The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1884-02-21
Chemistry for Digestion.

. WHICH SnOulQ give Sucn com Dl
: nation of nitrogen, carbon, and by
!, drogen with oxygen as is not read
lily accessible in any form of natu
> raj production. The savage, in
temperate or cold climates, may
, subsist almost exclusively on flesh
or fish, and ia the tropical regions
on vegetables and fruits, as they
!. grow. But it is only the savage
who does this. The first elevation
from the savage state lifts him
: above such things and such SIM
; plicity of diet He makes a COM
bination, though without knowing
the chemical reasons for it. The
combination takes various forms
and names, but it serves the same
purpose, or aims to do so.
For US the name is bread, and
no nation can be reckone6 who
have not been so dependent on that
which has been to them what bread
is to us, as that it should merit the
name we so often give it, "The
Staff" And the more advanced
the nation has become, the more
has their type of bread grown into
Importance, and the more complete
its preparation. The title of
"bread winner" given to the sup
porter of the family but serves to
show how absolutely the article is
understood to satisfy the wants of
the system.
We will not discuss the types as
they exist in the present, here and
there throughout the world. Our
purpose is a more practical one.
1t may do US no harm to just give
thought or two to our bread; to
see what it is that we eat, and how
near it comes to being the article
which we fondly hope it is, and at
any rates to conider what it ought
to be, only supposing that human
nature was honest.
We are very gravely told that our
children should have bread and
milk, or its equivalent, as the main
article of their diet for the first
four to six years after weaving, to
the exclusion of almost everything
else. Like great many other of
the sagacious plans for bringing up
all children on one system by one
rule, this may theoretically have
some basis in truth. But alas? we
are often disappointed. "Things are
not what they seem," and while we
may flatter ourselves that the chi Id |
is building up its strength and Wig
or, it is on the contrary only lay |
ing the foundation for a lifetime Of |
weakness and suffering because Of
the very bread on which our hopes |
were placed. 1t is an actual fact,
as all physicians of skill and expe- |
rience now recognize, that in most |
of our families at the present time |
the bread is about the first article |
which needs watching in cases
where weakness of digestion re
quires the observance of strict |
regime in diet.
And it is also true that a very
large part of the horrors of dyspep-
sia, of which we hear so much and
from which fearful proportion of
the community are constantly suf-
fering, are due in a great degree to
bread, that is, to the various for US
in,which it comes to US, s,elther under
its own name or in the 9uise of its
various substitutes-griddle cakes
lad infnitun, from buckwheat down
or up), hot biscuit, hot rolls,
mullins, waffles, etc, etc. The
evils which this array of breakfast
diet especially have produced are
already telling fearfully on the ma
ton. To find a stomach thorough
ly vigorous and perfect in it's func-
tions is in most classes and most
communities an exception, and the
bread supply has really been, and
is, responsible for large part of the
evil.
In great measure this sad state of
things has sprHng from our rapid
growth as a nation sprung up in the
wilderness. This has not only
caused the national habit of eating
rapidly, but has associated with it
the equally widespread habit of
preparing the bread food as rapid
ly, that is, extemporaneously, and
consuming it ON the instant. We
have been taught to consider 1T
scarcely hospitable to set before the
guest at the breakfast table cold
bread. If we cannot give him
something hot with which to pois
on himself we apologize and if the
guest is an American he accepts the
apology and is sorry for us-and
for himself.
The evil result of this has be-
come as truly national as the hab-
il itself. A few words as to the
chemistry which the matter of the
hot bread involves may serve to
set the evil and the danger in
clearer light. We will assume the
bread in all cases to be made from
a mixture Of -four and water; we
will say nothing of the other ingre-
dients, for these two only are to the
purpose. Such a mixture taken in
to the stomach in the state of raw
paste is almost absolutely indiges-
tible. 1t becomes a solid mass,
whose fermentation is full of dan
ger. If on the contrary, it is cooked,
say baked, it forms firm, hard
substance, which can be eaten, as
we know, for time, but which few
persons choose to eat in continu-
ance.
What we do, therefore, is to puff
up the paste of -four and water by
means of an elastic gas. and it is
largely in the changes connected
with this gas and its development
t that the evil resides. If it is formed
properly, and the formation finished,
wholesome bread is the result.
There are, however, two sources OF
} danger here indicated, only one OF
which we can at this momont con-
]. sider-that is, the process is not
completed. Here is where the
whole evil of hot bread in all its
evil shapes reaches its elimination.