Science of food & cookery

in quantity more than sufficient for their daily output of energy. Such a diet is sufficient, both in quantity and in quality, for the nourishment of the animal ; but it does not contain any of the vital constituents of fresh foods, the vitamines. In theory, this should form an ideal diet; but in practice, it was found that the animals soon ceased to grow, and also developed certain diseases, notably rickets and scurvy. When this stage had been reached, a small quantity of fresh uncooked food was added to the diet, whereupon growth was resumed and the animals became healthy again. Further experiments brought to light three very important additional facts ; namely, that animals fed on chemically pure foods showed a markedly diminished power of resistance to infectious diseases ; and in the case of female rats, the offspring were poorly developed ; and the mothers were unable adequately to suckle their young. Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, expert in food and nutrition, says: "Up to the era of the discovery of the cause of beriberi, the principles of correct diet were based upon the supply of a socalled balanced ration. . . . We were taught that this balanced ration consisted of certain amounts of protein, carbohydrate, fat, and minerals. Much to the astonishment of physiologists, it was discovered that when an animal was fed pure protein, pure carbohydrate, pure fat, and pure mineral, it failed to grow, gradually lost weight, and finally died." "Our whole system of diet, therefore, has to be reconstructed from the discoveries of the last fifteen or twenty years. These discoveries have particularly emphasized the food value of the external coatings and germs of cereals. This value rests not alone in their content of ordinary digestible foods, but exists particularly by reason of the water-soluble vitamine contained therein. "Perhaps there is no point in medicine so confusing and conflicting as the dietaries prescribed by the attending physician in case of illness, and likewise for children and grown persons as a preventive of disease. The very foods that have been most denatured, and therefore are least wholesome and assimilable, are constantly prescribed by physicians for the well as for those who are ill. The functions of leaf vegetables, for instance, so important in dietetics, and carrying as they do the chief fat-soluble vitamines, are those that the physician too often neglects." — Quoted in "Literary Digest," June 1, 1919. Thus we find that there are three vitamines; and there are possibly more, as scientists believe there is a fourth which cures rickets in children ; and there may be others. Vitamines are not manufactured in the body; neither are they contained in soil, in combination with minerals ; but they are elaborated by the plant itself. A lack of these accessories in the daily food is a species of starvation, and ends disastrously unless the body can be supplied with those substances so abundantly provided in unprocessed and uncooked foods. The subject is one that presents fascinating fields for experimental study and research; and every advance step serves to bring us nearer to nature and to nature's God, leading to the avoidance of needless suffering and disease, and to the betterment of mankind. III. FOOD MINERALS ESSENTIAL TO ALL LIFE