FOOD.*
THIS is one of the series of" South Kensington Museum Science Handbooks," and has a special reference to the admirable collec- tion of Foods which is to be seen in the Bethnal Green Museum. The first part deals with the subject of food in general, the second and third with vegetable and animal foods respectively, the fourth treats of "food adjuncts," a class which comprehends alcoholic drinks, tea, coffee, &c., apices and kindred substances, and even, by a somewhat liberal construction of the term, tobacco and opium. In the fifth part, we have some practical information about diet and dietaries, which will probably be for most readers the most attractive and interesting portion of the work.
• Food; Some Account of its Sources, Consettuents, and Uses. By A. H. Church, AEA.; Oxon., Professor of Chemistry in the Agricultural College, Cirencester. RiddlehiMor the Commtttee ot.Connoll on Zdneation by Chapman and. Hall. The basis of the science of food is in some degree uncertain. "No complete chemical examination of the total constituents of a healthy human body has yet been made," Professor Church tells us, and the reason of this fact is obvious. We believe that in the course of the Franco-German war a number of bodies of soldiers killed in action were sent by the German authorities to an Italian laboratory. Whether the analyses were ever completed we do not know, but no results have been published. Meanwhile, we must be content with such approximations as have hitherto, been made. It is probable that they are practically sufficient. The constituents of the human body, taking elements the names of which will be familiar to the general reader, rather than compounds, are sixteen in number, seven of them being metals, nine non-metallic. The metals weigh altogether (eleven stone, or 154 pounds being taken as the standard weight of the whole body) something less than five pounds, nearly four of which are calcium, the basis of lime, supplying the chief part of the bones and teeth. Of iron there are 65 grains, a small amount, but very important, as giving colour to the blood. Among non-metallic elements, oxygen is the most important, amounting to no less than 109 lb.; and next to this, carbon, weighing not quite 19 lb. Of phos- phorus, which, if some physiologists are to be believed, supplies the motive-power of the whole, there is 1 lb. 12 oz. 25 gr. The weight of water in the body, to speak of compounds, not elementa, is almost exactly the same as that of oxygen in the other list. The practical science of food is, of course, to keep up the supply of these sub- stances to their normal quantity ; and here comes in the function of chemistry, which, having informed us what there is in the body,. tells us what there is in each of the substances we commonly use to supply its needs. Professor Church shows with much force that it does not follow that the national food of a country is necessarily that which is best suited to the needs of its inhabitants. When we also take into account the disturbing effects of fashion and taste, we shall see that there is plentrof room for the practical teaching which is supplied by such works as that before us. It would indeed be difficult to estimate the amount of labour which has been expended upon it. The author has not been content to take the results obtained by previous inquirers in the same field ; several of the analyses are absolutely new ; all have been checked by experiments of his own. All this carefully collected mass of facts is set forth to the best advantage by a fresh and lively style and by a lucid arrangement, and the result is a book which may be safely recommended not only for its interest, but for its general utility. Of course, it is not meant that a man should live with a pair of scales on his dining-table, and balance his diet account every day, to see that he has had his proper proportion of the several substances which his body requires. But it would be well for every one to grasp the truth that there are two great classes of foods, flesh-formers and heat-formers, to have a general idea of how his articles of diet are to be classified, and also of what he, taking into account the circumstances of his occupation, 8ce., stands in need. A pound of bacon and a trifle more than a pound and a half of oatmeal would furnish the daily carbon and nitrogen that a man of average size requires. Of course, if he were to attempt to live on it, the results would be unsatis- factory. He is probably accustomed to a mixed diet, and food that he did not relish would fail of its proper effect. Still the possession of a simple fact like that given above is useful, and it would be easy to modify it in practical application. The means for such modification may be found abundantly in this little book. Some of the facts will be surprising to many readers. Total abstainers will be startled to hear that in the table of "re- lative amounts of work producible from one pound of different important articles of food," Guinness's stout ranks nearly as high as lean of veal. Housekeepers ought to know that mackerel stands above lean of beef. This does not, of course, give the absolute value of these substances as articles of food, but it supplies one important datum towards forming an estimate of such value. We strongly recommend our readers to judge of this volume for themselves.
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