FOOD.
Taam, Ghaza, . ARAB. Adhar, . . . . SASSR.
Nourriture, . . . Fn. Alimento, . . . SP.
Khans; Khana.-pins,HIND. Choram, . . TAU.
Cibo vivant's, . . IT. Bhojnam , TEL. Razaq ; Khuraq, . PERS. Yemek ; Yezejek, TUBE.
The food of man is obtained from the vegetable and animal kingdoms, but in by far the larger proportion from plants. Flesh and bone and blood, vrhen chemically analyzed, yields the following elementary substances :—carbon, hydrogen, nitro gen, oxygen, sulphur, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, aluminum, copper, chlorine, fluorine, and silicon. These ultimate elements occur in the human body variously combined into compounds, with very different physical properties and chemical rela tions. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen are called organic ele.ments, because no animal cell and no vegetable cell can grow unless the whole of these eletnents exist. The substances belonging to this group which enter into the food of man are cellulose, starch, sugar, and oil, Cellulose, forming the extenial membrane of the cells of all plants, is found in an food derived from the animal kingdom. Though similar in composition to starch, it differs from starch in being insoluble ; but, as they feed largely on it, it must be extensively taken up into the spitem of herbivorous and other of the lower animals, and must be sitnilarly adapted by the human stomach, perhaps with some difficulty, as carrots, turnips, radishes, uncooked vegetables, etc., are not readily digested. Cellulose can be converted into starch by sulphuric acid. Substances yield ing starch enter very largely into the diet of man and of the' lower animals ; and with man starch is generally partaken of in the form of flour, either of grains, of roots, and root-stocks, of the stems aud in the seeds of plants. There are few or no vegetables that are eaten that do not contain starch. It is found in turnips, carrots, potatoes, cabbages, parsnips, beans, peas, wheat, barley, oats, and the rest of the cerealia, in all seeds and fruits ; but, as with the sago, Portland sago, tapioca, cassava, the various arrowroots, potato starch, sago starch, etc., it is first, before being used, separated from the other vegetable elements. Starch has the property of combining with water at a temperature of 180°, and forming a gelatinous mass, in which state it seems more digestible. Tbe carrot, turnip, parsnip, cabbage, and Jerusalem artichoke, owe their dietetic value to the starch which they contain; as also the roots of the Arum maculatum, Orchis mascula, inuline from the Inu heleniwn, lichen starch, found in ahnost all kinds of Algm, and in the sea weeds. One of these sea-weeds, the Plocaria
tenax or Chinese moss, is known in all the Eastern seas.
Sugar can be converted into alcohol, and it exists in plants dissolved in the water which they natur ally contain. It is taken into the animal system to maintain the animal heat, and persons and animals get fat on it. Cane sugar consists of carbon 12 atoms, hydrogen and oxygen each 9, and water 2 Sugar is obtained also from beet, the maple, tbe birch, the various palms, from the Caryota urens, Phcenix sylvestris, Ph. dactylifera, Corypha umbraculifera, Palmyra, Arenga saccharifera, cocoanut, etc. ; it exists also in rnilk, the grape, in the fruits and other sweet parts of plants, and in the stems of all grasses. The yield of sugar from beet is 8 or 9 per cent.
The alcohol obtained from these by fermentation , in the form of spirits, wines, and beers, is largely used. Although resembling sugar in composition, its effects on the animal system are very different. It acts on the nervous system as a stimulant and narcotic ; it is very valuable in medicine, and also of great value to people in health, exhausted by long-continued mental or bodily labour. In excess alcoholic substances are injurious ; but amongst the earliest discoveries of every race has been the art of producing intoxicating stimulants. In India, boasting of an ancient civilisation, opium, hemp and its charras resin and bhang, the various palm-wines, the beers from millets, and ardent spirits frona cereals and from palm-wines and sugars, have been used from time immemorial. As Mr. Cornish observes (page 15), the effect of those articles in moderation is probably rather beneficial than otherwise. Opium-eating and ganjah-smoking are both occasionally carried to excess, and the consequences, in injury to the nervous tissues of the body, are very similar to those resulting from the excessive use of ardent spirits. The moderate use of all these agents, however, appears to prevent undue waste of tissue in the body, and to render the frame less susceptible to the action of those impalpable but pestiferous poisons which are so prevalent in the soil and atmosphere of tropical countries. The craving for the use of these thisrg,s undoubtedly arises out of some urgent requirement in man's uature, and the extent to which they are used in Southern and Eastern Asia is perhaps greater than in any pait of Europe ; in some parts cer tainly it is so.