Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1882-08-04
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The profession and the public, says
the australian Wedicat Journal, are by
no means agreed rs to the detetic value
OF the tomato. The classical authorities
on food, such as Pavy and Chambers,
dismiss the claims Of this vegetable very
curtlly, simply placing it among the anti
scorbutics, and allowing it little, If any,
nutritive power. The public, on the other
hand, believe this ally of the potato to be
net only highly nutrient vegetable, but
stomachic, a cathnrtic, and generally q
potent blood purifier That the tomato
IL thought too little of by the profession
generally is true, but it may be doubted
whether 1t possesses til ose wonderful al
teratiye powers ascribed to it by the
Americans, many of whom persuade
themselves that they are never in health
except i'll the tomato season. This fruit
as it may also be called), however, ex-
hibits one remarkable property in con-
ESAtion with plant diseases, which sug-
costs its use as n germicide and pro-
tector against those disorders, 80 many of
which we now know derive their origin
from bacteria and allied germs. If to-
mnto shrub be uprooted Mt the end of the
season aud allowed to wither on the
bough of fruit tree, or il it be burned
beneath, it will act not only rs curative,
but protective against blight and similar
attacks. This hostility to low organisms
is due to the presence of sulphur, which
is rendered up in an active condition in
the decay or burning. Remembering that
digestion also splits up the tomato into
its chemical constituents and releases sui
phur, probably in n nascent condition,
an1 r,rnla1,1t- in tha ,nk,
may have as great potency there as ex-
perments prove it to have outside the
body. Summer diarrhGa, English chol-
era and typhoid fever are all due to low
organisms. As the diarrh9al and typhoid
season are luckily contemporaneous with
the fruiting Of the tomato, it is not I'M
reasonable to assume that tomato eaters
wO,fti be more than ordinarily likely to
escape such diseases. 1t is worth noting
that typhoid fever is most prevalent
among the poor, to whom this expensive
vegetable is almost unknown. Sailors,
too, Just after landing, are particularly
liable to typhoid, and in them We may
always assume more or less scorbutic
condition. But the question of the pro-
lection against disease by certain diets,
and by such habits as the use of alcohol,
tobacco and opium, has yet been hardly
enquired into. Experiments are now
being made on the tincture of the toma-
to. which will help in determining its
therapeutic value, Meanwhile, eaten
cooked with hot meats, and in the form
OF salad after cold lunch, it is pleas
ant and useful addition to our ordinary
regimen. The fruit acids it contains,
combined with the mechanical effect of
the seeds and skin, render it to some ex-
tent an enemy to scnrvy as well AS n laxa-
tive, and the sulphur, with its known
power over septic conditions, would pro-
badly contribute to make its use pro-
lection against the poison germs of those
diseases, like typhoid, thnt find their way
into the system primarily by the aliment-
my canal. One caution is needed to the
lovers of this esculent The taste for it
being an acquired one, it is more likely to
be indulged in to excess, and we have
known almost as many tomato-maniacs as
astronaniacs. All kinds of raw fruit, it
should be remembered, except used with
care, are liable to irritate, and we have
known an instance where person work
ing hard all day on raw tomatoes only,
was seized with inflammation of the bow
els, which proved fatal in few hours.
As IN article of diet, then, two or three
tomatoes will he found as effective as,
and certainly safer than, a dozen.