Diet for the sick : a treatise on the values of foods, their application to special conditions of health and disease, and on the best methods of their preparation / by Mary F. Henderson.

  • Henderson, Mary F. (Mary Foote), 1842-1931.
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Diet for the sick : a treatise on the values of foods, their application to special conditions of health and disease, and on the best methods of their preparation / by Mary F. Henderson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ma to tempt the palate, it must be a valuable aliment- ary material. Chocolate taken with milk and bread will suffice for a good repast. The nutritive elements of cocoa are so concentrated, and it is so rich in oily matter, that it should only be freely taken by conva- lescents and persons in active life. In Solis's Con- quest of Mexico it is said that the Spanish conquerors did not fail to record their appreciation of the flavor -and nutritive qualities of chocolate, a single cup of it being enough, in their estimation, to sustain a man through a day's march. The cups were probably large. Chocolate is frequently adulterated with starch, suet, and coloring matters. Venetian red, umber, annatto, and, in some instances, the highly poisonous metallic salts of cinnabar and red lead are employed. The chocolate in common use is, therefore, of very uncertain composition. According to Dr. Hassall the doubtful article composes half of what is sold in Eng- land. Iced Watee and Iced Tea. Tlie digestive agents are very sensitive to tempera- ture, the process of digestion being arrested by a tem- perature either too hot or too cold. This is practically tested by experimenting with the receipts given in this book, where the pancreatic extract is employed. Water, to be refreshing and wholesome, should not, when drunk, be above tlie usual temperature of fresh spring or w-ell water. Tlie habitual use of iced water by Americans is certainly attended witli great injury; and undoubtedly this lavish use of it and hot breads is the chief cause of the national disease—dyspepsia. A waiter's first duty at an American hotel is to place be- fore each guest a goblet full of cracked ice, and the crevices are then filled with water before he takes an order for something else to go with it.