Food in its Relation to Health.

In the manufacture of oleomargarine the best beef fat is cut from the animal while it is still warm. After rejecting all the soiled and tainted portions, the remainder is cooled and washed in fresh water. It is then ground

and afterward heated to about 170° Fah.; an oil is thus extracted which is salted and cooled. A coloring matter is added when it is put with milk into a churn. After thorough churning it is "worked" as butter, pressed into moulds or cakes, and is ready for market. When properly prepared it is hard to tell it from the best creamery butter.

Butterine differs from olemargarine in having a given proportion of hog fat added to the beef fat. The processes of manufacture are the same as for oleomargarine, only the temperature requisite is only about 120° Fah.

Fresh eggs furnish a large amount of nutrious material. An ordinary hen's egg weighs about two ounces, and has about sixty per cent of white or albumen, and thirty per cent of yolk, which is principally composed of fat. Though the eggs of but few birds are used for food, it is not known that the egg of any bird is poisonous. The habits and food of birds determine largely the taste and odor of their eggs and their fitness for food. The digestive and nutritive properties of raw eggs, and of those in which the albumen is merely coagulated are about equal. The hard-boiled egg is much harder to digest.

Cheese is highly nutritious, being much richer in proteids and fat than meat. Owing, however, to its severe tax upon the digestive organs, it can only be taken into the stomach profitably in comparatively small quantities. Its value as a food depends largely upon the milk from which it is madewhether from "whole" milk or from skimmed milk, and whether the milk from which it was made had undergone fermentation and the consequent development of tyrotoxicon.

The most important Vegetable foods are wheat, rye, oats, corn, rice, potatoes, peas, and beans, and they are valuable and health giving in the varying proportions of proteids, fat, sugar, gum and starch they contain. Peas, beans and wheat contain the largest amount of nitrogenous or flesh making material; oat meal and corn the greatest amount of fat, and hence of heat producing substance, and corn, buckwheat, peas, beans and potatoes the largest amount of starch. Oat meal, peas, beans and buckwheat are richest in the phosphates; and corn, oat meal and wheat furnish the most sugar. The best known and most important food product from grain is bread which has rightly been called the "Staff of Life." Professor Vaughan says of this well known article of food:

"The most important food constituents of the grains, and consequently of bread, are the proteids, starches and ash. The amount of nitrogenous matter is too small for a perfect food and for this reason bread is often taken with some other food richer in nitrogen, such as meat. Bread is also deficient in fat, and man instinctively takes some kind of fat, such as butter or bacon, along with his bread. Notwithstanding these imperfections, bread is a food of which we never tire and the various ways in which it is prepared aid in sharpening the appetite. Beside, while some important food substances

Food in its Relation to Health.

are not abundant in bread all are present to a greater or less extent; and with the addition of a little more nitrogen in the shape of meat and fat, as as butter or bacon, a perfect diet is secured."

What is more luscious than fruit-more tempting to the eye; more pleasing to the taste! And yet judged by the food principles enunciated it possesses but little food value. It is a luxury and an appetizer, and is eagerly sought by young and old alike.

Vaughan says: "The real value of fruits, judged by their chemical composition, is small, but when thoroughly ripe, and well preserved, they act beneficially upon the system, improving the appetite and maintaining a healthy condition of the various vital organs. Probably no fruit is necessary to life, and fruits may be regarded as luxuries; but man's instincts and cravings prompt him to obtain them often, even when their cost is considerable. Undoubtedly they are most highly prized by the inhabitants of warm countries, where foods which produce but little heat are desirable. The most enjoyable part of fruits is their juice, which consists principally of watery solutions of sugar and acids. The amount of sugar in fruits varies from one to eighteen per cent. The cellular parts are not easily digested; and those fruits are prized most highly which have the greatest quantity of juice with the smallest proportion of cell structure."

An important discovery made by Dr. C. Bender is, that fruit gives off a great deal of carbonic acid, both in the garden and in the process of hoarding in the house; it is hence very prejudicial to the lungs, to sleep in a room in which apples, pears, etc., are being hoarded.

As regards the physiological action of fruit upon the system, it may be said, in general terms, that the acid fruits, as currants, plums, etc., act as laxatives, while the sweet fruits, as strawberries, pears, and grapes have an opposite tendency. Some people are, however, very sensitive to fruit acids, and cannot indulge without being troubled with numerous little sores on the inside of the lips. In such case it is, of course, better to forego the indulgence. The core, peeling and other cellular substance of fruits is indigestible, and should not be swallowed, the more especially that, being undigested in the stomach, they may create a stoppage in the intestinal canal. Children should be especially cautioned on this head.

Unfortunately, many physicians are not sufficiently well-informed as to the direct beneficial operation of fruit in certain diseases. Professor Uffelman has repeatedly drawn attention to the beneficial effect of fruit in chronic indigestion, and catarrh of the stomach, especially after excessive indulgence in spirituous drinks, also hæmorrhoids, tendency of blood to the head, scorbutic complaints, and in certain diseases of the liver and milt. In every form of febrile complaint, fruit juice, or the cold juice of boiled fruit, is extremely refreshing. It has been remarked that calculus is very rare in cider districts; potash is secreted in the organism of the cider drinker and acts on lime secretions like Vichy water.

The regular fruit treatment is confined mainly to the grape cure. fruit is longest in season, and produced in greatest abundance.

This

As regards

Food in its Relation to Health.

the quantity consumed daily in chronic diseases, the patient ordinarily begins with a quantity which is gradually increased to six pounds a day. The grapes are not eaten fresh from the vine, for fear of chilling the stomach, especially in the early morning. Preference is given to fruit which has been gathered two days. An interval of from an hour and a half to two hours is allowed to elapse between the meal of grapes and of other food. Milk before or after fruit is not admissible.

The object of the foregoing is to insist that in fruits we have the most pleasant natural remedies for disease, and for the maintenance of health. May this knowledge be widely extended and acted on. Fruit in season should be on the table of every household from morning to night, that young and old may help themselves, to their benefit and delight.

All the substance referred to as essential to proper nutrition, with many others that might have been mentioned, except milk and fruits, require, for their use by the human family, previous preparation by cooking. The nutritive value of all food stuffs depends entirely upon their digestibility, and this latter quality in a larger measure than is generally recognized, is influenced by appearance, odor and taste. And here is where the preparation and cooking of food plays so important a part. A food may be rendered by cooking so attractive in appearance, and taste and odor as "to make the mouth water," and thus summon in advance all the digestive energies of the stomach, and secure thereby its prompt digestion and assimilation; or, on the other hand, so repulsive as to disgust and repel; or, if taken under protest, to retard, if not defy, digestion. This opens up a large, practical and highly important field of investigation.

Good cooking is not only a wonderful factor in the production and maintainance of the highest standard of health but contributes immensely to economical living.

Edward Atkinson, LL.D., of Boston, in his "Art of Cooking," in pleading for stopping the waste from improper cooking, and applying the saving thereby to the purchase of better homes and clothing; estimates the waste per day at five cents for each adult, and at two and one-half cents per day for each child under ten years of age. The aggregate of this waste per year at the present estimated population of the United States amounts to the enormous sum of over one billion dollars, an amount greater than the cost of all the public buildings of Iowa.

If this be true, and if good cooking also conduces to better health and greater ability for work, truly no further argument is necessary to convince all of the necessity of more general instruction upon the health giving, palatable and economical preparation of food.

In the near future the day is coming when the selection and preparation of foods, and the science and art of cooking shall be a part of the common school education of all the boys and girls of the land-when no young woman shall be considered "accomplished" unless she has a practical knowledge of this most important department of a well-ordered home.

Not only is it important, however, to know what to eat and how to cook it, but it is also important to know when to eat and how to eat. As a general

Food in its Relation to Health.

rule it is safe to eat when nature demands food-when one is hungry; and yet the amount eaten should never be sufficient to overload the stomach. There is too great a variety of food taken. A few articles of food selected in conformity to the food principles laid down, are infinitely better than the conglomeration too often indulged in. The poor stomach is often taxed with the effort to digest two or three kinds of meat, butter, milk, cheese, eggs, pickles, slaws, two or three kinds of vegetables, raw and cooked; bread, pastries, cakes, ice cream, coffee or tea, fruits, nuts, and occasionally malt or spirituous liquors, all taken at one meal. Such an imposition often results in a miserable failure on the part of the stomach in its efforts at digestion; and in producing gastric and enteric troubles with some reflex headache, and if persisted in, in chronic dyspepsia.

It is best not to eat immediately after severe exercise, nor to eat heartily just before boing to bed-though one should never go to bed hungry if possible.

Some one has said, and truthfully:

"Great suppers a very great evil we call;

That your sleep may be sweet let your suppers be small."

It is always dangerous to work hard or to take any violent exercise immediately after eating a hearty meal. The best selected, and the best cooked food may under such circumstances become a source of danger, instead of one of satisfaction.

Iced drinks should not be used in connection with the meals, since no digestion can begin until the temperature of the contents of the stomach has reached about 100° F. Hence warm drinks, if not taken so liberally as to unduly dilute the gastric secretions essential to digestion, are to be commended-especially hot water with a little cream and sugar. Coffee disagrees with many and should never be taken in the evening, nor just before going to bed, as it is almost sure to produce wakefulness.

There should be thorough mastication and insalivation of the food, and the time occupied in eating should never be less than thirty minutes.

In conclusion, the facts stated in this paper may be briefly summarized as follows:

1. All vital processes result in constant tissue waste, which can only be adequately met by a proper food supply.

2. All nutritive foods may be grouped into five classes-called the five food principles-viz: Water, proteids, fats, carbo-hydrates and salts.

3. All food supplies, in order to produce and maintain the most perfect physical and mental development, must contain all these food principles in proportions pretty definitely determined, and hence, neither an exclusively vegetable nor animal diet should be adopted.

4. All meats, to be commended, should be fresh, or properly cured; and should always be from animals slaughtered in good health; and meat from mature animals is more easily digested than that from those immature.

5. That the grains and vegetables most nutritious are those richest in the proteids and fats; and that all vegetables should be as perfect as possible.

Milk Infection.

6. That bread, with a due proportion of butter or fat, is a perfect food. 7. That milk should always be from healthy cows, and should be kept in a cool place, properly covered, and under conditions to protect against the possibility of pollution by disease germs.

8. That there is reason to believe that cholera morbus and cholera infantum, and the many cases of poisoning after eating ice cream and cheese, are due to the formation in the milk, during fermentative processes, of an alkoloid called tyrotoxicon.

9. That fruits are not rich in food products, but are desirable as luxuries and aids to digestion.

10. That the best selected food supplies demand for their proper digestion and assimilation proper preparation and cooking; and,

11. That the science and the art of cooking should be an important part of the education of all our youths-not only in our colleges and high schools, but in the common school as well.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-" Healthy Homes and Foods for the Working Classes," by Victor C. Vaughan, M. D.; "The Art of Cooking," Edward Atkenson, LL.D.; "Food Materials," Edward Smith. M. D.; "Foods," Ellen H. Richards; "Foods; Composition and Analysis," A. W. Blythe, M. D.; "Sanitary Examinations of Water, Air and Food," C. B. Fox, M. D.; and "Sanitary and Economic Cooking," Mrs. Mary Inman Abel.

MILK INFECTION.*

Considering that at least 7,000,000,000 gallons of milk are consumed in the United States alone, it seems a matter of more than little importance to appreciate the source of milk infection, especially when we find milk more ready than any other aliment to absorb poisonous substances and become a culture-bed for numerous germs and an undoubted carrier for such diseases as tuberculosis, anthrax, typhoid fever, diptheria and scarlatina. How many cases even of tabes mesenterica and typhoid fever are caused by infected milk it is hard to say, but certainly a large per cent can be traced to it. The origin of a late siege by an amoebic dysentery that one of the Eastern cities has had could undoubtedly be found in the adulteration of milk with water from a source contaminated with this amoeba. Water from a stream upon which are situated distilleries, glue factories, wool-cleaning establishments, or which has sewers running into it, when drank by cattle will infect the milk with many varieties of vegetable and animal life of a low form, and is very detrimental, not only when fed to infants and invalids, but causes diarrheas and gastric disturbances in healthy adults.

'By F. J. Tower, M. D., in Medical Record.