Newport weekly independent., 1901-06-21
ANY STEAK A FORTERHOUSE.
Science Comes to the Aid of the
 Butcher.

Mrs. Hetty Green sapS that hash has caused more divorces than intidel- ity, and it is not necessary to quote any authority on the woes occasioned by the tough beefsteak. It is some thing with which everyone is more or less familiar and against which every- one has protested.
 In the last few years there has been tendency toward the scientific study of foods, because. it is Insisted, what We eat becomes a part of ourselves, and that since we take on the charac- teriSticS of our nourishment 1t Is our duty to build ourselves up of the very best material possible This may be crowdinga d theory too far, but it is true that the food question affects every body and is more worthy of. careful study than many of the topics ofprcs- eat day controversies.
 What is more. it is coming to be re- garded in that light We may smile at the vegetarians, but vegctalians in- crease; we may turn deaf car to the anti-cooking advocates, but they gain converts just the same, and though we may stick to highly-seasoned, dainty dishes and lay up gout and dyspepsia for ourselves there are still those who are trying the virtue of 6 fruit diet.
 Of interest to all classes, reformers and cpicures alike, is an idea that has recently been advanced by MT. Will liam J. Bryan, an electrician of Gin cinnati. He has for years been man ufacturing batteries and appliances for physicians and in his studies has also inquired into electrical therapeu- tlcS-the system of disease treatment by electricity. In this he is regarded as an authority, and some of his ar ticlSs on 'snectrolvsis" have awakened considerable interest among phy- siclans and surgeons in the middle west. He is not vegetarian or the devotee of any radical food theory, but shares with mankind iE general an aversion for tough. unpalatable meats. Such thing, lie says, is un- necessary, and in support of his idea he brings forward a method whereby he insists the evil may be eradicated.
 He says, according to the New York Herald, that Ingersoll was right in his declaration that the ''portcrhouse' was the only part of the beef that jus tiicd its slaughter, and so he deter mines to make all the beef the full equal of the ''porterhousc." Along this line he has made a number of ex- periments that have been surprisingly successful.
 Usually his method in outline has been as follows: Selecting a very or dinary piece of meat he cuts 1t in two, and submits one-half of it to a treat ment by ''electrolysis' '-that is, he in- ducts into it a current of electricity that permeates every atom and disin- tegrates the ''connective tissues"- the scientific name for that quality of a tough steak which produces so much indigestion and profanity. When the process has continued a sufficient time the two pieces are cooked in precisely the same manner and their merits compared.
 Whether the "untreated" piece turns out to be good, bad or indiffer- ent,. the other is always a toothsome morsel, fit for ali epicure or an invalid. The electricity, it is claimed, leaves no taint and does not lessen the nu-. tritive quality of the meat In fact, it tends to destroy impurity. Itis said that this process may be applied to any meats or vegetables.