Cassell's dictionary of cookery

'• It may be safely said that the flesh of full-grown animals is much more digestible and nutritious than that of their young, and as it respects the larger animals, this rule is without an exception. Beef and mutton, for example, are more easily digested and more wholesome than veal or lamb ; yet it may be proper sometimes to give the preference to the latter in the case of patients who are convalescent from acute diseases, because they are less likely directly to excite heat or feverishness. Even here, however, it will be found that where the stomach of the patient is very delicate and irritable, a little tender beef or mutton will produce much less heat and general uneasiness than either veal or lamb, particularly the former. It may also be assumed, as a general rule, in chronic diseases and in health, that a solid diet is more digestible and better than a fluid one. In acute diseases it is the reverse. AU salted meats are with difficulty digested, and are unwholesome. Generally speaking, the flesh of tame animals is more wholesome than that of wild animals, the flesh of quadrupeds than birds, and that of birds than fishes." "There are," says Dr. Doran, "upwards of seventeen hundred works extant on the subject of diet and digestion. Sufferers may study the question till thej- are driven mad by doubt and dyspepsia and differences of opinions among the doctors. Fordyce saw no use in the saliva, and Paris maintains that without it digestion is not. But Paris' s book on diet is the safest guide I know for a man who, being dyspeptic, wants to cure himself, or simply to discover the derangement of his sufi:erings. On the other hand, every man may find comfort in the reflection that with early hours, abundant exercise, generous diet, but not too much of it, and occupation — without which a worse devil than the former enters on possession of the victim — dyspepsia cannot assume a chronic form. It may be a casual visitor, but it will be the easiest thing possible to get rid of him.'' About the year 1823 some experiments were made on the subject of digestion by Dr. Beaumont, of Boston, United States, under rather extraordinary circumstances. The result of these experiments is given in the following table, showing the mean time of digestion of various articles of diet :— Table Showing the Me.vn Time of Digestion OF THE Different Articles of Diet. Time re- Mode of quired for Articles of Diet. Preparation. Digestion. Rice Boiled . h. m. . 1 45 Sago . . . . Ditto . . 1 0 Tapioca . Ditto . . 2 0 Barley . Ditto . . 2 0 Milk . . . . Ditto . . 2 0 Ditto . . . . Raw . . 2 15 Gelatine Boiled . . 2 30 Pigs' Feet, Soused. Ditto . . 1 0 Tripe, Soused. Ditto . . 1 0 Brains . . . . Ditto . . 1 45 Venison Steak Boiled . , 1 35 Spinal Marrow Ditto . . 2 40 Turkey, Domestic . Roasted . 2 30 Ditto, ditto . Boiled . . 2 25 Turkey, Wild Roasted . 2 18 Goose . . . . Ditto . . 2 30 Pig, Sucking . Ditto , . 2 30 Liver, Beef, Fresh . Boiled . . 2 0 Lamb, Fresh . Ditto . . 2 30 Chicken, Full-grown Fricassee . 2 45 Eggs, Fresh .