The choice of food / by Henry Simpson.

  • Simpson, Henry.
Date:
[between 1870 and 1879?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The choice of food / by Henry Simpson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    shell-fish they do not belong to the family of shell-fish proper. They are all nutritious, and many look on them as great luxuries, but to most people they are difficult of digestion. The shell-fish, strictly speaking, comprise oysters, mussels, scallops, cockles, periwinkles, whelks, &c. Of these, oysters have the highest reputation, and, in these days of their scarcity, com- mand a very high price. They are nutritious, and if eaten un- cooked many delicate people find them easy of digestion. When cooked, however, they become leathery and indigestible. Mussels are liked by many, and, generally speaking, are wholesome, but cases of poisoning by them, difficult of explanation, have sometimes occurred. The other shell-fish are not so largely eaten, but all have their admirers. Eggs of birds, generally of the common fowl, are nutritious and agreeable articles of food, and are used in an immense variety of ways. They are rich both in the nitrogenous and carbonaceous elements of food. I will now say a few words about milk. As mentioned in an earlier part of this lecture, milk possesses all the elements neces- sary to nutrition. It contains about 14 per cent of solid matter, and a pint will contain nearly 30Z. of solids. It is now much sold in the form of condensed milk, from which a large proportion of the water has been removed by evaporation. Some sugar is added to it. This, though a convenient and useful preparation, appears sometimes to be unsuitable for the food of infants, and should certainly not be used for them if good fresh milk can be obtained. From milk, of course, is obtained that very valuable article of food, cheese. It is highly nitrogenous, and can therefore often take the place of meat; but some of the harder and closer kinds, which are the richest in nitrogenous matter, require strong powers of digestion, and should be well masticated with a fair proportion of bread. There is a curious difference of opinion as to the digestibility of toasted cheese. It is considered by many as one of the most indigestible articles that can be eaten, while others say it always agrees with them. A good deal may[depend on the kind of cheese used. Some of the poorer varieties become at once hard and leathery, and must give the gastric juice a difficult task to deal with. Other varieties, richer in fatty matters, do not all at once become tough and hard, and, if eaten speedily while hot, many digest them very well, if taken in moderate quantity. . From milk, too, we obtain the animal fat called butter, the quality of which varies indefinitely. When good it is the form of