Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-08-10


would take in, speaking roughly, 81
parts of carbon for every part Of nitro
gen.
But il is proved, experimentally,
that healthy full-grOwn man, keep
ing up his weight and heat and taking
a fair amount Of exercise, eliminates
1000 grains of carbon to only 800 grains
Of nitrogen, or, roughly, only needs
one-thirteenth as much nitrogen as
carbon. However, If he is to get his
1000 grains of carbon out Of aIbumen,
he must eat :, 7,54T grains of that sub
stance. But 7,547 grains Of albumen
contain l ,l32 grains of nitrogen, or
nearly four times as much as he
wants.
To put the case in another way, 1t
takes about four pounds of fatless meat
(which generally contains about one
fourth its weight of dry prOteidsl, TO
yield 1000 grains OF carbon whereas
one pound will furnish 300 grains OF
nitrogen.
ThSs a man confined to a purely
proteid diet, must eat a prodiglous
quantity OF il. This not only involves
a great amount of physiological labor
in comminuting the food, and a great
expenditure Of power and time in dis
solving and absorbing it; but throws
a great quantity Of wholly prOfitless
labor upon those exeretOry organs,
which have to get rid of the nitroge-
nous matter, three-fOurths Of which,
as we have seen, is superiuOus.
UnprOductive labor is as much to be
avoided in physiological as in politi-
cal economy and it is quite possible
that an animal fed with perfectly nu-
tritiOus protein matter should die Of
starvation, the loss Of power in vari-
Gus operations required for its assimi-
lation Overbalancing the gain; or the
time occupied in their performance
being too great to check waste with
sufficient rapidity. The body, under
these circumstances, falls into the
condition of a merchant who has
abundant assets, but who can not get
in his debts in time to meet his credi-
tors.
These considerations lead us to the
physiological justification of the uni
yersal practice of mankind in adopt
ing a mixed diet, in which prOteids
are mixed either with fats, or with
amyloids, or with both.
Fats may be taken to contain about
so per cent. Of carbon, and amylOids
about 40 per cent. Now il has been seen
that there is enough nitrogen to sup
ply the waste of that substance per
diem, in a healthy man, in apound Of
fatless meat; which also contains l 600
grains Of carbon, leaving a deficit Of
8, 600 grains of carbon. Rather more
than half pound Of fat, or a pound
Of sugar, viii supply this quantity of
carbon. The former, if properly sub
divided, the latter, by reason of its
solubility, passes with great ease into
the economy, the digestive labor Of
which is consequently reduced to q
minimum.
Several apparently simple articles
Of food contain a mixed diet in them
selves. Thus butchers meat COM
monty contains from 80 to so per cent
of fat. Bread, on the other hand,
contains the prOteid, gluten, and the
amyloids, starch and sugar, with mi
mute quantities of fat. But, from the
proportion in which these prOteids
and other constituents exist in these
substances, they are neither, taken
alone, such physiOlOgically economi-
cal foods as they are when combined
in the proportion Of about 200 to 20
or two pounds of bread to three-quar-
ters Of a pound Of meat per diem.
It is quite certain that nine-tenths
of the dry solid food which is taken
into the body, sooner or later leaves
il in the shape of carbonie acid, wat
er, and urea (or uric acid); and it is
also certain that, as the compounds
which leave the body are more highly
Oxidated than those which enter 1t,
and as free oxygen is nowhere elimin-
ated, all the oxygen taken in by the
lungs passes away in these COM
pounds.
The intermediate stages Of this con-
version are, however, by no means so
clear. 1t is highly probable that the
amyloids and fats are very frequently
oxidated in the blood, without, prop
erly speaking, ever forming an integ-
raj part Of the substance of the body,
but whether the proteids may under
90 the same changes in the blood, or
whether it is necessary for them first
to be incorporated with the living tis-
sue, is not positively known.
So, again, il is certain that, in be-
coming oxidated, the elements of the
food must give OFF heat, and it is
probable that this heat is sufficient to
account for all that is given off by the
body; but it is possible, and indeed
probable, that there may be other, mi
nor sources Of heat.