Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-04-25
On the Nntritive Value Of DIE
eIent sorts Of Food.

From Every Saturday.
As to the effect Of coffee, I viii con-
fine myself to quoting what Julius
FrOebel, in his most interesting work,
q Seven Years in Central America, says
ON the subject For the men accom-
panying the great mercantile caravans
in Central America coffee is an indis-
peusable necessity. Brandy is taken as
medicine, but coffee is quite necessary
article, and is drank twice a day The
refreshing effects of this beverage in
heat and cold, in rain and dry weather,
are extraordinary.
The use of tea and it's widespread
enjoyment are founded 0D quite similar
e6ects--that of mate in Paraguay also,
and of the guru nut in the interior of
Africa and it cannot fail to excite our
utmost astonishment when we learn that
the same substance, eaffein, to which We
attribute the SPECIFIC effects Of coffee, is
also to be found in the leaves of the tea
plant, in those Of the lex species de-
coctiOn of which is drunk in Paraguay,
as we take tea-and finally, too, in the
guru-nut (Sterculia acuminata
We mnst presuppose that if these
stimulants did not satisfy some powerful
want of our organization, men wOuld
hardly take the trouble to seek them
and that instinct should, in so wonderful
a manner, among a countless number of
plants, choose Just such as produce sub
stances inducing. the same effect, shows
that one and the same gap exists in the
nutrition Of man in all countries and all
zones, and in the same manner is sought
to be filed up.
In tea or coffee we obtain certain ad-
vantages for furthering the performance
Of mental or bodily functions, for ward
ing off outward disturbing influences on
the state of our health in short, for the
preservation of a normal equilibrium
which is not exactly to be defined. If
these drinks had not such effect, We
would soon tire of their enjoyment.
To these stimulants belong the extract
of meat, which is nothing else but
concentrated meat broth, of the eonsis-
tency of treacle.
The meat broth contains those parts
of the meat which can be extracted by
means Of water, hence the name, ex-
tractive substances Of meat. These are
/ combustible and incOmbustible SUBJ
stances The latter are phOsphates, to
be found also in tea and coffee. The
greater mass of the combustible sub
stances consists of very nitrOgenlc
unerystallizable substances, the nature
of which has not yet been discovered;
also, Of three erystallizable substances
creatine, ereatinine, and sarclns-Ot
which the latter two belong to the same
class of combinations as caffein. This is
the remarkable class of the alkaloide
which includes the most effective medi-
cines, such as morphine and quinine j;
and the most fearful poisons, such as
strychline, coniin, made from hemlock,
nicotid. and Others. IN Its composition
caffein is nearest related to the creatiniHe
Of meat broth. None Of the extractive
substances Of meat are to be found in
vegetable food they are the products
of the animal body.
In China and Japan there Is no cattle
breeding; all the land fit for tillage is
exclusively devoted to producing food
for man. The Japanese and the major
| ity of the Chinese are forbidden by their
religion to eat meat; the same with the
Sintoos. in Japan, and the WOrshipPers
of Buddha. We know that the milk
sold in the streets of Canton is woman
milk, and is employed for the sick. In
many lands Of the torrid zone, as in
Western Africa, no cattle can be bred
for the sake of their flesh as during the
dry season all the grass disappears, and
to make hay during the rainy season is
impossible.
IF we codsider that tea, coffee, and the
guru nut all come from lands where meat
is one of the rare enjoyments of the
population, we are lead to believe that
/ the value of these stimulants consists in
their being a substitute for meat broth,
and in partly replacing It's effects. The
/ fact that the English, Dutch, and North
I Americans, who are the greatest meat
consumers, also drink the most tea, is
not an argument against this opinion; !;
for they use also the largest amount of
extract Of meat, and Great Britain alone
takes one-third of all the quantity
exported from South America.
By roasting coffee too much, the effects
which it has, in common with tea, are
essentially diminished. The cafein
evaporates, and, in the berries left
behind, one has a quantity Of scorched
substances, which in their effect on the
organization may be replaced by roasting
other vegetable substances, such as
ehicory roots, figs, etc.
1t deserves notice that decOctiOn Of
pekoe or souchong tea always contains a
certain quantity Of iron and manganese
peculiarly combined, and strong tea
about as much as a weak chalybeate.
The particular value of meat broth as
stimulant is shown, when we compare,
according to their component parts,
bread or -four with meat
Flour-Albuminate heating matter
! (starch). and nutritive salts.
Meat-Albuminate, heating water,
! (fatl, nutritiTe salts, and extractiye
substances.
Meat, accordingly, is distinguished
from bread and vegetable food by its
containing a number of remarkable sub
stances, which are here comprised in the
name extraetive substances. If by
soaking or boiling meat the water drew
out these extractive substances Onl y, Its
nutritive value would not be less than
before; but the water extracts from the
meat the greater part Of the soluble nu-
tritive salts, and it is this, and not the
removal of the extractive substance,
which is the reason why the meat residue
has no further nutritiye worth. We
may assume that, by adding the missing
nutritiye salts, the said residue will
regain the original nutritive value, but
it will be no other than belongs to
bread.
Meat food, as was said, possesses,
besides the nutritive worth which it has
in common with bread, in certain condi-