Domestic science (Johnson, for schools and homes)

One of the most important points to be considered in the purchase of foods and in planning the menu for each meal, as well as in the actual processes of cooking, is the palatabhness of the foods. The more agreeable the food to the taste, the more readily it is digested. When a par- d6 DOMESTIC SCIENCE tide of incipid, tasteless, or disagreeable food touches tKe tongue, the lingual nerves send electric currents along their entire length to the brain; which sends a reflex current to the nerves controlling the little mouths of the digestive glands of the mouth and the stomach, and those nerves, in sympathy with the tongue, draw together the little mouths li the digestive glands, and too small a quantity of digestive fluids flow to mix with the food taken; and the food lies, a heavy weight in the stomach for some time, waiting for a Fig. 29. One of the Gastric Glands; highly magnified. sufficient quantity of the fluids; but when a morsel of agree- able food touches the tongue, the lingual nerves flash the message, "Welcome!" to the digestive glands, and the strings APPENDIX 97 that tie the little mouths relax, and all the mouths open; the food receives its due amount of digestive fluids, and the pro- cesses of digestion trip merrily along. The spirit of the person eating, also has great influence in the processes of digestion. "Laugh and grow fat" has a double meaning. Sadness and leanness are twins. No un- pleasant discussions should be participated in, at table. It should be the efi'ort of the mother of a family, to make every meal-hour as pleasant for her family as she would endeavor to make it for the most honored guests. Yea, more. Sour looks, tearful eyes, and disappointed stomachs, are poor pro* moters of ready digestion. He who said: **The avenue to the heart is through the stomach," was wiser than he knew. She who began to feed her child with its head resting upon her breast, should have his welfare close to her heart at all meals. From the mouth, the food passes to the stomach, where; again, it is acted upon by a digestive fluid, the gastric juice. This fluid is poured, or filtered, through the walls of the stomach by the little puckered mouths of the gastric glands. This process, also, depends upon the nerves. As soon as the food enters the stomach, the nerves controlling the gastric ducts in the walls of the stomach relax, and the gastric juice flows into the stomach and is mixed with the food, changing proteids in their chemical nature, rendering them easily ab- sorbed by the vessels of the stomach; but having little if any action on fats and carbo-hydrates. The water taken with the food dissolves all soluble matters, and, with these, is absorbed by the vessels of the stomach, which carry them to others to be circulated throughout the body. The processes of digestion, however, are not completed in the stomach. Some of the mass, not changed in its na- ture by the gastric juice, is passed on into the duodenunu the upper part of the small intestine, and is there mixed with two digestive fluids; the pancreatic juice, and the bile. The pancreatic juice is a more powerful factor in digestion than the gastric juice; because it acts upon all classes of foods, while 98 DOMESTIC SCIENCE tKe cKemical action of the saliva is upon carbo-hydrates, only; and the chemical action of the gastric juice is upon proteids, only.