The living animal absorbs much oxygen from the air by its
lungs. One part of it converts the carbon of the food into car-
bonic acid; another portion is built into the substance of the
body; a large part is employed in dissolving and removing the
waste in urea, uric acid, etc. This urea and uric acid return to
the soil from which the nitrogen they contain originally came,
and where they are reconverted into ammonia, nitric acid, and
other substances, and are now ready to enter into new roots and
go the rounds again.
The undigested gluten is rejected in the animal droppings,
mingles with the soil, and is changed to ammonia and nitric
acid. The vegetables which die undergo natural decay, and
again enter the soil and air as elements. Animal bodies them-
selves die at last, and the nitrogen they contain is made to assume
the forms in which plants are able to take it up. The ammonia
and volatile compounds of nitrogen, produced by animal and
vegetable decay, rise in the form of gas or vapor, and escape
into the air. The rains of heaven wash the ammonia out and
bring it back to the earth. Part of it is, however, resolved into
elementary nitrogen, and is thus lost to plants. To make up
for this loss, nitric acid is formed in the air in small quantities.
The Boston Cook Booh.
Thi-ough the agency of the electric currents the oxygen and
nitrogen of the air unite to form nitric acid. Ammonia is given
off by volcanoes, and is returned to the earth by the rains and
snows.
Circulation of Mineral Matter. — Everything which the animal
body contains is derived, directly or indirectly, from vegetable
foods; and the mineral or ash it leaves, when burned, must have
come from the soil through the plant. When the animal dies,
its body sooner or later returns to the soil. So we have another
circle in which the earthy matter of animals and plants moves.
It ascends from the soil to the plant, then to the animal, and
back again to mother earth, so that it is really " dust to dust."
The plant does not absorb all mineral matters, but selects the
rarer and more precious materials from the soil, and such as are
held in solution by water. Phosphoric acid, lime, magnesia, and
saline matter, of which common salt is a representative, are the
principal substances chosen. The animal eating the vegetable,
these substances enter its stomach, and are dissolved and enter
the blood. The vessels provided for the purpose select the re-
quired material, and, like ships in commerce, sail away on the
blood rivers to their destined havens. The saline portion is car-
ried to the blood and tissues. The phosphate of lime goes to the
bones, and phosphate of potash to the muscles. After a time
the animal, partly as it wastes and finally when it dies, returns
to the soil all that the plant took from it. New plants receive
it, and it goes the rounds again.
So, over and over again, as the modeller fashions his clay, plant
and animal are formed out of the same material. Is all sense-
less matter to be constantly working, and are we intelligent
beings to idle away a precious but limited existence ? One
should learn from this always to work for a definite purpose.
How lovely is the plant in its position of bond-servant of man!
How willing and interesting! It serves till death, yet rises again
rejoicing as ever, when spring returns, to renew its destined
toil.
Page 287
Presented as published in 1884. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
The living animal absorbs much oxygen from the air by its lungs. One part of it converts the carbon of the food into carbonic acid; another portion is built into the substance of the body; a large part is employed in dissolving and removing the waste in urea, uric acid, etc. This urea and uric acid return to the soil from which the nitrogen they contain originally came, and where they are reconverted into ammonia, nitric acid, and other substances, and are now ready to enter into new roots and go the rounds again.
The undigested gluten is rejected in the animal droppings, mingles with the soil, and is changed to ammonia and nitric acid. The vegetables which die undergo natural decay, and again enter the soil and air as elements. Animal bodies themselves die at last, and the nitrogen they contain is made to assume the forms in which plants are able to take it up. The ammonia and volatile compounds of nitrogen, produced by animal and vegetable decay, rise in the form of gas or vapor, and escape into the air. The rains of heaven wash the ammonia out and bring it back to the earth. Part of it is, however, resolved into elementary nitrogen, and is thus lost to plants. To make up for this loss, nitric acid is formed in the air in small quantities.
The Boston Cook Booh.
Through the agency of the electric currents the oxygen and nitrogen of the air unite to form nitric acid. Ammonia is given off by volcanoes, and is returned to the earth by the rains and snows.
Circulation of Mineral Matter. — Everything which the animal body contains is derived, directly or indirectly, from vegetable foods; and the mineral or ash it leaves, when burned, must have come from the soil through the plant. When the animal dies, its body sooner or later returns to the soil. So we have another circle in which the earthy matter of animals and plants moves. It ascends from the soil to the plant, then to the animal, and back again to mother earth, so that it is really " dust to dust."
The plant does not absorb all mineral matters, but selects the rarer and more precious materials from the soil, and such as are held in solution by water. Phosphoric acid, lime, magnesia, and saline matter, of which common salt is a representative, are the principal substances chosen. The animal eating the vegetable, these substances enter its stomach, and are dissolved and enter the blood. The vessels provided for the purpose select the required material, and, like ships in commerce, sail away on the blood rivers to their destined havens. The saline portion is carried to the blood and tissues. The phosphate of lime goes to the bones, and phosphate of potash to the muscles. After a time the animal, partly as it wastes and finally when it dies, returns to the soil all that the plant took from it. New plants receive it, and it goes the rounds again.
So, over and over again, as the modeller fashions his clay, plant and animal are formed out of the same material. Is all senseless matter to be constantly working, and are we intelligent beings to idle away a precious but limited existence ? One should learn from this always to work for a definite purpose.
How lovely is the plant in its position of bond-servant of man! How willing and interesting! It serves till death, yet rises again rejoicing as ever, when spring returns, to renew its destined toil.