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VIII.

PERISHABLE FOODS, AND THE MEANS FOR PRESERVING THEM.

MEAT, FISH, ETC.

INCE butcher's meat is not liable to adulteration,

SINCE

properly speaking, any extended discussion of its character would be out of place in this little volume. Yet it cannot be passed by without a word, for it is a form of food which requires very little expenditure of force for its assimilation, since that work was done by the animal when living, and man avails himself of it. Rightly used, it forms a valuable addition to man's diet. The consumption of meat has steadily increased, in spite of the increase in price. It is said that the cost of meat in England has increased thirty-five per cent in the past twenty-two years. A large quantity of dried and tinned meat is now exported from Australia and South America.

The amount consumed in different countries varies from about one tenth of a pound a day, or one pound

in ten days, in Russia and Spain, one pound in three days in England, one in two days in New York, to a pound a day in Buenos Ayres and Uruguay, where animals are killed for their hides and horns. Meat should be obtained from healthy animals, and kept in a clean place, in order that it may form a wholesome food. The bad odor of tainted meat should be a sufficient warning of its character. A very slight taint, such as sometimes occurs on the outer edges, may be corrected by placing some charcoal in the water in which it is boiling. In order to kill all parasites, meat should be thoroughly cooked; and for this, boiling is safer than roasting. A general average composition may be shown by the following mean of many analyses :

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Fish seems to be somewhat less digestible than meat, possibly on account of the little blood in the tissue. The average composition is: mineral matter, one to two per cent; nitrogenous substance, ten to twenty; fat, five to ten; water, seventy to eighty per

cent.

Eggs contain all the necessary constituents of food in the most concentrated form,-so concentrated as to be unsuited for the whole of the daily ration. For convalescents they are invaluable when they can be obtained fresh. From their very composition they are extremely liable to putrefaction. This change may be prevented by the exclusion of air, either by coating the shell with an impervious layer of oil, gum, or paraffine, or by treatment with calcium salts, or by plunging the egg into boiling water for a few seconds. Desiccated eggs are now much used.

The seeds of the Leguminosa, peas, beans, and lentils, may be called meat substitutes, since they contain about twenty-five per cent of nitrogenous substance, twelve of water, and fifty of starch. As dried seeds they should stand next in importance to the cereals; but since beans and peas especially are eaten green, as vegetables, even more than in the dried state, they cannot be omitted in this list. This form of food is not sufficiently appreciated, especially by working people. It should be eaten with starch or fat foods. Hence the New England dish of baked pork and beans was a perfectly suitable and well-proportioned food for people whose life was spent largely in the

open air, in arduous pioneer work. The nutritious seeds are less easily digested than the cereals. The "ash" contains more lime and less phosphates. Some member of this group of plants grows in every land.

VEGETABLES AND FRUITS.

Vegetables are usually understood to include certain roots and tubers, as the potato, sweet potato, turnip, and beet, with some fruits, as the tomato, squash, and cucumber. These are used in the fresh condition, and are not subject to adulteration. They are largely composed of water, seventy-five to ninety five per cent. The small nutritive value which they possess is due to the starch and sugar, and not to the nitrogenous material, which is present in small quantity only. The percentage of "ash" is higher than in cereals, and contains more potassium salts. This is also the case in fruits, so called, - apple, pear, grape, peach, and orange. These contain sugar, instead of the starch of the vegetable, and also an acid which gives a pleasant relish and is a stimulant to the appetite. The general composition of fruits may be stated at eightyfive per cent water, eight per cent sugar, and one per

cent acid. When much salted meat is eaten, fruit and vegetables are very essential correctives of diet, on account of the acid, and possibly on account of the potassium salts, which are supposed to replace the excess of sodium salts taken with the meat.

There is little danger in the use of vegetables and fruits as food, if they are fresh, not wilted, and are fully grown or ripened. The skin of the potato contains a poisonous substance, which is volatilized when the tuber is boiled, steamed, or baked. The skin of the cucumber is indigestible, as is that of the peach. Currants should be well washed before being placed upon the table, as the bushes are often dusted over with hellebore, or with Paris green, an arsenical preparation, to prevent the ravages of worms.

The same caution is applicable to some of the relishes, as lettuce and cabbage. These green foods should be crisp, not wilted. They are important adjuncts to diet on account of the mineral matters, vegetable acids, and peculiar flavoring principles. Fruits and vegetables add a certain bulk to the meal which seems to favor digestion.

Dried fruits, as raisins, figs, etc., have a nutritive value nearly equal to that of bread, containing forty

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