic acid gas throughout its substance ; and, as this 
 vesiculation can only take place in a proper manner when 
 the gluten of the flour is in sufficient quantity, and of 
 good quality, it is, to some extent, a test of the goodness 
 of the meal ; for those- flours which contain too little 
 gluten, or gluten which is deficient in strength, cannot be 
 vesiculated into bread. This is the case with almost 
 every description of flour, excepting that of wheat and 
 rye. 
 
 The most common, and also the most ancient method 
 of vesiculating bread is by fermentation ; and the pro- 
 cess is not very different in the present day from what it 
 was in the earliest time, for yeast of some sort, as brewers' 
 yeast ; or patent yeast, prepared from infusion of malt 
 and hops ; or German yeast, which is the solid residue 
 of the yeast produced by the fermentation of rye for 
 making Hollands ; or baker's yeast, which is made from 
 potatoes and flour; or leaven, which is old dough in a 
 state of fermentation, is mixed with the flour or dough ; 
 and this soon begins to ferment by the action of the 
 yeast fungus {niicoderina cerevisia:) on the sugar of the 
 flour, whereby carbonic acid is produced, which being 
 diffused through the substance of the dough vesiculates 
 it, and causes it to rise or swell. 
 
 In olden time, the ferment was a small portion 01 
 dough from a former operation — it having been found, 
 to use the language of the proverb, that " a little leaven 
 leaveneth the whole lump." The yeast of the Romans 
 was made by steeping bran or the waste of the mill in 
 Levant wine for three days ; then rolling into balls, and 
 drying in the sun. When required for use, a ball was set 
 fermenting with a small quantity of flour and water, and 
 this was mixed with more flour to make the dough. 
 
 L 
 
146 On Food. 
 
 Vienna yeast is obtained from malted barley, maize, and 
 rye, ground together and infused in water for a few hours 
 at a temperature of from 150 to 170 Fahrenheit. The 
 clear liquor, when cold, is fermented with a little yeast, 
 and the scum which forms in abundance, is removed as 
 fast as it is produced ; and having been drained upon 
 cloths, it is pressed into cakes, and sent into commerce 
 as Vienna yeast. But the most usual practice with the 
 baker is somewhat as follows: — A special ferment is 
 prepared from mealy potatoes (technically called fruit) 
 by boiling them in water, mashing them, and allowing 
 them to cool to a temperature of about 8o° of Fahren- 
 heit. Yeast is then added to them, together with a little 
 flour to hasten the fermentation. In three or four hours, 
 at a proper temperature (as from 8o° to 90 Fahr.), the 
 whole mass is generally in a state of active fermentation, 
 with a sort of cauliflower-head. It is then diluted with 
 water and strained, and is mixed with sufficient flour to 
 make a rather thin dough, which in about five hours rises 
 to a fine sponge. This is again diluted with water con- 
 taining salt, and is worked with the necessary quantity 
 of flour into dough ; and after standing for two or three 
 hours, it rises, and is in a fit condition to be baked into 
 loaves. 
 
 It can hardly be said that the potatoes are an adul- 
 teration in this case, for they do not ever amount to 
 more than 6 lbs. to a sack of flour, which makes about 
 380 lbs. of bread, or 95 four-lb. loaves. The salt is added 
 to the extent of about 4 lbs. or a little more to a sack of 
 flour, the proportions being regulated according to cir- 
 cumstances, for the object of it is to improve the quality 
 of the loaf as regards whiteness, firmness, and flavour. 
 
 There is, no doubt, a slight loss of nutritive matters 
 by this mode of vesiculation, for a small portion of the 
 sugar of the flour is converted into alcohol and carbonic 
 acid ; but the quantity is so inconsiderable as to be un- 
 deserving of notice. The advantage of the process, how- 
 
Preparation of Bread. 147 
 
 ever, is that it is an excellent test of the quality of the 
 flour ; for weak flour, or flour that has been injured by 
 germination, or by keeping, will not stand the action of 
 yeast, but will be either ropy, or sticky, or heavy when 
 baked into bread. 
 
 If whole meal is used in making bread, the cerealine 
 of the husk or bran sets up a peculiar kind of fermenta- 
 tion, whereby lactic acid, glucose, dextrine, and colouring 
 matters are produced. These give to the bread the 
 sweetish-sour taste, the soft consistence, and the dark 
 colour which are so noticeable in brown bread. To 
 avoid this, M. Mege-Mouries recommends that the 10 or 
 14 per cent, of meal which is obtained by his process 
 (see page 43) should be kept apart from the 70 per 
 cent, of white flour, and should not be added to the 
 dough made from the latter, until it is well fermented 
 and is ready to be baked. In this manner he realises 
 from 80 to 82 per cent, of the farinaceous matter of 
 wheat, and produces a white loaf. As I have already 
 said, the process is employed with great advantage at 
 the Scipion works at Paris, where about 5,500 lbs. of 
 bread are made daily. A modification of this process 
 has been proposed by Dr. Sezille, who recommends that 
 the decorticated grain should be soaked in water and 
 then ground into a paste for bread. 
 
 Another method of vesiculation is to generate carbonic 
 acid in the dough by the action of an acid on bicarbonate 
 of soda. Dr. Whitings process, which was patented in 
 1836, was to mix the carbonate of soda with the flour, 
 and then to act upon it with a proper proportion of 
 muriatic acid in the water. He used from 350 to 50c* 
 grains of carbonate of soda to 7 lbs. of flour, and to this 
 he added 2f pints of water charged with from 420 to 560 
 grains of muriatic acid. Other proportions are used by 
 bakers who make unfermented bread ; but in all cases 
 the proportions should be such as to form common salt 
 (which is the product of the action of muriatic acid upon 
 
 L2 
 
14 8 On Food. 
 
 carbonate of soda) — the carbonic acid being liberated in 
 the substance of the dough. Care should be taken that 
 the muriatic acid is pure, for that of commerce is gene- 
 rally highly charged with arsenic. 
 
 In 1845, another acid was patented instead of muriatic 
 — namely, tartaric ; and the various preparations called 
 baking-powders, custard-powders, egg-powders, &c, are, for 
 the most part, mixtures of tartaric acid and carbonate of 
 soda, with a little farinaceous matter, the common pro- 
 portions being 1 part of tartaric acid, l\ of carbonate of 
 soda, and 4 of potato-flour or other dry starch, with a 
 little turmeric powder to impart a rich yellow tint. 
 When these are mixed with flour and wetted, they effer- 
 vesce, as in the case of a common seidlitz powder, and 
 so diffuse carbonic acid through the dough. 
 
 Very lately, Mr. McDougall has proposed the use of 
 phosphoric acid, as a more natural constituent of food 
 than the preceding, and this, with an alkaline carbonate, 
 forms the preparation which is known as phosphatic yeast. 
 Other mixtures for the same purpose consist of bisul- 
 phate of potash, or alum, and carbonate of soda. 
 
 A third process, which is now extensively used in the 
 vesiculation of bread, is that of Dr. Dauglish, by which 
 the bread called cerated bread is obtained. The dough 
 is made by adding a solution of carbonic acid in water 
 to flour under pressure in a closed air-tight vessel, in 
 which the dough is well kneaded by machinery; and 
 directly the outlet of the vessel is' opened, and the 
 pressure is thus removed, the gas escapes from the 
 water, as in the case of an uncorked bottle of soda- 
 water, and expands into little bubbles within the sub- 
 stance of the dough. By its expansion, also, it forces 
 the dough out of the mixing-chamber in the form of a 
 spongy mass. 
 
 In all cases, however, where carbonic acid is generated 
 within the dough by other processes than fermentation, 
 the dough must be baked immediately or it will soon fall, 
 and produce a heavy loaf. 
 
Preparation of Bread. 1 49 
 
 Various contrivances have been suggested for helping 
 the process of kneading, which is laborious, and some- 
 times not altogether cleanly. Mr. Stevens's hand- 
 machine appears to accomplish this very well. It is in 
 use in the Holborn Union, where about 5,633 lbs. of 
 bread are made every week by one man and two boys ; 
 and they contrive to make ninety-six 4-lb. loaves out of 
 every sack of flour (280 lbs.). The materials used on 
 the average of a whole year being as follows : — 
 
 Cones 
 Potatoes 
 Salt 
 Malt 
 
 Proportions per Week. 
 
 1401b. I 
 68 ltr' 'f °' bread, or 1.408 tour-pound 
 
 13 lbs." ' "'"" 
 
 14 lbs. . 
 
 Flour . . . 4,129 lbs. 
 
 168 lbs" ' Wllio ' 1 P roduce 5 > 632 lba 
 
 DCS IDS. ! 4. i 
 
 IS 11 - I ^uartom loaves. 
 
 The potatoes, the malt, and the hops are for the 
 purpose of making the yeast or ferment for the bread- 
 
 But, by whatever process bread is made, it is necessary 
 to. observe certain precautions to ensure the production 
 of a good loaf. 
 
 1st. The flour should be from sound grain, sufficiently 
 rich in good gluten, as from 8 to 10 per cent. 
 
 2nd. The yeast should be sweet, and should show a 
 lively action in the sponge. 
 
 3rd. The dough should be well kneaded to insure the 
 thorough diffusion of the gas, and to promote toughness 
 of the gluten. 
 
 4th. The salt should be used in such proportion as to 
 regulate the fermentation, so that the gluten may be 
 firm, the bread white, and of good flavour. 
 
 5th. The baking should be so managed as to insure 
 the thorough heating of the loaf to the temperature of 
 at least 212 deg. of Fahrenheit, in order that the in- 
 soluble starch may be changed by the heat into soluble 
 dextrine ; and the crust should be light-coloured and 
 thin. This is best effected when loaves are baked 
 
150 Cn Food. 
 
 singly, as on the Continent, and not in batches, as with 
 us ; for in thfe last case the top and bottom crusts are 
 thick and hard, and are frequently scorched, while the 
 interior of the loaf is doughy and under-done. In most 
 cases, however, a large portion of the starch remains 
 unaltered by the action of the heat, and may be washed 
 out of the bread by kneading it in water, and straining 
 through coarse muslin, when the starch subsides as a 
 fine white powder. Collected in this way it is found 
 that nearly 75 per cent, of the starch is unaltered. 
 
 In practice 100 lbs. of flour will make from 133 to 
 137 lbs. of bread, a good average being 136 lbs. ; so that 
 a sack of flour of 280 lbs. should yield 95 four-pound 
 loaves ; but the art of the baker is exercised to increase 
 this quantity, and he accomplishes it by hardening the 
 gluten through the agency of a little alum or sulphate 
 of copper, or by means of a gummy mixture of boiled 
 rice — three or four pounds of which, when boiled for two 
 or three hours in as many gallons of water, will make a 
 sack of flour yield 100 four-pound loaves. Such bread, 
 however, is always dropsical, and gets soft and sodden 
 at the base, where it stands, and quickly becomes 
 mouldy. A good loaf should have the following cha- 
 racters : — 
 
 Kindness of structure — that is, it should not be chaffy 
 or flaky, or crummy, or sodden ; and sweetness to the 
 palate and to the smell. 
 
 Bread is most digestible the day after it is baked, for 
 new bread is gummy in its nature, and is difficult of 
 mastication. The change which takes place in the act 
 of becoming stale is entirely molecular, for the properties 
 of new bread may be restored to the loaf by heating it 
 for a short time in a closed vessel. 
 
 Several varieties of bread have always been in use. 
 The Romans had six or seven varieties, from the coarse 
 brown bread (pants ater, cibarius, autopyros) of the 
 common household to the whitest kind (pants candidus, 
 
Varieties of Bread. 151 
 
 primarius) of the wealthy; and these were generally 
 marked with four deep cuts, like our hot cross-buns, for 
 the convenience of breaking into pieces or quadra at the 
 table. Juvenal applies the phrase " attend viverequadrd " 
 to the man who frequently dines out. In England, in 
 the 13th century, there were three qualities of bread, 
 regulated by law as Wastel bread (fine wheaten), cocket 
 bread (seconds), and bread of tourte (brown bread). The 
 instructions in Liber albus, as regards the assize of bread 
 in the City of London, refer to many varieties of bread, 
 as white bread, wastel bread, demeine bread, French 
 bread, light bread called puffe or pouf, and tourte, or 
 brown bread, each of which was the subject of legal 
 regulations, which were not abolished until 181 5. 
 
 Specimens of the different kinds of bread at present in 
 use are upon the table ; and you will notice the dark 
 colour of the rye-bread of the Continent I am indebted 
 for these illustrations to the kindness of Mr. Twining, 
 who has liberally placed the valuable collection of foods 
 in his museum at our disposal. Here, also, is a sample 
 of rye-bread supplied by Mr. William Ray Smee, who, 
 in the interest of the poor, has had it made according to 
 the formula of the Board of Agriculture in France of 
 1795. It consists of one part of rice and four parts of 
 rye ground together, and sifted in the usual manner. 
 The meal is then made into dough with yeast ; and 
 after it has fermented it is baked in these long rolls. 
 The bread is very dark, like all rye-bread, and has a 
 close texture, but it is agreeable to the palate, and is 
 very nutritious. The great recommendation of it is its 
 cheapness, for it can be made at less than a penny a 
 pound, and is therefore a very suitable bread for the poor. 
 
 Those meals or flours which do not contain sufficient 
 gluten of the proper quality for fermentation or vesicu- 
 lation, as barley-meal, oat-meal, Indian-meal, cassava- 
 meal, and the flour of peas and lentils, are best 
 cooked by baking them in the form of cakes or 
 
152 On Food. 
 
 biscuits — a practice which is as ancient as the time 
 of the Patriarchs, when, during the Passover, they 
 were commanded to eat unleavened bread. The chief 
 food of the common people of Rome was a heavy 
 kind of unleavened bread {panis azymus), like the 
 present polenta of the Italians, which is a mixture 
 of Indian meal and cheese. As in former time, 
 biscuits and unfermented cakes are made from meal or 
 flour mixed with water and baked ; but the texture of 
 the substance is close, and it is not easy of digestion 
 unless it is thoroughly disintegrated. When biscuits are 
 lightened by means of egg and sugar, with a little butter, 
 they are much more digestible ; and they are still more 
 so when they are vesiculated and puffed" up by means of 
 a small quantity of carbonate of ammonia, as in the case 
 of cracknetts and Victoria biscuits. 
 
 The . so-called Farinaceous Foods, for Infants 
 are only baked flour, sometimes sweetened with sugar. 
 The flour must be baked until it acquires a light brown 
 colour, the temperature being about 400 or 450 deg. of F. 
 The granules of starch are thus disintegrated, and con- 
 verted into a soluble substance, named dextrin, which 
 by a further process of cooking or boiling, as in making 
 pap, forms, when properly sweetened, a very excellent 
 food for children. Tops and bottoms owe their value to 
 the same circumstances — namely, that the farinaceous 
 matter, which is so indigestible with infants, is broken 
 up by baking into soluble dextrin. 
 
 All varieties of Meals and Arrowroots are easily 
 cooked by stirring them into boiling water, or boiling 
 milk, until they have the consistence of gruel or hasty 
 pudding, and then boiling for a few minutes. In the 
 case of Indian-meal, rice, split-peas, lentils, and haricots, 
 the boiling should be continued for a considerable time, 
 and the whole grain should be previously steeped in 
 water for many hours ; for the starch and cellulose of 
 these vegetables are not digestible unless they are 
 
Liebig s Food for Children. 153 
 
 thoroughly disintegrated by cooking. It may be said, 
 indeed, that all vegetables with dense tissues require 
 prolonged boiling to cook them, in order that the cellu- 
 lose and soft woody tissue be completely broken up by 
 the action of heat, for even starch is likely to pass through 
 the alimentary canal unchanged, if it be not rendered 
 soluble by fermentation or cooking. It is an important 
 question, therefore, whether in utilising starchy foods, it 
 may not be advantageous to help their transformation 
 by allowing the grain to germinate to some extent, as 
 in the process of malting, when the starch becomes 
 changed into sugar. Mr. Lawes has examined this 
 question, and has concluded, from his experiments on 
 stock, that in the case of pigs and bullocks the fattening 
 effect of the grain is not increased ; but it may be very 
 different with the human stomach, where the transfor- 
 mation power is not nearly so active as with lower 
 animals. Here, in fact, is an example of it : — 
 
 The food which Liebig recommends for infants is a 
 mixture of malt with wheaten flour and milk, to which 
 a little bicarbonate of potash has been added ; and the 
 reputation of it in Germany, as an article of diet for 
 children, is considerable. The preparation is made by 
 mixing one ounce of wheaten flour with ten ounces of 
 milk, and boiling for three or four minutes ; then re- 
 moving it from the fire, and allowing it to cool to about 
 90 deg. One ounce of malt powder previously mixed 
 with 1 5 grains of bicarbonate of potash, and two ounces 
 of water are then stirred into it, and the vessel being 
 covered, is allowed to stand for an hour and a half, at a 
 temperature of about 100 deg. of F. It is then put once 
 more upon the fire, and gently boiled for a few minutes. 
 Lastly, it is carefully strained, to remove any particles 
 of husk, and then it is fit for the child's food. The 
 composition of the food, according to Dr. Liebig, is as 
 follows : - 
 
154 On Food. 
 
 Plastic Carbonaceous 
 matter. matter. 
 
 10 ozs. milk .... 0-40 oz. l-00oz. 
 
 1 oz. wheat flour . . . 0-14 „ 0-74 ,, 
 
 1 oz. malt flour . . . 0-07 „ 0-58,, 
 
 0'61 „ 2-32 „ 
 
 The relation of the plastic to the carbonaceous being as 
 i to 3 - 8, which is the right proportion for the food of 
 children. 
 
 The effect of the malt flour is to transform the starch 
 into glucose, and thus the mixture gets thinner and 
 sweeter as it stands ; and the bicarbonate of potash is 
 added to facilitate the change, and to neutralise the acid 
 constituents of the flour and malt. 
 
 Liebig's extract of malt is another such preparation for 
 a quick assimilation of starchy matters. 
 
 Vegetable Substances are occasionally Fer- 
 mented, either for the purpose of increasing the relative 
 amount of glutinous matter, or for the purpose of render- 
 ing them acid. Potatoes, for example, as well as barley, 
 wheat, and rye, leave a residuum after fermentation, which 
 contains proportionately more gluten than the original 
 substance, because of the transformation of sugar and 
 starch into alcohol ; and although the residuum is coarse, 
 and is hardly suited for human consumption, yet it is an 
 excellent food for cattle ; in fact, in Germany it is often 
 eaten by the poor. 
 
 When the process is carried still further, and the mass 
 acquires an acid property in consequence of the formation 
 of acetic, butyric, and lactic acids, various sour prepara- 
 tions are obtained, which are no doubt useful in assisting 
 the digestion of other foods. The ancient Romans had 
 many such fermented substances which were not unlike 
 the sauer kraut of the Germans. This, as you know, is 
 made from the leaves of cabbages, gathered generally in , 
 autumn, and from which the stem and mid-rib are re- 
 moved. They are cut up into thin slices, and are placed 
 
Preparations of Tea, Coffee, &c. 155 
 
 in a tub or vat, alternately with a layer of Salt, until the 
 vessel is full. It is then subjected to pressure, and 
 allowed to stand for five or six weeks (according to the 
 temperature) ; the lactic fermentation is thus set up, and 
 the mass becomes sour. It is cooked by stewing it in 
 its own liquor with bacon, pork, or other fat meat ; and 
 certain condiments, as dill or carraway, are added to im- 
 prove its flavour. In Prussia, and in many parts of 
 Germany, there is a similar preparation of .fermented 
 beans; and in Holland and the South of Europe, cucum- 
 bers are fermented. We also have our pickled vege- 
 tables, in which acetic acid takes the place of lactic acid. 
 All these preparations are no doubt aids to digestion, 
 especially when the fibre of meat is tough, and contains 
 tendon, or hardened cellular tissue. This is especially 
 so with salted meat, and, therefore, a little pickle 
 is always a good and palatable addition to cold boiled 
 beef. 
 
 Vegetable substances, as Tea, Coffee, Mate, Cocoa, 
 &c, the infusions of which are used as beverages, are 
 prepared for commerce in nearly the same manner. 
 When taken from the tree, and while in a fresh condition, 
 they are allowed to undergo a moderate kind of fermen- 
 tation, and they are then dried and roasted. In the case 
 of tea, the roasting operation is performed during the 
 process of drying and curling, by heating the leaves upon 
 wire-sieves held over a charcoal fire ; but cocoa and coffee 
 are roasted in metallic cylinders, which are kept revolv- 
 ing over a clear fire— coffee being roasted until it is 
 nearly charred, and has lost from 14 to 20 per cent, in 
 weight. By this means the aroma, or volatile oil, is in 
 each case produced ; and there is also an empyreumatic 
 change in the astringent acids, the sugar, the gum, and 
 the starch, whereby extractive matters varying in amount 
 and quality, according to the degree of heat, are formed. 
 Shrader has examined the subject in respect of coffee, 
 
156 Cn Food. 
 
 Kaw 
 
 Boasted 
 
 Ci.ffee. 
 
 Coffee. 
 
 17-58 
 
 12-50 
 
 3-64 
 
 10-42 
 
 0-93 
 
 2-08 
 
 0-62 
 
 4-80 
 
 66-66 
 
 68-75 
 
 10-57 
 
 1-45 
 
 and has ascertained that the following are the propor- 
 tions of the several constituents in raw and roasted 
 coffee : — 
 
 Peculiar coffee principles 
 
 Gum and mucilage 
 
 Fattj- matter and resin . 
 
 Extractive 
 
 Woody tissues and cellulose 
 
 Moisture, &c. 
 
 100-00 100-00 
 
 Infusions of tea and coffee should be made with boil- 
 ing water, but they should never afterwards be boiled, 
 for the aromatic principle is very volatile, and would be 
 thus lost ; besides which, a decoction of tea or coffee is 
 disagreeably bitter, on account of the solution of the 
 coarse forms of extractive matter. Soft water also ex- 
 tracts these matters, and therefore appears to give a 
 stronger infusion than moderately hard water, but it is 
 always at a sacrifice of delicate flavour. Excellent tea 
 is made in London with water of 14 or 15 degrees of 
 original hardness, and of about 5 degrees when boiled. 
 This was a subject of investigation by the Government 
 Chemical Commission (Professors Graham, Miller, and 
 Hofmann), who were appointed in 1851 to inquire into 
 the chemical quality of the water supply of London; 
 and they reported that in their experiments they found 
 that tea made from the boiled London water of 5 degrees 
 of hardness could not generally be distingushed from tea 
 made with the water of only 2,\ degrees, although a deli- 
 cate palate would recognize a slightly increased bitterness 
 in the latter, without any enhancement of flavour. It 
 would seem, indeed, that moderately hard water always 
 makes the best flavoured tea, provided it is allowed to 
 stand upon the tea sufficiently long. At Greenwich Hos- 
 pital, the tea is made for the pensioners from water of 
 
Infusions of Tea and Coffee. 157 
 
 24 degress of hardness before boiling, and i8'6 degrees 
 after ; but the infusion is prolonged for half an hour, by- 
 surrounding the vessel with a steam case ; and thus an 
 excellent flavoured tea is obtained. In fact, the Com- 
 missioners remark, that " where any great loss of strength 
 of tea infusion has been observed in passing from a soft 
 water to a harder, it may be probably referred to the cir- 
 cumstance that the mode of infusing it has not been pro- 
 perly adapted to the hard water ; and then there is 
 doubtless some waste of tea." Lake waters have been a 
 good deal extolled on account of their softness and sup- 
 posed fitness for making tea, solely because they happen 
 to produce a deep-coloured solution, which conveys a 
 false notion of strength ; for, in reality, there is no in- 
 crease of physiological or dietetical property. The 
 Chinese, who are very good authorities on this subject, 
 never use either very soft or very hard waters, for their 
 rule is to take the water of a running stream — "best from 
 the hill side, and next from a river." We may conclude, 
 therefore, that water of from four to seven degrees of 
 hardness after being boiled, is best suited for infusions of 
 tea and coffee ; for such water dissolves the aromatic and 
 physiological constituents, without extracting the dis- 
 agreeable bitter principles. In the case of coffee, in fact, 
 a little acid, as a portion of lemon juice, improves the fla- 
 vour, notwithstanding that it adds to the hardness of the 
 infusion. Experimentally it is found that infusions of 
 tea and coffee are strong enough when the former con- 
 tains o - 3 percent, of extracted matter and the latter 2 per 
 cent, so that a moderate sized cup (5 ozs.) should con- 
 tain about 6 - 6 grains of the extract of tea, or 437 grains 
 of coffee. These proportions will be obtained when 263 
 grains of tea (about 5 teaspoonfuls), or 4 ozs. of freshly 
 roasted coffee are infused in a quart of boiling water; 
 and the amounts of the several constituents dissolved 
 are about as follows : — 
 
158 On Food. 
 
 Constituents. 
 
 Tea. Coffee, 
 
 grs. grs. 
 
 Nitrogenous matters . . . 17 '2 88 '0 
 
 Fatty matter .... — 6*0 
 
 Gum, sugar, and extractive . . 317 2064 
 
 Mineral matters . . . . 9'1 45 '6 
 
 Total extracted . .58-0 346-0 
 
 So that tea yields to boiling water about 22 per cent, of 
 its weight, and coffee about 20 per cent. Lehmann 
 found that only 15 J per cent, of tea was dissolved by 
 water; whereas, Sir Humphry Davy estimated it at 33^ 
 per cent. No doubt the quality of the water as well as 
 that of the tea affects the results, for cold distilled water 
 will extract from 30 to 40 per cent, of black tea, and 
 nearly 50 per cent, of green ; but for all this, about 22 
 per cent, is a good average with ordinary boiling water. 
 
 Tea is generally measured into the tea-pot by the 
 spoonful, and Dr. Edward Smith has made -a curious 
 inquiry into the average weights of a spoonful of 
 different kinds of tea. The results are here shown : — 
 
 Weight of a Spoonful of Tea. 
 
 Black Teas. 
 
 
 Green Teas. 
 
 
 grs. 
 
 grs. 
 
 Oolong , . 
 
 . 39 
 
 Hyson . . .66 
 
 Congou (inferior) 
 
 . 52 
 
 Twankay . . . 70 
 
 Flowry Pekoe . 
 
 . 62 
 
 Pine Imperial . . 90 
 
 Souchong 
 
 . 70 
 
 Scented Caper . . 103 
 
 Congou (fine) . 
 
 . 87 
 
 Fine Gunpowder . 123 
 
 From which it would seem that from three to seven 
 tea-spoonfuls of black tea, or from two to four of green, 
 are required for a quart of infusion of the strength 
 already given. 
 
 In China, the practice among the wealthy is to infuse 
 the tea at once in the tea-pot, using an elegant porcelain 
 cup, with a cover of the same material, and having a 
 little |disc of filagree silver to keep the leaves from 
 floating ; but in Japan the leaves are ground to powder, 
 and after infusing it in the tea-cup, the mixture is beaten 
 
Preparations of Cocoa. 159 
 
 up into a frothy state with a split bamboo, and drank — 
 powder and all. 
 
 Coffee, which is the favourite beverage of Eastern 
 nations, is often drank in great excess. In some parts 
 of Arabia, as in the Hedjaz, according to Burckhardt, 
 it is not uncommon for well-to-do persons to drink 
 twenty or thirty cups a day. Even the neediest 
 labourer never takes less than three or four cups a day ; 
 and if from poverty he is unable to get the berry itself, 
 he makes an infusion of the roasted skins of it, which he 
 calls " Keshree" and which he drinks in great profusion. 
 
 COCOA is best made by boiling the mixture for a little 
 while, for it nearly always contains a large proportion of 
 starchy matter, which has been added to dilute the rich 
 fat of the cocoa. Indeed, cocoa contains so much butter 
 or solid fat (from 48 to 50 per cent.), that it is necessary 
 to reduce it with some easily digestible substance, as 
 starch, lentil powder, carageen moss, Iceland moss, 
 sugar, &c. ; hence the various preparations- of it called 
 granulated cocoa, soluble cocoa, chocolate, &c, the processes 
 for making which I will briefly describe. When the 
 berry is roasted and is cold, it is passed through a 
 machine called a " kibbling-mill," which deprives it of 
 its husk, and of the thin skin which surrounds the kernel 
 or nib. If the nibs thus cleaned are ground in proper 
 mills, they form the variety of cocoa called flaked cocoa, 
 but if other preparations are to be made, the nibs are 
 ground between heated rollers or otherwise, until they 
 form a smooth paste, when the diluting substances are 
 mixed with it and are thoroughly incorporated. If 
 soluble cocoa is to be made, the diluting material is sugar 
 with some kind of arrowroot, as tous-les-mois, maranta, 
 curcuma, &c. If chocolate is required, the diluting 
 material is sugar only, with some flavouring agent, as 
 vanilla ; and if fancy preparations, as carageen moss 
 cocoa, Iceland moss cocoa, lentil cocoa, &c, are required, 
 then these several substances are incorporated. Granu- 
 
1 60 C11 Food. 
 
 lated cocoa is a preparation of cocoa, with sugar and 
 starch, so ground as to form a coarse powder, in which 
 the particles of broken cocoa are covered with a layer 
 of sugar and starch. It is obvious that whenever the 
 mixture consists of starch or other farinaceous sub- 
 stance, the solution of the cocoa preparation must be 
 boiled ; but when sugar has been used, as in chocolate, 
 which is the most ancient preparation of it, the com- 
 bination is such as to require no culinary treatment, or, 
 at most, the action of boiling water or boiling milk. A 
 pint of cocoa made with an ounce of ground nibs will 
 contain the following proportions of nutritious matters : 
 
 Grains. 
 Nitrogenous matters . . . 96 2 
 
 Fatty matter 21 8 '8 
 
 Gum, sugar, and extractive . . 65 '6 
 ' Mineral matter 17 '5 
 
 Total extracted . . 3981 
 
 It is remarkable that, although cocoa is much less 
 used than either tea or coffee, yet it was known in 
 Europe a century before either of the others. As 
 early, indeed, as 1520, it was brought from Mexico by 
 Columbus, who there found it the common beverage of 
 the people ; and when Cortes was entertained at the 
 court of the Aztec Emperor, Montezuma, he was treated 
 to a sweet preparation of cocoa, called chocollatl, flavoured 
 with vanilla and other aromatic spices, and served to 
 him in a golden vessel. The Spaniards thus acquired a 
 knowledge of the berfy and of its chief preparation, 
 which they kept secret for many years, selling it very 
 profitably as chocollat to the wealthy and luxurious 
 classes of Europe ; but it was an expensive preparation, 
 and did not come into general use until long after the 
 public coffee-houses of London were established. The 
 earliest notice of it, according to Hewitt, is in Need- 
 ham's Mercurius Politicus, for June, 1659, wherein it is 
 stated that "chocolate, an excellent West-India drink, 
 
London Coffee Houses. 161 
 
 is sold in Queen's Head Alley, in Bishopsgate street, by 
 a Frenchman, who did formerly sell it in Gracechurch 
 street and Clement's Churchyard, being the first man 
 who did sell it in England ; and its virtues are highly 
 extolled." This was about five years after the London 
 coffee-houses had been established, for the first of them 
 is said to have been opened in 1650, by a Levantine 
 named Pascal Rossee, in St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill 
 and a year after they were opened in Paris and in 
 Holland. In 1660 they were so much frequented, and 
 coffee was so largely drank, that they were made a 
 source of revenue, a tax of 4d. a gallon being levied on 
 all the coffee drank in them ; and three years later they 
 were regularly licensed at the Quarter Sessions, like 
 common taverns. In 1668, when Ray, the distinguished 
 naturalist, published his " History of Plants," he tells us 
 they were as numerous in London as at Cairo; and they 
 became so great a nuisance, on account of their political 
 associations, that, in 1675, Charles the Second endea- 
 voured to suppress them by proclamation, calling them 
 seminaries of sedition ; but the keepers of them were 
 sufficiently powerful to make him revoke the prohibi- 
 tion. The history of these houses would form a curious 
 chapter in politics and literature, for they are associated 
 with the earliest development of free political discus- 
 sion, and with the greatest names in English literature. 
 Among the oldest of them is the " Grecian," where 
 Shakespeare and Rare Ben were frequent visitors ; and 
 hardly less ancient is "Wills'," where Dryden held 
 forth with pedantic vanity, and where the foundation 
 was laid for that critical acumen which soon became a 
 distinguishing feature in English literature. In the city, 
 too, there was the "Rainbow," by Temple Bar, and 
 " Garraway's," near the Exchange, where not only was 
 tea first sold, but where, in Defoe's time, "foreign 
 banguiers," and even ministers resorted to drink it. 
 " Robins" ' and " Jonathans'," and the " Cocoa-nut Tree," 
 
 M 
 
1 62 On Food. 
 
 in St. James street, were also famous, and had their 
 distinguished followers. Nor is the social and political 
 history of tea, with all its brilliant and intriguing gossip, 
 a wit less interesting ; for to go no further with it than 
 the brief interval which elapsed from the introduction of 
 tea into England, in 1666, by Lords Osseryand Arling- 
 ton, to the date of that fatally obnoxious duty on it, in 
 1767, which led to the riots in Boston, and to the Ameri- 
 can War of Independence, the fashionable charm of the 
 tea-table had been the means of associating the beauty, 
 the wit, the genius, and the learning of a . remarkable 
 period of English history. 
 
 In the Treatment of Animal Food there are several 
 points for consideration. In the first place it is always 
 best to prepare the animal for the shambles by fasting 
 it for a few hours before it is slaughtered, as partially 
 digested food, and the food recently absorbed into the 
 system, quickly pass into a state of putrefactive decom- 
 position and taint the whole carcass ; besides which, a 
 day's repose is often necessary to quell the excitement 
 occasioned by the journey or voyage which the animal 
 may have made on its way to the place of slaughter. In 
 the second place, it is proper to remove as much blood 
 from the body as possible at the time of killing, as this 
 also is apt to pass into a state of decay. The regula- 
 tions of the Jews in this particular are most effectual, 
 and are derived from very ancient statutes in Leviticus, 
 which ordain that no manner of blood, whether it be of 
 fowl or of beast, shall be eaten by man ; and with the 
 view of letting as much of it flow away as possible, the 
 practice is to slaughter every animal by cutting its throat 
 with a sharp knife. There are, indeed, the most precise 
 rules for this purpose. In some countries, however, the 
 blood is regarded as a very nutritious part of the animal, 
 and great pains are taken to prevent its escape. Dr. 
 Livingstone says, that many of the South-African tribes 
 kill the beast by thrusting a javelin into the heart, so as 
 
Culinary Treatment of Meat. 163 
 
 to prevent the loss of blood. But in these cases the 
 meat is- never kept, but is eaten directly after the 
 animal is slaughtered. A proposition has also been 
 made in this country for killing animals by letting 
 air into the pleural cavities, whereby the lungs collapse, 
 and so cause almost instant death by asphyxia, without 
 loss of blood ; but the practice is objectionable, not 
 merely because of the liability of such meat to quick 
 putrefaction, but also because of the difficulty of dis- 
 covering disease in it. 
 
 In the third place, it is proper that the carcass of the 
 animal should be allowed to cool and set thoroughly, 
 before it is packed for conveyance "to the mafket. If 
 this is not properly attended to, it soon decays. It 
 should also be packed loosely, or even freely exposed to 
 the air, as the colouring matters of the blood and muscles 
 continue to absorb oxygen, and to breathe, as it were, 
 for some time after death, and while this goes on decay 
 is arrested. 
 
 Lastly, all meat should be kept a little short of de- 
 composition before it is cooked, or even until decompo- 
 sition has just commenced, as the tissue then becomes 
 loose and tender, and very digestible. 
 
 As to the culinary treatment of animal food, it may 
 be remarked that every nation has found from ex- 
 perience that the cooking of meat, not only renders it 
 more palatable, and more tempting to the sight and 
 smell, but it also makes it more digestible, provided the 
 operation has not been carried too far. Nowhere, 
 therefore, except arnpng savages, who have no fuel, as 
 the Esquimaux and Samceides, is the flesh of animals 
 eaten in the raw condition. In most cases where 
 the art of cooking is in a rudimentary condition, 
 the meat is either broiled or roasted; but in a more 
 civilised state of society, the process is more complicated, 
 for the objects of it are fourfold, as — 
 
 M 2 
 
164 Oti Food. 
 
 1st. To coagulate the albumen and blood of the 
 tissues, so as to render the meat agreeable to sight. 
 
 2nd. To develop flavours, and to make the tissue 
 crisp, as well as tender, and therefore more easy of 
 mastication and digestion. 
 
 3rd. To secure a certain temperature, and thus to be 
 a means of conveying warmth to the system ; and 
 
 4th. To kill parasites in the tissues of the meat. 
 
 Now, as the researches of Dr. Beaumont and others 
 have demonstrated that meat, when overdone, is always 
 rendered more and more indigestible in proportion to 
 the prolonged action of heat, it is highly necessary that 
 the temperature should not be continued beyond the 
 point necessary to accomplish these objects. Liebig 
 says that a temperature of 133? F. will coagulate albu- 
 men, and that the red colouring matters of the blood 
 and muscle are coagulated and destroyed at from 158 
 to 165° (say 170 ). He therefore advises that all cook- 
 ing operations, in respect of meat, should be limited to 
 170 . His directions are that, in boiling meat, it should 
 be introduced into the vessel when the water is in a state 
 of brisk ebullition, and that the boiling should be kept 
 up for a few minutes. The pot is then to be placed in a 
 • warm situation, so that the water is maintained at from 
 158° to 165°. The effect of this is, that the boiling 
 water coagulates the albumen and tissue upon the sur- 
 face of the meat, and to a certain depth inwards, and 
 thus forms a crust which does not permit the juice of the 
 meat to flow out, nor the water to penetrate into the 
 meat. The flesh, therefore, retains its savoury and 
 nutritious constituents, and is not too sodden ; but if, on 
 the other hand, the meat be set upon the fire with cold 
 water, and then slowly heated to boiling, the flesh 
 undergoes a loss of soluble and savoury matters, while 
 the soup becomes richer in them. The albumen, in fact, 
 is gradually dissolved from the surface to the centre of 
 the joint ; and the fibre loses, more or less, its quality of 
 
Modes of Cooking Meat. 165 
 
 shortness or tenderness, and becomes hard, tough, and 
 indigestible ; and of course the thinner the piece of flesh 
 is, the greater is its loss of savoury constituents. 
 
 This explains the well-known observation, that that 
 mode of boiling which yields the best soup gives the 
 driest, toughest, and most vapid meat ; and that, in 
 order to obtain well-flavoured and eatable meat, we 
 must relinquish the idea of making good soup from it; 
 for it is impossible to have the nutritious elements of 
 meat in the joint and in the soup at the same time. 
 
 Even in roasting meat, the heat must be strongest at 
 first, and it may then be much reduced ; for if carefully 
 managed, the juice, which at first flows out, evaporates 
 from the surface of the meat, and gives to it the dark 
 brown colour, the glaze-like lustre, and the strong aro- 
 matic taste of well-roasted meat. It is doubtful, how- 
 ever, whether the heat of 170° is sufficiently high to 
 ensure the destruction of the parasites of meat, and, 
 therefore, I would advise that the temperature should be 
 as nearly as possible to that of boiling water (212 ). 
 
 Of the four methods of cooking which are commonly 
 practised .in this country — namely, boiling, baking, roast- 
 ing, and frying, the former is undoubtedly the most 
 economical, and produces the most digestible food, but 
 the flavour of the meat in most cases is not so well 
 developed, and it is altogether unsuited for many de- 
 scriptions of meat, as, for example, the flesh of young 
 animals, which consists of an undue proportion of albu- 
 men and gelatine in the tissues —compounds which 
 freely dissolve in water, and will, therefore, boil away to 
 a large extent. The same is the case with soft, fatty 
 tissue, like that of American pork, which sometimes 
 loses 50 per cent, of its weight in boiling, whereas the 
 pork of Denmark, Holstein, England, and Ireland will 
 only lose from 25 to 30 per cent. ; indeed, unless the 
 process is well managed, there will always be consider- 
 able loss, as I have just stated, from the escape of albu- 
 
1 66 On Food. 
 
 men, gelatine, saline matter, and the rich alkaloids of 
 meat, amounting sometimes to from 16 to 24 per cent, 
 of the total weight of the joint ; and that these are 
 valuable constituents of flesh, is proved by the experi- 
 ments of the French Academicians, who found that 
 when a dog was fed daily upon half a pound of boiled 
 flesh, which had been previously soaked in water and 
 pressed, it quickly lost weight, as much, indeed, as one- 
 fourth of its entire weight in 43 days; and in 55 days 
 the emaciation was extreme. Of course, these observa- 
 tions do not apply when the liquor in which the meat 
 is boiled is eaten with it, as in the case of hashes, 
 stews, &c. 
 
 Dr. Pereira states that, at the Wapping Workhouse, 
 where mutton (chiefly forequarters) and beef (consisting 
 of the brisket, thick and thin flanks, leg of mutton pieces, 
 and clods — all free from bone) were boiled, the average 
 loss in weight was only about \J\ per cent. ; but this is 
 under the common proportion, and shows that the meat 
 was from old and lean animals. The ordinary loss of 
 weight in cooking is' about as follows in every 100 
 parts : — 
 
 _ . ,, Boiling. Baking. Boasting. 
 
 Beef generally ... 20 29 31 
 
 Mutton generally . 
 Legs of Mutton 
 Shoulders of Mutton 
 
 Loins of Mutton 
 Necks of Mutton 
 
 20 31 35 
 
 20 32 33 
 
 24 32 34 
 30 33 36 
 
 25 32 34 
 
 Average of all . . . 23 31 34 
 
 But although the loss of weight in baking and roasting 
 is greater than in boiling, yet it is chiefly from evapora- 
 tion, and from the melting of the fat. Flavours also are 
 developed which give a pleasant relish to the meat ; and 
 these must have been recognised and esteemed in very 
 early times, for burnt offerings are very frequently, 
 spoken of by Moses, as " a sweet savour unto the Lord ;" 
 and particular accounts are given of the manner in which 
 
Modes of Cooking Meat. 167 
 
 these offerings of the lamb and the kid, &c, were to be 
 made acceptable, not merely, as it would seem, unto the 
 Lord, but also unto Moses and Aaron who were to eat 
 of them. How far back in history the flavour of roast 
 pig was appreciated I know not, but it is immortalized 
 in the graphic essay of Charles Lamb. And yet there 
 are many disadvantages to these methods of cooking, as 
 that the surface of the joint is often overdone, when the 
 interior is almost raw ; and that the action of the heat on 
 the superficial fat frequently produces acrid compounds 
 (consisting of acrolein and fatty acids) which are very 
 distressing to a sensitive stomach. This is always the 
 case when meat is fried or grilled, and is thus subjected 
 to a temperature of 6oo Q or more ; in fact, all baked and 
 roasted fatty foods are apt, on this account, to disagree 
 with delicate stomachs ; and it is often remarked that 
 although bread and butter, boiled puddings, boiled fish, 
 cr boiled poultry can be eaten without discomfort, yet 
 toast and' butter, or meat pies and pastry, or fried fish, or 
 roasted fowl will disagree with the stomach. The prac- 
 tice of covering poultry and game with lard, or oiled 
 paper, or thin dough, or even with clay, (feathers and all, 
 as is the Indian custom), and then roasting, is no doubt 
 advantageous, as it modifies the temperature and pre- 
 vents the formation of acrid fatty compounds. It was 
 by some such device as this that Aristoxenes was able to 
 serve up a pig apparently boiled on one side and roasted 
 on the other — the savoury crackling being suited for 
 stronger stomachs, while the more delicate side of it was 
 best adapted for weaker digestions. 
 
 In deciding, however, on the proper method of cooking 
 a joint, regard must always be had for the kind of flavour 
 that is to be developed. Shoulders of mutton and fresh 
 beef are rarely boiled, because of their insipidity. The 
 same is the case with game and poultry, for the barn- 
 door fowl and turkey are nearly the only examples of 
 the latter which can be boiled, and there are no such 
 
1 68 On Food. 
 
 examples among the former. What should we 
 think of a boiled grouse or woodcock ? A story is told 
 by a writer in the Society's Journal of a poacher who 
 wished to seduce a bumpkin new poacher by a practical 
 ' illustration of the fine flavour of game, and calling at his 
 cottage one day, he left for him a hare warm from the 
 chase, telling him to cook it, and to try if it warn't a nice 
 dinner for nothing. A week after he called again, and 
 asked him how he liked his dinner. " Didn't loike it at 
 all," exclaimed the recipient. " Well, man," says the 
 poacher, " how did ye cook it ?" " Why, biled en in 
 tarmuts, to be zure." I won't attempt to describe the 
 disgust of the poacher. The same is the case with 
 venison, although it may be boiled, especially when it is 
 rather high, for about half the time necessary for cook- 
 ing it, yet it must also be roasted, in order to develop its 
 flavour. Hunters in the wild prairies of America are 
 accustomed to cook the flesh of the deer by brittling it 
 in the following manner : — They strip off the long muscles 
 from each side of the spine, both above and below, and 
 tie them up in a roll, after well smearing them with oil 
 or fat ; they then roast them, and baste them persever- 
 ingly with oil. If opportunity permits, they sprinkle 
 them with lemon juice and a little cayenne before they 
 are oiled and made up into a roll. 
 
 Almost all fresh-water fish, except salmon and eels, 
 which have no need of extraneous flavour, are best 
 cooked by broiling them ; in fact, whenever there is a 
 shadow of doubt as to the proper method of cooking a 
 fish, it may be always safely settled by broiling it. 
 Small fry of all kinds of fish are most savoury when, like 
 white-bait, they are fried crisp in oil. A few of the 
 coarser sort of fish, as pike and sturgeon, will bear cook- 
 ing in an oven, if they are previously well stuffed ; but 
 the process of baking is not nearly so refined as that of 
 broiling or roasting, although it has the advantage of 
 regulating the temperature, and of keeping a dry sort of 
 joint in a succulent condition. 
 
Modes of Cooking Meat. 169 
 
 Stewing is a delicate and safe process when the object 
 is to retain the nutriment of meat, and to render it suc- 
 culent and tender. All kinds of tough and strong- 
 flavoured meat may therefore be cooked with great ad- 
 vantage in this manner. The process is, moreover, sus- 
 ceptible of very delicate treatment in the case of almost 
 flavourless food. Many fresh-water fish, for example, as 
 eels, perch, barbel, carp, lampreys, and even trout, may 
 be cooked in this way, and the best medium for the stew 
 is a light red wine. Coarser foods may be flavoured 
 with vegetables and pot-herbs. In the case of tinned or 
 preserved meats, especially when they have been some- 
 what over cooked in the process of preservation, the best 
 method of dealing with them is to convert them into a 
 stew or haricot — using a little fresh meat and a few well 
 chopped bones, for the purpose of giving a flavour. These 
 should be first stewed with vegetables and a few pot-herbs, 
 taking care that potatoes and onions predominate in the 
 case of mutton, and carrots and turnips in that of beef. 
 When these are nearly cooked the preserved meat, pre- 
 viously cut up, should be added, and after simmering for 
 a few minutes, so as to warm it thoroughly, it is ready to 
 be served. Good pies may also be made of these meats, 
 by cutting them into pieces and mixing them with cooked 
 potatoes and a little gravy, or with boiled maccaroni, and 
 custard. Other more dainty forms, as rissoles, croquettes, 
 &c, may be given to them, always taking care that they 
 are properly cut up, and are daintily seasoned, and are 
 not over cooked. 
 
 Soup is generally regarded as a light refreshment, and 
 when delicately flavoured, is called the vestibule of the 
 banquet. According to % Hippocrates, it was invented 
 because experience taught man that food which suits 
 healthy people is not applicable for the sick : neverthe- 
 less it may be made so nutritious as to take the place of 
 solid food. The savoury pot aufeu of the French peasant, 
 and the rich "soup of the French soldier, are the chief 
 rations on which they subsist ; and so highly are they 
 
On Food. 
 
 esteemed, that the one is never absent from the fire, and 
 the other is invariably preferred to solid meat. Ex- 
 perienced cooks are also aware of the high value of 
 strong soup, which they call stock, and which they con- 
 stantly use, not merely as a flavouring agent, but as a 
 means of enriching all other kinds of food. They there- 
 fore, take the greatest pains to utilize the waste frag- 
 ments of the kitchen, by boiling them down to a rich 
 extract. It is surprising, indeed, that the experience 
 thus acquired, as to the facility with which all sorts of 
 scrap may be thus economised has not long since taught 
 our poorer classes the value of soup as a daily ration 
 with bread and vegetables ; for, to use the language of 
 Liebig, " the extractive substances of flesh, when added 
 to food, do duty as true nutritive materials in the place 
 of those substances which are otherwise produced from 
 albumen." They cannot, perhaps, supply the place of 
 albumen and fibrin in the nourishment of tissues, but 
 they can replace the secondary products of albumen, 
 which are concerned in the development of force ; and 
 as they are at once absorbed into the circulation, requir- 
 ing no effort of digestion, they not only create. force, but 
 they also economise it. They are, therefore, among the . 
 most valuable constituents of food. I shall hereafter 
 discuss the nature of these constituents, and the pro- 
 bable functions of them in nutrition. 
 
 The richest of all soups is obtained from finely- 
 chopped lean meat, soaked for an hour or so in an equal 
 weight of cold water, and then gradually raised to the 
 boiling point. After simmering for about- a quarter of 
 an hour, it should be pressed and strained from the in- 
 soluble muscular fibre. In this condition it contains the 
 whole of the soluble constituents of meat — amounting to 
 about 5 per cent, of the meat used ; so that a pint of 
 soup from a pound of meat contains just four-fifths of 
 an ounce of meat-extract. If the boiling is continued 
 for a longer time, a little gelatine is dissolved, but the 
 strength of the soup is not materially increased, and it 
 
Preparation of Soup< 171 
 
 is apt to lose its rich meat-like flavour, which is so agree- 
 able to the palate of the invalid. 
 
 Coarser, but still good and highly nutritious soup may- 
 be made from lean meat and bone, as the leg or shin of 
 beef, or even a bullock's head. The meat should be 
 carefully cut from the bone, and sliced into small pieces, 
 and the bone should be well chopped. When in the 
 stock-pot it should be just covered with cold water, and 
 gradually heated to the boiling point. Vegetables 
 should then be added, and it should be gently simmered 
 for five or six hours, during which time it should be 
 carefully skimmed — a little cold water being occasion- 
 ally added to facilitate the rising of the scum — as this 
 is essential to the making of a clear soup. After stand- 
 ing a little time to settle, it should be carefully poured 
 off and strained ; and when cold, the cake of fat which 
 forms upon the surface should be removed. In this 
 manner about four or five quarts of good strong soup 
 may be made from a shin of beef, weighing 6 or 7 lbs., 
 the soup of which contains about 600 grains of solid 
 matter to the pint, and of this 39 grains are saline. 
 
 In the cooking depdts of our large cities, where soup 
 is made for the poor, the materials are somewhat scanty, 
 for, according to Dr. E. Smith, loo rations of soup are 
 thus prepared : — the meat liquor from 7 lbs. of beef and 
 1 lb. of bones; split peas, 13 lbs. ; carrots and Sweede 
 turnips, each 6 \ lbs. ; onions, 5 \ lbs. ; leeks, \ lb. ; 
 salt, pepper, and dried herbs enough to flavour : and 
 the materials for 100 rations of Scotch broth are, ac- 
 cording to the same authority,, the meat liquor from 
 7 lbs. of beef, and 1 lb. of well-broken bones ; 2f lbs. 
 of split peas; 3^ lbs. of Scotch barley; 3 \ .lbs. of 
 carrots ; 3 \ lbs. of turnips ; J\ lbs. of cabbage or other 
 green vegetables ; with sufficient salt, pepper, and dried 
 herbs. Reckoning a ration at one pint, it would con- 
 tain the nutriment of only about an ounce and a quarter 
 of meat and bone, which is manifestly insufficient for 
 dietetical purposes. The poor, therefore, have but little 
 
172 On Food. 
 
 respect for this sort of food, and very naturally associate 
 it with charity and the workhouse. The same is the 
 case with soup made from bones, for although they 
 yield about 19 per cent, of their weight of gelatine and 
 fat, yet they are totally deficient of the proper con- 
 stituents of good soup. Dr. Edward Smith is in error, 
 therefore, in saying that 6 lbs. of bones, broken small, 
 and boiled in water for 9 or 10 hours, will yield a soup 
 that contains the nutritive elements of 2 lbs. of meat as 
 far as carbon is concerned, and of 1 lb. of meat in re- 
 spect of nitrogen ; for although this may be so as regards 
 the actual weights of carbonaceous and nitrogenous 
 matters, yet it is far otherwise with their nutritive 
 powers. In the well-known experiments of the French 
 Gelatine Commission, it was found that the soup or 
 jelly from boiled bones would not support the life of 
 dogs, although raw bones in like proportion would ; from 
 which it is evident that there is a great difference in the 
 nutritive power of the gelatinous tissue and its cooked 
 products. Gelatine, in fact, has never been discovered 
 in the blood of animals, nor is it a constituent of eggs or 
 milk, which are the two primary foods from which the 
 tissues of the young are formed. It Would seem, there- 
 fore, that it is not an essential article of diet, although it 
 is probable that gelatinous tissues undergo digestion by 
 being converted into peptones, which have a low nutri- 
 tritive power, about one-fifth that of albumen, but there 
 is no satisfactory proof that cooked gelatine is of the 
 same nutritive value. When associated with muscular 
 tissue it may perhaps be assimilated, for. the experi- 
 ments of Bischoff and Voit have shown that when a dog 
 weighing 80 lbs. was fed on 17-6 ozs. of meat a-day, he lost 
 a pound in weight in four days, but when the same 
 quantity of meat was associated with 7 ozs. of gelatine 
 he gained in weight, to the extent of 47 ozs. in three 
 days. Liebig infers from this that gelatine has con- 
 siderable nutritive power when combined with meat, 
 
Liebig's Extract of Meat. 173 
 
 and that its action is to economise albumen. Possibly 
 it may serve in the direct nutrition of gelatinous tissue, 
 or, by becoming oxydized, it may develope force ; for 
 it appears to be transformed, like albumen and fibrin, 
 into urea, and so leaves the system. 
 
 Other varieties of soup, as ox-tail, kangaroo-tail, and 
 turtle, owe their peculiarities to flavour and composition, 
 the last being rich in gelatine, which is mostly made 
 from the waste chippings of calf skins, and carefully 
 clarified as a stock for other rich gelatinous soups. Ox- 
 tail, which is now a favourite and rather expensive soup, 
 was at one time the humble fare of the poor Protestant 
 refugees, who fled from France at the revocation of the 
 edict of Nantes, in 1685, and settled in Spitalfields and 
 Clerkenwell. In the extremity of want they purchased 
 • form the tanners of Bermondsey the ox-tails, which were 
 then sold with the hides, and made them into soup. 
 Accident brought it under the notice of a philanthropic 
 epicure, who was on a mission of charity to the homes 
 of the poor foreigners, and he proclaimed its virtues, so 
 that ere-while it became a fashionable dish. Kangaroo- 
 tail soup is hardly so well known, although its merits 
 are considerable, for it has more body, and a richer 
 flavour than the last. At present it is but scantily sup- 
 plied from Australia, and it comes to us in quart tins, 
 which are sold at three shillings a-piece. 
 
 Extract of Meat, according to the formulae of Liebig, 
 should be the concentrated essence of the juice of flesh, 
 but much of the so-called extract in commerce is solidi- 
 fied soup," with more or less of gelatine. The chief 
 supply of the genuine extract is from the manufactory 
 of the Liebig's Extract of Meat Company, at Fray 
 Bentos, on the River Uraqua, in South America, where 
 the superabundant meat of the rich pampas, or grassy 
 plains of the country is freely utilized. The manufac- 
 tory is on a stupendous scale, for it is capable of dealing 
 with the flesh of 80 oxen an hour, and all the appliances 
 
174 On Food. 
 
 are on the most approved scientific principles. Only 
 the mature and well-fed oxen of not less than four 
 years of age are slaughtered for the meat, and of this 
 34 lbs. (reckoning only the muscular tissue, or 45 lbs., 
 including bone and sinew) are required for a pound of 
 extract ; for although lean flesh contains from 30 to 26 
 per cent, of solid matters, only about 8 or 9 parts are 
 soluble in cold water, and of these rather more than 
 half (consisting of albumen, myochrome, or red colour- 
 ing matter) are coagulated by heat, thus leaving only 
 from 3 to 4 parts to go to the formation of extract of 
 meat, and of these three-fourths are organic extractive, 
 and one-fourth is mineral matter. The exact nature of 
 this extractive is unknown, although it consists to the 
 extent of about one-sixth of its weight of certain acids 
 and alkaloids, as lactic acid, inosinic acid, creatine, 
 creatinine, inosite, &c, the soluble salts being phosphate 
 and chloride of potassium, with a little chloride of sodium. 
 Liebig states that the amount of water in good extract 
 of meat should range from 16 to 21 per cent., and the 
 extractive matter soluble in alchol, of 80 per cent., 
 should amount to from 56 to 60 per cent, while the 
 mineral matter or ash should not fluctuate beyond 
 18 to 20 per cent. Many of the extracts of commerce 
 contain much larger proportions of water, especially 
 those which are preserved in air-tight tins, and the 
 proportion of extractive matter, soluble in alcohol, is 
 often very small, the chief organic constituent being 
 gelatine. 
 
 Table XXVII. 
 Composition of some of the Extracts of Meat of Commerce. 
 
 Liebig'a Co. Tooth, French Co., White- Twenty- 
 
 ^— * — ^ Sydney. S. Amrca. head. man. 
 
 Water 18-56 16-00 17-06 16-50 24-49 20-81 
 
 Extractive Soluble in Alcohol 45 -43 53-00 51-28 28-00 22-08 13-37 
 
 Do. Insoluble in do. 13-93 13-00 1057 46-00 44-47 5910 
 
 Mineral Matter . . . . 22-08 18-00 21-09 9-50 8-96 6'72 
 
 100-00 100-00 100-00 100-00 100-00 100-00. 
 
Extract of Meat. 175 
 
 Good extract of meat is always slightly acid,' and it 
 has a pale yellowish-brown colour, with an agreeable 
 meat-like odour. It should be perfectly soluble in cbld 
 water, and should not contain albumen, fat, or gelatine. 
 
 In Poland and Russia an extract of meat, called 
 Tablettes de Bouillon, is made from the flesh of game, 
 which is very abundant in the country, as well as from 
 ordinary meat ; and, according to the analysis of 
 M. Reichardt, the tablettes contain 73 -31 per cent, of 
 nitrogenous matter, of which 38-07 are solublein alcohol, 
 475 per cent, of mineral matter, o - 22 of fat, and 2172 of 
 water. These tablettes are largely used for making soup. 
 Again, in the Dutch East Indian possessions, as Java, 
 Sumatra, &c, extracts of meat, fish, and even of crabs, 
 have been used by the natives for centuries. They are 
 called petis, and are considered to be so important in 
 a dietetical point of view, that no kitchen in the Archi- 
 pelago is ever without them ; in fact, all sauces, soups, 
 gravies, and native dishes are either flavoured or 
 strengthened with them. They are made from the 
 juice of raw flesh, or from the liquor which is pressed 
 from some cooked material — the liquid being in both 
 cases, carefully evaporated to the consistence of thick 
 syrup. Dr. Pott has examined several of these extracts, 
 namely, petis kurban (buffalo extract), petis sapie (extract 
 from the Malay ox), petis ikati lant (fish extract), and 
 petis udang (crab extract), and he finds they are all 
 genuine extracts of meat, &c, with only a trace of 
 gelatine and albumen. They vary in colour and in 
 flavour, that of fish and crab being the least agreeable. 
 A sample of buffalo extract contained 209 per cent* 
 water, 62 7 extractive, and 16-4 ash, or mineral matter. 
 These extracts are prepared on a large scale in the 
 islands of the Archipelago, and are sometimes exported 
 to Holland, the price of them being at the rate of half a 
 gulden (less than a shilling) per pound at the place of 
 manufacture. 
 
176 On Food. 
 
 False views have been entertained of the nutritive 
 power of extract of meat, for, as one pound of it repre- 
 sents the soluble constituents of from 30 to 34 pounds of 
 lean meat, or from 45 to 48 pounds of ordinary butcher's 
 meat, it has been assumed that its nutritive power is 
 in like proportion ; but Liebig has taken care to correct 
 this error, by showing that the extract, when properly 
 prepared, merely represents the soup or beef-tea ob- 
 tainable from that quantity of meat ; and, as it is de- 
 ficient of albumen, it must be conjoined to substances 
 which are rich in this material, as beans and peas. No 
 doubt the physiological action of the extract is due to 
 the organic alkaloids and acids which it contains ; and 
 as the latter are very similar to the active principles of 
 tea and coffee (theine or caffeine) in their effects on the 
 body, it must be concluded that extract of meat is more 
 of a vital restorative than nutritious food. It is from 
 this point of view that Parmentier and Proust, long ago, 
 and even Liebig himself, have regarded the physiologi- 
 cal effects of such preparations. " In the supplies of a 
 body of troops," said Parmentier, six-and-thirty years 
 ago, "extract of meat would offer to the severely 
 wounded soldier a means of invigoration which, with a 
 little wine, -would instantly restore his powers, exhausted 
 by great loss of blood, and enable him to be transported 
 to the nearest field hospital ;" and in almost the same 
 language, Proust remarked that " we cannot imagine a 
 more fortunate preparation under these circumstances ; 
 for what more invigorating remedy, what more power- 
 fully-acting panacea than a portion of genuine extract 
 of meat dissolved in a glass of noble wine ?" But, as in 
 the case of soup and beef-tea, its nutritive power must 
 be assisted by vegetables and other substances which 
 are rich in nitro'genous matter. Conjoined, therefore, 
 with wheaten flour, with peas or lentils, or even with 
 the gluten obtained in the manufacture of starch by 
 Du rand's process, it may be made to have the nutritive 
 
Economy in Cooking. 177 
 
 power of meat. Already, indeed, there is a preparation 
 of it by Messrs. Peek, Frean, and Co., in which the ex- 
 tract is mixed with baked flour and pressed into small 
 biscuits; indeed, as far back as the year 185 1, Mr. 
 Borden, jun., obtained a patent for combining extract of 
 meat with flour, farina, or meal, and baking it in the 
 form of biscuits. In this manner, by using the extract 
 of S lbs. of meat with 1 lb. of flour, he produced biscuits 
 which contained 32 per cent, of nitrogenous matter; and 
 1 oz. of the biscuit grated in a pint of water, then boiled 
 and flavoured, made a good soup. The soup prepara- 
 tion of the Tapioca Beef Bouillon Company (Geyeine) is 
 a mixture of extract of meat with tapioca in a dry 
 , granular form, and it makes a palatable broth ; but in 
 the case of Liebig's extract of meat, one pound of the 
 preparation is sufficient, with the usual rations of 
 potatoes and other vegetables, to make soup for 1 30 
 men ; and a very strong broth is made by dissolving a 
 teaspoonful of it (about 150 grains) in half a pint of 
 boiling water, and flavouring with salt and pepper. 
 
 A still more nutritious broth, containing the albumen 
 of the meat, as well as the soluble extract, is obtained by 
 infusing a third of a pound of minced meat in 14 ozs. of 
 cold soft water, to which a few drops (4 or 5) of muriatic 
 acid, and a little salt (from 10 to 18 grains) have been 
 added. After digesting for an hour or so, it should be 
 strained through a sieve, and the residue washed with 
 j> ozs. of water and pressed. The mixed liquids thus 
 obtained will furnish about a pint of cold extract of meat, 
 ■containing the whole of the soluble constituents of the 
 meat (albumen, creatine, creatinine, &c), and it may be 
 drank cold, or slightly warmed — the temperature not 
 being raised above 100° F., for fear of coagulating the 
 .albumen. 
 
 Economy of Cooking. 
 
 There are many questions connected with the economy 
 of cooking which I have not time to discuss, but I may 
 state that this Society has done good service in obtain- 
 
 N 
 
178 On Food. 
 
 ing valuable information as to the simplest and cheapest 
 apparatus for the purpose. Foremost among them is 
 the cooking-pot of Captain Warren. It is a sort of 
 double saucepan, and is easily made by fitting a small 
 covered saucepan into a larger one. The inner vessel 
 contains the joint or other thing to be cooked, and the 
 outer one has a little water in it, so that the temperature 
 in cooking can never exceed 212°. By this means the 
 joint is cooked in its own vapour without coming into 
 contact with water or steam, and thus it cannot lose its 
 soluble constituents ; and if it be desired to improve the 
 flavour of the joint just cooked, it may be afterwards 
 roasted for a short time before the fire. The loss in 
 weight under these circumstances is not nearly so> 
 great as in the common way of cooking, and the 
 flavour and tenderness of the meat are considerably 
 increased ; besides which, there is the certainty of cook- 
 ing the joint equally throughout, without over-dressing 
 it. Moreover, by the adaptation of a steamer to the 
 outer vessel, vegetables may be also cooked at the same 
 time. When the meat is boiled by this process, there is 
 little or no loss of weight, and even when it is afterwards 
 roasted, for the purpose of improving its flavour, the loss 
 is much less than when a joint is roasted in the ordinary 
 way. In one experiment it was found that 1 5 lbs. of meat 
 roasted in the usual manner, in the kitchen of the Cam- 
 bridge Barracks, lost 4lbs.4ozs. inweight,whereas the meat, 
 cooked in Captain Warren's pot, and then roasted, lost 
 only 2 lbs. 1 5 ozs., so that there was a gain of 1 lb. 5 ozs. 
 
 Perhaps the cheapest, the cleanest, and in all respects 
 the most economical method of cooking is by means of 
 gas properly burnt. There are several kinds of appa- 
 ratus in use at the present time, but the best of them 
 have been designed and constructed by Mr. Leoni, of 
 the Adamas Works, London, and they are contrived to 
 suit the wants of a large ' or small family. One of his 
 stoves has been in operation for some time in the 
 kitchen of the London Hospital ; and, to take a month's 
 
Cooking for the Poor. 1 79 
 
 work as an illustration of its capabilities, the following 
 are the results :— 
 
 -_ Beef. Mutton. 
 
 -Number of cookings in the month 9 13 
 
 Average weight of meat before each cooking 153-2 lbs. 193-3 lbs. 
 
 Do. do. do. after do. . 122-6 „ 164-0 „ 
 
 Average per centage loss of weight . . 20'0 „ 15"1 „ 
 
 Average time of each cooking . . . 2h. 10m. 2h. 10m. 
 
 Average quantity of gas consumed . ' . 248 cub. ft. 236 cub. ft. 
 
 Smaller apparatus, appear to be equally economical, 
 for, according to Mr. Magnus Ohren, of Sydenham, 
 who has made many experiments on the subject, a family 
 dinner consisting of a joint of 8 lbs. or 9 lbs., with 3 lbs. 
 or 4 lbs. of vegetables, and a fruit pie and a rice pudding, 
 may be easily cooked in from 2\ to 3 hours, with a con- 
 sumption of about 50 cubic feet of gas. The advantages 
 of this method of cooking are its cleanliness ; its economy, 
 for not only is, there less loss in weight, but the dripping 
 is all collected ; its certainty and regularity of action; and 
 the facility with which it is put in operation in summer 
 time, when large fires are objectionable. 
 
 Another apparatus of very great ingenuity is a cook- 
 ing-pot from Norway, where the saucepan containing 
 the joint and a little water is, after boiling for a short 
 time, placed in a box lined with felt, and thus left for an 
 hour or two to cook, the conducting power of the felt 
 being so bad that the heat is retained in the most per- 
 fect manner. The apparatus is not only economical, but 
 it is also excellently well suited for picnic parties, or for 
 soldiers on the march, who may thus secure a hot dinner, 
 cooked while on the journey. 
 
 The cooking appliances of the poor are very imper- 
 fect, and hence they resort to the cook-shops of their 
 neighbourhood; but even then their meals are scanty 
 and wretchedly cooked. In the poor districts of London 
 three-halfpence is the usual expenditure for a dinner by 
 children — a penny going in pudding, and the halfpenny 
 in potatoes. If they pay twopence they are allowed to 
 sit down, and have a little gravy with it. Everybody 
 
 N 2 
 
1 80 On Food. 
 
 has heard how the poor of Paris used to dine a la squirt, 
 where the tin soup basins were nailed to the table, and 
 where the attendant Leonoras drew up the seething 
 soup from a hidden cauldron by means of a huge syringe, 
 from which it was driven out into the customer's basin. 
 The price of the meal (4 sous) was to be instantly paid 
 down, or the callous handmaid sucked up the soup again 
 into the monster squirt. Scenes like this, and even worse 
 than this, in the abodes of the poor, have urged philan- 
 thropists to seek a better means of supplying their 
 wants, without trespassing upon the dangerous ground 
 of charity. In Paris an enterprising widow (Madame 
 Robert) conceived the idea of giving a poor man a good 
 dinner for twopence. Her daily bill of fare was cabbage- 
 soup, a slice of bouilli (beef), a piece of bread, and a 
 glass of wine ; and thus, in the neighbourhood of the 
 Marche" des Innocents, she daily provided for some six 
 hundred workmen, who took their dinners in the open 
 air, but sheltered from the weather ; and she gained a 
 farthing by each guest. More recently M. Douval, 
 whose large establishments for the sale of butcher's 
 meat are among the sights of Paris, has succeeded in 
 furnishing dinners at a reasonable price to the middle 
 classes, who did not altogether like to be seen among 
 the workmen at Madame Robert's, and yet could not 
 afford the charges of a restaurant. In this country, also, 
 with like benevolence, there has been set on foot, with 
 more or less success, in different places, restaurants for 
 the poor. In Glasgow, for example, the working-class 
 dining-rooms, which are far above the rude accommoda- 
 tion of Madame Robert, are established to provide a 
 substantial dinner for 4d. or 5d. Long ago the special 
 correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, in writing about 
 them, said that he obtained a capital dinner of good pea- 
 soup, boiled beef, ten ounces of potatoes and pudding — 
 more than he could eat — for the sum of 5|d. ; and a 
 writer in the Times also stated that for 4jd. he had a 
 
Cooking for the People. 1 8 1 
 
 pint basin of pea-soup, a plate of hot minced collops, a 
 plate of potatoes, and eight ounces of bread ; while his 
 companion had, for the same sum, a pint basin of broth, 
 a plate of cold beef, a plate of potatoes, and a slice of 
 plum pudding, all excellent in their quality, and well 
 cooked. The practice in these places is to provide 
 daily a variety of hot foods, as soup, broth, potatoes, 
 rice, cabbage, pudding, tea and coffee, besides bread and 
 butter, ham, and cold pressed beef; and every ration, 
 except meat, is so apportioned as to be sold at the uni- 
 form price of a penny. The meat costs three-halfpence ; 
 and, with the view of clearing off the remainder of the 
 soup after the proper dinner hour, so that a fresh 
 quantity may be made every day, it is the practice to 
 sell the soup and broth at half-price, from six o'clock to 
 eight o'clock in the evening, and then to give the 
 remainder away. All the articles are of the best 
 quality, and . are well cooked. They are bought by 
 contract at wholesale prices ; and, although they are 
 sold so cheaply, yet they yield a small profit, and so 
 give the system the stability of a commercial enterprise,. 
 Very recently, too, -Mr. Riddle has proposed, in a 
 paper which was read before this society, that arrange- 
 ments might be made for cooking dinners on a large 
 scale, and sending them out to the houses of the poor.. 
 He proposes to prepare, daily, good rations of roasted, 
 baked, and boiled meat, with vegetables ; and to send 
 them out in 2-lb., 4-lb., or 6-lb. tin canisters, all ready 
 for immediate use, and kept warm in little compart- 
 ments of a properly-constructed cart. There would be 
 no difficulty about this, and the meat might be delivered 
 in excellent condition, and with great punctuality. N one 
 but those who are acquainted with the utter helplessness 
 of the poor in the matter of cooking food, or who know 
 the difficulties of even better classes of persons in this 
 matter, can form any notion of the value of such a 
 proposition ; and I should be glad to see it realised. 
 
LECTURE IV. 
 
 PRESERVATION OF FOOD ; UNWHOLESOME AND 
 ADULTERATED FOOD. 
 
 PRESERVATION OF FOOD. 
 
 It requires no argument to show that the preserva- 
 tion of food is a matter of great public importance ; for 
 it not only enables us to provide against actual want in 
 periods of unusual scarcity, but it also affords the 
 means of equalising the distribution of food at all times, 
 so that the excess of one country may be used in sup- 
 plying the deficiency of another. In the pastoral dis- 
 tricts, for example, of Canada, Australia, Tasmania, the 
 Cape of Good Hope, Mexico, the Argentine Republic, 
 and the Brazils, thousands of tons of meat are always 
 available as food, and yet they are lost to us because of 
 the difficulties of preserving it. In South America, at 
 least two millions of beasts are annually slaughtered for 
 the fat, skin, and .bones, the flesh of which could be sup- 
 plied here at less than 2^d. per pound. So, also, in 
 Australia, the amount of meat available as food is prac- 
 tically inexhaustible. Last year, Mr. Philpott stated to 
 the Food Committee of the Society of Arts, that he 
 himself was in the habit of melting down from 1,000 to 
 i,Soo sheep daily for four months together ; and that in 
 
Preservation of Food. 183 
 
 the vast districts of rich pasture-land from Victoria to 
 Brisbane, there was an unlimited supply of the very 
 finest meat — all of which was at present entirely wasted, 
 because of the difficulty of disposing of the flesh ; and, 
 therefore, the carcasses of the animals were melted down 
 for fat. A bullock in Australia, he said, costs only from 
 £z to £4 ; and legs of mutton, of the very best quality, 
 were, when salted, sold for 3s. a dozen. If some simple 
 and practicable means could be devised for preserving 
 such meat, it might be supplied to our markets at less 
 than 3d. a pound. 
 
 Until recently the only process employed for this 
 purpose was the rude method of salting the meat ; but 
 the deterioration of it was so obvious, and the distaste 
 for it so general, that it was only practised to a limited 
 extent, and for occasions when fresh meat could not be 
 obtained. The salt junk of the navy in olden time was 
 a good example of the wretchedly unwholesome and 
 indigestible meat prepared, for it could hardly be called 
 preserved, by this process. Recognising, therefore, the 
 necessity for a better means of preserving food, the naval 
 authorities of every country appealed to science, and 
 gave the largest enaouragement to inventors. A further 
 stimulus to invention was created by the necessity for 
 .supplying our Arctic explorers with good and whole- 
 some food during their long winter residence in the 
 frozen seas of the north ; and as that inquiry was set on 
 foot, not merely for the purpose of discovering a north- 
 west passage to our possessions in America, but also 
 with the view of prosecuting scientific research in almost 
 inaccessible regions, an unusual inducement was offered 
 for the preparation of such food. The demand thus 
 ■created was soon acknowledged by science, and was 
 also met by the practical skill of the manufacturer, so 
 that the Arctic voyager went confidently on his journey, 
 knowing that he had other food than the unwholesome 
 junk of the navy, or the precarious supply of the polar 
 
184 On Food. 
 
 seas. The earliest preparations supplied to him were 
 mixtures of dried meat with sugar and spice {pemmicari), 
 but after, a time he was furnished with fresh meat, pre- 
 served in air-tight cases. At first the supply was chiefly 
 for voyagers in cold countries, but when the value of this 
 method of preservation became known, the European 
 residents of hot climates, and notably of India, eagerly 
 sought for the fresh foods which they were accustomed 
 to use in their own country. Additional stimulus was 
 thus given to this process of manufacture ; and at the 
 present time it has acquired gigantic proportions. 
 
 I have before me a list of the specifications of patents 
 relating to the preservation of food from the year 1691 
 to the end of 1855, and I find that only one was de- 
 scribed in the seventeenth century, and three in the 
 eighteenth, while as many as 117 were specified in the 
 first 55 years of the present century. Invention, how- 
 ever, has not been prolific of new processes, for it is 
 mainly confined to an application of one or two simple 
 elementary principles — 20 of the patents, for example,, 
 are for the preservation of food by drying ; 3 1 by ex- 
 cluding atmospheric air; 8 by covering the food with 
 an impervious substance, as fat, extract of meat, gela- 
 tine, collodion, &c, and 7 by injecting meat with various 
 salts. 
 
 But before we proceed with the examination of these- 
 processes, it will be advantageous to inquire a little into 
 the circumstances which favour organic decomposition. 
 It would seem, from experiment and observation, that 
 three concurrent conditions are absolutely necessary for 
 active putrefaction — namely, the presence of much mois- 
 ture, the access of atmospheric air, and a certain tem- 
 perature, as from about 40 to 200 of F. ; for if any of 
 these conditions are absent, the organic substance resists 
 decay. All preservative processes must, therefore, depend 
 on an application of some principle arising out of one or 
 other of these conditions, and perhaps a'lso of a fourth — 
 
Preservation of Food. 185 
 
 namely, the action of chemical agents. Let us review 
 them in detail. 
 
 1st. The preservation of substances by drying them is of 
 very ancient date. In our anatomical museums we have 
 long known that specimens of the animal body may be 
 preserved for an indefinite time by drying them, and 
 then varnishing them so as to exclude moisture. Here 
 is a dissection prepared in that manner, which has been 
 used for lecture illustration at the London Hospital for 
 more than half a century, and yet it is as sound as when 
 it was made. In the chronicles of Froissart, dried yolk 
 of eggs, powdered and rammed in barrels, are mentioned 
 among the stores of provision laid up by the young king 
 of France for the invasion of England in 1386. In warm 
 climates it has been a practice for ages to preserve fish, 
 and even meat, by drying them — the meat being cut 
 into strips and exposed to the action of wa'rm dry air. 
 Charqui, or South American beef, which you see here, is 
 an example of it. It is obtained from animals that are 
 grass-fed; and they are killed by pithing, and then 
 bleeding them. Directly the hide is taken off, the flesh 
 is stripped from the bones and allowed to cool. It is 
 then placed on a table, and jerked, or cut up into thin 
 slices, which are piled up in heaps with alternate layers 
 of salt. After standing twelve hours the meat is turned, 
 and fresh salt is added where necessary. The next day 
 the salted strips are placed upon hurdles, and exposed 
 to the sun to dry. It requires two or three days to dry 
 the meat thoroughly, and, for fear of damp, it is always 
 taken in-doors at night. There are several varieties of 
 this meat, as pato, which is the best and most free from 
 sinew ; manta, the second quality ; and tasajo, the third, 
 which is very thin and full of sinews. All the varieties 
 require to be well soaked in water, and then to be cut 
 small and cooked by prolonged boiling. The Nicara- 
 guan peasants, who use it largely for food, cook it with 
 some sort of fat in dripping or pork, and they flavour it 
 
1 86 On Food. 
 
 with herbs. The Chinese and Mongols, also, prepare 
 and cook it in much the same way. 
 
 But animal foods are not well preserved in this 
 manner, as they lose their flavour, and become tough 
 and indigestible ; the fat also gets rancid, and in damp 
 weather the meat absorbs moisture and becomes mouldy 
 and sour. Perhaps the lean parts of meat, as the heart, 
 tongue, and strips of muscle, might be advantageously 
 preserved in this way, especially in warm and dry 
 climates. The Food Committee of this Society reported 
 favourably of a specimen of dry powdered beef from 
 Cjueenstown, which they said was in excellent condition, 
 and contained about four times as much nutritious 
 matter as ordinary meat. Generally, however, the fat is 
 very rancid, even when pains are taken to prevent 
 the substance from getting mouldy. It is for the same 
 reason that all attempts to preserve milk and the yolk 
 of eggs by drying have failed, although the dried white 
 of egg will keep well, as in the process of Mr. Charles 
 Lamont, where the albumen is dried in thin scales — 
 forty-four eggs making about one pound of the prepara- 
 tion. Absorbent substances mixed with the fatty food 
 will obviate the difficulty to some extent, as in the pre- 
 paration of pemmican, where sugar and spice are added 
 to the dry powdered meat ; and in the several processes 
 for preserving milk by evaporating it and mixing it with 
 sugar, &c, as in the patents of Newton (1835), Grim- 
 wade (1847 and 1855), Louis (1848), &c. ; as well as the 
 process of Davison and Symington (1847), for preserving 
 eggs by mixing the yolks and whites with flour, ground 
 rice, and other farinaceous substance, and drying. Ex- 
 tract of meat may also be preserved in the same manner, 
 as in the patent of Donaldson (1793), of Robertson (185 1), 
 and of Borden (185 1), where the extract, after the sepa- 
 ration of fat, is mixed with farinaceous matters ; in the 
 last case it is also baked in the form of biscuits. The 
 meat biscuits of Messrs. Peak, Frean, and Co., consist of 
 
Preservation of Food. 1 8 7 
 
 Liebig's extract of meat and baked flour, pressed into 
 small cakes. In the year 1854 MM. Blumenthal and 
 Chollet obtained their patent for combining meat and 
 vegetables in the form of tablets, by first drying the 
 meat and vegetables, then pressing into cakes, and finally 
 submitting them to successive immersions in rich soup — 
 allowing them to dry in warm air after each immersion. 
 When extract of meat is made without fat or gelatine, as 
 in the case of Liebig's extract and the patis of Sumatra, 
 Java, &c, it may be kept for a long time in a sound 
 condition, without mixing it with farinaceous matters, 
 although the preparation of it with baked flour, as 
 already described, is a great improvement. 
 
 The process of drying is, however, best adapted for 
 the preservation of vegetable substances, and it has been 
 so used from time immemorial, as in the keeping of pot- 
 herbs, in preparing the tea-leaf, in making hay, &c. In 
 .this country the first recorded patent for preserving 
 vegetables by drying them was granted in 1780 to John 
 Graefer, who sought to retain the flavours of vegetables 
 by first dipping them in boiling salt and water, and then 
 drying. Forty years later (1820) John Vallance ob- 
 tained a patent for preserving hops by drying them, and 
 then compressing them into a small space, as is the prac- 
 tice at the present time. Then came the patents of 
 Edwards (August, 1S40), for boiling, granulating and 
 drying potatoes ; and of Grillett (November, 1846), for 
 preserving both cooked and uncooked potatoes by dry- 
 ing. Ten years afterwards (in November, 1850) Masson 
 obtained his patent for preserving vegetables by drying 
 them and forcibly compressing them, so that they were 
 reduced to one-seventh their original bulk — a cubic yard 
 containing rations for 16,000 men. This process has 
 been very successful, and is still practised by Devaux, 
 Chollet, and others ; for it serves for the preservation of 
 all kinds of vegetables, as potatoes, cabbages, carrots, 
 cauliflowers, beans, apples, &c. ; and when steeped in 
 
1 88 On Food. 
 
 water they re-absorb their natural proportions of mois- 
 ture, and swell out to their original size. They are, how- 
 ever, somewhat deficient of flavour ; and they require pro- 
 longed boiling, as from an hour and a-half to an hour 
 and three-quarters to cook them. 
 
 By a more careful process of drying, Mr. Makepeace 
 has managed to preserve both the colour and the flavour 
 of vegetables, especially of pot-herbs, as you may see 
 from these specimens, which I have had for some time. 
 
 Altogether there are, or have been, about thirty-one 
 patents in this country for the preservation of various 
 articles of food by drying them. 
 
 2nd. The preservation of organic matter by excluding 
 atmospheric air is, like the last, a very ancient process. 
 The old practice of burying the dead in leaden coffins, 
 and the still more ancient custom of swathing them in 
 resinous bandages or waxed cloths (called cerements), 
 owe their preservative powers to the exclusion of atmo- 
 spheric air ; and it is remarkable, seeing the efficacy of 
 the process, that the scientific principle of it was not long 
 ago recognised and applied to the preservation of food. 
 The first patent of the kind that I am acquainted with 
 in this country, was granted to Francis Plowden, ire 
 June, 1807; and he describes it as a process for " pre- 
 serving butcher's meat, animal, and other comestible 
 substances, by encrusting them with a substance, which 
 must not only resist the .effects of atmospheric air, but 
 must not communicate any noxious quality to its con- 
 tents," and for this purpose he employed essence or ex- 
 tract of meat. The substance being dressed, so that it 
 may preserve the longer, is wiped dry, and put into a 
 wooden vessel, and the hot extract, while in a fluid con- 
 dition, is poured over it, so as to find its way into every 
 vacuum. Three years later (in February, 18 10), Augus- 
 tus de Heine took out the first patent for preserving meat 
 by exhausting the air from the vessel containing the 
 meat ; and he contrived a machine for the purpose, as the 
 
Modes of Preserving Food. 1 89 
 
 action of the common air-pump was tedious. Six-and- 
 thirty years after this (1846), the late Mr. Warington, of 
 Apothecaries' Hall, obtained his patent for the preserva- 
 tion of animal substances, by coating them with common 
 glue, gelatine, or concentrated meat gravies, or otherwise 
 by dipping them in warm solutions of such substances, 
 or by wrapping them in waterproof cloth, or covering 
 them with caoutchouc, gutta-percha, or varnish. These 
 mark the starting points of the various processes now in 
 use ; for example : — 
 
 («). Of those which owe their operation to the exclu- 
 sion of air, by filling tip the vessel with something hot, there 
 are the patents of Plowden (1807), who used rich gravy 
 or extract of meat ; of Granholm (18 17), who used hot 
 fat, or hot animal jelly ; and of Wothly (1855), who used 
 oil, as in preserving anchovies. I am rather surprised, 
 considering ,how easily the exclusion of air is effected 
 by surrounding the substance with hot fat, that this 
 method of preserving meat has not been adopted in 
 Australia and South America ; for as the fat which is 
 prepared from wild cattle is sent to this country in casks, 
 there would be no difficulty in sending with it the finer 
 descriptions of joints, as legs of mutton, and good pieces 
 of beef. The process should be conducted as follows : — 
 When the fat is melted, and is at a temperature of from 
 240 . to 250 F., the fresh joints should be plunged into 
 it, and kept there for a few minutes, so that the super- 
 ficial moisture might be thoroughly evaporated. They 
 should then be immediately packed in sound dry casks, 
 and filled up with hot fat, at a temperature of 200 or 
 thereabouts. In this manner both the fat and the joints 
 might be transmitted to this country.* 
 
 * Since this was written large importations of food, preserved in 
 this manner, have been made by Mr. Tallerman, and by the Vic- 
 toria Meat Preserving Company — the latter samples being very 
 fine. 
 
190 On Food. 
 
 Vegetable substances are frequently preserved in 
 bottles filled up with hot syrup, and the practice is a 
 very old one. Hot water is also used for the same pur- 
 pose, and this method dates from the year 1807, when 
 this Society gave a premium to Mr. Saddington for his 
 method of preserving fruits without sugar. His process 
 was to gather the fruit a little before ripening, and to put 
 it immediately into clean bottles — filling the bottles 
 with the fruit to the neck. They were then placed in a 
 vessel of cold water, and heat was applied until it rose 
 to the temperature of from 160 to 170° F. After stand- 
 ing exposed to this temperature for half-an-hour, the 
 bottles were filled up to within an inch of the top with 
 boiling water, and were then immediately corked and 
 covered at the top with cement. The action of the heat 
 was not merely to expel atmospheric airfrom the bottles, 
 but also to coagulate the vegetable'albumen of the fruit. 
 Fruits and green vegetables are still preserved in this 
 manner, a little alum being generally added to the water 
 in the bottle, for the purpose of hardening the tender 
 skin of the fruit, and so preventing its disfigurement by 
 bursting. 
 
 (b). A process not very unlike the preceding, is that 
 which consists in the destruction of the oxygen of the air in 
 the -vessel, by heating the substance in it. This is the plan 
 of M. Appert, who, in 18 10 (three years after the publi- 
 cation of Mr. Saddington's method), obtained the reward 
 of 12,000 francs, offered in the preceding year by the 
 French Government, for the best method of preserving 
 food. Here is the book which M. Appert wrote at the 
 time, and he tells us to cook the food to some extent, 
 and put it into strong glass bottles — filling them almost 
 to the top. The bottles are then to be securely corked, 
 and exposed for some time to the action of boiling water. 
 To guard against accident from bursting, the corks are 
 to be wired down, and the bottles wrapped up separately 
 
Modes of Preserving Food. 191 
 
 in cloths. After this the corks are to be well covered 
 with pitch, to exclude atmospheric air. A like process 
 was patented in the autumn of the same year (1810), by 
 Mr. Peter Durand, who, no doubt, derived it from the 
 published account of M. Appert, dated nine months 
 before ; and since then, many such patents have been 
 obtained, which I need not describe. Attempts have 
 frequently been made to preserve milk by this process. 
 Appert recommended that the milk should be boiled 
 down to about half its bulk before putting it into the 
 bottles ; and in 1 847 Bekaert tried to improve the pro- 
 cess by adding carbonate of soda to the milk. Later 
 still, in the same year, Martin de Lignac obtained a 
 patent for preserving milk by evaporating it to one-sixth 
 cf its bulk before bottling it ; and this is the practice at 
 the present time in some places, where they wish to keep 
 the milk for a week or ten days. A good deal of the 
 condensed milk in America is of this kind, and it is thick 
 like cream, but not very sweet. Then there were the 
 patents of Symington and of Moreau (1853), but all 
 these methods have failed in practice on account of the 
 difficulty of preventing the separation of the butter. 
 
 Somewhat recently the milk from the rich pastures of 
 Switzerland, Bavaria, Ireland, and England, has been 
 preserved by adding to it about a third of its weight of 
 sugar, and then concentrat ngit'in vacuo until it acquires 
 the consistence of thin honey. In this state it is run into 
 tins, which are immediately soldered down, and thus 
 hermetically sealed. At present there are many sources 
 for the supply of such milk — the English market being 
 chiefly supplied by the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk 
 Company, whose works are t at Cham, near Zug, in 
 Switzerland; the English Condensed Milk Company, at 
 Aylesbury ; and the factory of Mr. Newnham, at Mar- 
 low, in Ireland. The following is the average composi- 
 tion of such milk. 
 
192 On Food. 
 
 Table XXVIII. 
 Composition of "various Samples of Condensed Milk. 
 
 
 ADglO- 
 
 Vivis. 
 
 Sassiu 
 
 Kemptou 
 
 Ordinary 
 
 
 Swiss. 
 
 Swiss. 
 
 Prussia. 
 
 Bavaria. 
 
 Milk. 
 
 Casein . . 
 
 18-10 
 
 15-96 
 
 14-24 
 
 14-90 
 
 3-64 
 
 Butter 
 
 12-26 
 
 12-03 
 
 12-63 
 
 13-65 
 
 3-55 
 
 Sugar . . 
 
 44-25 
 
 46-92 
 
 51-83 
 
 50-21 
 
 4-70 
 
 Suits . . 
 
 2-41 
 77-02 
 
 2-67 
 
 2-48 
 
 2-43 
 
 0-81 
 
 Total Solids . 
 
 77-58 
 
 8V18 
 
 81-19 
 
 12-70 
 
 Water . . 
 
 22 98 
 100-00 
 
 22-42 
 
 18-82 
 
 18-81 
 
 87-30 
 
 
 100-00 
 
 100-00 
 
 100-00 
 
 100-00 
 
 So that the concentration of the milk has been to 
 about one-third of its original bulk, and therefore if it be 
 diluted with twice its bulk of water, it will make a good 
 milk of ordinary strength. Of the sugar in the milk, 
 from 14 to 18 parts consist of lactose or milk sugar, and 
 the rest is cane sugar — hence the sweetness of the 
 milk. 
 
 (c). The preservation of food by exhausting the air from 
 the vessel containing it dates, as I have said, from the year 
 1 8 10, when Augustus de Heine proposed to use a vessel 
 "with a valve in the top of it, which allowed the air to be 
 drawn out by means of a special apparatus, but not 
 again to enter. The exhaustion, however, was so imper- 
 fect that the process did not answer. In 1828 Mr. Donald 
 Currie improved it by admitting carbonic acid gas into the 
 •vessel after it was thoroughly exhausted ; and later still, 
 in 1836, M. Leignette still further improved it, by filling 
 the vessels containing the food with salt and water, and 
 then letting out the liquid through the aperture, which 
 remained open for that purpose, while carbonic acid gas 
 went in. Six years after this (in 1842), Mr. John Bevan 
 patented a process for drawing out the air by an exhaust- 
 ing apparatus, and then admitting a warm solution of 
 gelatine; and in 1846 Mr. Rettie employed, in the like 
 manner, a solution of common salt. But none of these 
 
Modes of Preserving Food. 193 
 
 methods were successful ; nor was the patent of Mr 
 Ryan, in 1846, for using gases, chiefly acetic acid vapour' 
 and carbonic acid gas. The most perfect process of this 
 kind was patented by Messrs. Jones and Trevethick. It 
 consists of an apparatus whereby the exhaustion of the 
 vessel containing the raw food is effected, while it is in an 
 air-tight trough of water, and thus the entrance of air and 
 the collapse of the sides of the vessel are completely pre- 
 vented. After the exhaustion, pure nitrogen is admitted 
 into the vessel, for the purpose of diluting the residuum of 
 air, and it is again exhausted. Lastly, a charge of nitrogen, 
 containing alittle sulphurous acid,is let intoit,and thus the 
 last trace of oxygen is chemically absorbed. The vessels 
 are now in a proper condition for removal from the air- 
 tight water trough, and for having the apertures sealed 
 with solder. Meat, fish, and poultry, preserved in this 
 manner, have been found good after seven or eight years ; 
 and specimens of them of that age were exhibited in the 
 London Exhibition of 1862. 
 
 (d). The most common method of driving out the air 
 is by means of steam. The food is put, with a charge of 
 water, into a tin ■ case with a hole in the top, and when 
 the water is boiling actively, and steam has displaced the 
 air, and is escaping freely, the hole is stopped with solder. 
 This process dates as far back as 1820; but the first 
 patent for it was granted to M. Pierre Antonie Angilbert, 
 in 1823. He had, however, a very rude method of apply- 
 ing heat to the tin vessels, and this was improved by 
 Wertheimer in 1840. In the month of January of the > 
 year following Mr. Gunter improved it still further ; and 
 later in the same year both Goldner and Wertheimer 
 obtained patents for using a bath of muriate of lime for 
 heating the vessels. This is called the chloride of cal- 
 cium process, and is, in fact, the practice' followed at the 
 present time by Goldner, McCall, Richie, Morton, and 
 some others, who are largely engaged in the preservation 
 
 O 
 
194 On Food. 
 
 of food. The details of the process for effecting it are 
 somewhat as follows : — 
 
 The raw meat and vegetables are put with a little 
 water into the canisters and soldered down — a pin-hole 
 aperture being left in the lid. The canisters are then 
 subjected to the heat of the bath (a little above 212 .) 
 until the contents are about two-thirds cooked ; and then, 
 while steam is blowing freely out, the aperture is dexter- 
 ously sealed tight with solder. The heat of the bath is 
 then raised to about 230 F., and after exposure for an 
 hour or so to this temperature, the canisters are taken out 
 of the bath and allowed to cool. They are then painted 
 over with a stiff oil paint, and are placed for some time 
 in the testing-room, where the temperature is sufficiently 
 high to promote decomposition. If the canisters show no 
 «ign of bulging out from the generation of putrefactive 
 gases, they are considered sound. Messrs. Hogarth and 
 Co., of Aberdeen, use high pressure steam instead of the 
 muriate of lime bath ; in fact, the process which is gene- 
 rally used in Scotland, and which is called the water or 
 Aberdeen process, is the old method of supplying heat 
 by means of steam or boiling salt and water. The raw 
 meat, vegetables, &c, are placed in tins, which are imme- 
 diately soldered down perfectly air-tight. They are then 
 placed in a bath of boiling salt and water, and kept there 
 for a certain time, according to the size of the tin (about 
 two hours and a half for a 6-lb. tin). At the expiration of 
 this time the tins are removed, from the bath, and the 
 expanded air and vapour are let out through a minute 
 aperture in the cover, by unsoldering it for a moment. 
 Having been made air-tight again, they are returned to 
 the bath- of boiling brine, and kept there for the same 
 time as at first, and the aperture is again unsoldered 
 for a moment to let out the expanded vapour, &c. 
 Once more they are returned to the bath, and after a 
 like exposure they are taken out and allowed to coqI. 
 After which they are painted and tested in the hot cham- 
 
Modes of Preserving Food. 195 
 
 ber in the usual manner. By this means the air is ex- 
 pelled, or is deprived of its putrescent property. 
 
 Meat preserved in this manner will keep for a con- 
 siderable time. At the Exhibition of 185 1 vouchers were 
 given for some of the samples that had been preserved 
 for twenty-five years; and at the Exhibition of 1862 I 
 examined specimens of food that had been' kept for 
 more than thirty years. To-night, through the kindness 
 of Messrs. Crosse and Blackwell, I am able to show you 
 a specimen of preserved mutton which has been in the 
 case forty-four years, and you will perceive that it is in 
 excellent condition. It formed part of the stores sup- 
 plied by Messrs. Donkin and Gamble in 1824 to his 
 Majesty's exploring ship Fury, which was wrecked in 
 Prince Regent's Inlet in 1825, when the cases were 
 landed with the other stores, and left upon the beach. 
 Eight yeafs afterwards (in August, 1833), they were 
 found by Sir John Ross in the same condition as they 
 were left ; and he wrote to Mr. Gamble at the end of 
 that year, saying, " That the provisions were still in a 
 perfect state of preservation, although annually exposed 
 to a temperature of 92 deg. below and 80 deg. above 
 zero." Some of the cases were left untouched by Sir 
 John Ross ; and after a further interval of sixteen years, 
 the place was visited by a party from H.M.S. Investigator, 
 when, according to a. letter from the captain, Sir James 
 Ross, "the provisions were still in excellent condition, 
 after having lain upon the beach, exposed to the action 
 of the sun, and' all kinds of weather, for a period of 
 nearly a quarter of a century." Messrs. Crosse and 
 Blackwell have placed the original letters in my hands 
 for perusal, and they show, beyond all doubt, that meat 
 preserved in this manner will keep good for nearly half 
 a century— in fact, the case of boiled mutton now before 
 you has been preserved for forty-four years. There 
 can be no question, therefore, as to the success of the 
 process ; and hence it is largely practised, not only in 
 
 O 2 
 
196 On Food. 
 
 ■this country, but also in our colonies, where food is 
 abundant. In this way preserved salmon and lobsters 
 are sent to us from Newfoundland, turtle from Jamaica, 
 beef and mutton from Canada, and the dainty tail of 
 the kangaroo from Australia. The. trade, in fact, in 
 preserved meats is fast acquiring enormous proportions. 
 The Melbourne Company, for example, slaughtered in 
 the six months ending March, 1871, about 85,000 sheep 
 and 3,500 oxen ; and the Victoria Company killed about 
 1,000 sheep a week, and sent over 240,000 tins. Be- 
 sides which the Ramornie Company, as well as Mr. Tooth, 
 sent over large quantities of preserved meat in tins. We 
 are also getting it from New Zealand, through, the 
 enterprise of a Scotch Company. As an illustration of 
 the rapid .development of this branch of industry, it 
 may be stated that in j866 the value of tinned meats 
 from Australia was only £320, whereas in 1870 it was 
 ^204,000, and in 187 1 it exceeded half a million sterling. 
 There are, however, two serious objections to the pro- 
 cess, namely; the meat is nearly always over-cooked, 
 and the cases are likely to buckle and crack from the 
 constant pressure of the atmosphere — there being a 
 vacuum within them. The over-cooking arises from a 
 desire to ensure the complete exclusion of atmospheric 
 air by the steam. Mr. Nasmyth, however, proposed in 
 his patent of 1855, that a little alcohol should be mixed 
 with the water, so that the boiling-point may be reduced ; 
 while Mr. McCall, taking advantage of the absorbent 
 action of sulphite of soda on oxygen, recommended, a 
 less prolonged boiling, and the use of a little of this 
 salt. The salt is contained in a small capsule, fixed by 
 means of soft solder to the inner surface of the cover of 
 the case. When the food is about two-thirds cooked, 
 and steam is freely escaping, the hole in the lid is 
 stopped with a very hot iron, which melts the soft solder 
 of the capsule within, and so sets free the little pellet of 
 sulphite of soda, which speedily absorbs the trace of 
 oxygen left in the case. Mr. Richard Jones proposes to 
 
Modes of .Preserving Food. 197 
 
 ejehaust the air from the tins, so that the boiling - may- 
 be conducted at a lower temperature and for a shorter , 
 time. The tins containing the raw meat, &c, are con- 
 nected, by means of a tube in the cover, with a vacuum 
 chamber — the vacuum being produced by an air pump 
 or by means of condensed steam. They are then placed 
 in cold water, which is gradually raised to the boiling 
 point ; or they are placed in a chloride of calcium bath, 
 and slowly raised to 270? Fahrenheit — the air being 
 drawn out by the exhausting apparatus during the early 
 part of the process. The time required to cook and 
 preserve a duck in this manner is about two hours, and 
 the result is said to be more satisfactory than that of the 
 older processes. 
 
 The other difficulty^ namely, the cracking of the case 
 from atmospheric pressure, is obviated, as I have already 
 explained, by the introduction of inert gases, as carbonic 
 acid, nitrogen, &c, with a little sulphurous acid ; and 
 these have been the subject of many patents, as that of 
 Currie. (1828), Leignette (1836), Ryan (1846), Nasmyth 
 (1855), and others. 
 
 . (e). The last method of any importance for excluding 
 atmospheric air from food, is by coating it with, some 
 impervious material. This plan, as I have already stated, 
 was' first suggested by the late Mr. Robert Warington, 
 Who, in March, 1846, obtained a patent for the use of 
 "common glue, gelatine, or concentrated meat-gravies ; 
 or thin cream of plaster-of-Paris, which, when set hard, 
 was to be saturated with melted suet> wax, stearine, &c." 
 "The things were then to be wrapped in water-proof 
 cloth ; or ' covered with caoutchouc or gutta-percha ; or 
 coated with a varnish of these substances ; or kept sub- 
 merged in glycerine, treacle, elaines, oils, or other such 
 matter not liable to oxidation." Nine years after this, 
 in January, 1855, a patent was obtained by Messrs. 
 Delabarre and Bonnet, for preserving meat, bread, eggs, 
 vegetables, or pastry, by coating them with a varnish 
 made from the flesh and bones of animals, by boiling 
 
198 On Food. 
 
 them, and obtaining a rich syrup. This, when clarified* 
 was used to cover the parboiled meat or vegetables. In 
 the month of February in the same year, a like patent 
 was granted to. Mr. Hartnall, for a process of preserving 
 animal and vegetable substances by immersing them 
 in baths, consisting of gelatine and treacle dissolved 
 together in certain proportions ; then drying, re-dipping, 
 and covering with charcoal powder. Later still, in the 
 same year (1855), Mr. Brooman patented the use of 
 albumen and molasses, as a coating for meat, after the 
 meat had been partially dried, and then suspended in an 
 air-tight vessel charged with sulphurous acid. Lastly, 
 in the month of December of the same year, Messrs. 
 Bouett and Douein obtained provisional protection for 
 the use of collodion, either alone or mixed with other 
 suitable substance. 
 
 But the best example of this method of preserving 
 meat is the process of Dr. Eedwood, whereby the meat 
 is first covered with paraffin, and then with a flexible 
 coating of gelatine, mixed with glycerine or treacle. 
 The joints are dipped into a bath of paraffin, having a 
 temperature of from 240° to 250° F., and are kept 
 therein until the surface moisture is evaporated. They 
 are then transferred to a colder bath of paraffin, from 
 which they receive two or three coatings, prior to their 
 being covered with the last flexible covering of gelatine, 
 &c. When the meat is required for use, the para'ffin is 
 easily removed from it by plunging it into boiling water, 
 which dissolves the flexible coating and melts the 
 paraffin. The paraffin floats upon the water, and, when 
 cold, may be collected for future use. 
 
 Eggs may be preserved by covering them with a little 
 oil or butter, or, as M. Martin proposes, with a thin 
 coating of collodion dissolved in ether; but the most 
 common method of preserving them is by putting them, 
 when quite fresh, into milk of lime, made from recently 
 burnt lime, rejecting those which do not readily sink in 
 
Modes of Preserving Food. 199 
 
 the lime-water, or which are cracked. The preservative 
 action is no doubt due to the formation of carbonate of 
 lime within the pores of the shell, whereby the exclusion 
 of atmospheric oxygen is secured. In illustration of 
 the antiseptic power of lime, a writer in the Journal de 
 Pharmacie says that some time ago, when a sacristy in 
 the neighbourhood of Lago Maggiore was pulled down, 
 eggs quite fresh were found embedded in the mortar, 
 which had, perhaps, existed for three hundred years. 
 
 The common methods of preserving foods by forcing 
 them into skins, as in the case of German sausages, lard, 
 ■&c, is of very ancient date ; although a patent was 
 granted to Mr. Palmer, in 1846, for the preservation of 
 the fat of beef, mutton, veal, or lamb, by melting them 
 when fresh, then straining, and packing in bladders. 
 
 3rd. The preservation of food by cold \s a well-known 
 process, for every one is acquainted with the fact that 
 meat will keep for a long time in the winter season 
 without deterioration ; but the extent to which this 
 preservative power may be carried is not so well known. 
 Animals, we are told, have been found in a perfect state 
 of preservation in the frozen earth of the Arctic regions, 
 where they must have been buried for centuries. Last 
 year, indeed, a communication was made to the Royal 
 Society, by Dr. Carl von Bear, of the fact that the entire 
 body of a mammoth was found in the frozen soil of 
 Arctic Siberia. How long it had been so preserved it 
 is hard to conjecture, but it must have been there for 
 ages. Another good example of the preservative power 
 of cold was observed in Switzerland in the autumn of 
 1861, when the mangled bodies of three Chamounix 
 guides were found at the lower part of the Glacier de 
 Boissons. The flesh of the bodies was perfectly pre- 
 served, notwithstanding that 41 years had elapsed since 
 the unfortunate men were killed. They were carried 
 away by an avalanche from the grand plateau of Mont 
 Blanc, in the month of August, 1820, while attempting 
 
200 On Food. 
 
 to ascend the mountain with Dr. Hamell ; and no trace 
 of them was discovered until the corresponding month 
 of 1861, when, by the slow descent of the mountain ice, 
 their remains were brought to the lower glacier. So- 
 well is this preservative power of cold known to the in- 
 habitants of Russia, Canada, and other northern climates^ 
 that it is a common practice to slaughter fat animals on 
 the approach of winter, when fodder is getting scarce, 
 and to preserve their carcasses by burying them in the 
 ice or frozen earth ; and they are thus kept from the 
 middle of November to the early part of May. We 
 also have a practice of packing salmon in ice ; and we 
 receive game and poultry from America, and send the 
 like to India in boxes. surrounded with ice. The appli- 
 cation of this method of preserving food is almost with- 
 out limit, for not only can we obtain a stock of ice for 
 such a purpose in the winter season, but it may be 
 brought to us at any time from the colder regions of 
 Northern Europe ; in fact, the , finest Norwegian block- 
 ice can be obtained at the London-docks in the height 
 of summer for about twenty shillings a ton. Artificially 
 made ice, as hard and as clear as that from Wenham 
 Lake, may be obtained at a still lower price ; for there is 
 a machine invented by Mr. James Harrison, of Australia, 
 and made in this country by Messrs. Siebd brothers, of 
 Lambeth, which is said to be capable of producing 
 8,000 lbs. of ice a day, at a cost, including all expenses, 
 and with a good margin for profit, of 10s. a ton. Other 
 machines have been constructed to produce it at a still 
 lower price : thus, the machine of M. Tellier, which owes 
 its action to the cold generated by the quick evaporation 
 of liquid ammonia from compressed ammoniacal gas, 
 will, it is said, make a hundred tons of ice a day at a 
 cost of from 4s. to 5s. a ton — the ammonia being used 
 over and over again in alternating cylinders ; and the 
 apparatus of M. Mignot, of Paris, which is dependent for 
 its action on the cold produced by the expansion of 
 
Modes of Preserving Food. 20 r 
 
 compressed air (the pressure being about 60 lbs. upon 
 the square inch), will yield from 40 to 50 tons of ice a 
 day, at a cost of from 3's. to 4s. a ton at the utmost. So 
 important, indeed, is the question" of producing ice by 
 mechanical means, that it was the subject of remark by 
 Mr. Siemens, at the meeting of the British Association 
 at Exeter in 1869, when, as President of the Section of 
 Mechanical Science, he alluded to it in his inaugural 
 address ; saying that a machine had been constructed 
 which could produce 9 lbs. of ice, or its equivalent in 
 cold, for every pound of coal consumed. This is at the 
 rate of 2s. 6d. per ton. How easy, therefore, it is to 
 resort to the use of ice in the summer months for the 
 preservation of food ! Dealers might provide themselves 
 with close rooms or cellars containing ice for the storage 
 of perishable food ; and we ourselves might use ice-boxes 
 to any extent in our households. It might interest you 
 to know that the first patent for the preservation of food 
 in this manner was granted to John Lings in 1845. 
 
 On the other hand, a temperature of from 200 to 
 212 of Fahrenheit will also arrest putrefaction ; and 
 joints of meat may be preserved for a time by dipping 
 them occasionally in boiling water. 
 
 The 4th and last method of preserving food is by the- 
 use of chemical agents, called antiseptics, which act by 
 destroying infusorial and fungoid life, and by forming 
 compounds which are not prone to decay. Foremost of 
 these is common salt, which has been used from the .. 
 earliest time ; but unless it is carefully applied, it is not 
 a good agent for the preservation of meat, as it extracts 
 the soluble constituents of it, and makes it hard and in- 
 digestible : the brine, in fact, always contains albumen, 
 as well as organic acids, alkaloids, and extractive matters 
 of meat. To this extent, therefore, the meat is deprived 
 of its stimulating and nutritive constituents. At one 
 time, when the process was much more carelessly per- 
 formed than at present, the loss of these important con- 
 
202 On Food. 
 
 stituents was often a cause of deranged nutrition and of 
 cachectic diseases. This was the case with our sailors, 
 when, on long voyages, they were obliged to feed on the 
 hard salt junk of the navy; and even now among the 
 Norwegians, who eat large quantities of salt meat and 
 salt fish, scurvy and leprosy are common disorders. The 
 process, however, is much better managed at the present 
 time than formerly, and, considering how easily and how 
 cheaply it is applied, it is not surprising that it is almost 
 universally practised. In some parts of England and 
 Wales, it is the custom of the better classes of agricul- 
 tural labourers to fatten a pig during the summer, and kill 
 it and salt it for the winter. In Scotland,, also, it was, 
 until recently, the practice in many agricultural districts 
 to lay in a store pf salt beef for the winter, by killing and 
 salting a bullock or cow, called the Mairt, because it was 
 slaughtered about the time of Martinmas. Hams and 
 tongues are treated in like manner ; and so are fish, when 
 they are plentiful, among the inhabitants of our coasts. 
 As far back as 1800 a patent was granted to Mr. 
 Benjamin Batley, for curing and preserving herrings and 
 sprats by salting them ; and it would seem that his pro- 
 cess was very successful, for in the following year he 
 obtained a patent for the like treatment of other fish. 
 The dainty caviare of the Russian is nothing but the 
 salted roe of the sturgeon. Even vegetables may be 
 preserved in salt and water, as in the case of olives ; and 
 almost all our vegetable sauces, as mushroom, tomata, 
 Worcester, &c, are the juices of vegetables treated with 
 salt. 
 
 Other saline subtances, as saltpetre, acetate of am- 
 monia, sulphite of potash, or soda, piuriate of ammonia, 
 &c, are also good preservative agents, and are the sub- 
 jects of several patents. Here is a specimen of meat 
 preserved by wetting it with a solution of one part of 
 acetate of ammonia and nine of water ; and here another, 
 which has been similarly treated with a weak solution of 
 
Modes of Preserving Food. 203 
 
 sulphite of soda. Bisulphite of lime is also a good pre- 
 serving agent. It was tried in the summer of 1867 on 
 eight sides of veal in Newgate market, with great suc- 
 cess. It is only necessary to brush the solution over the 
 surface of the fresh meat, and when dry it will leave the 
 meat in such a state as to resist decay. In M. George's 
 process, which is in use in La Plata, the meat is partially 
 dried, and then steeped in successive waters containing 
 hydrochloric acid and sulphite of soda. Instead of 
 covering the meat with the solution, it may be injected 
 with it, as in the patents of Long (1834), Horsley (1847), 
 Murdoch (1851), and others. 
 
 After meat or fish is salted, it is frequently dried and 
 smoked by exposing it in close chambers to the vapours 
 of smouldering peat, wood, straw, &c, and in this manner 
 it becomes impregnated with the dark brown empy- 
 reumatic oil of the burning wood. The chief agent 
 concerned in the preservation of food thus treated is the 
 creosote of the empyreumatic oil of the smoke, and this 
 it is which gives the food a smoky flavour. A like effect 
 may be produced by dissolving the creosote of wood-tar 
 in vinegar, and brushing it over the salted joint. The 
 creosote of coal-tar {carbolic acid) is also a powerful anti- 
 septic, but its flavour is not agreeable, and therefore it is 
 not much used in the preservation of food; although 
 M. Boudet proposes to use it dissolved in water to the 
 extent of from one part to five parts of carbolic acid in 
 a thousand parts of water. The meat is placed in these 
 solutions and kept in barrels or air-tight tins. The 
 meat, he says, is not only well preserved, but it does not 
 acquire an unpleasant, flavour. Crude carbolic acid is 
 extensively employed, in the form of coal-tar, dead oil, 
 or creosote, in the preservation of wood, canvas, &e. ; 
 and the perfection of purity to which it is now brought 
 by Dr. Crace Calvert and other manufacturers, encou- 
 rages its use in medicine and surgery, if not in dietetics. 
 
 Spirits of wine and vinegar are other preservative 
 
204 On Food. 
 
 agents which owe their antiseptic power to their de- 
 structive action on infusorial life, and to their combining 
 with the albuminous constituents of food. Cherry brandy 
 and pickles are good examples of this ; and so are the 
 wines and vinegars of chilies, tarragan, and shallot,, 
 which are used for flavouring purposes. 
 
 Lastly, I may state that the fumes of burning sulphur 
 {sulphurous acid) are very powerfully antiseptic ; and 
 many patents have been taken out for their employment 
 in the preservation of food. In the spring of 1854, • 
 Laury obtained, a patent for it, the gas being introduced 
 into the vessel containing the substance to be preserved. 
 Later in the same year, Bellford received -provisional 
 protection for the use of sulphurous acid with about 
 one-hundredth of its volume of hydrochloric acid — the . 
 object being to prevent the sulphurous acid combining- 
 with the alkaline salts of the meat, and so giving it an 
 unpleasant taste. The acids were to be used in solu- 
 tion, and the meat immersed in it for twenty-four hours. 
 In the following year (1855) there were three patents— 
 those of Brooman, Demait, and Hands, for the use of 
 the acid in a gaseous form ; and in the specification of 
 Demait it was directed that the substance should be 
 preserved by hanging it up in a chamber, and exposing 
 it for a time to the action of the gas. Professor Gamgee 
 has revived this process in a recent patent, with certain 
 modifications. He recommends, for example, that the ■ 
 animal should be made to inhale carbonic oxide gas 
 and when it is nearly insensible, it should be bled in the 
 usual way. After the carcass is dressed, it is to be sus- 
 pended in an air-tight chamber, which is to be exhausted 
 of air, and then filled with carbonic oxide gas, to which 
 a little sulphurous acid has been added. It is to remain 
 exposed to these gases for twenty-four or even forty- . 
 eight hours, and is then to be hung up in dry air, after 
 which it is said that the carcass will keep for many . 
 months, without perceptible change in taste or appear- 
 
Unsound Food. 205 
 
 arice. The process has been tested by killing meat in 
 London, and sending it to New York ; and after the 
 lapse of from four to five months, the meat has been 
 pronounced good by a practical butcher. I am very 
 much inclined to think that the real preservative agent 
 is the sulphurous acid, and that the highly poisonous 
 ■carbonic oxide gas might be advantageously excluded 
 from the chamber. 
 
 And now, in leaving this part of the subject, I cannot 
 refrain from saying that the history of these patents for 
 the preservation of food affords very striking instances 
 of the necessity for an amendment of our patent laws ; 
 for not only is there a frequent absence of all scientific 
 principles in the construction of the patents, but in 
 many cases there is also a total disregard, or else profound 
 ignorance of what has already been done by others in 
 the matter. Repetitions, therefore, occur again and 
 again of the same process, nearly always imperfectly 
 specified ; and, on the other hand, the most ridiculous 
 propositions often assume an importance, as if for no 
 other object than that of obstructing invention. Out of 
 the 121 patents for the preservation of food which I 
 have had an opportunity of examining, there are hardly 
 a dozen that can be regarded as either useful to the 
 community or profitable to the patentee. 
 
 Unsound Food. 
 
 I come now to the last division of our subject — 
 namely, that which relates to the sale and use of unsound 
 and adulterated food ; and perhaps the most important 
 of this kind of food is bad meat — that is, meat which 
 is unwholesome on account of putridity or disease. 
 Food of this description has always been a subject of 
 legal prohibition. Among the Jews the prohibition dates 
 from the time of Moses, who is supposed to have 
 received from the Lord, during his sojourn upon Mount 
 Sinai, certain oral commandments respecting the slaugh- 
 
2o6 On Food. 
 
 tering of animals for food, and the examination of their 
 bodies for disease. There is no account of these com- 
 mandments in the written law, but they were evidently- 
 communicated to the people of Israel by Moses, for he 
 says, " Thou shalt kill of thy herd, and of thy flock, 
 which the Lord hath given thee, as T have commanded 
 thee" (Deut, chap, xii., v. 21). It is presumed, therefore, 
 that these instructions were Very specific, and have been 
 practised by the Jews from that time until now. The 
 Hebrew law is that no flesh shall be eaten, except of 
 animals that have been killed and searched, or examined, 
 by the officer (bodek) appointed for that purpose ; and 
 the most precise rules are laid down for his guidance in 
 these matters. In fact, he is bound by very solemn 
 obligations to declare of every animal that he kills, 
 whether the flesh is proper to be eaten {caser), or is 
 unfit for food, by reason of its being diseased or torn 
 (trefa). This expression appears to have been derived 
 from an ordinance of Moses, that no flesh should be 
 eaten that is torn in the field (Exodus, chap, xii., v. 31,); 
 the word torn (trefa or terefa) being supposed, according 
 to the traditions of Hebrew sages, to apply not only 
 to animals torn in the chase, or by wild beasts, or by 
 the bungling act of the butcher, but also to those affected 
 with any disease that would shorten their lives ; and as 
 it is thought that such disease is always indicated by the 
 condition of the lungs, the utmost care is taken by the 
 searcher or bodek in the examination of these organs. 
 His rules or instructions for this purpose are very strict ; 
 but generally it may be said that he condemns as unlaw- 
 ful, or unfit for food, the flesh of all animals in which the 
 lungs present the following appearances : — Certain defi- 
 ciencies, excess, or displacement of the lobes ; adhesions, 
 or false membranes ; tubercles, or abscess containing 
 matter or opaque water ; discolourations which do not 
 disappear when the lungs are inflated ; ulcers, holes, and 
 abrasions letting air through them ; consolidations that 
 
Roman Customs respecting Meat. 207 
 
 are impervious to air, and rottenness oi tissue. Many of 
 these are, no doubt, unimportant evidences of disease, 
 and, therefore, although the flesh of such animals is 
 rejected by the Jew, it is freely consumed by the Chris- 
 tian. The Jews, indeed, make a sort of bargain with the 
 unorthodox butcher to take only such animals, when 
 slaughtered by their officer, the bodek, as he considers 
 lawful, and the rest are sold to the public. I dare say 
 this has been the practice at all times, for there are occa- 
 sional references to it in our legal and domestic records 
 In Liber alius, for example, there is a memorandum to 
 the effect that on the 24th of June, 1274, certain discreet 
 men of the city were summoned before the king's coun- 
 cil, to answer the question as to what was done with the 
 unclean flesh of the Jews, and whether it was lawful for 
 Christians to buy and eat the same. Their answer was, 
 that if any citizen bought such- flesh of a Jew, he would 
 be expelled from the city, and if convicted by the 
 sheriff he would not only forfeit such flesh, which would 
 be given to lepers or dogs, but he would also be heavily 
 fined. To which the council replied that they com- 
 manded them, in the King's name, to have the custom 
 strictly observed. I fear, however, from the legal records 
 of Liber albus, that less attention was paid in those days 
 to the sale of diseased meat than to that of putrid meat ; 
 for, on examining the accounts of the citizens made and 
 rendered in divers courts of the King, I find that while 
 "judgment of pillory" is recorded in twenty-one cases 
 for selling putrid meat, poultry, or fish, there is not a 
 single instance of a like punishment for selling the 
 unclean meat of the Jews. 
 
 In ancient Rome there were overseers appointed to 
 examine the meat in the public markets before it was 
 sold, and butchers were often fined for neglecting the 
 law in this respect. Mr. Charles Reed has given us an 
 example of this from the Acta Diurna, or Roman 
 Gazette, of 585 years after the building of Rome, which, 
 
2o8 On Food. 
 
 when translated, runs thus :— A. U. C. DLXXXV. 
 Fourth of the kalends of April. The fasces, with 
 Licinius, the consul, and Lertinus, aedile, fined .the 
 butchers for selling meat which had not been inspected 
 by the overseers of the markets. The fine is to be 
 employed towards building a chapel in the temple of the 
 goddess Tellus. 
 
 In modern times, also, severe regulations have been 
 made in all the States of Europe for the government of 
 this matter, and in many cases particular instructions 
 are given as to the kind of disease which renders meat 
 unfit for human food — it being the practice to examine 
 the animal while alive, and its carcass when dead. This 
 examination is entrusted to properly-qualified officers, 
 who are bound to condemn diseased and putrid meat, as 
 well as the flesh of animals that have died otherwise 
 than by the hand of the butcher ; and no meat can be 
 .sold until it has undergone such an examination. In 
 this country, however, although there are laws pro- 
 hibiting the sale of unsound and unwholesome food, yet 
 there is no provision for the systematic inspection of 
 meat, even when it has reached the public shambles. 
 All that the law declares is, that the local authority 
 may, if it pleases, appoint an officer for that purpose ; 
 and as the appointment would cost money, and is not 
 compulsory, it is rarely made. Practically, therefore, 
 there is, except in a few places, an almost unchecked 
 traffic in diseased and unwholesome meat ; and the 
 _ worst descriptions of it are generally sold to the poor at 
 Jiight. 
 
 Our forefathers made stringent rules to prevent this ; 
 for, among other things, they ordained " that butchers 
 shall close their shops before candle-light, and shall not 
 sell flesh meat by light of candle." — {Liber albus.) 
 
 Within the city of London the inspection is performed 
 as carefully as it can be, but, nevertheless, amidst the 
 confusion of business in the early hours of morning, a 
 
Unsound Meat in London. 209 
 
 great deal of unsound meat escapes the notice of the 
 inspectors. In fact, if it were not for the assistance 
 afforded to them by the salesmen of the markets, it 
 would be absolutely impossible to check, to any large 
 extent, the sale of unwholesome meat ; for, in the four 
 markets of the city — Newgate, Aldgate, Leadenhall, 
 and the New Meat Market — as much as 400 tons of 
 meat are sold daily. It is brought from all parts of 
 Great Britain and Ireland, as well as from Belgium, 
 Holland, and France, and even from the ports of the 
 Baltic. Of this a large quantity is diseased, coming 
 chiefly from our own country towns, where it is a 
 common practice to forward to London everything that 
 is unsaleable at home. I cannot say what is the actual 
 proportion of bad meat to good, but we seize and con- 
 demn about two tons a week, and this is in the propor- 
 tion of one part to 75°- Last year the amount of meat 
 condemned as unfit for food was nearly 129 tons, and in 
 the preceding year it was more than 152 tons. In fact, 
 during the seven years which have expired since the 
 inspectors were appointed under my recommendation, 
 we have seized and destroyed 1,567,810 lbs., or just 700 
 tons of meat as unfit for human food. Of this quantity, 
 805,653 lbs. were diseased, 568,375 lbs. were putrid, and 
 193,782 lbs. were from animals that had not been 
 slaughtered, but had died from accident or disease. It 
 consisted of 6,640 sheep and lambs, 1,025 calves, 2,896 
 pigs, 9,104 quarters of beef, and 21,976 joints of meat ; 
 besides which, there were also seized and condemned in 
 the city markets, on account of putridity, 19,040 head of 
 game and poultry, 207 quarters of venison, and above 
 seven millions offish, together with thousands of bushels 
 of sprats, whelks, shrimps, periwinkles, &c. 
 
 It is to be regretted that in the various Acts of 
 Parliament which relate to the condemnation of unsound 
 meat, there are no special rules for the guidance of the 
 officers appointed to investigate this matter — there being 
 
 P 
 
2io On Food. 
 
 only a very loosely- worded general provision to the 
 effect that the medical officer of health, or the inspector 
 of slaughter-houses, or the inspector of nuisances, may, 
 at all reasonable times, inspect and examine any animal, 
 carcass, meat, poultry, game, flesh, fish, &c, exposed for 
 sale, or deposited in any place for the purpose of sale, 
 or in preparation for sale, or intended for the food of 
 man ; and in case it appears to the medical officer of 
 health, or the inspector, to be diseased, or unsound, or 
 unwholesome, or unfit for the food of man, it shall be 
 lawful for him to seize the same, and for a justice to 
 order it to be destroyed. In this regulation there is no 
 particular reference to the kind of food which is unwhole- 
 some, or to the circumstances which render it so, and, 
 therefore, much is left to the discretion of the officer who 
 examines it. In the city of London the practice is to 
 condemn the flesh of animals infected with certain para- 
 sites, as measles, flukes, &c. ; and of animals suffering 
 from fever or acute inflammatory affections, as rinder- 
 pest, pleuro-pneumonia, and the fever of parturition, and 
 of animals emaciated by lingering disease ; and those 
 which have died from accident or from natural causes ; 
 as well as all meat tainted with physic, or in a high 
 state of putrefaction. A little practice is required to 
 distinguish meat of this description, but, generally, it 
 may be said that good meat has the following 
 characters : — 
 
 1st. It is neither of a pale pink colour nor of a deep 
 purple tint, for the former is a sign of disease, and the 
 latter indicates that the animal has not been slaughtered, 
 but has died with the blood in it, or has suffered from 
 acute fever. 
 
 2nd. It has a marbled appearance from the ramifica- 
 tions of little veins of fat among the muscles. 
 
 3rd. It should be firm and elastic to the touch, and 
 should scarcely moisten the fingers — bad meat being 
 wet, and sodden, and flabby, with the fat looking like 
 jelly or wet parchment. 
 
Signs of Good Meat. 211 
 
 4th. It should have little or no odour, and the odour 
 should not be disagreeable, for diseased meat has a sickly- 
 cadaverous smell, and sometimes a smell of physic. This 
 is very discoverable when the meat ' is chopped up and 
 drenched with warm water. 
 
 5th. It should not run to water or become very wet 
 on standing for a day or so, but should, on the contrary, 
 dry upon the surface, 
 
 6th. When dried at a temperature of 2 1 2° or there- 
 about, it should not lose more than from 70 to 74 per 
 cent, of its weight, whereas bad meat will often lose as 
 much as 80 per cent. 
 
 7th. It should not shrink or waste much in cooking. 
 
 Other properties of a more refined character will also 
 serve for the recognition of bad meat, as that the juice 
 of the flesh is alkaline or neutral to test-paper, instead 
 of being distinctly acid ; and the muscular fibre, when 
 examined under the microscope, is found to be sodden 
 and ill-defined. 
 
 The signs of parasitic diseases are'not always observ- 
 able without careful examination. In the case of the 
 fluke in the livers of sheep, and of measles in pork, and 
 of hydatids in the brain or liver, the nature of" the dis- 
 ease is at once discoverable, but it is not so with the 
 smaller measles or cysticerci of beef and veal, and it is 
 still less so with the trichina of pork— the microscope 
 being required to reveal their presence. 
 
 And here, perhaps, we may ask, what are the effects of 
 diseased or putrid meat on the human system f The ques- 
 tion is undoubtedly very difficult to answer, for while, on 
 the one hand, we have abundant evidence that such 
 meat may frequently be eaten with impunity, so on the 
 other we have many remarkable instances of injury occa- 
 sioned by it. In Scotland there is a disease called braxy, 
 which attacks the sheep and lambs in spring and early 
 summer. It is the cause of at least half the deaths in 
 the flock during the year. The disease kills the animals 
 
 P2 
 
2i2 On Food. 
 
 very quickly, by causing stagnation of blood in the most 
 important vital organs ; and as the carcass is the perqui- 
 site of the herdsman, he almost invariably eats it — tak- 
 ing the precaution to remove the offal, and to cut away 
 the darker portions of the flesh where the blood has 
 stagnated. He also salts it before he uses it ; and if 
 questioned on the subject he will tell you that the meat 
 is not unwholesome. Every now and then, however, 
 when perhaps the diseased parts have not been en- 
 tirely removed, or when the salting has not been suffi- 
 ciently prolonged, or the cooking has not been tho- 
 roughly effected, the most serious consequences result 
 from it, insomuch that many medical practitioners, who 
 are acquainted with the habits of the Scotch shepherds 
 in this respect, and have seen the mischief occasioned by 
 the meat, declare that braxy mutton is a highly dan- 
 gerous food for man. Again, it is a common practice 
 with farm labourers to eat the flesh of sheep affected 
 with staggers, which is a parasitic disease of the brain, 
 and even of animals dying from acute inflammatory dis- 
 eases. There is a story told on the authority of Dr. 
 Briicke, the professor of physiology in Vienna, that some 
 years ago, when the steppemurrain was prevalent in 
 Bohemia, and the infected animals were killed and 
 buried by order of the government, the poor people dug 
 up the carcasses of the dead bullocks, and cooked them, 
 and ate thsm, without injury. During the siege of Paris, 
 also, when there was but little choice of animal food, no 
 one paid the least attention to the condition of the meat 
 as regards disease ; and, as far as observation went, no 
 ill effects resulted from it ; in fact, M. Decroix, who has 
 published his personal experience of the matter, states 
 that the flesh of horses affected with farcie or glanders 
 was eaten with impunity ; and that if there had been 
 any real danger from the use of diseased meat all the 
 population would have suftered. His notion is that the 
 morbific action of diseased meat is overrated, and that 
 
Effects of .Diseased Meat. 213 
 
 when it exists it is destroyed by cooking. This, he says, 
 lie has himself proved by eating the diseased meat which 
 had been seized in the abattoirs, and sent to the Jardin 
 des Plantes for the use of the wild carnivorous animals 
 which are kept there. Again, in this country, during the 
 prevalence of rinderpest in 1863, enormous quantities of 
 meat from the diseased animals were sent to market, 
 and sold and eaten. The same has been the case with 
 the carcasses of animals suffering acute pleuro-pneumo- 
 nia ; and if, as Professor Gamgee says, the practice of 
 making salvage out of diseased animals is so common, 
 that at least one-fifth of the meat which is sold in the 
 public markets is diseased, we may well ask, in the words 
 of Mr. Simon, how it is that some sort of pestilence is 
 not bearing witness to the fact ? — How it is that cattle 
 having all the foulness of fever in their blood, or having 
 local sores and infiltrations, that yield one of the dead- 
 liest of inoculable morbid poisons, or having their flesh 
 thronged with larval parasites, do not, when slaughtered 
 and eaten, produce a general poisoning ? Parent Du Cha- 
 telet has commented in very forcible language on the 
 apparent immunity from disease even when the most foul 
 and loathsome of animal foods are eaten. But is it not 
 possible that the danger is averted by the operation of 
 cooking ? Not that the human stomach has not also a 
 wonderful protective power in its own natural functions ; 
 for the deadly poison of the cobra or the rattle-snake 
 maybe swallowed with impunity. It is possible, how- 
 ever, that these safeguards may fail us occasionally, and 
 then it is, perhaps, that the most serious consequences 
 arise. I have often had to investigate cases of mysteri- 
 ous disease which had undoubtedly been caused by 
 unsound meat. One of these, of more than ordinary 
 interest, occurred in the month of November, i860. 
 The history of it is this : a fore-quarter of cow-beef was 
 purchased in Newgate Market by a sausage-maker who 
 lived at Kingsland^ and who immediately converted it 
 
214 On Food. 
 
 into sausage-meat. Sixty-six persons were known to 
 have eaten of that meat, and sixty-four of them were" 
 attacked with sickness, diarrhoea, and great prostration 
 of vital powers. One of them died ; and at the request 
 of the coroner, I made a searching inquiry into the 
 matter, from which I ascertained that the meat was 
 diseased, and that it, and it alone, had been the cause of 
 all the mischief. Dr. Livingstone tells us that when the 
 flesh of animals affected with pleuro-pneumonia is eaten 
 in South Africa, by either natives or Europeans, it in- 
 variably produces malignant carbuncle. He states, 
 indeed, that the effects of the poison were often ex- 
 perienced by the missionaries who had eaten the meat, 
 even when the presence of the disease was scarcely per- 
 ceptible ; and in many cases when the Backwains per- 
 sisted in devouring the flesh of such diseased animals, 
 death was the consequence. The virus, he says, is 
 neither destroyed by boiling nor by roasting, and of this 
 fact he had innumerable instances. Now, it is a re- 
 markable circumstance that ever since the importation 
 of this disease (pleuro-pneumonia) into England from 
 Holland in 1842, the annual number of deaths from 
 carbuncle, phlegmon, and boils has been gradually in- 
 creasing. In the five years preceding that time the 
 mortality in England from carbuncle was scarcely 1 in 
 10,000 of the deaths; from 1842 to 1846 there is no 
 record of the disease ; but in the next five years, from 
 1846 to 185 1, the mortality rose to T6 per 10,000 of the 
 deaths ; and in the next five years it amounted to 62 
 per 10,000; and in the succeeding five years to 54. In 
 the case of phlegmons, the increase in the mortality is 
 still more remarkable, for it rose from an average of 
 2 - 5 per 10,000 of the deaths in the five years preceding 
 the importation of the disease, to 81 per 10,000 in the 
 ten years from 1847 to 1856. The Registrar-General 
 of Scotland has directed public attention to this fact, 
 saying that the deaths from carbuncle are on the in- 
 
Meat from Diseased Animals. 215 
 
 \ — , , -. 
 
 crease, and that the mortality from it has been getting 
 larger and larger ever since the lung disease of cattle 
 was imported into Scotland. This accords with the 
 experience of medical practice ; but as it is very difficult 
 to trace the immediate connection of bad food with 
 subsequent disease, there being so many circumstances 
 to weaken the connection, it is not surprising that 
 differences of opinion should exist as to the morbific 
 effects of unsound meat; nothing, in short, but an 
 experimental inquiry into the subject, as has already 
 been done in Germany in the case of parasitic diseases, 
 will bring the question to rest ; and I see no reason why 
 such an investigation should not be made on the persons 
 of those who send diseased meat to the public markets 
 for sale ; for, as the common defence of their conduct is, 
 that the meat is good for food, they cannot surely 
 object to the penalty of being made to eat it. Here, 
 for example, is a specimen of pork covered with pustules 
 of small-pox ; it was seized by one of the city officers 
 on the road to a notorious sausage-maker, and it may, 
 notwithstanding its disgusting appearance, be good and 
 wholesome food ; then why not put the question to the 
 proof by making the vendor of it eat it ? In the year 
 1862, when small-pox was prevalent among the sheep in 
 several parts of England, it was a cdmmon practice 
 to send the carcasses of diseased animals to the London 
 markets for sale as human food. Later still, in 1863, 
 there was an epidemic of what seemed to be scarlet 
 fever among the pigs of this metropolis, and their car- 
 casses, with all the bright crimson look of the disease, 
 were invariably sent to market for sale as food. Since 
 then the London pigs have been the subject of a viru- 
 lent spotted fever, of the nature of typhus, and these 
 also have been killed in the last stage of the disease, 
 and sold for food. Abundant illustrations of this kind 
 are constantly coming under my notice; and I feel that 
 the question of the fitness of such meat for food is in 
 
216 Oft Food. 
 
 such an unsettled state that my action in the matter is 
 often very uncertain, and I should like to have the 
 question experimentally determined ; for, as it now 
 stands, we are either condemning large quantities of 
 meat which may be eaten with safety, and are, there- 
 fore, confiscating property, and lessening the supply of 
 food, or we are permitting unwholesome meat to pass 
 almost unchallenged in the public markets. 
 
 As regards the injurious quality of meat infected with 
 parasitic disease there can, however, be no question ; 
 and perhaps, of all such affections, the most terrible is 
 the trichina of pork. Fortunately, it is a rare affection in 
 this country, although it is often common in Germany. 
 The pork infected with the worm is generally darker 
 than usual, on account of the irritating or inflammatory 
 action of the creature lodged in the muscles ; and when 
 the parasite is encysted, the meat presents a speckled 
 appearance — the minute white cysts containing the 
 worm being just visible to the naked eye. Here are 
 specimens of it in both its encysted and non-encysted 
 conditions ; and this diagram represents the appearance 
 of the worm when it is examined under the microscope. 
 It is, as ycm see, a minute thread-like worm, about the 
 thirtieth of an inch in length, coiled up in a spiral form ; 
 hence its name, trichina spii'alis. It is generally found 
 in the human subject in an encysted state ; when it has 
 passed beyond its dangerous condition, and has become 
 harmless. In most cases, when thus discovered, there is 
 no record of its action, and therefore it was once thought 
 to be an innocent visitor ; but we now know that while 
 it was free — that is, before nature had barricaded it up 
 in the little cyst, its presence was the cause of frightful 
 disorder — killing about 50 per cent, of its victims in 
 terrible agony. In Germany there have been frequent 
 outbreaks of the disease, which, for a time, baffled the 
 skill of the most experienced physicians ; in fact, we 
 hardly know how long or how often the disease has 
 
Trichina in Meat. 217 
 
 attacked the pork-feeding population of Europe, for its 
 actual nature was unknown until the year i860, when 
 Dr. Zencker, of Dresden, discovered the pathology of the 
 disease. Since then there have been several visitations 
 of it, as at Plauen, in Saxony, in 1862; at Hettstadt, 
 near Eisleben, in 1863 ; and at Hedersleben, near Magde- 
 burg, in Prussian Saxony, in 1866. In all these cases 
 the same symptoms, or nearly the same, were observed ; 
 there was sometimes immediate disturbance of the 
 digestive functions, but more commonly a day or two 
 elapsed before any particular symptom was noticed, and 
 then there was a feeling of lassitude, with a loss of 
 appetite, and pains in the head and back. Then fol- 
 lowed a serious disturbance of the alimentary canal, 
 with vomiting and diarrhoea. This lasted for a day or 
 two ; and by the end of a week after the worm had been 
 eaten fever had set in, which became more and more 
 severe ; and by that time the young worms, which had 
 been hatched in the body, had migrated to the distant 
 muscles, causing the most excruciating pains, so that 
 the patient, fearing to move his inflamed muscles, would 
 lie motionless upon his back. If he did not die in this 
 state of the disorder, nature came to the rescue, and im- 
 prisoned the creature by surrounding it with a fibrinous 
 cyst, where it lives for years, being ready at any moment 
 to acquire activity when it is swallowed and released 
 from its cell. Indeed, the way in which it becomes 
 dangerous is this — flesh infected with the parasite is 
 eaten ; and the cyst being quickly dissolved by the 
 gastric juice, the creature is set free. Finding itself in 
 the midst of nourishing food it rapidly grows, so that in 
 two or three days it is three or four times its original 
 size, and may be easily seen, like a bit of fine thread, 
 with the naked eye. The worms are of different sexes, 
 and they rapidly come to maturity — each female giving 
 birth to from 300 to 500 minute thread-like worms, which 
 immediately set out upon their travels, piercing the 
 
218 On Food. 
 
 walls of the intestines and migrating to distant parts of 
 the body, where they produce the terrible mischief I 
 have described. Although the pig is the animal which 
 is most commonly infested by it, yet it has been found 
 in the muscles of dogs, foxes, badgers, sheep, moles, 
 hedgehogs, rats, mice, frogs, and most carnivorous birds, 
 all of which must have been subjects of the disease, but 
 none appear to suffer from it like man; even children 
 are less affected by it, for they seem to sleep it away. 
 Fortunately, there is an easy method of discovering its 
 presence in animals, for the most certain seat of the 
 creature is in the muscles of the eye ; we have, there- 
 fore, only to examine these muscles with the microscope 
 to declare whether the meat is infected or not ; and, at 
 the present time, the sausage-makers of Germany have 
 the pork examined in this manner by experts before it 
 is used for food. 
 
 Other parasitic creatures, as measles in pork, and the 
 smaller cysticerci of beef and veal, are found as little sacs 
 or bladders diffused through the lean of the meat — the 
 cysticercus or measle of the pork being easily seen, for it 
 is generally abundant in the meat, and is as large as a 
 hemp-seed. Here are specimens of it in a fresh condi- 
 tion, which were seized in the city markets to-day, for 
 there is no lack of such meat. The cysticercus of other 
 animals is much smaller, and is more sparsely distributed ; 
 it therefore requires careful exploration to discover it. In 
 both cases the sac contains a little creature with a sort 
 of tuberculated head, crowned with a coronet of hooks, 
 and having a bladder-like tail attached to it. Soon after 
 it is swallowed, the enclosing sack is dissolved by the 
 gastric juice, and the creature being liberated passes into 
 the intestines, where it fixes itself by its little hooks, and 
 quickly grows, joint after joint, into a tape-worm. In the 
 case of the cysticercus of pork, it forms the variety of 
 tape-worm called tenia solium ; and in that of beef and 
 veal it produces the tenia mediocanellata, which is the 
 
Parasites in Meat. 219 
 
 most common variety in the human intestines. It is very 
 frequently seen where raw, or nearly raw, meat is made 
 use of, as in Abyssinia and in. Russia, where children are 
 allowed to suck a piece of raw beef, on the supposition 
 that it has a strengthening property. Each segment of 
 the worm, whether it be the tenia solium or mediocanellata, 
 is an independent creature, containing myriads of ova ; 
 and when passed by the bowels it gets with the manure 
 upon the land, especially where night soil or sewage is 
 used, and is eaten by pigs, goats, oxen, and calves. The 
 ova are hatched in the warm stomach of the animal, and, 
 as in the case of the trichina, they pierce the walls of 
 the intestine, and migrate to the muscular tissues of the 
 body, where they become encysted, and form the little 
 sacs or measles, which remain dormant for years, though 
 they are ever ready to become tape-worms directly the 
 meat containing them is eaten by man. In this manner 
 these creatures are perpetuated, first as tape-worms with 
 joints, in the intestines of man, and then as measles or 
 larvae in the muscles of some meat-producing animal, 
 and then again as tape-worms. By a like process the 
 te%ia echinococeus,ox little tape- worm of the dog, becomes 
 the hydatid in man and other animals. In Iceland the 
 dogs are very liable to this infection, and the cattle and 
 sheep, as well as man, suffer from the hydatid of it. The 
 subject has been well investigated by Dr. Leared, who 
 has shown that the practice of giving the diseased offal 
 of the slaughtered animals to dogs causes tape-worm, 
 and the dogs drop the segments of the worm, filled with 
 ova, upon the pastures,- and into running water. By this 
 means they enter the bodies of cattle and sheep, and 
 even of man; and then, as in the last case, the ova 
 quickly become developed ; and the young hydatid or 
 larval tape-worm, piercing the walls of the alimentary 
 canal, migrates to distant parts of the body, and finding 
 a suitable nidus for its growth, it slowly becomes a large 
 bladder-like hydatid. In the case of sheep it often 
 
220 On Food. 
 
 selects the brain for its habitat, and produces the disease 
 called staggers; in oxen it grows in the peritoneal 
 cavity; and in man it haunts the liver, occasioning 
 frightful disturbance of the system, and causing one- 
 sixth of the total mortality of that country. Here are 
 specimens of the disease from the human subject, for it 
 is not uncommon in England, as well as in Iceland. 
 
 Again, there is another class of parasites, called tre- 
 matoda, or flukes, which infest the livers and intestines 
 of men and herbivorous animals. The most common 
 of them is the distoma hepaticum, or liver-fluke of the 
 sheep. In wet seasons the animal is so constantly 
 infested with them, and suffers so much emaciation from 
 them, that the disease is called the rot. You have 
 before you infected livers which were seized in our 
 public markets this very day, for there is no difficulty in 
 obtaining specimens of them at almost any time. In 
 fact, a few years ago (in 1863), when Professor Brown 
 was lecturing on the liability of animals to disease from 
 the present mode of feeding them, he stated that once, 
 when he wanted some animals for dissection, and applied 
 for them to a large butcher, he received back five or six 
 sheep, which, though in a bad state of rot, were dressed 
 for the market. He was told, moreover, by a certain 
 individual not far from London, that within the space of 
 six months he had killed no less than 750 of such sheep 
 in a state of extreme disease, and he believed they were 
 all sent to market and sold for food. What becomes} 
 he said, of the hundreds and thousands of rotten sheep 
 which we see in the fields ? To bury them would require 
 whole catacombs ; the real catacombs are the intestinal 
 canals of the human body. 
 
 The way in which the fluke disease is produced in 
 sheep is curious. Ova are passed from the gall-bladder 
 of infected animals into the intestines, and are voided 
 with the excrement upon the land: finding a moist 
 situation they are soon hatched into ciliated circular 
 
Meat occasionally Poisonous. 221 
 
 embryos, which swim or move about, and ere long 
 become attached to some mollusc, as a small snail or 
 slug, when they change their condition, and acquire the 
 form of a small bladder-like hydatid, called a cercaria- 
 sac, which soon gives origin to a multitude of young 
 tailed cercaria. These undergo a variety of transforma- 
 tions, and at last, under favourable circumstances, 
 become <pupas, which are buried in the body of the 
 snail. In wet weather the infected snails crawl upon 
 the grass, and are eaten by the sheep, and then the 
 pupa speedily changes its condition and becomes a 
 perfect fluke. When it is found in the body of man 
 it has, perhaps, been drunk with water, or eaten with 
 some aquatic plant, as watercress, &c. 
 
 Our safety against all of these intruders is to cook the 
 meat thoroughly. 
 
 The flesh of animals that have been excited before 
 death, as by over-driving, or by torture, has frequently 
 proved unwholesome. A remarkable instance of this is 
 quoted by Liebig, in his " Letters on Chemistry," where 
 a family of five persons were made seriously ill by the 
 flesh of a roebuck which had been caught in a snare, and 
 had struggled violently before death. 
 
 It is, moreover, a curious fact, that meat may be 
 poisonous from the nature of the food made use of by 
 animals shortly before they are killed ; and this, too, with- 
 out any indication of disorder in the animals themselves. 
 Hares which have fed upon the Rhododendron chrysan- 
 themum are frequently unwholesome ; the same is the 
 case with pheasants in Pennsylvania and Philadelphia, 
 which feed during the winter and spring on the buds of 
 the laurel (Calmia latifolid) ; and I have known many 
 instances of serious mischief from prairie birds, which 
 are now largely imported into this country from Ame- 
 rica, and I attribute it to the food made use of by the 
 bird. In certain districts of North America, especially 
 on the Alleghany mountains, the flesh of all the cattle 
 
222 On Food. 
 
 is poisonous; and so also is the milk they yield, and the 
 cheese which is made from.it. In Australia, also, it is 
 not uncommon for meat to acquire a poisonous property 
 from the animals feeding on the lotus, the wild melon, 
 and the wild cucumber of the country. Sometimes the 
 animals, and especially sheep, are themselves affected by 
 it, but the meat is always unwholesome, causing extreme 
 prostration, with sickness, purging, and severe pains in 
 the limbs. Oysters, mussels, lobsters, and crabs have 
 frequently caused disturbance of the human system ; 
 and the probability is that in many cases they were 
 made unwholesome by the food which they had eaten. 
 A singular case is recorded in the medical journals of 
 France in 1842, where a whole family at Toulouse were 
 poisoned by a dish of. snails, the animals having been 
 gathered from a poisonous shrub (Coriaria myrtifolia) ; 
 and it is not at all uncommon for honey to be unwhole- . 
 some, on account of its having been collected by bees 
 from poisonous plants. The honey of Trebizond, for 
 example, has long been notorious for its deleterious pro- 
 perties ; it poisoned the soldiers of Xenophon during the 
 famous retreat of the ten thousand. Pliny, too, speaks 
 of it ; and to this day its intoxicating effect is frequently 
 witnessed. It arises, no doubt, from the plants, chiefly 
 from the Azalea pontica, from which the honey is gathered. 
 Mr. Barton has given us a similar account of the poison- 
 ous quality of the honey gathered by bees from the 
 savannahs of New Jersey, where the calmia and azalea 
 are the principal flowering shrubs ; and, as was the case 
 with the followers of Xenophon, ail who eat of the 
 honey become intoxicated to a high degree ; and even 
 when made into metlieglin, it poisons all who partake 
 of it, causing dimness of sight, giddiness, and then 
 delirium, with sometimes a fatal termination. 
 
 Occasionally we have examples of food which is in 
 itself poisonous. This is so with many of the fish of 
 tropical seas, and especially of the West Indies. Dr. 
 
Poisonous Fish. 
 
 Burrows has given us a long list of them ; and it would' 
 seem that the yellow-billed sprat (the Sardine dore' of 
 the French, and Clupea tliryssa of naturalists), the toad 
 or bladder fish {Aplodactylus pimctatiis or Tetraodon of 
 Cuvier), and the grey-snapper {Coracinus fuscus major) 
 are the most venomous ; and that being eaten by larger 
 fish, as the Baracosta, and various species of perch, as 
 well as the conger-eel, the dolphin, the globe-fish, &c, it 
 causes them to be poisonous also. The yellow-billed 
 sprat is so virulent in its action on the human body that 
 both Europeans and negroes have been known to expire 
 with the fish in their mouths unswallowed ; and the toad 
 or bladder-fish is scarcely less dangerous. Sir John 
 Richardson has described the effects of it on two sailors, 
 the boatswain's .mate and purser's steward, of the Dutch 
 brig of war, Postilion, while lying at anchor in St. Simon's 
 Bay, at the Cape of Good Hope, in September, 1845. 
 The men were warned that the fish was poisonous, but 
 believing that the liver was wholesome, and rather a 
 delicacy, they cooked it, and ate it directly after their 
 twelve o'clock dinner. In ten minutes the boatswain's 
 mate was so ill that he could not stand ; his face was 
 flushed, his eyes glistened, his lips were swollen and 
 rather blue-, his forehead was covered with a cold perspi- 
 ration, and his pulse was weak and fluttering. He was, 
 however, quite conscious, and complained of pain and 
 constriction of the throat, and he had a desire to vomit. 
 In a few minutes more he became paralysed, his eyes 
 were fixed, his breathing was laborious, his face was 
 pale, though his lips were livid; and in seventeen' 
 minutes he was dead. The other man exhibited the 
 same symptoms, and died in twenty minutes. Sir John 
 Richardson says the fish was not more than six or eight 
 inches in length, and the liver of it, which they had eaten 
 between them, could not have weighed more than half 
 an ounce. 
 
 The symptoms occasioned by the poisonous fish of the 
 
24 On Food. 
 
 tropics are always of two kinds — there is either great 
 irritation of the stomach and bowels, like cholera ; or 
 there is rapid prostration of the vital powers, and death 
 by syncope or convulsions. These effects have been 
 long known both to natives and Europeans, and were 
 called by the Spanish colonists of tropical America, 
 Siquatera. They are more frequently observed at cer- 
 tain seasons of the year than at others, and hence they 
 are thought to be due to certain physiological changes 
 in the body of the fish,j,or to the food which it has eaten. 
 In some cases the roe, in others the liver, or the diges- 
 tive organs, are the most poisonous parts of the fish ; 
 and in the case of the Maletta venenosa, which inhabits 
 the Caribbean Sea, it is only poisonous when the sea is ' 
 covered with a green monad, upon which the creature 
 feeds. Happily for us, these dangers are confined to 
 the tropics, although we sometimes suffer from a milder 
 form of disturbance, as irritation of the skin and bowels, 
 from eating unwholesome shell-fish. 
 
 Putrid meat is, perhaps, wasteful, rather than actually 
 injurious ; but there are plenty of cases in which it has 
 caused disease. Fodere^ tells us that at the siege of 
 Mantua, those who were shut up in the city, and were 
 obliged to eat the half-putrid flesh of horses, suffered 
 from gangrene and scurvy; and in Czant's history of 
 Greenland there is an account of the death of thirtyT 
 two persons at a missionary station called Kangek, from 
 a repast on the putrid brains of a walrus. Similar cases 
 are recorded in all the books on legal medicine. Even 
 game, when only sufficiently tainted to please the palate 
 of the epicure, has caused severe diarrhoea in persons 
 unaccustomed to it ; but, as Dr. Christison observes, 
 "the power of habit in reconciling the stomach to the 
 digestion of decayed meat is inconceivable. Some 
 epicures in civilised countries prefer a slight taint even 
 in their beef and mutton ; and there are tribes of. 
 savages still further advanced in the cultivation of this 
 
Effects of Putrid Meat. 225 
 
 department of gastronomy, who eat with impunity 
 rancid oil, putrid blubber, and stinking offal." The 
 French prefer meat, and even fish, when they partake 
 strongly of the "fumette" which is highly relished ; and 
 the same is the case with the Esquimaux and the 
 Hottentot. The Chinese," also, are fond of eggs that 
 have passed into a high state of putrefaction, and they 
 adopt a curious artifice to bring it about. They cover 
 the eggs with a paste of tea-leaves, quicklime^ sea-salt, 
 and oak-ashes ; and after keeping them in boxes packed 
 in rice for three months, the eggs are ripe for the 
 epicure. The yolk is green, the white is coagulated, 
 and they emit a strong smell of sulphuretted hydrogen, 
 which is greatly enjoyed. The Zulus of Natal, according 
 to Dr. Colenso, are so fond of putrid meat that they call 
 it ubomi, which literally means to be superlatively happy. 
 But, as a rule, there is a natural abhorrence of tainted 
 food, insomuch that with most persons the mere com- 
 mencement of decay is sufficient to excite disgust ; and 
 rarely do we find, except among savages, that an entire 
 meal is made of putrid flesh. A little game, or venison, 
 or ripe cheese, at the end of a feast, with just a piquant 
 touch of decay, is, perhaps, not objectionable; for it 
 may, as Liebig supposes, promote digestion, by com- 
 municating its own quality of transformation to the 
 rest of the food; but it is another thing to fill the 
 stomach with putrid flesh, for if the corrective power of 
 the gastric juice should fail, the effect of it might be 
 serious. We have, indeed, abundant evidence of the 
 terrible consequences of admitting putrid matter into 
 the circulation, for they were once too common among 
 those engaged in the dissection of the human body. In 
 fact, the mere handling of decomposing animal matter 
 for any time will often produce disease of the hands or 
 other parts of the body with which it comes into contact. 
 Our safety, perhaps, in using such food, is in the anti- 
 septic power of good cooking ; but this is not always an 
 
 Q 
 
226 On Food. 
 
 easy affair ; for the tissues are generally so soft from 
 decay, that they will hardly bear the common action of 
 heat ; so that if they are boiled for any time, they fall 
 to pieces ; and if they are roasted, they shrink up 
 without forming that delicious crust of osmazome which 
 is characteristic of good meat. Let them, however, be 
 cooked as they may, they always require a nice. adjust- 
 ment of rather strong flavours to make them palatable ; 
 and those who have dined in the cheap restaurants of 
 -Paris, or at the still worse table-d'hdte of a German 
 watering place, will have experienced the art of the 
 cook in this respect, in such dishes as Turbot en vol-au- 
 vent, Raie au beurre noir, Sole en matelotte normande, 
 and in the various forms of fish au gratin ; or game en 
 salmis. 
 
 But bad as this sort of tainted food is, it is nothing in 
 comparison to the sausage poison, which is produced by 
 a sort of modified putrefaction, to which the large 
 sausages of Germany, and especially those of Wurtem- 
 berg are occasionally subject. According to an official 
 return, there have been more than 400 cases of poisoning 
 from these sausages in Wurtemberg alone during the 
 last fifty years, and of these about 1 50 were fatal. The 
 effects are generally observed in spring, and mostly in 
 April, when the sausages become musty, and acquire a 
 soft consistence in the interior. They have also a 
 peculiarly nauseous and rather putrid taste, and are 
 very acid to test-paper. If eaten in this condition, they 
 produce dangerous effects in from twelve to twenty-four 
 hours — the first symptoms being pain in 'the stomach, 
 with vomiting and diarrhoea, and dryness of the nose 
 and mouth ; then comes a feeling of profound depression, 
 with coldness of the limbs, weakness and irregularity of 
 the pulse, and frequent fainting. Fatal cases end with 
 convulsions and oppressed breathing between the third 
 and eighth day. The precise cause of these effects is 
 still a mystery ; some have thought that rancid fatty 
 
Effects of Mouldy Food. 227 
 
 acids are produced during the decomposition of the 
 meat ; others, that in the process of drying and smoking 
 acrid pyrogenous acids have been developed ; others, 
 that during the decay of the sausages, a poisonous 
 organic alkaloid is. generated. Liebig is of opinion that 
 the effects are due to an animal ferment, which produces 
 in the blo'od, by catalysis, a state of putridity analogous 
 to its own, and that the molecular movements of the 
 putrefactive change in the decaying meat are thus com- 
 municated to the living organism. M. Vanden Corput, 
 who is one of the most recent investigators of the sub- 
 ject, attributes the morbific action of such meat to the 
 presence of a minute fungus, of the nature of a sarcina, 
 which he calls Sarcina botulina. This view is confirmed 
 by the fact that there is always a peculiar mouldiness of 
 the sausages ; and the poisonous property is generally 
 observed in April, when these cryptogamic organisms 
 are most freely developed. 
 
 Similar effects have occasionally been produced by 
 other kinds of animal food — as veal, bacon, ham, salt- 
 beef, salt-fish, cheese, &c, and the food has usually been 
 in a decayed and mouldy condition. It would be tedious 
 if I were to detail, or even to enumerate the many cases 
 recorded by medico-legal writers ; but I may, perhaps, 
 refer to a few of them. In 1839, there was a popular 
 fete at Zurich, and about 600 persons partook of a 
 repast of cold roast veal and ham. In a few hours 
 most of the guests were suffering from pain in ' the 
 stomach, with vomiting and diarrhoea; and before a 
 week had elapsed, nearly all of them were seriously ill 
 in bed. They complained of shivering, giddiness, head- 
 ache, and burning fever. In a few cases there was deli- 
 rium ; and when the effects were fatal, there was 
 extreme prostration of the vital powers. Careful inquiry 
 was instituted into the matter, and the only discoverable 
 cause of the mischief was incipient putrefaction and 
 slight mouldiness of the meat. Dr. Geiseler relates an 
 
 Q 2 
 
228' On Food. 
 
 instance where a family of eight persons were made ill 
 by musty bacon ; and M. Ollivier has given an account 
 of six persons who were poisoned by mutton in a state 
 of modified decay — four of whom died from it within 
 eight days.' In Russia, where it is the practice to eat 
 largely of salt fish in a raw condition, it is not at all 
 uncommon to witness the dangerous effects of it when 
 it has become mouldy or putrid ; and, in fact, it is within 
 the experience of every one who is concerned in medico- 
 legal inquiries, that serious symptoms are frequently 
 traced to the use of food in a modified condition of 
 decay. This is especially so with bad cheese, the effects 
 of which on the constitution have been so severe, that 
 official investigations have been called for, as at Schwerin 
 (1825), Minden (1825), Hameln (i826),Griefswald (1827), 
 Frankfort (1828), and elsewhere; and they have been the 
 subjects of interesting essays by Henneman, Hiinefeld, 
 Westrumb, and others. At first the effects were attri- 
 buted to the copper vessels used in the dairies, and there- 
 fore the Austrian, Wirtemberg, and Ratesberg States 
 prohibited the use of that metal for such purposes ; but 
 the subsequent inquiries of Hiinefeld, Sertiirner, and 
 other chemists, established the fact that no metallic 
 poison was discoverable in the cheese. In the police 
 report, which was published in Frankfort, in January, 
 1828, informing the public of numerous cases of poison- 
 ing in that city from spoiled cheese, it was declared that 
 no poisonous principle could be detected by chemical 
 reagents. Professor Hiinefeld, and subsequently Ser- 
 tiirner, were of the opinion that the effects were due to 
 certain poisonous fatty acids, analogous to, if not iden- 
 tical with, caseic and sebacic acids ; and they even 
 describe the way in which they are produced in the 
 cheese during the process of ripening — attributing them 
 to the imperfect removal of the acid liquor from the 
 curd when the cheese was made, or to the putrefaction 
 of the curd before it was salted, or to the mixture of 
 
Effects of Mouldy Food. 229 
 
 flour with the curd, but it is far more likely that the • 
 poisonous effects are due, as Vanden Corput supposes, 
 to the presence of a peculiar mould or fungus. I have 
 myself seen the most terrible consequences from the use 
 of such cheese, and have failed to discover anything 
 unusual in the acidity or other chemical reactions of the 
 cheese. Hiinefeld says, it is commonly of a yellowish 
 red colour, and is soft and tough, with harder and darker 
 lumps interspersed throughout it, and it has a disagree- 
 able taste, and an acid reaction. The symptoms which 
 it produces are very much like that of sausage poisoning 
 — namely, irritation of the stomach and bowels with 
 great prostration of the vital powers. These effects have 
 been witnessed not only in Germany, where the cheese 
 is generally rancid and bad, but also in this country, and 
 particularly among the small hill farms of Cheshire, 
 where the limited extent of the daries obliges the farmer 
 to keep the curd for several days before a sufficient quan- 
 tity of it is accumulated to make a large cheese. 
 
 I have said nothing of the improper practice of killing 
 very young animals, especially calves, for food, before 
 the tissues have had time to change from their uterine con- 
 dition. On the Continent it is unlawful to kill or to sell 
 calves for human food unless they are more than fourteen 
 days old, but in this country there is no such restriction, 
 and it is a common practice to dispose of the carcasses of 
 newly-born, or even fcetal calves to the sausage-maker ; 
 and as the flesh is sodden and insipid, he strengthens it 
 with old, tough, and sinewy flesh. It has the advantage, 
 moreover, of being miscible with any description of meat, 
 ^and of taking any variety of flavour ; in fact, it makes 
 just that kind of sausage where, to use the expression of 
 Dickens, " It's the seasonen as does it." I cannot say that 
 such meat is positively unwholesome, but it is nasty, and 
 excites the same sort of disgust as an egg with a chick 
 in it. 
 
 As regards vegetable foods, they are not so liable to 
 
230 On Food. 
 
 decay or even to parasitic infection as animal foods ; for 
 the acari or mites of flour and sugar, or even the weevels 
 of biscuit are harmless. Perhaps the most important 
 infection of grain is the fungoid disease of it, called 
 ergot ; which is the muttercorn or roggenmutter of the 
 Germans, and as it chiefly infects the rye, it is named, 
 from its appearance, spurred rye ; but it also attacks 
 barley, oats, wheat, maize, rice, and most of the 
 grasses. It always appears as a black grain or spurred 
 grain of larger size than usual, and it is mostly found in 
 plants which grow upon moist clay soils, in damp situa- 
 tions, especially in the neighbourhood of forests. The 
 district of Solonge, in France, between the rivers Loire 
 and Cher, was once notoriously infested with the disease 
 and the Abbe Fessier, who was deputed in 1777 to in- 
 vestigate the causes of the extraordinary prevalence of 
 ergot in that district, attributed it to the poorness and 
 wetness of the land, and to the dampness of the air from 
 numerous forests. In bad seasons, as much as a third or 
 a fourth of the crop was infected with ergot, and even in 
 good seasons it constituted about 2 per cent, of it. The 
 disease in the grain is due to the growth of a peculiar 
 fungus, which the late Mr. Quekett named Ergotetia 
 abortifaciens ; and the effects of it on the human body 
 are very serious. It acts chiefly on the nervous system, 
 causing giddiness, dimness of sight, loss of feeling, 
 twitching of the limbs, and death by convulsions ; or it 
 produces a creeping sensation over the surface of the 
 body, with coldness of the extremities, followed by in- 
 sensibility and gangrene. These effects are no doubt 
 referred to by Ligebert in his " History of Gaul and . 
 France," when he says that the year 1089 was a pestilent 
 year, especially in the Western parts of Lorraine, for 
 many persons became putrid in consequence of their 
 inward parts being consumed by St. Anthony's fire. 
 Their limbs were rotten, and became black like coal, 
 and they either perished miserably, or, being deprived 
 
Effects of Ergot and Darnel in Flour. 231 
 
 of their putrid hands and feet, were reserved for a more 
 miserable life. Bayle, too, in his account of this sick- 
 ness, says that the bread was of a deep violet colour. 
 The like effects have been observed in other parts of the 
 Continent, as in Silesia, Prussia, Bohemia, Saxony, 
 Holstein, Denmark, Switzerland, Lombardy, and Swe- 
 den, where the creeping sickness, as it is called, has 
 attacked whole districts of the country, sparing neither 
 old nor young. 
 
 The remedy for the disease, is in the hands of the 
 miller, who should separate the ergotised from the 
 healthy grains. Fortunately we have a ready test for 
 its presence, not merely in the microscopic appearances 
 of the flour, but in the circumstance that, as it is the 
 lightest of all the constituents of flour, it will float upon 
 a mixture of one part of chloroform and six of alcohol, 
 and will appear as a scum of dark brown particles. 
 
 Another source of danger is the presence of poisonous 
 grasses in the flour. The most important of these is 
 darnel (Lolium temulentum), which the careless or 
 slovenly farmer will sometimes permit to overrun his 
 fields, and the seeds becoming mixed with the corn, are 
 ground into flour by the equally careless miller. The 
 effect of the seeds on man is a species of intoxication, 
 with headache, giddiness, somnolency, delirium, convul- 
 sions, paralysis, and even death. Occasionally it excites 
 vomiting, with irritation of the alimentary canal, and 
 then its effects are not so serious. Many instances are 
 recorded of the poisonous action of such flour. Christison, 
 for example, tells us, that a few years ago almost all the 
 inmates of the poor-house at Sheffield, to the number of 
 eighty, were attacked with analogous symptoms, after 
 breakfasting on oatmeal porridge, and it was supposed 
 that the effects were caused by -the presence of darnel 
 in the oatmeal. A similar accident is mentioned by 
 Perleb, as having occurred at the House of Correction 
 at Freyburg, and still more recently the same effects 
 
232 On Food. 
 
 were produced on seventy-four persons at the workhouse 
 of Eeninghausen. Dr. Taylor states, on the authority 
 of Dr. Kingsley, of Roscrea, that in the month of January, . 
 1854, several families, including about thirty persons, 
 suffered severely from the effects of bread containing 
 the flour of darnel seeds. Those who partook of the 
 bread staggered about as if they were intoxicated, and 
 although they all recovered, yet they experiented a good 
 deal of distress from giddiness, coldness of the limbs, 
 and great prostration of vital power. 
 
 Unripe grain, as well as grain affected with the rust, 
 and mouldy flour and mouldy bread, have also produced 
 disturbance of the human system. M. Bovier attributed 
 the epidemic of dysentery, which occurred in the depart- 
 ment of the Oise, in the autumn of 1793, to the use of 
 unripe grain ; and corn affected with brown or black rust 
 is thought by many to be unwholesome. Mouldy flour 
 or mouldy bread is certainly injurious, for several in- 
 stances are on record where not only men, but horses, 
 have been poisoned by mouldy bread ; and M. Payen 
 has given a graphic account of the distressing effects of 
 the mouldy ammunition bread supplied to the troops 
 who were encamped near Paris in 1843; the mould on 
 that occasion was a yellow fungus, the Odium auran- 
 tiacum, but at other times it has been of a green colour, 
 from Penicillium glaucum. Flour which has been packed 
 in casks is very liable to become mouldy and sour from 
 the partial decomposition of the gluten ; and such flour 
 is not only unpleasant to the taste, but it is also unfit for 
 bread-making, as the dough is soft and clammy. 
 
 Mouldy food of every description is dangerous to use, 
 and considering to what an extent the spores or sporidia 
 of poisonous fungi are floating in the atmosphere, it is 
 surprising that they do not more frequently taint our 
 food and cause disorder of the system ; for air washed 
 with distilled water will always yield abundance of these 
 germs, which are ready at any moment to spring into 
 
Adulterations of Food. 233 
 
 activity when they come into contact with a proper nidus 
 for their growth. A remedy for these hidden sources of 
 danger is good and effective cooking. 
 
 Adulterations of Foods. 
 
 And now, in conclusion, let me make a few remarks 
 on the subject oi \h& fraudulent sophistications of food — a 
 subject which has been very popular for the last fifty 
 years, or rather, I should say, since the year 1820, when 
 Mr. Frederick Accum published his treatise' on " Adul- 
 terations of Food, and Culinary Poisons," with the 
 startling motto from the Book of Kings — "There is 
 death in the pot." As you may easily imagine, such a 
 terrible announcement by a well-known, writer, could 
 not fail to excite alarm in the public mind, and to 
 provoke anxious curiosity. The book, therefore, was 
 eagerly sought for, and a thousand copies of it were 
 sold within a month of its publication ; so that, to use 
 the words of the author, in his advertisement to the 
 second edition — "there was sufficient inducement to 
 reprint the work." The singular success of Accum's 
 undertaking has been such a temptation to others, that 
 the press has literally groaned with the efforts of sensa- 
 tional writers on this subject : and although I am ready 
 to admit the importance of it, yet I am bound to state 
 that it has often been grossly exaggerated, especially by 
 those who have had but little practical knowledge to 
 guide them, and who have been trading on the credulity 
 of the public. 
 
 The objects of fraudulent adulteration of food are 
 three-fold : — 
 
 1. To increase the bulk or weight of the article. 
 
 2. To improve its appearance. 
 
 3. To give it a false strength. 
 
 Among the first of these adulterations are the follow- 
 ing:— 
 
234 On Food. 
 
 (a). The addition of inferior starches, as potato-starch 
 or English arrow-root, curcuma or East Indian arrow- 
 root, jatropha or Brazilian arrow-root, tacca or Tahiti 
 arrow-root, canna or Tous-les-mois starch, sago-meal, 
 &c, to true maranta, or West Indian arrow-root — of which 
 Bermuda arrow-root is the most esteemed variety. A 
 microscopic examination of the starch or fsecula will 
 always discover the fraud. 
 
 (b). The mixture of starch-sugar or even starch itself 
 to common cane-sugar. Starch-sugar, or as it is some- 
 times called grape-sugar, or glucose, is manufactured 
 both in this country and on the Continent to a consider- 
 able extent. It is made from any description of starch, 
 by boiling it for half an hour or so in water containing 
 about one per cent, of sulphuric acid. The acid is then 
 neutralised with chalk, and the liquor evaporated to a 
 density of i - 28. While hot it is run off clear from the 
 insoluble precipitate of sulphate of lime, and on standing 
 in a cool place for a few days it crystallises or sets into 
 a solid mass. This description of sugar has a low 
 sweetening power — not half so great as that of cane- 
 sugar — in fact, it is produced from the latter by the 
 action of vegetable acids and heat, when cane-sugar is 
 added to fruit in making a tart or fruit pie, and in 
 making jellies and jams. It is false economy, therefore, 
 to sweeten to any extent before the tart is baked. The 
 sugar is known by many characters, as a want of sparkle 
 from the absence of well-formed crystals ; its less solu- 
 bility in water, and greater solubility in alcohol than 
 cane-sugar ; and by its giving a deep port-wine tint to a 
 solution of caustic potash, when it is boiled with it. 
 
 (c). The dilution of milk, vinegar, alcoholic liquids, &c, 
 with water. This fraud is easily detected by the specific 
 gravity of the liquid, and in the case of milk by the pro- 
 portion of cream in the lactometer, and by the poor ap- 
 pearance of the milk when seen in bulk or under the 
 microscope, or in a thin stratum. There are other tests 
 
Dilution of Milk, &c, with Water. 235 
 
 for diluted milk, as the specific gravity of the serum or 
 whey, after the milk has been curdled with a little ren- 
 net and filtered, and by the per centage weight of the 
 dry curd. These results are approximatively shown in 
 the following table : — 
 
 Table XXIX. 
 
 Specific gravity of Milk, of Skimmed Milk, and of Serum or 
 Whey, when diluted with different proportions of water. 
 
 ■-*• 3&. sk &. s °ir 5£s? 
 
 Genuine Milk 1030 12'0 1032 1029 6'3 
 
 Do. with 10 per cent, water 1027 10-5 1029 1026 5 6 
 
 Do. ,, 20 „ „ 1024 8-5 1026 1023 4"9 
 
 Do. „ 30 „ „ 1021 6-0 1023 1021 4 "2 
 
 Do. „ 40 „ „ 1018 5-0 1019 1018 35 
 
 Do. „ 50 „ „ 1015 4-5 1016 1016 2 -9 
 
 As I have already stated, the specifip gravity of good 
 milk ranges from 1028 to 1032 ; and any milk with a 
 gravity below 1026 is either very poor in quality from 
 natural causes, or it has been diluted with water. Taking 
 all the tests together, there will be no difficulty in dis- 
 covering fraud — whether it has been effected by skimming 
 the milk or by diluting it ; and as salt is sometimes added 
 to milk to increase its gravity and to improve its flavour, 
 it is proper that the ash of the milk should be examined] 
 This ranges from six to ten parts in a thousand of milk, 
 the average proportion being about eight parts. If, there- 
 fore, salt has been added, it will be discovered in the ash 
 by the excess of weight, and by the salt taste of it. 
 Carbonate of soda is discovered in like manner. Recent 
 examinations of a large number of samples of milk from 
 the metropolitan workhouses has proved to me that the 
 milk is generally of poor quality, and has either been 
 skimmed or diluted with from ten to fifty per cent, of 
 water. 
 
236 > On Food. 
 
 Similar tables have been constructed for showing, by- 
 means of the specific gravity, the per centages of alcohol 
 and acetic acid in their respective solutions. 
 
 (d). The mixture of dripping and other fats with butter, 
 and water and starchy matter with lard. Melted in a 
 glass, butter and lard should always furnish a clear- 
 looking oil, with but little deposit of water, salt, or other 
 substance ; and the flavour when warmed should be 
 agreeable and characteristic — not like that of dripping 
 or other cheap fat. 
 
 (e). The addition of gelatine to isinglass, which is some- 
 times so well managed that it requires a skilful analysis 
 to detect it. Isinglass is an organised substance, and 
 when examined with the microscope, exhibits a peculiar 
 structure which is very characteristic of it ; not so, how- 
 ever, with gelatine. A particle of isinglass put into cold 
 water remains opaque, like a piece of white thread, and 
 does not swell out ; whereas gelatine becomes transpa- 
 rent, and enlarges a good deal in bulk. Jelly made from 
 good isinglass has a slightly fishy smell, and is neutral 
 to test-paper ; but that from gelatine has a distinct odour 
 of glue, and an acid reaction. Lastly, if a few grains of 
 isinglass be burnt in a metal spoon until the ash alone 
 remains, the ash will be very small in quantity, and of a 
 reddish colour; while that of gelatine will be much 
 larger in amount, and of a white appearance. Gelatine 
 never agrees with the delicate stomach of an invalid like 
 isinglass ; and, therefore, it is often important to dis- 
 cover the difference. 
 
 (J). Coffee adulterated with chicory is readily detected 
 by sprinkling the mixture upon water, when the coffee, 
 which is slightly greasy from volatile and fixed oil, 
 floats, while the chicory sinks, and gives a brownish tint 
 to the water. The experiment is easily made, as you 
 here see, in a tumbler of water, and you may, with a 
 little tact, determine the proportions of the mixtur.e. 
 
 (g). Wheaten flour is frequently added to flour of mus- 
 
Addition of Alum to Bread. 237 
 
 tard, and when the quantity passes beyond a certain 
 amount, it is undoubtedly an adulteration, for the inten- 
 tion of it should be only to reduce to an agreeable ex- 
 tent the pungency of the mustard. 
 
 Of the second class of adulterations, where the object 
 is to improve tJie appearance of the article, there are many 
 examples, as : — ' 
 
 (a). The addition of alum to bread, by which, as I have 
 already explained, inferior, and even damaged, flour 
 may be made into a tolerable looking loaf. It is the 
 property of alum to make the gluten tough, and to pre- 
 vent its discolouration by heat, as well as to check the 
 action of the yeast or ferment upon it. When, therefore, 
 it is added to good flour, it enables it to hold more 
 water, and so to yield a larger number of loaves ; while 
 the addition of it to bad flour prevents the softening and 
 disintegrating effect of the yeast on the poor and infe- 
 rior gluten, and so enables it to bear the action of heat 
 in the process of baking. According to the quality of 
 the flour will be the proportion of alum, and hence the 
 amount will range from 2 ounces to 8 ounces per sack 
 of flour. These proportions will yield from 9 to 37 
 grains of alum in the quartern loaf, quantities which are 
 easily detected by chemical means. Indeed, there is a 
 simple test by which much smaller quantities . of it may 
 be readily discovered. Infusion of logwood, as you here 
 perceive, acquires a rich purplish carmine, or claret tint, 
 when it is brought into contact with alum ; you have, 
 therefore, only to dip a slice of the bread for an instant, 
 as I am now doing, into a weak, watery solution of log- 
 wood, and if. alum be present the bread will speedily 
 acquire a purple or reddish purple tint. I have already 
 described to you the other properties of good bread, as 
 that it should not exhibit any black specks upon the 
 upper crust ; it should not become sodden und wet at 
 the lower part by standing ; it should not become mouldy 
 by keeping in a moderately dry place; it should be 
 
238 On Food. 
 
 sweet and agreeable to both taste and smell ; it should 
 not give, when steeped in water, a ropy acid liquor ; and 
 a slice of it taken from the centre of the loaf should not 
 lose more than 40 per cent, by drying. 
 
 Sulphate of copper is found to act like alum in im- 
 proving the appearance of bread ; and, according to 
 Kuhlmann, Chevalier, and others, it is commonly used 
 by -the bakers of the Continent, notwithstanding the 
 severe penalties attached to it. In this country, how- 
 ever, it is but rarely employed. The fraud is sometimes 
 discovered by the purple tint which the bread acquires 
 when moistened with a weak solution of yellow prussiate 
 of potash ; and it is always known by the blue colour of 
 the ash of bread when treated with a little strong 
 ammonia. 
 
 (5). The bloom, or glaze, or facing, of green and 
 black tea is generally artificial. In the case of green 
 tea it is ordinarily a mixture of Prussian blue, turmeric, 
 and sulphate of lime, or China clay ; and in that of 
 black tea it is not unfrequently a coating of black-lead. 
 The tea prepared for the English market is notoriously 
 subject to these adulterations ; and it seems that it arises 
 entirely from our own fancy, and not from any desire on 
 the part of the Chinese to pursue such a practice. The 
 adulteration is easily discovered by shaking the tea with 
 cold water, and then straining through muslin, and 
 allowing the fine powder to subside. Again, the ash of 
 good young tea amounts to from five to six per cent, of 
 the tea, and it contains, in 100 parts of the ash, about 
 39-2 of potash, and 14-6 of phosphoric acid — the re- 
 mainder being composed of lime, oxide of iron, and 
 silica in nearly equal parts ; whereas old tea leaves, and 
 leaves which have been exhausted by water, contain 
 much less ash, and the proportion of potash and phos- 
 phoric acid are relatively much smaller. Exhausted 
 leaves, and tea composed of foreign leaves, and of iron 
 filings and other mineral matters, have been largely 
 
Poisonous Pigments, &c. 239 
 
 imported into this country from China under the names 
 of Maloo mixture, Moning Congou, Pekoe siftings, &c. ; 
 and they have been submitted to analysis by Dr. Sten- 
 house and myself. The flavour of the samples has 
 always been bad, and frequently repulsive ; and when 
 the tea has been infused in boiling water, it has yielded 
 a low proportion of extractive, as from 11 to 14 per cent, 
 in the case of the Moning Congou, and from 19 to 21 
 per cent, in that of the Pekoe siftings, instead of from 
 24 to 25 per cent., which is the amount yielded by good 
 Congou, or about 34 per cent, by average Pekoe. The 
 theine, also, has amounted to only from 0^025 to 0036 
 per cent, in the Maloo mixture, instead of at least 2 - i 
 per cent, and from 024 to o - 38 in the Pekoe siftings, 
 instead of about 2 per cent. These results show that 
 the samples consisted of spuri dus matters and exhausted 
 leaves, with only a little good tea. 
 
 (c) Pickles and preserved jruits are often made green 
 with a salt of copper, it beinjf the peculiar property of 
 that metal to mordant, or fix in an insoluble form, the 
 green colouring matter or chlorophyll of vegetables.- If, 
 therefore, the pickling operation is conducted in copper 
 vessels, or if a little verdigris or sulphate of copper is 
 added to the vinegar in which the vegetables are boiled, 
 the colour of them is always retained. In some cases 
 the quantity added has been so large as to give a 
 coppery look to a steel fork or knife plunged into the 
 pickle. In such cases, as might be expected, severe 
 spmptoms of poisoning have been occasioned by it. 
 The presence of the metal is easily discovered by 
 incinerating some of the pickles, and treating the ash 
 with a little strong ammonia, when the characteristic 
 blue tint is observed ; or the ash may be dissolved in 
 acetic acid, and then tested with a piece of clean bright 
 iron wire, which will soon become covered with a layer 
 of metallic copper. 
 
 (d.) Ferruginous earths, or red oxides of iron, are fre- 
 
240 On Food. 
 
 quently added to sauces, to anchovies, to cocoa prepara- 
 tions, and to preserved or potted meats, to improve their 
 appearance. 
 
 (e.) Mineral pigments, often of a poisonous nature, are 
 used in colouring confectionery ; and I have known the 
 most serious effects from it. The yellow and orange- 
 coloured chromates of lead are frequently employed for 
 this purpose, and so are the mineral greens, but they are 
 easily discovered by exposing the confectionery to the 
 action of sulphurretted hydrogen, when the colours 
 assume a dark brown or black appearance. 
 
 And, lastly, with the view of giving a false strength to 
 the article, we have instances of sulphuric acid added to 
 vinegar, black jack or burnt sugar to coffee and chicory, 
 catechu or terra japonica to tea, cocculus indicus to beer, 
 cayenne to peppers, &c. 
 
 That many of these sophistications are dangerous 
 there can be no doubt, and all of them are frauds on the 
 public. Parliament has therefore attempted to deal with 
 the matter by legislation, as in the " Act for Preventing 
 the Adulteration of Articles of Food or Drink " (23rd 
 and 24th Vict, cap. 84) of i860; but asthe Act is only 
 permissive, little or no effect has been given to it. Even 
 in those places, as in the City of London, where it has 
 been put into operation, and public analysts have been 
 appointed, no good has resulted from it, and it really 
 stands upon the statute-book as a dead letter. Speaking 
 for the City, I may say that every inducement has been 
 offered for the effective working of the Act ; for directly 
 it came into operation, in August, i860, an analyst was 
 appointed, and the public were informed by circular of 
 the intentions of the Act, and were invited to aid in its 
 execution — the poor being allowed to submit suspected 
 articles of food to me for analysis free of charge ; yet,' 
 during the eleven years which have elapsed since the 
 passing of the Act, there have been but 57 articles sup- 
 plied to me, for examination, and of these 26 were of 
 
Punishment of Offenders. 241 
 
 bad quality or were adulterated. In many cases the 
 genuine articles were brought to me with the knowledge 
 of the dealer, and with the evident intention of obtaining 
 a certificate for trade purposes ; but in no case has there 
 been any proceeding before the magistrate in accordance 
 with the provisions of the Act ; and, therefore, it has 
 been of no practical value to the public. In olden time 
 the remedies for such misdemeanors were quick aVid 
 effectual. In the Assisa pants, for example, as set forth 
 in Liber albus* there are not only the strictest regulations 
 concerning the manner in which the business of the 
 baker is to be conducted, but there are also the penalties 
 for failing in the same. " If any default," it says, " shall 
 be found in the bread of a baker in the City, the first 
 time let him be drawn upon a hurdle from the Guildhall 
 to his own house through the great streets where there 
 be most people assembled, and through the great streets 
 which are most dirty, with the faulty loaf hanging from 
 his neck ; if a second time he shall be found committing 
 
 * The Assize of Bread was instituted in the reign of King John 
 (1202), and was maintained, with certain modifications, until the 
 year 1815, when it was abolished in England. According to Liber 
 albus, an assay of bread was made in the city immediately after the 
 Feast of St. Michael in each year "by four discreet men chosen 
 from among the citizens and sworn thereto ;" and "according to 
 the proportion in weight set by such assay the bakers had to bake 
 throughout the whole of that year." The following appears to have 
 been the mode of assay practised : — The four men so chosen "had 
 to purchase three quarters of corn, one upon the pavement in 
 Chepe, one at Greschirche, or at Billingsgate, and a third at 
 Queenhithe," of which com they had to make " wastel " (or second 
 quality bread), light bread, and brown bread. And " after with 
 great diligence " they had baked the loaves, they had to present 
 them, " while hot, to the Mayor and Aldermen at Guildhall, and 
 *.here, while so hot, such loaves were, weighed." The plan adapted 
 for proving them to have been of proper weight seems to have 
 been to make as many halfpenny loaves as there were halfpence in 
 the total of the purchase-money. 
 
 Edward I. (a.D. 1272— 1307) 
 
242 On food. 
 
 the same offence, let him be drawn from the Guildhall 
 through the great street of Chepe, in manner aforesaid, 
 to the pillory, and let him be put upon the pillory, and 
 remain there at least one hour in the day; and the third 
 time that such default shall be found, he shall be drawn, 
 and the oven shall be pulled down, and the baker made 
 to forswear the trade within the City for ever." It 
 further tells us that William de Stratford suffered this 
 punishment for selling bread of short weight, and John 
 de Strode for making bread of filth and cobwebs. One 
 hoary-headed offender was excused the hurdle on account 
 of his age and the severity of the season ; and it would 
 seem that the last time the punishment was inflicted was 
 in the sixteenth year of the reign of Henry VI., when 
 Simon Frensshe was so drawn. A like punishment was 
 awarded to butchers and vintners for fraudulent dealings; 
 for we are told that a butcher was paraded through the 
 streets with his face to the horse's tail, for selling measly 
 bacon at market, and the next day he was set in the pil- 
 lory with two great pieces of his measly bacon over his 
 head, and a writing which set forth his crimes. In 13 19, 
 in the judgments recorded in Liber albus, the Mayor and 
 Aldermen adjudged William Sperling, of the " Stockkes 
 Market," for attempting to sell two putrid beef carcases, 
 which had been sworn to by the "swornwardens " of flesh 
 meat as " putrid and poisonous," to " be put in the pil- 
 lory, and the said carcases to be burnt beneath him!' 
 Other cases were heard in the following year (14 Edward 
 II.) against William le Clerk, of Higham Ferrers, and 
 Nicholas Schyngal, both of whom were convicted and 
 condemned to similar punishment. There are, in fact, in 
 Liber albus, twenty-three cases in which the pillory or the 
 thew was awarded for selling putrid meat, fish, or poultry ; 
 thirteen for unlawful dealings of bakers ; and six for 
 the misdemeanours of vintners and wine drawers. 
 
Correlation of Force. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 And now, in conclusion ; having directed your atten- 
 tion to the nutritive values of different kinds of food; 
 to their functional and dietetical powers ; to the modes 
 in which they are associated ; to the quantities required 
 for ordinary labour ; to the manner in which they are 
 digested ; to the effects of culinary and other treatment ; 
 to the way in which they may be preserved; and to 
 the causes of their unwholesomeness, we may finally 
 ask if any great generalisations can be deduced from our 
 inquiries ? 
 
 In the first place, you will, I think, have observed 
 that there are very striking evidences of design in the 
 way in which organic matter is constantly kept in 
 motion, for, whether living or dead, it is always in a 
 state of molecular activity — either advancing towards 
 the highest state of organisation, or retreating to the 
 confines of the mineral kingdom. The result of this 
 is that, with a comparatively small amount of material, 
 and with but little expenditure of force, the work of the 
 living world is fully and effectually performed. Starting 
 from the mineral kingdom, as carbonic acid, waiter, and 
 ammonia, the elements of organic nature pass through 
 a succession of changes, first in the vegetable and next 
 in the animal, until they reach the summit of organisa- 
 tion, when they again return to their primitive condition. 
 In this manner a never-ending round of change is per- 
 petuated, ^and the same material and the same force are 
 kept moving in the same continuous circle. Through 
 the efforts of the plant the crude materials are formed 
 into vegetable acids, sugar, gum, starch, fat, albumen, and 
 
 R 2 
 
244 On Food. 
 
 tissue ; and then the animal converts them into higher 
 forms of structure, as gelatine, muscle, and brain ; the 
 two extremes, therefore, of these changes are, to use the 
 words of Gerhardt, carbonic acid, water, and ammonia 
 at one end ; albumen, gelatine, fat, and cerebral matter 
 at the other — but the transitions to these extremes are 
 countless, and are as yet beyond the reach of science. 
 Broadly, however, we may say that the chemical func- 
 tions of the plant are those of reduction or deoxidation, 
 whereby carbonic acid and water are deprived of their 
 oxygen and moulded with nitrogen into food; while 
 those of animals are of an opposite nature, for they 
 destroy this food by oxidation. The plant, therefore, is 
 the machine or medium whereby carbonic acid, water, 
 and ammonia, are converted into new compounds, and 
 light and heat are transmuted into chemical affinity; 
 and the animal is the medium or machine whereby these 
 compounds are destroyed, and their affinities changed into 
 other manifestations of force, and finally into heat. In 
 this way, the circuit of change is completed ; and it is 
 not difficult to trace the phenomena of vitality to the 
 cosmical forces which the plant had imprisoned.* But 
 
 * Since these lectures were delivered, the illustrious chemist, and 
 distinguished orator, M. J. Dumas, has thus expressed himself on 
 this subject. " The first studies we pursue on the chemical pheno- 
 mena of life teach us that plants create, and animals destroy, 
 organic matter. The sun appears as the agent by whose means 
 this matter is produced, and combustion by the air that animals 
 breathe, as the process that destroys them, in order to restore their 
 elements to the state of ' brut ' matter. The chemical forces placed 
 at the disposal of life descending on the earth under the forces of 
 light, disappear by radiating off into space under the form of heat. 
 An equilibrium obtains between the vegetable and animal king- 
 doms for receipts and disbursements, represented by these two 
 forms of motion — light and heat ; and the amount of animal life 
 which may be developed on the globe is measured by the amount 
 of food that vegetable life has prepared for it. The dark rays of 
 heat appear to carry from the earth that which the radiant and 
 
Conclusion. 245 
 
 shall we ever be able to follow, through all the intricacies 
 of change, the countless transitions of both matter and 
 force in their passage from the mineral kingdom to the 
 animal, and then back to the mineral again ? It is easy 
 to connect, by a correlation of force, the muscular move- 
 ments of the animal body, and even the highest efforts 
 of the human mind, with the sunbeam which the plant 
 had arrested ; but shall we ever be permitted to unravel 
 those mysterious functions, those intermediate changes 
 which constitute the phenomena of life ? Why is it, for 
 example, and how comes it, that the living cell of the 
 plant is able to aggregate mineral matter in opposition 
 to the common laws of affinity, and transform light and 
 heat into cell-force ? How is it, too, that the animal, in 
 reversing the process, and so restoring the play of affinity, 
 is able to transmute it into other manifestations of force ? 
 At present, the utmost we can say of it is, that organic 
 matter is the appointed medium of all these changes, 
 and is designed for the exhibition of vital phenomena, 
 just as mineral matter is the appointed medium for the 
 phenomena of electricity and magnetism. And yet to 
 some extent, perhaps, we are able to .penetrate the 
 mystery ; for by finding the clue to the peculiar action of 
 the vegetable in reducing chemical compounds, we can, 
 by operating on such substances as carbonic acid, water, 
 and ammonia, produce a large number of organic prin- 
 ciples : in fact, of the three great classes of alimentary 
 
 brilliant light has spread over it." — (The Faraday Lecture, Chemical 
 News, vol. xx., p. 4). 
 
 Baron Liebig, also, in his essay on the process of nutrition, has 
 thus expressed himself : " The plant is a magazine of sun-force 
 which has been accumulated in its parts during their development, 
 and this force stored up in the food material of animals is, again 
 manifested in the animal body ; it is the manifold action of this 
 force which comprises and determines all phenomena of animal 
 life. Hence the elucidation of the laws obtaining in regard to 
 that force should, above all things, engage the attention of inves- 
 tigators." 
 
246 On Food. 
 
 substances, to which I have so frequently directed your 
 attention — namely, the oleaginous, the saccharine, and 
 the albuminous — it may be said that the first is already 
 within the manufacturing power of the chemist, and the 
 second is nearly within it; so that there is abundant 
 proof that the agency of a vital force is not necessary to 
 the formation of organic compounds ; and there is even 
 hope that the fabrication of food may not be altogether 
 beyond the capabilities of man. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Aberdeen process of preserving 
 
 meat, 194 
 Acid, carbolic, preservation of meat 
 
 by, 203 
 Acid, carbonic, amount exhaled, 70 
 
 .-, glycocolic, 52 
 
 , , sulphurous, ^antiseptic power, 
 
 204 
 Acid, taurocholic, 52 
 Adulteration of food, 233 
 
 ,,. different objects of, 233 
 „ Act, results of, 240 
 Albuminose, 48 
 
 Albuminous matters of food, func- 
 tions of, 62 
 Alcohol, is it food ? 92 
 
 „ effects of, 91 
 Algse marine, 28 
 Alum in bread, detection of, 237 
 Amabele, or toasted millet, 18 
 Amasi, or sour milk, 32 
 American meals, 135 
 Ancient English, gluttoning of the, 
 
 129 
 Animal diastase, 47 
 „ foods, 30 
 
 „ digestibility of, 55 
 
 ,, treatment of, 162 
 
 Animals, immature, unfit for food, 
 
 229 
 Appert's, M. , method of preserving 
 
 food, 190 
 Appetite of savages, 126 
 
 Apples, 27 
 
 Arrowroot, 21 
 
 ,, adulteration of, 234 
 
 ,, how cooked, 152 
 
 „ thermotic and mechani- 
 
 cal power of, 77 
 
 Arrowroot, varieties of, 21 
 
 Artichokes, 26 
 
 Asparagus, 26 
 
 Australian preserved meats, trade 
 in, 196 
 
 Bacon, 40 
 
 ,, consumption of, 40 
 ,, nutritive value of, 40 
 Bakers, punishment of fraudulent, 
 
 241 
 Baking powders, 148 
 Banana, 26 
 Bannocks, 13 
 Banting, Mr., on diet, 123 
 Barley meal, 11 
 
 „ pearl, 12 
 
 „ Scotch, 12 
 Batata, 27 
 Bavarian wood-cutter, weekly diet 
 
 of, 107, 112 
 Beans, 19 
 Beef-fat, thermotic and mechanical 
 
 power of, 77 
 Beef, measles in, 218 
 
 ,, South- American, 185 
 
248 
 
 Index. 
 
 Beer, 44 . 
 
 „ action of, 92 
 „ Kaffir, 18 
 
 Bile, 52 
 „ functions of, 52 
 
 Black-pudding, 39 
 
 Blood, mineral matters in, 80 
 
 Body, daily wants of, 108, 111 
 ,, dietetical wants of the, 102 
 , , internal work of, 67 
 „ working powers of, 96 
 
 Bone, amount of in meat, 37 
 
 Bran, indigestibility of, 9 
 ,, quantity in flour, 9 
 
 Brandy, action of, 92 
 
 Braxy mutton, 211 
 
 Bread, 145 
 , , adulteration of, 237 
 ,, aerated, 148 
 ,, assize of, 241 
 „ barley 
 
 , , best kind of flour for, 144 
 ,, Cassava, 21, 27 
 ,, characters of good, 150 
 ,, detection of sulphate of cop- 
 per in 238 
 
 Bread, effects of mouldy, 232 
 , , Maslin, .15 
 
 „ precautions necessary to en- 
 sure good, 149 
 
 Biead, rye, 12, 15, 151 
 „ use of alum in, 237 
 ,, varieties of, 150 
 ,, vesiculation of, 145 
 ,, wheaten, 145 
 „ whole-meal, 8 
 „ making, machinery for, 149 
 ,, ,, McDougall's pro- 
 
 cess, 148 
 
 Bread, Dr. Whiting's process, 147 
 
 Bread-fruit, 26 
 
 Brose, 13 
 
 Broth, preparation of nutritious, 
 177 
 
 Brwchan or flummery. 14 
 
 Budrum or flummery, 14 
 
 Buffalo extract, 175 
 
 Butter, 43 
 
 „ adulteration of, 236 
 
 Butter, milk, 33 
 
 „ thermotic and mechanical 
 power of, 77 
 
 Cabbages, 26 
 Caffeine, 88 
 
 , , physiological properties. 
 
 of, 88 
 Cagliari paste, 144 
 Cakes, Haver, 13 
 Carbonic acid, amount exhaled, 70 
 „ preservation of meat 
 
 by, 203 
 Carbuncle produced by diseased! 
 
 meat, 214 
 Carbuncle, mortality from, 214 
 Carrageen moss, 28 
 Carrots, 26 
 Cassava bread, 21, 27 
 Cauliflower, 26 
 Cellulose, functions of, 76 
 
 „ how digested, 57 
 Cerealine; 8, 48 
 Ctiarqui, 185 
 Cheese, 33 
 
 „ composition of, 34 
 
 poisonous, 228 
 „ varieties of English", 33 
 Chestnut, 21 
 
 Children, dietaries of, 118 
 Chinese labourer, dietary of, 108, 
 
 112 
 Chloride of calcium process of pre- 
 serving meat, 193 
 Chocolate, 44, 159 
 Cider, action of, 92 
 Clotted cream, 32 
 Cocoa, 44, 159 
 
 „ proportions of nutritious 
 
 matters in, 160 
 Cod-fish, 41 
 Coffee, 44 
 
 ,, composition of, 88 
 
 ,, ,, raw and 
 
 roasted, 156 
 Coffee, how prepared for commerce, 
 
 155 
 Coffee, uses of, 86 
 Coffee-houses, history of, 161 
 
 II 
 
Index. 
 
 249 
 
 Cold, preservation of food by, 199 
 Comparative standards of food, 2 
 Common salt, necessity for, 82 
 ,, „ use of, in food, 81 
 „ „ use of, in preserving 
 
 food, 201 
 Condiments, functions of, 93 
 Confectionery, adulteration of, 240 
 Construction of dietaries, 104 
 Copper-sulphate in bread, 23S 
 Cooking, economy of, 177 
 
 „ for the poor, 179, 181 
 ,, pot, Captain Warren's, 
 177 
 Corn flour, 16 
 ,, in the cob, 16 
 ,, Indian, 15 
 „ lob, 16 
 Correlation of force, on, 243 
 Cow's milk, saline matters in, 81 
 Crabs, 42 
 Cream, 32 
 
 ,, cheese, 33 
 Curds and whey, 32 
 Curry, 18 
 
 ,, powder, preparation of, 93 
 Custard powders, 148 
 Cysticerci, 218 
 
 Dirnel, poisonous effects of, 231 
 Dates, 27 
 
 Dauglish's Dr., aerated bread, 168 
 Dholls, 19 
 Dhurra, 18 
 Diastase, animal, 47 
 Diet, how to associate different arti- 
 cles of, 125 
 Diet for fat persons, 121 
 
 „ Mr. Banting's, 123 
 
 ,, of Indian corn, 15 
 
 „ ,, „ effects of, 17 
 
 ,, „ ,- cost of, 17 
 
 ,, of Kaffir servant, 15 
 
 , , of men and women in famine, 6 
 
 „ of operatives, &c, 106 
 
 ,, prison, 105 
 
 ,, training, 120 
 Dietaries, construction of, 104 
 Mr. Banting's, 123 
 
 Dietaries of children, 118 
 
 , , want of uniformity in work - 
 house, 116 
 Dietetical wants of the body, 102, 
 
 104 
 Digestion, 46 
 
 ,, aids to, 60 
 Digestibility of foods, 55 
 Diner de Siege, 133 
 Dinner, a Mandarin's 134 
 „ of horseflesh, 132 
 Dinners, Modern, 131 
 „ Roman, 128 
 Diseased meat, effects of, 211, 215 
 Diseases arising from improper 
 
 food, 138 
 Dripping, 43 
 
 Economy of food, 1 
 
 ,, of cooking, 177 
 Edible seaweeds, 28 
 Eels, 41 
 Eggs, 43 
 
 ,, preservation of, 198 
 Egg powders, 148 
 Emden groats, 14 
 Ergot of rye, poisonous effects of, 
 
 230 
 Ergot of rye, tests for, in flour, 231. 
 Extract of meat, 173 
 
 ,, „ ,, composition of, 174 
 „ ,, ,, nutritive value of, 
 
 175 
 
 Faeces, amount voided, 54 
 Famine diets, 6 
 
 ,, effects of, 141 
 ,, fever, 140 
 Farinaceous food for infants, 152 
 Fat, amount of, in fish, 41 
 „ and bone, proportion of, in 
 meat, 35 
 Fat, digestive power of, 75 
 , , functions of, 74 
 ,, mechanical equivalent of, 74,. 
 77 
 Fat, thermotic power of, 74, 77 
 Fats, various, 43 
 
250 
 
 Index. 
 
 Fattening and flesh-forming powers 
 
 of food, 98 
 Fatty matters, how digested, 59 
 Fat persons, diet for, 121 
 Fermented liquors, nutritive power 
 
 of, 121 
 Fermented liquors, uses of, 90 
 Fibre-woody, digestibility of, 100 
 Fick and Wislicenus, experiment of, 
 
 64 
 Figs, 27 
 Fish, 40 
 „ amount of fat in, 41 
 „ mode of cooking fresh water, 
 168 
 Fish, nutritive values of, 41 
 ,, poisonous, 222 
 ,, quantity supplied to Billings- 
 gate, 41 
 Flaked cocoa, 159 
 Flod-brod of Norway, 13 
 Flounder^ 41 
 Flour, 9 
 ,, best kind for bread, 144 
 , , tests of good, 144 
 „ Oswego, 16 
 ,, proportions of nitrogen and 
 mineral matter in, 11 
 Flour, varieties of 9, 
 Flukes' -liver, 220 
 Flummery, or sowans, 14 
 
 „ ,, „ effects of, 14 
 Food, adulteration of, 233 
 
 „ amount required at different 
 ages, 120 
 Food, animal treatment of, 162 
 „ carbonandnitrogeninfamine, 
 6 
 Food, consequences of a deficiency 
 
 .of, 139 
 Food, an excess of, 138 
 „ diseases from improper, 138 
 ,, economy of, 1 
 ,, effects of mouldy, 227 
 „ fattening and flesh-forming 
 powers of, 98 
 Food, functions of, 60, 101 
 „ imported, 45 (Note.) 
 „ infants, 118, 153 
 
 Food, mechanical energy of, 95 
 
 „ mineral or saline, 78 
 
 , , nutritive equivalent of, 3 
 
 ,, values of, 5 
 
 ,, poisonous, 222 
 
 ,, preservation of, 182 
 
 „ preservation of, patents for, 
 
 184, 186 
 Food, proper adjustment of, 125 
 
 ,, standard of, 2 
 
 „ supply of London, 45 
 
 ,, thermotic powers of, 94 
 
 ,, unsound, 205 
 
 „ values of, 5 
 *,, vegetable, 8 
 
 ,, weekly cost of (famine), 7 
 
 , , working powers of, 95, 98 
 Foods, animal, 30 
 
 ,, digestibility of, 55 
 
 ,, nitrogenous, 62 
 
 „ treatment of, 142 
 
 „ vegetable, 8 
 
 ,, thermotic andmotive powers 
 
 of, 95, 98 
 Force, correlation of, 243 
 
 „ source of muscular, 62, 70 
 Fordyce, Dr., his dinner, 135 
 Frankland, Dr. thermotic and me- 
 chanical powers of flesh, &c, 66 
 Frijoles, 19 
 Frog, edible, 42 
 Fruit (Baker's), 146 
 Fruits, ripe, 27 
 
 „ copper in preserved, 239 
 
 ,, method of preserving, 190 
 Functions of fat, 74 
 Functions of food, 60 
 Fungi, edible, 29 
 
 Game, 40 
 
 Gamgee, Professor, method of pre- 
 serving meat, 204 
 
 Gas, economy of cooking by, 178 
 
 Gastric juice, 48 
 
 Gelatine, probable use of, in food, 
 172 
 
 Gelatinous tissues, proportion of, in 
 meat, 37 
 
 Gin, action of, 92 
 
Index. 
 
 251 
 
 "Glasgow, working class dming-rooms 
 
 in, 180 
 Gluten, method of estimating, 144 
 
 ,, quantity in wheat, 10 
 Glycocolic acid, 52 
 Grams, 19 
 
 Granulated cocoa, 159 
 Grapes, 27 
 
 Grasses, poisonous, 231 
 Greens, 26 
 Grits, 13 
 Groats, 13 
 Gruel, 14 
 
 Haddock, 41 
 
 Haver cakes, 13 
 
 Herrings, 41 
 
 High-feeding, consequences of, 138 
 
 Hominy, or Indian-corn, 15, 17 
 
 Honey, poisonous, 222 
 
 Horse-fat, 43 
 
 „ flesh, 37 
 
 „ consumption of, in 
 
 France, 38 
 Horseflesh, dinner of, 132 
 Horses, number consumed in' Paris 
 
 during siege, 38 
 Hydatids, 219 
 
 Ice, manufacture of, 200 
 Iceland moss, 29 
 Indian corn, 15 
 
 „ ,, effects of, 17 
 
 ,, ,, meal, 15 
 Infants' food, 118, 153 
 Intestinal secretion, 53 
 Iquana, 43 
 
 Iron, use of, in food, 84 
 Isinglass, adulteration of, 236 
 
 Jewish laws respecting meat, 205 
 
 Johnny, or Indian corn,* 17 
 
 Jones, Mr. R., process for preserv- 
 ing meat, 197 
 
 Jones and Trevethick, MM., patent 
 for preserving food, 193 
 
 Kaffir beer, 18 
 Kangaroo-tail soup, 173 
 
 .Lamprey, 41 
 Lard, 43 
 Laver, 28 
 
 ,, green. 28 
 Lawes and Gilbert, experiment on 
 
 feeding animals, 98, 110 
 Leeks, 26 
 Legumine, 20 
 Lentils, 19 
 
 Lichens used as food, 29 
 Liebig's extract of malt, 154 
 ,, „ ,, meat, 48, 174 
 
 ,, food for infants, 153 
 ,, theory of the production of 
 animal force and heat, 62, 71 
 Liver-flukes, 220 - 
 Lobsters, 42 
 
 ■ London, food supply of, 45 
 Lotsa meal, 21 
 
 McCall, Mr. patent for preserving 
 
 meat, 196 
 McDougall, Mr., phosphatic yeast, 
 
 148 
 Maccaroni, 144 
 Mackerel, 41 
 Maize, 15 
 Maizena, 16 
 MaloO mixture, 239 
 Manganese, use of, in food, 84 
 Manioc, 21 
 Mannacroup, 144 
 Maslin, 
 
 Marine Algse, 28 
 Meal, barley, 11 
 
 ,, Indian com, 15 
 
 „ Liebig's extract of, 48 
 
 ,, oat, 12 
 
 „ rye. u 
 
 Meals, how cooked, 152 
 „ American, 135 
 „ number, variety, and distri- 
 tionof, 126 
 
 Meals, proper times for, 136 
 ,, proportion of food for dif- 
 ferent, 136 
 
 Meals, Roman, 128 
 
 Measles in pork, 218 
 
 Meat, 34 
 
252 
 
 Index. 
 
 Meat, Aberdeen process of preserv- 
 ing, 194 
 Meat, amount of bone in, 37 
 
 „ biscuits, 176 
 
 ,, characters of Food, 210 
 
 ,, chloride of calcium process 
 
 of preserving, 193 
 Meat composition of extract of, 174 
 
 ,, consumption of, 34 
 
 „ detection of parasitic disease 
 
 in, 211 
 Meat, effects of diseased or putrid, 
 
 211, 215, 224 
 - Meat, effects of mouldy, 227 
 
 „ extract of, 48, 173 
 
 ,, inspection of in London, 208 
 
 ., Jewish laws respecting, 205 
 
 ,, ■ loss in cooking, 166 
 
 „ made poisonous by food of 
 
 animals, 221 
 Meat, modes of cooking, 165 
 ■ „ offal of, 39 
 
 ,, poisonous, 221 
 
 ,, proportions of fat and lean 
 
 in, 35 
 Meat, proportion of gelatinous tissues 
 
 in, 37 
 Meat, quantity imported, 35 
 Meat, reasons for cooking, 163 
 
 ,, Roman customs respecting, 
 
 207 
 Meat, unsound, quantity seized in 
 
 London, 208 
 Mege Mouries, M., process of, 143, 
 
 147 
 Millets, 18 
 Milk, 30 
 
 ,, adulteration of, 234 
 
 „ butter, 33 
 
 ,, cows', saline matter in, 81 
 
 ,, of different animals, 
 
 ., preserved, 191 
 
 ,, quantity consumed, 31 
 
 ,, skim, 32 
 Milks, preserved, composition of, 192 
 
 , , specific gravity of, 31 
 Mineral matters in food, uses of 78 
 „ substances in food, propor- 
 tions required, 85 
 
 Modern dinners, 131 
 
 Molasses, 30 
 
 Moning congou, 239 
 
 Moss, Carrageen, 28 
 „ Iceland, 29 
 
 Mouldy food, effects of, 227 
 
 Muscular force, source of, 62, 70 
 „ tissue, mechanical power 
 of, 66 
 
 Mush, or Indian-corn, 17 
 
 Mushrooms, 29 
 
 Mussels, 42 
 
 Mustard, adulteration of, 236 
 
 Nasmyfh's, Mr., patent for preserv- 
 ing meat, 196 
 
 Needlewomen, diet of, 112 
 
 Nitrogen, elimination of, 68 
 
 Nitrogenous food, functions of. 62, 7$ 
 
 Norwegian oven. 179 
 
 Nutritive equivalents of food, 3 
 „ value of products of 
 wheat, 11 
 
 Nutritive value of wheat, 10 
 
 Oat, 13 
 
 Oatmeal, 12 
 
 OfM of meat, 39 
 
 Onions, 26 
 
 Operatives, dietaries of, 115 
 
 Oranges, 27 
 
 Oswego flour, 16 
 
 Oven, Norwegian, 179 
 
 Oxtail soup, 172 
 
 Oysters, 42 
 
 Paddy, 17 
 
 Pancreatic fluid, 51 
 
 ,, ,, properties of, 52 
 
 Pancreatine, 51 
 
 Parasitic disease, detection of in 
 meat, 211 
 
 Paris, siege of, diet in, 105 
 ,, cheap dinners in, 179 
 
 Parsnips, 26 
 
 Parkes, Dr., experiments on elimi- 
 nation of nitrogen, 68 
 
 Patents for preserving food, 184 
 
 Peaches, 27 
 
 Pearl barley, 12 
 
Index. 
 
 253 
 
 Pears, 27 
 
 Peas, 19 
 
 Pease bannocks, 19 
 
 Pekoe siftings, 239 
 
 Pemmican, 186 
 
 Pepsine, 48 
 
 , , preparation of, 49 
 
 Peptone, 48 
 
 Peptones, 55 
 
 Periwinkles, 45 
 
 Petis, 175 
 
 Phosphates, fanctionsof, 81 
 
 „ saccharated wheat, 48 
 
 Pickles, copper in, 239 
 
 Pilchard, 41 
 
 Pigments, poisonous, 249 
 
 Pine apples, 27 
 
 Pike, 42 
 
 Plaice, 41 
 
 Pork, trichina of, 216 
 
 Porridge, 13 
 
 Pot-au-feu, 169 
 
 Potash salts, functions of, 81 
 
 Potato, 22 
 „ history of, 22 
 ,, nutritive value of, 24 
 ,, quantity consumed, 23 
 ,, sweet, 27 
 
 Potatoes, anti-scorbutic power of, 25 
 ,, economy of, 24 
 
 Poultry, 40 
 
 Preservation of food, 182 
 
 „ ,, by chemical 
 
 agents, 201 
 
 Preservation of food, by cold, 199 
 » » by drying, 
 
 185 
 
 Preservation of food by excluding 
 air, 188 
 
 Preservation of food by exhaust- 
 ing air, 192 
 
 Preservation of food by saline sub- 
 stances, other than common salt, 
 202 
 
 Preservation of food, patents for, 
 184 
 
 Preserved meats, trade in Austra- 
 lian, 196 
 
 Preserved milk, 191 
 
 Preserved milks, composition of, 
 192 
 
 Prison diets, 105 
 
 Pulses, 19 
 
 Pumper-nickel, 8 
 
 Putrid meat, poisonous effects of, 
 211, 215, 224 
 
 Putrid meat, punishment for selling, 
 242 
 
 Ptyalin in saliva, 47 
 
 Plants, poisonous, eaten by animals, 
 221 
 
 Plants, wild, used as food, 26 
 
 Playfair, Dr. Lyon, daily diet ac- 
 cording to work done, 107 
 
 Playfair, Dr. Lyon, dietaries of 
 soldiers and operatives, 115 
 
 Plowden, Francis, patent for pre- 
 serving meat, 188 
 
 Poisonous fish, 222 
 ,, grasses, 231 
 ,, meat, 221 
 ,, pigments, 240 
 ,, plants eaten by animals, 
 221 
 
 Polenta of Italians, 16 
 
 Poor, imperfect cooking appliances 
 of, 179 
 
 Pork, measles in, 218 
 
 Porter, 44 
 
 Quinoa, 18 
 
 Rabbits, 40 
 
 Raisins, 27 
 
 Redwood, Dr., process for preserv- 
 ing meat, 198 
 
 Reptiles used for food, 42 
 
 Revalenta, 20 
 
 Rice, 17 
 
 ,, composition of, 18 
 „ pudding, 18 
 
 Ripe fruits, 27 
 
 Roman breads, 150 
 ,, customs respecting meat, 
 207 
 
 Roman meals, 128 
 ,, suppers, cost of, 123 
 
 Rot in sheep, 220 
 
254 
 
 Inaex. 
 
 Rum, action of, 92 
 
 Russian peasant, yearly rations of, 
 
 107, 114 
 Rye bread, 15, 151 
 ,, ergot of, poisonous effects of, 
 
 230 
 Rye meal, 14 
 
 Saccharated wheat phosphates, 48 
 
 Saccharine matters, functions of, 76 
 
 Saddington, Mr., method of pre- 
 serving fruits, 190 
 
 Sago, 21 
 
 Siline matter, effects of too much 
 or too little in food, 142 
 
 Saline matters in food, uses of, 78 
 ,, ,, required for food, 44 
 „ substances, other than com- 
 mon salt, used in preserving food, 
 202 
 
 Saliva, 47 
 
 Salmon, 41 
 
 Salt, common, necessity for, 82 
 ,, ,, uses of in food, 81 
 
 Saucepan, Norwegian, 179 
 
 Sauer-lcraut, 154 
 
 Sausage poison, 226 
 
 Savages, appetite of, 126 
 
 Scotch barley, 12 
 
 Scurvy, a result of improper or in- 
 sufficient food, 141 
 
 Sea-weeds, edible, 28 
 
 Secretion, intestinal, 53 
 
 Semola, 144 
 
 Semolina, 144 
 
 Sheep, rot in, 220 
 
 Shell-fish, 42 
 
 Silica in food, functions of, 85 
 
 Skim-milk, 32 
 
 Slouk, or laver, 28 
 
 Smith, Dr. E., amount ot carbonic 
 acid exhaled, 70 
 
 Smith, Dr. E. , daily food at different 
 ages, 120 
 
 Smith, Dr. E., daily wants of the 
 body, 108 
 
 Smith, Dr. E., diets of operatives, 
 106 
 
 Smith, Dr. E., On workhouse diet- 
 aries, 116 
 
 Smith, Dr. E., proportions of food! 
 for different meals, 136 
 
 Smith, Dr., soup for the poor, 171 
 
 Smoked meat, 203 
 
 Soluble cocoa, 159 
 
 Soujee, 144 
 
 Soup, 169 
 
 ,, Kangaroo tail, 173 
 „ Ox-tail, 172 
 ,, preparation of, 170 
 ,, value of, as food, 179 
 
 South African beef, 185 
 
 Sowans or flummery, 14 
 
 Sprat, 41 
 ,, yellow billed, virulent action 
 of, 223 
 
 Spirits of wine, antiseptic power of, 
 203 
 
 Starch, functions of, 76 
 
 Starches, 21 
 
 Starchy substances, how digested, 57 
 
 Steam power, economy of, 97 
 
 Stevens, Mr., machine for bread 
 making, 149 
 
 Stewing, 169 
 
 Stirabout, 13 
 
 Stock, 169 
 
 Stoke, or laver, 28 
 
 Stomach, why not digested, 57 
 
 Sturgeon, 42 
 
 Sucan or flummery, 14 
 
 Succulent vegetable foods, 22 
 
 Suet, 43 
 
 Sugar, 29 
 ,, adulteration of, 234 
 ,, corn, 16 
 
 ,, lump, thermotic and me- 
 chanical power of, 77 
 
 Sugar, quantity consumed in various- 
 countries, 30 
 
 Sugar, grape, thermotic and me- 
 chanical power of, 77 
 
 Sulphate of copper in bread, 238 
 
 Sulphurous acid, antiseptic power 
 of, 204 
 
 Suppers, Roman cost of, 128 
 
 Sweet potato, 27 
 
Index. 
 
 255 
 
 Tablettes de Bouillon, 174 
 Tape-worms, 218 
 
 „ how propagated, 219 
 
 Tapioca, 21 
 
 Tapioca beef bouillon, 177 
 Taurocholio acid, 52 
 Tchualla, or Kaffir beer, 18 
 Tea, 44 
 ,, adulteration of, 238 
 „ best water for making, 156 
 „ bloom of, 238 
 ,, composition of, 88 
 ,, bow prepared for commerce, 
 155 
 Tea, proper strength of infusion of, 
 
 157 
 Tea, uses of, 86 
 ,, weight of a spoonfulof different 
 kinds of, 158 
 Theobromine, 88 
 
 , , physiological proper- 
 
 ties of, 88 
 Theine, 88 
 
 ,, physiological properties of, 
 88 
 Tortillas, or toasted maize, 16 
 Tortoise, land, 42 
 Tortured animals, effects of.flesh of, 
 
 2?1 
 Totoposte or Tetoporte, Indian- 
 corn cakes, 16 
 Tous les mois, 21 
 Training diets, 120 
 Treacle, 29 
 Trichina of pork, 216 
 Tripe, 39 
 Trout, 41 
 Turbot, 41 
 Turnips, 25 
 Turtle, 42 
 
 Unsound food, 205 
 
 Unsound meat, quantity seized in 
 London, 209 
 
 Veal, measles in, 218 
 
 Vegetable foods, 8 
 
 ,, ,, digestibility of, 57 
 
 ,, „ treatment of, 142 
 
 Vegetables dried, 187 
 
 Venison, 39 
 
 Vermicelli, 144 
 
 Vienna yeast, 146* 
 
 Vinegar, antiseptic power of, 203 
 
 Warington, Mr., patent for pre- 
 serving meat, 189, 197 
 
 Warren, Captain, cooking pot, 177 
 
 Water, the best for making tea, 15& 
 „ functions of in food, 61 
 ,, use of saline matter in, 85 
 
 Wheat, composition of its products, 
 11 
 
 Wheat, nutritive value of different 
 kinds, 10 
 
 Wheat, products of grinding, 9 
 , , varieties of, 8 , 
 
 Whelks, 42 
 
 Whey, 33 
 
 Whiskey, action of, 92 
 
 Whiting, 41 
 
 Whiting, Dr., method of bread- 
 making, 147 
 
 Wild plants used as food, 26 
 
 Wine, action of, 92 
 
 Woody fibre, digestibility of, 100 
 
 Working-class dining rooms in Glas- 
 gow, 180 
 
 Yam, 27 
 Yeast, 145 
 
 „ phosphatic, 148 
 
 ,, Vienna, 146 
 Yucca, root of, 27 
 
 LONDOS ! PBINTED BY BAILLUSBE, T1SDALL, AND COX, KINO WILLIAM STEEET, STBAKD