FoodNet

History and present status of instruction in cooking in the public schools of New York city

1899

Page 50

Presented as published in 1899. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
Digestion. — When our food is masticated it passes down into the stomach through the esophagus or food pipe, which opens and closes again as the food moves along. By means of this wave-like motion the food passes along the entire digestive tract. The stomach and intestines are situated in the abdomen. The food remains in the stomach some time, where it is churned about and some of it digested; then it con- tinues its course into the duodenum, the upper part of the small intestine. In the stomach is a slightly acid juice, called gastric juice ; this digests only nitro- genous foods. We made some experiments to see how meat was acted upon by the gastric juice; we made same artificial gastric juice by disolving pepsin in some water and adding 9900— Xo. 56 5 66 a drop of hydrochloric acid. Pepsin is the digestive part of gastric juice. We put a small piece of meat iuto this in a test tube and stood it in a glass of water, which we kept at the temperature of the stomach. At the end of our lesson the piece of meat was very much smaller, it was being gradually dissolved by the gastric juice. With a larger amount of acid the meat dissolved much more slowly, showing us that large quantities of acid food, like vinegar, interfere with the work of the stomach. We found that alkali also hindered the work of digestion. The delicate membrane lining the stomach is very much irritated by fatty acids of fried foods. The duodenum is very obliging, for it finishes the digestion of the substances that were not completed in the mouth and stomach. Materials that are not digestible, like the woody fiber of vegetables, are passed along the intestines in a wave-like manner and removed from the body. We should have some indigestible matter to keep the movement, and prevent constipation. Drinking plenty of water helps in this. B. L. L. SYLLABUS OF LESSON ON FUEL AND COMBUSTION Coal Exhibition of rials. mate- Hard. Soft. Wood.... Charcoal. Coke. Hard. Soft. (1) Used by prehistoric man. Fuel, early history \ (2) Method of igniting. (3) Kinds — formation. Coal Charcoal Gas Combustion (1) Importance — influence upon commerce. (2) Formation. (3) Geology. (4) Chemical changes of wood — composition of coal. (5) Kinds — usage. (6) Geography. (1) Origin — method of formation. 1(2) Composition of wood — elements driven off by jiartial combustion of wood. |(3) Residue. 1(4) Ancient and modern usage. (1) Formation. (9\ Two flumps / Blue' used in °ooking. (Z) l wo flames j Yellow, used to illuminate. (a) Flames supplied with oxygen through openings in lower part of burner; also by surrounding air — result, flame blue; perfect combustion. (&) Openings in burner closed — re- sult, flame yellow; imperfect combustion — incandescent car- bon. (3) Experiments with Bunsen burner to show perfect and imperfect combustion. (4) Study of gasf (a) Advantages. stove. \ (&) Economy in using. (1) Chemistry, (2) Study of coal stove. (a) Drafts. (b) Placing. (c) Kindling point. (d) Products of combustion. (e) Cinders. (/) Ashes. (3) Oxygen f (a) Proportion in air. \ (b) Effect upon earth if air all oxygen y. S. Dept of Agri , Bui. 56, Office of Expt. Stations. Plate XI. - -— - - - r I Fig. 1.— Apparatus for generating Oxygen. Drawn by A. McC. Fig. 2.— Articles used in Cleaning. Drawn by I. G. 67