Turnips are almost the same, but water no less than 90.0.*

Rice, on the other hand, contains but a moderate share of proteids, almost no fats and mineral constituents, but starch in great abundance; while maize, with a good supply of proteids and starchy matter, contains the most fatty material of the whole group. As derived from wheat must be named those valuable aliments, macaroni, vermicelli, and all the Italian pastes. Derived from barley is malt - saccharine, parent of the large family of fermented liquors known as beer. And from various other grains are obtained by fermentation and distillation, several forms of ardent spirit. Vinegar, best when produced from the grape, is also largely made from grain. Millet, dhoora, and buckwheat are all lower but useful members of the cereal group, and feed large populations in Eastern Africa and India.

* I am indebted for the above analyses, etc., to Dr. Pavy's encyclopaedic work, entitled "A Treatise on Food and Dietetics." Churchill. That which the cereals furnish.

The legumes, such as beans, lentils, and peas, form a valuable aliment, containing more proteids ("legumin") even than the cereals, but with fat in small proportion, while starchy matter and the mineral elements abound in both groups.

The tuber finds its type in the potato, which contains far less of proteids than rice, much starch, and almost no fat, few mineral salts, no less than three - fourths of the weight being water; the same may be said of the yam also. The roots may be illustrated by the beet, carrot, parsnip, and turnip, all containing little nitrogen, no fat, but much sugar, and water in very large proportion. Derived from roots and stems of foreign growth, we have arrowroot, tapioca, and sago, all pure starches and destitute of nitrogen. Fatty matter is abundantly found in the olive, which supplies a large part of the world with an important article of food. The almond and other seeds, as rape, cotton, mustard, are also fruitful sources of oil.

The leguminous plants.

Tubers and roots.

Oils and fat.

Oils, Greens, Nuts, Bananas.

Under the term "green vegetables," a few leading plants may be enumerated as types of the vast natural supplies which everywhere exist: - The entire cabbage tribe in great variety; lettuces, endive, and cresses; spinach, sea - kale, asparagus, celery, onions, artichokes, and tomato, all valuable not so much for nutritive property, which, is not considerable, as for admixture with other food, chiefly on account of salts which they contain, and for their appetizing aroma and varied flavours. Thus condiments are useful, as the sweet and aromatic spices, the peppers, mustard, and the various potherbs, so essential to an agreeable cuisine. Seaweeds, under the name of laver, and the whole tribe of mushrooms, should be named, as ranking much higher in nutritive value than green vegetables; while truffles contain a still larger amount of the nitrogenous element. Pumpkins, gourds or marrows, and cucumbers are useful adjuncts to the dietary, especially in warm countries; while chestnuts and other nuts contribute to the support of life in Spain and the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, and acorns also are still serviceable in some parts. The bread fruit is of high value; so also are the cocoanut and the banana in tropical climates, all containing valuable proteids and carbo-hydrates.

The green vegetables.

Condiments.

Seaweeds, fungi, gourds, nuts, bread fruit.

Lastly must be named all those delicious but not very nutritive products of most varied kind and source, grouped under the name of fruits. These are characterized chiefly by the presence of sugar, acid, vegetable jelly, the principle of which is known as "pectine," and valuable saline matters, often combined with scent and flavour of exquisite quality. Most contain, e.g. apples and pears, grapes, cherries, strawberries, gooseberries, plums and peaches, about 80 to 86 percent. of water with free acid, and varying proportions of sugar. Derived from grapes as its chief source, stands wine in its innumerable varieties, so closely associated by all civilized nations with the use of aliments, although not universally admitted to rank in technical language as a food. Next may be named sugar itself in its various forms, a non-nitrogenous product of great dietetic value, and, in a less degree, honey. No less important, from a different point of view, are the tea plant, the coffee berry, and the seeds of the cacao tree, source of cocoa and chocolate, owing to the presence in each of the two former of an element known as "caffeine," a mild and agreeable stimulant promoting mental activity. An analogous element, theobromine, distinguishes the cacaonut.

There is a single element belonging to the mineral kingdom which is taken in its natural state as an addition to food, namely, common salt; and it is so universally recognized as necessary, that it cannot be omitted here. The foregoing list possesses no claim to be exhaustive, only to be fairly typical and suggestive; a few omissions, which some may think important, doubtless exist. In like manner, a rapid survey may be taken of the animal kingdom.

Fruits and their derivatives.

Tea, coffee, cacao.

Common salt.

Before quitting this, however, I shall add a few observations on the process of eating, which is in itself too important to be left without some consideration. For it has a special relation to the great classes of cereal foods and tubers, not popularly known as it deserves to be. The act of mastication by means of the teeth and tongue, exerts an influence of two kinds on the food during its transit through the mouth. Primarily, of course, there is the mechanical process of finely dividing all solid matters before they are swallowed. And that is the sole effect produced on flesh of all kinds, and is essential to good digestion, so that it can be acted upon easily when it arrives in the stomach, where it is exposed to the chemical action of the gastric juice and prolonged moist heat about 980. But with another class of foods, the carbo-hydrates, chiefly starch, largely derived from grain of all kinds, and, therefore, all forms of bread, biscuit, and farinaceous pudding, the act of mastication performs much more than merely mechanical division. For by means of the saliva poured out during that process, and the peculiar principle, "ptyalin," which it contains, a specific digestive action takes place on the starch, which, being naturally insoluble in water, is thus converted into a soluble material called "glucose," and so prepared for absorption into the system. In fact, by a proper amount of mastication, all starches should have undergone this change, or nearly so, before they arrive in the stomach, which does not deal with them. Any resulting deficiency which may have occurred through hasty or inefficient mastication in the mouth, cannot be remedied until after they have left the stomach and entered the first intestine, where they meet with the juices of the pancreas, which complete the process.

Process of eating.

Mastication.

First object.

Second object;

These facts should never be forgotten, and to this end ought to be taught, among other elementary rules of health, in very early life, since thorough mastication of all food is essential to our well being. The child should be made to practice this, not only when eating meat, but for soft foods, such as potatoes, bread, and even farinaceous puddings, in order to ensure the easy performance of digestion, the failure of which, in later life, is so often due to the early habit of swallowing rapidly and thoughtlessly large masses of unchewed food.

Most important.

Stomach does not digest vegetable food nor any of the starches.

Mastication the necessary preliminary to digestion.