The new hydropathic cook-book; with recipes for cooking on hygienic principles

Front matter

,Hq o V

.V

A

Introduction

development of their offspring, and their own dietetic habits, they will study rather to avoid all seasonings, than to mingle many ; they will seek purity of material and simplicity of preparation, instead of compoimding their dishes after the most ridiculous fashions, and the most unnatural tastes. ^

Ten years' experience in the management of hydropathic establishments has convinced me that the dietetic part of our curative plan is far the most difficult to carry out properly. Among the obstacles we have to contend with are the false habits, perverted tastes, and blind prejudices of the j)atient ; the commerical frauds and adulterations practiced more or less witli almost every thing used as food ; and the imperfect state of agriculture, especially as relates to the culture of fruits and garden vegetables.

However strange may seem the assertion, it is nevertheless true, that the philosophy of diet has ii&mr heen taught in medical schools ! Physicians generally are as profoundly ignorant of the whole subject as are the great masses of the people. And even many profess edly hydropathic doctors give the matter very little attention. Many a Water-Cure house, and not a few "establishments," have "gone down" because there was no competent person found to manage the table.

Bread and fruit, it is, or ought to be, generally known, are, or should be, staple and principal articles of food on all tables for Water-Cure invalids. Yet I have seen on such tables an article of bread more calculated to create dyspepsia than to cure it ; and samples of fruit better calculated to excite colic than to relieve constipated bowels. And it is unfortunate for the cause of dietetic reform, that many persons get their impres-

Intkoduction. xi

sions of hydropathic diet from witnessing or experiencing its abuse instead of its use.

In the general out-door practice of hydropathic physicians the matter is still worse. We are often called in private families to prescribe a course of hometreatment for some chronic disease. And frequently it happens that bad eating habits are the principal cause of suffering, to remove which the patient seeks our advice. "We can tell him what he should eat ; but where will he find it 1 We can explain to him what materials to get, but where will he get them ? We can instruct him in the tests of their proper quality and purity, but how will he be able to distinguish by seeing and feeling them ? We can talk to him all about the manner of preparing such food as we recommend, and leave him with the consoling reflection that he will very likely spoil the thing in cooking it, and then lay all the blame to our system or our misapplication of it!

All these difficulties exist; and they exist only because the people have never yet given sufficient attention to *' the relations of food to health."

Under the auspices of the vegetarian reform movement many improvements have taken place in the manner of preparing a great variety of dishes for the table. But vegetarian diet is not necessarily physiological. The best diet contemplates the physiological preparation and use of vegetable food. But most of the vegetarian cook-books thus far are improvements on the ordinary plan of a mixed diet, mainly in exclu ding " flesh, fish, and fowl," and substituting butter for lard. This is, however, an improvement of no small importance ; but it recognizes no physiological principle save the preference of vegetable food for

Inteoduction.

flesh meat. The vegetarians, however, are beginning to study the philosophy of diet more thoroughly, and will, no doubt, very soon modify their cook-books accordingly.

I must in this j)lace caution those who undertake to cook after the rules and receipts of this book, against being discouraged if they do not always succeed in their first attempts. I know excellent bread-makers who spoiled many a loaf of Graham bread before they could get the " knack" of producing exactly the right article. Notwithstanding the nicest formularies that can be given, something must always be left to " tact and judgment." All, however, who sincerely desire to become good cooks in accordance with the principles inculcated in this work, will in due time become proficient by practice and experience.

A cockroach crawled o'er a baker's slielf, Waving his horns and looking for pelf; The baker, upon his broad board below, Was kneading and rolling about the dough.

The board received such terrible thumps As the baker's rolling-pin struck the lumps, The shelf was shaken, the cockroach fell — Ah, where ? the baker he could not tell .'

Into the oven, deep in the dough, Stern Fate would have the cockroach go — Dead and buried, his fate unknown, Perished the cockroach all alone.

A napkin lay where a feast was spread, In its midst a bit of dainty bread ; A lovely lady, v.-ith hands most fair, Unravell'd the najjkin lying there.

Introduction. xiii

Soups, fish, ana birds, of many a kind, A pig, with skewers its joints to bind — A hare, with parsley stuck on its nose — And snipes and pheasants all laid in rows.

Huge limbs of pork, beef, mutton, and veal Were sliced by the flourish of sharp-edg'd steel ; The well-charged plates were borne around By valets, in coats with gilt lace bound.

Many a beggar might live on the steams That danced in the hall on the wax-light beams , But he must have a most delicate smell, Who by its strange odor the dish could tell. ***** A terrible shriek stirs the steam and air That circle around the lady fair : The guests all about the table rise, Gaze toward her with dread surprise.

"Pray, sit, my good lords," at length, quoth she, " And, kindly, I pray, don't question me !" And glad were they when the fright was o'er, To turn to the sumptuous feast once more.

In vain did the lady strive to eat

Delicate morsels of richest meat ;

A dreadful sight met her constant view —

She had bitten the hateful cockroach through !

Then to her in the steam from a bright tureen Was the ghost of the luckless cockroach seen ; While confusion in her ears did ring.

The sprite of the cockroach seemed to sing :

" Lady ! why gave you that terrible shriek ? Why rolled your eye, and paled your cheek .' Why dread to bite a poor worm like me, But eat sheep and swine most greedily ?

" Oh, delicate lady, oh, sensitive fair, See the table strewn with carcasses there — Mangled and torn, all flesh from bone — Oh, leave such horrible feasts alone !

xiv Inteoduction.

" The waving corn and fruitful tree, Bear gracious nourishment for thee ; Live, fair one, as a lady should, And being beautiful — be good !

" Though lions, tigers, vultures prey, Be thou more merciful than they ; Thy health will last, thy life be long !" And thus the cockroach ceased his song.

Ndte. — To those who desire to investigate thoroughly the subject of diet, and especially to those who wish to be well posted in the multitudinous facts and statistics which can be adduced in favor of an exclusively vegetable diet, as derived from history and science, I would earnestly recommend the addition to their libraries of Smith's "Fruits and Farinaeea, the Proper Food of Man;" "Alcotfs Vegetable Diet;" and Lax's " Organic Laws."

Without involving the reader in difficult physiological problems, they collectively present an array of evidence and principles which, if not conclusive, are at least interesting and instructive.

The former is an English work, now being republished by Messrs. Fowlers and ■Wills. The otter works are published by the same house.

Cntitent0.

fintrotiuction.

Books on Cookery — ^Medleys of Dietetic Abominations — Sources of Disease — Eelationa of Food to Health— Commercial Frauds and Adulterations — Philosophy of Diet never taught in Medical Schools — Water-Cure Establishments — Practice of Hydropathic Physicians — Difficulties — Vegetarian Eeform — Caution to Bread Makers— An Inetructive Poem Page vii-xiv

PHILOSOPHY OF DIET— A Funilamental Principle— Theory of Vegetarianism- Summary of the Vecetarian System — Organization with regard to Diet — Population with regard to Diet — Nutritive Value of Foods — Illustrative Analysis — All Nutrition is formed in the Vegetable Kingdom 15-22

ffiijapter 2Ctoo.

ELEMENTS OF FOOD.— Alimentary Principles— Errors in Classification— Chemical Elements of Food — Carbon — Hydrogen — Oxygen— Nitrogen — Phosphorus — Sulphur — Iron — Chlorine— Sodium — Calciuni^Magn^sium — Potassium — Fluorine — Proximate Elements of Food — Water— Filtratiim — Filtering through Stone — Ascending Filter — Cistern Filtering — Double Cistern Filtering — Cleansing Filtering Apparatus — Cask Filter — Revolving Cask Filter— Box Filtering Apparatus— Jar Filter — Yarn Filter — Stone-ware Filter —Cooling Water— Gum— Sugar — The Sugar-cane Plant — Sirups — Manna — Honey — Starch — Corn Starch — Cassava Bread — Starch Grains illustrated — Sago — Tapioca — Arrow-Koot — Wheat Starch — Lignin — Fungin — Jelly — Organic Acids — Vinegar— Fat— Oleaginous Foods — Volatile Oils — Fibrin — Albumen — Casein — Gluten — Gelatin — Blanc-mange — Glue — Saline Matters — Common Salt — ■ Pereira Controverted 23-47

Ci;!)aptet STJree.

ALIMENTS, OR FOOD PEOPER.— Classification of Aliments— Wheat— Frauds in Flour — Rice — Wild Rice— Oats — Oatmeal — Groats — Barley — Pot Barley — Rye — Schwartzbrot — Ergot — Indian Corn, or Maize — Hominy — Samp — Green Corn— Buckwheat— Millet, or Hirse — Peas— Beans — Lentils — Pea-meal — Parched Peas — Split Peas— Green Peas— Lima Beans— Nuts— Chestnut — Butternut — Almonds — Bitter AV xvi Contents.

monds — Walnut — Hazel-nut — Fill)ert — Cocoa-nut — Peanuts — Brazil-nuts — Madeira-nuts — Pistachio-nuts— Acorns — Classification of Fleshy Fruits — Peaches — Nectarines — Plums — Prunes — Apricots — Cherries — Olives — Dates — The Apple — Early Straw berry — Fall Pippin — Pears — Quinces — The Aku, or Aker — The Medlar — Currants — Gooseberries — Whortleberries — The Blueberry — The Barberry — The Buffalo Berry— The Cranberry — Elderberries — Juniper Berries — Scheidam Schnapps — The Grape — Catawbas and Isabellas — Raisins — The Black Currant— The Orange — The Lemon — The Citron — The Shaddock — The Lime — The Pomegranate — The Tomato, or Love Apple — The Okra, or Gambo — Pepones — Melons — Pumpkins — Squashes — Figs- Mulberries — The Pineapple — Strawberries — Raspberries — Blackberries — The Dew • berry — Bread Fruit — Durion — Guava — Mamma — Litchi — Jujube — Juvia — Papau — Avocado Pea" — Anchovy Pear— Manjo — Banana— Plantain — Mangostan — Turnips — Carrots — Pa.'sneps — Beets — Potatoes — Artichokes — Yams — The Radish — TheSkirret — Onions — Leeks — Garlic ■ — Chives — Shallots — Asparagus — Cabbages — Savoy — Cauliflower — Broccoli — Sourkrout — Spinach — Chenopodlum— Sorrel — Rhubarb — Seasoning Herbs — Ferns — Lichens — Seaweeds — Mushrooms — Animal Foods — Qualitiec of Animal Foods— Roman Custom of Killing Animals — Jewish Custom — Composition of Flesh — Methods of Cooking Flesh — Fish Aliment — Insects — Eggs — Milk — Buttei — Cream — Cheese — Concentrated or Essence of Milk Pago 4S-108

©tapter iFout.

PRESERVATION OP FOODS.— Preservation of Grain, Meal, Seeds, etc.— Presenation of Vegetables— ^Vegetable Drying Apparatus — Preservation of Fruits — Plau of Mr. Smith — The North American Phalanx Company — Principal Condition for Preserving Perishable Fruits — Undried Grapes — Green Gooseberries and Currants — Scalding Fruit — Peach and Tomato Leather — Preserving Peaches in Tin Cans — Pumpkins and Squashes — Cultivation of Currants and Gooseberries — Preservation with Ice — Plan of an Ice House 109-117

€;f)npter Jpibe.

THEORY OP NUTRITION— Prevalent Errors— Stimulating Diet— Tonic Diet— Low Diet — High Living— Rich Food — Definition of Nutrition— The Abdominal Viscera — Dr. Beaumont's Experiments — Summary of the Digestive Processes — Insalivation —Mastication — Deglutition — Chymilication — Properties of Bile — Fatty Matters in the Stomach — The Pancreatic Juice — Chylification — Structure of the Alimentary Canal — The Lacteal Vessels — Defecation — Fecal Accumulations — Practical Reflections — Condiments — Catalogue of the Crystal Palaoe — Fat Persons and Animals — ^Modus Operandi of the Fattening Process 118-147

BREAD AND BREAD-MAKING.— Different Kinds of Bread— Theory of Fermentation — General Rules for Bread-making — Unleavened Breads — Fermented Breads — Raised Breads — Digestibility of Breads — Quality of Flour and Meal — Bread-making — Setting the Sponge — The Three Essentials — Ferment, Leaven, or Yeast — Original Ferment — Hop-yeast — Potato-yeast — Milk Risings — Yeast Cakes — Yeast-rulis — Ferment without Yeast — Flour-yeast — Yeast of Dried Peas — Unleavened Bread — Raised Bread — Wheat-meal Bread — Graham Bread — Potato Bread — Rye and Indian Bread — Apple Bread — Pumpkin Bread — Rice Bread— Moist Rice Bread — Sweet Brown Sread— Currant Bread— Scalded Bread 14S-164

Contents. xvii

€;|)a})ter Scben.

CAKES AND BISCUITS.— Wheat-meal Crackers— Unletvened Bread Cakes— Wheat-meal Wafers — Indian-meal Cake — Johnny Cake — Raised Indian Cake — Rich Corn Cake — Corn Cream Cake — Molassts Cake — Wheat-meal Sweet Cake — Indian Slappers — Wheat-meal Griddle Cake — Buckwheat Griddle Cakes — Rice Griddle Cakes — Wheat and Indian Griddle Cakes — Oatmeal Cake — Potato Cake — Flour and Potato Rolls — Indian Pancakes — Slapjacks — Sour Milk Biscuit — Shortened Biscuit — Rye Drop Cake — Wheat-meal Drop Cake — Corn-meal Muffins — Hydropathic Crumpets — Cocoa-nut Drops — Milk Biscuit — Water-Cure Waffles — Uncooked Bread Cake — Unbaked Bread Cake — Uncooked Fruit Cake— Frost Cakes — Improved Jumballa — Fruit Cake— Wedding Cake — Potato Scones — Dry Toast — Milk Toast — Cream Toast— Wheat-meal Fruit Biscuits Page 165-172

©Ijapter Eifllit.

MUSHES AND PORRIDGES.— Cracked Wheat Mush— Hominy— Samp— Rye-meal Mush — Indian-meal Mush — Oatmeal Mush — Wheat-meal Mush — Farina Mush — Rice Mush — Rice and Milk Mush — Corn Starch Blanc-mange — Molded Farinacea — Milk Porridge — Wheat-meal Porridge — Oatmeal Porridge — Hominy Porridge — Sago Porridge — Rice and Sago Porridge — Bean Porridge 173-176

®I)apter Nine.

PIES AND PUDDINGS.— Pie Crust— Wheat-meal Pie Crust— Wheat and Potato Crust — Meal and Flour Crust — Raised Pie Crust — Wheat and Rye Crust — Bread Pie Crust — Pumpkin Pie with Eggs — Pumpkin Pie with Cream— Grated Pumpkin Pie — Squa-sh Pie — Green Apple Pie — Dried Apple Pie— Carrot Pic — Potato Pie — Peach Pie— Dried Peach Pie — Rhubarb Pie — Custard Pie — Cranberry Tart — Whortleberry Pie — Blackberry Pie — Raspberry Pie — Strawberry Pie — Strawberry Tart — Green Currant Pie — Gooseberry Pie — Dried Fruit Pies — Rice Puddings— Sago and Apple Pudding — Pearl Barley Pudding — Barley and Apple Pudding — Bread Pudding — Cracked Wheat Pudding — Hominy Pudding — Indian-meal Pudding— Tapioca Pudding — Snow Pudding — Christmas Pudding — Macaroni Snow Pudding — Rice and Apple Pudding— Sweet Apple Pudding— Snow-ball Pudding— Apple Custard- Cottage Pudding — Farina Pudding— Fig and Cocoa-nut PuddiYig — Baked Apple Pudding — Berry Pudding — Custard Pudding— Green Corr Pudding 177-185

©tapter Ken.

WHOLE GRAINS AND SEEDS.— Boiled Wheat- Boiled Rice- Parched Corn— Boiled Chestnuts — Roasted Peanuts — Boiled Green Peas — Boiled Green Beans — Boiled Beans and Peas— Boiled Green Corn— Roasted Green Corn — Succotash 186-18S

ffijapter Elcben.

GRUELS AND SOUPS.— Wheat-meal Gruel- Indian-meal Gruel— Oatmeal Gruel- Farina Gruel— Tapioca Gruel— Sago Gruel— Currant Gruel— Groat Gruel— Arrow-root Gruel— Rice Gruel — Tomato Soup — Rice Soup — Split Peas Soup — Green Peas Soup— Split Peas ami Barley Soup— Biirley Soup— Green Bean Soup— Vegetable Broth — Barley Broth- Spinach Soup— Vegetable and Rice Soup — Cucumber and Gumbo Soup 1S9-193 xviii Contexts,

EOOTS AND VEGETABLES.— Boiled Potatoes— Boiled Peeled Potatoes— Browned Potatoes— Potato for Shorteninsc- Mashed Potato— Browned Mashed Potato— Potato j-lour — Potato Jelly — Boasted Potatoes— Sweet Potatoes— Baked Potatoes — Boiled Turnips — ^Mashed Tuniips — Boiled Parsneps — Stewed Parsneps — Browned Parsneps

Onions — Carrots — Jerusalem Artichokes — Boiled Beet-root — Baked Beets — Stewed

Beets — Asparagus — Boiled Cabbage — Boiled Savoys — Stewed Cabbage — Cauliflowers —Broccoli — Stewed Cucumbers — Greens— String Beans — Egg Plant — Vegetable Marrow— Salsify— Oyster Plant 194-200

€;i)aptcr Eijivtten.

PREPARED FEUITS.— Baked Apples— Stewed Green Apples — Boiled Apples- Stewed Pippins — Stewed Dried Apples — Pears — Boiled Peaches — Stewed Green Peaches — Stewed Dried Peaches — Uncooked Peaches — Apricots — Cherries — Quinces — Quince Marmalade — Stewed Cranberries — Blackberries — Whortleberries — Raspberries — Strawberries — Gooseberries — Currants — Plums — Grapes — Pineapples — Tomatoes 201-205

(Hfi^ftzv iFourteen.

PREPARATIONS OF ANIMAL FOOD.— Beef Steak— Mutton Chops— Stewed Mutton — Boiled Mutton — Roast Beef— Corned Beef— Beef Hash — ^Venison— "White Fish —Poultry— Eggs 206-208

©Japter iFiftccn.

RELISHES AND FANCY DISHES.— Custard without Eggs— Rice Custard— Raspberry Custard — Apple Cream — Snow Cream — Pineapple Ice Cream — Strawberry Cream — Raspberry Ice Cream— Curd Cheese — Pot Cheese — Cherry Jam — Apple Cheese— Grape Sirup— Baked Milk 209-212

ffijapter Sixteen

KITCHEN MISCELLANY.— New Kind of Oven— Steam Cooking— Steaming rs. Baking Bread — Cucumbers in Tubs — Potato Cheese — Roasting Apples, Potatoes, Eggs, etc. — Burns and Scalds — Cockroaches — Rats and Mice — Cracked Iron — Iron Cooking Utensils — Copper Vessels — Leailen Vessels — Tin Cooking Utensils — Zinc Vessels — Brass Cooking Utensils — German Silver — Pewter Dishes — Britannia Metal — Fruit Stains — Iron Mold and Ink Spots— PaperedWalls — Painted "Wood — Starch and Paste — Trays, Knives and Forks — Frozen Potatoes — Dresses on Fire — "Water-proof Cement— Fire-proof Cement— Ready Rat Trap— Chei^ "Water-proof Paste . . 213-219

THE

Chapter I. Philosophy Of Diet

A Fundamental Principle. — The single fact, that all nutritive material is formed by vegetables — animals having power to appropriate, but never to form nutrition — is proof positive to my mind, that the best food, and that which is most conducive to man's highest development, bodily, spiritually, physiologically, or mentally, is found in the use of those vegetables themselves. Those who eat animal food do not get a single element of nutrition, save what animals obtain from vegetables. Hence man, in taking his nutrition indirectly by the eating of animals, must of necessity get the original nutriment more or less deteriorated from the unhealthy conditions and accidents of the animals he feeds upon, and the impurities, putrescent matters, and excretions always mingled in the blood, the flesh, and the viscera of animal substances.

I regard, therefore, vegetarianism as the true theory of diet ; and although I am a vegetarian in practice as well as in theory, I do nevertheless admit or permit, in the cases of many invalids under hydropathic treatment, the moderate use of animal food. This may be said to be in one sense a compro-

20 Hydeopathio Cook-Book.

Dietetic Principles and Propositions.

mise with error. But the justification is found in the fact that all are not yet sufficiently educated to carry out an exclusively vegetable regimen.

Summary of the Vegetarian System. — An English periodical (Vegetarian Messenger) has happily compressed the leading propositions bearing on the subject in the following manner :

The Principle. — That man, as a physical, intellectual, and moral being, can become most completely developed in all his faculties by subsisting upon the direct productions of the vegetable kingdom.

The Reasons for entertaining this principle are various with different persons, but they are principally based —

I. On the Anatomical Structure of Man^ as described by Linnseus, Cuvier, and other eminent naturalists, who express their conviction that man was designed to live on the fruits of the earth.

II. On History, which shows that this principle was a rule of life at the happiest — the primeval — period of human existence ; and that wherever it has been adopted, it has proved itself to be beneficial to the human race.

III. On Physiology, which shows that the purest blood, and the most substantial muscle, sinew, and bone are produced by vegetarian diet.

IV. On Chemistry, as promulgated by Liebig and other eminent chemists, showing that all nutriment whatever is derived from the vegetable kingdom, where it is found in the most suitable proportions.

V. On Domestic. Economy, which proves by chemical deduction that more nutriment can be obtained for one penny from farinaceous food, than for one shilling from the flesh of animals.

VI. On Agriculture, which shows the vast amount of food obtained in vegetable produce, compared with that of animal produce, on the same extent of laud.

Philosophy of Diet. 21

Dietetic Character deduced from Organization.

VII. On Psychology, proving to every practical investigator, that in proportion as this principle is adhered to for this end, the passions can be kept in subjection to the moral principles of the mind.

VIII. On the Practical Testimony of many great and good men in ancient, modern, and present times.

IX. On the Appointment of man's food at the Creation. — Genesis i. 29.

X. On the Individual Consciousness of the truth of the principle which becomes more and more powerful, in propor tion as the principle is adhered to in practice.

Organization with regard to Diet. — We concede of course that human beings can, to a great extent, and that all animals can to some extent, subsist on flesh-meat. But the practical question is, which is the best ? All carnivorous animals, we know, have a very low and generally a ferocious organization. Omnivorous animals are less fierce, perhaps, in temper, but hardly less gross in tastes. Herbivorous animals exhibit not only more firmness of fiber and power of endurance — all working animals in all parts of the world being herbivorous — but also milder tempers, gentler natures, more amiable dispositions, more governable propensities, and even a higher grade of mental capacity.

These facts have some meaning. To my mind they prove that a subsistence wholly on animal food is designed in the order of nature for the lowest, grossest, and most perishable portion of the animal kingdom — for the beasts of prey which answer a temporary purpose in the scale of creation, and then pass away ; that a mixed diet is adapted to a higher order of beings, be they human or brutal ; and that a diet strictly vegetable is intended to sustain those animals which are longest necessary or useful on the earth, while man, the crowning glory and noblest work of the Almighty Architect, is to subsist eventually, and in his millennial development,

32 IlYDKOPATniC CooK-BooK.

Population affected by Diet. — Nutritive Value of Food.

on the highest and purest pi r;ductions of the vegetable king dom.

Population with REGfARD to Diet. — Another argument, and to my mind also a conclusive one, in favor of vegetarianism, is the true theory of population. If ever the earth becomes very densely inhabited with human beings, a great number of such animals as are raised for food can not possibly coexist. And as ten times the number of " rational creatures" can be sustained on the direct productions of the earth, that could subsist indirectly on the flesh of animals, the presumption is at least vei'y strong, that the races of domesticated animals will become extinct as the races of man progress ; just as the weaker races of the human family decline before the advancing strides of the stronger. There is certainly something as revolting in the idea of a " feast of blood" in the millennial period, as in that of a " slaughter-house in Eden," or a pigsty in Paradise.

Nutritive Value of Food. — The prevalent opinion that flesh-meat is more nutritive than vegetable food, either as supplying matter for the tissues or respiratory material, is shown to be erroneous by chemical analysis. The best analytical chemists. Play fair, Liebig, Boussingault, etc., give us the following statistical illustration of the subject :

Contains — Supply to the body —

Articles of Diet. Solid matter. Water. ,EI"od f„rm- Heat rurm. ^

ing principle, ing principle, "■■'""='"•

lb. lb. lb. lb. lb. lb.

Philosophy OF Diet. 23

Identity of Elements in Animal and Vegetable Protein.

In view of the foregoing facts, a late English paper [Liverpool Mercury) remarks :

In addition to the above interesting facts developed by an examination of the composition of the various articles of food in ordinary consumption, and proclaiming the respective degree in which each can be made useful in the building up of the body, is another argument presented to the attention, by the advocates of the vegetarian practice of diet. It is found that all parts of the food which can form blood, and thus renew the animal structure of the body, are due to the protein compounds, which have their sole origin in the vegetable kingdom ; and thus the nutritive parts of vegetables and flesh being identical, that the popular opinion of the peculiar characteristics of the nutriment of the flesh of animals is altogether erroneous, the nutritive particles of flesh being due to the ultimate elements of nutrition derived from the vegetable food on which animals consumed have fed, as shown in the works of Baron Liebig, illustrating the fact in question " Vegetables produce in their organism the blood of all animals for the carnivora, in consuming the blood and flesh of the granivora, consume, strictly speaking, only the vegetable principles which have served for the nutrition of the latter."

Note. — For a brief exposition of the various arguments in support of the propositions indicated here, I must refer to another work, "The Hydropathic Encyclopedia;" and for a complete demonstration of the whole subject to Graham's " Science of Human Life," and Smith's " Fruits and Farinacea the Proper Food of Man." Much useful information may also be gathered from a work written a few years ago by William Lambe, M.D., of England, entitled, " Water and Vegetable Regimen in Chronic Diseases." The Water-Cure Journal has recently adopted a dietetic department, for the especial discussion of all problems connected with diet, which periodical I would recommend to all who intend to keep along with the progress of the age.

Chapter II. Elements Of Food

Alimentary Principles. — All alimentary substances are composed of certain constituent parts, which may be properly termed alimentary principles. These are formed by certain combinations of elementary constituents, which are denominated chemical elements. Alimentary prin-ciples are often called proximate elements or principles of food, and chemical elements are frequently termed ultimate elements of food. Thus wheat., beef, potato, apple, etc., are aliments or foods proper ; and starch, sugar, gum, gluten, fibrin, albumen, casein, gelatin, etc. — their constituents — are proximate elements or principles. The proximate constituents of food are alimentary principles, while oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, etc., into which these alimentary principles are resolvable by analysis, are chemical or ultimate elements. Chemical elements are regarded as simple substances only, because In our present state of chemical knowledge they have never been decom posed. Proximate elements of food are compounds of the simple or chemical elements, and aliments or foods proper are compounds of the proximate principles.

Pareria divides alimentary substances into chemical elements^ alimentary principles, and compound aliments. This arrangement is based on a false philosophy, and is very liable to mislead the superficial inquirer. The truth is, all alimentary substances are compounds of alimentary principles ; but this does not make them compound aliments. We might as well call the oxygen and hydrogen of water, aqueous principles, and the water it?,Q\i, compound drink! Aliment and food are synonymous terms, but each represents a simple

Experimenta on Animals. — Chemical Elements.

idea. A potato, an apple, or a grain of wheat, is a compound of various alimentary principles; but it is a simple, and in no sense a compound food. Compound wheat, compound potato, etc., would be as appropriate phrases as are compound food, and compound aliments.

The error above alluded to, trivial as it may seem to the casual reader, has caused hundreds of foolish experiments to be tried on dogs, cats, ralft)its, hares, hogs, sheep, and even on the human animal, with a view of ascertaining the dietetic virtue of particular alimentary principles. These victims of science have been fed on sugar, gum, starch, butter, cheese, fat, fibrin, albumen, gelatin, etc., exclusively, and with the uniform result of sooner or later starving to death. No animal can sustain prolonged nutrition on any single alimentary principle, though all of them may on a single aliment.

Chemical Elements of Food. — Chemists reckon, as constituting the ultimate elements of food, thirteen simple substances, viz. : carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, iron, chlorine, sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and fluorine ; and Pareria, assuming that " a living body has no power of forming elements, or of converting one elementary substance into another," deduces thence the inference that '* the thirteen essential constituents of the human body must, therefore, be the elements of our food."

This proposition requires explanation; for although it may be and probably is true that organized bodies have no power of transmuting one actual element into another, or of creating elements, yet it is perfectly demonstrable that the vital energies of both animals and vegetables have power to decompose substances, usually regarded as elementary, and to transmute, and even form, to some extent, what are usually considered to be chemical elements. Thus iime is found in the bones of the chick, while no trace of it can be discovered in the fluid of the egg, from which the chick derives its sustenance ; and