ENPages
(seq. 41)
32
Materia Alimentaria
Gums
When powdered it resembles the farinacia, it is not a simple body but a compound of sugar and oil in different proportions, the Plumb, Cherry, Almond and also some of the bulbous roots contain mucilage similar to gum Arabic. Those trees which afford gum have generally astringent bark, though this is not always the case, it is acid in some plants, cultivation deprives plants of their astringency in some instances. Gums contain more carbone and less oxygen than sugar. Dr Gistanner says that animal mucilage contains little nourishment, but this is to support a favorite theory rather than truth, as he supposed it to depend on deficiency of oxygen, but according to this theory Opium ought to be the most nutritious article as it contains a great quantity of oxygen. Dr Young my former pupil made a number of experiments of Rabbits, confining some of them fourteen days to a diet of Gum Arabic, the did not gain flesh but looked healthy. To prove the nutritious qualities of gum Arabic Dr Gistanner relates the case of a child with Catarrhus visco, it discharged great quantities of mucilaginous fluid somewhat resembling gelly. The Dr in the first place
(seq. 43)
34
Materia Alimentaria
Calcareous Earths
confined the child to an animal diet but found the least quantity to increase the discharge. Gum Arabic was given the child seemed to fatten on that diet, in this case the Gum was evidently nutritious. Calcareous Earths. This may I think be ranked amongst the nutrentia phosphate of lime exists in many parts of the body, as in the bones &c, and many fish are found with shels in their stomach. Vegitables contain almost universally calcareous earths, it is even found in their acids. The utility of lime in agriculture is generally acknowledged, lime may also independent of its nutritious qualities act clinically in dissolving dead matter. Dr Darwin observes if oak bark be covered with lime in a few months it is reduced to a fine black mould which would otherwise require several years to produce this effect. Lime is further serviceable to plants by attracting the moisture of the atmosphere, it is certainly nutritious to some animals and to most vegitables, and from analogy we infer it is to man no mean nutriment, but in proof of this we have more than base analogy. Barron Hombolt informs us, Calcareous earth is eat by the people of South America as
(seq. 45)
36
Materia Alimentaria
Light, Milk
food, I believe contrary to the opinion of Chaptall, Black and others, that Calcareous earth is an original earth. Light. Must be mentioned as one of the nutriments of man, for nothing can exist long without it, all vegitables become pale if deprived of this holy gift of Heaven, with verry few exceptions. Milk. This is not a homogenious substance but separates into cream, curd, and whey, these separate after some time if exposed to the air. The quantity and quality of the milk is verry much altered by the food and constitution of the animal. It has been remarked that red cows afford the most cream, and further that flaxen haired women have less nutritious milk. The part first seperated is the cream from this by a process churned butter is obtained. Dr Cullen was of the opinion that during the process there was no decomposition or increase of heat, whereas Dr Young of Edinburgh always found the increase of temperature to be about four degrees. The rancidity of Butter I believe to arise from some other part than the oily, I am led to believe thus, first because butter milk mixed with it increases rancidity, secondly because it