The Virginia enterprise., 1909-02-05

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tho one-celled animal. which is typical
OF all animal life, is albumen. Al
bumen is the warp of the blood from
which all tissues are built. The
amoeba absorbs its food from the wa
ter in which 1t lives, and that al
bumen must be in its natural state
II furnished only cooked albumen, it
will die. Now, the blood cells are es.
sentially amoeba, and their natural
food is natural albumen.@. - = :.
Albumen coagulates at a tempera.
ture of 100 degrees, becoming, to use
a popular term, leathery and insult
able for cell food. 1t Is for this rea-
son partly, that large percentage Of
albumen is found in the excreta from
whole wheat bread, as stated in a pre-
ceding article. It is for this reason,
partly, that while a raw egg digests
in one hour a hard.boiled egg re.
Quires three.
Natural albumen is quickly con-
verted in the stomach by the action Of
pepsin and hydrochloric acid into
soluble. This peptone cannot be
coagulated by heat, and easily
passes through animal membranes;
that is, it is easily absorbed in the
intestinal canal. But when it is al
ready coagulated by heat before it is
conveyed to the stomach, it cannot be
converted into a non.coagulable, SOL
uble peptone; lit cannot become as.
similable cell food. OF course the CO.
agulation by heat is rarely complete,
even in roasted foods, but any tenn
perature above 160 is injurious. For
instance, a, child cannot be prop
erly nourished on boiled milk.
The heat that kills the bacteria also
kills the nutritlve value of the albu.
men. No one experienced in infant
feeding advises boiled milk; some OBJ
ject even to pasteurizing. This, how.
ever, requires a much lower tempera.
ture
Heat is the most destructive Of all
agents. 1t is the means most COM
monty used in the laboratory to sepa-
rate the elements OF chemical CON-
pound, to decompose or destroy mat
ter. Digestion is a process of chem
ical change, but when chemical
changes are effected In advance by
heat, the conditions are changed, and
digestive results cannot be the same
as II the food were unfired.
Cereals contain an engine which d.
gests the starch for the young plant; !;
heat destroys this. While the starch
cells of cereals are being broken up
by cooking, so as to open them to the
action of the digestive fluids, the al
bumen is being coagulated and the di-
gestive principle in the engine de.
stroyed.
I have already indicated in the
analysis of bread the importance OF
the mineral elements Of food, the alb
sence of any one of which alone may
| cause serious illness. The majority
of authorities on the chemistry of nu
triton agree that mineral food can be
conveyed to the cells only by passing
from the soil into the plant or the
animal and thence to the blood cells,
from the food. Now, just as heat de-
composes matter in the laboratory, fire
decomposes the food in the boiler or
oven, precipitating, in many cases, the
| mineral elements, which are thrown
away in the water, or being unas.
| similable, partly or entirely, are
wholly or largely excreted. An un
cooked egg, for example, will not tar
nish a silver spoon, but the sulphur
set free by boiling will form a new
compound with the silver. The diff
ferent odors of cooked foods are, in
| some cases, due to chemical changes,
just as we produce them in the lab.
| Oratory.
In some cases the chemical and me.
| chanical changes produced by fir.
ing make some elements Of the food,
aside from the albumen, already dealt
with, very indigestible. Raw cabbage,
for instance, is digestible in an hour,
and is very nutritious, but boiled cab.
bage is extremely indigestible and
worthless, except as relish. Roasted
beans produce sulphuretted hydrogen
in the intestine. Poisonous compounds
may be formed when several foods are
mixed
AS the roasting of albumen in meat
or peanuts causes an odor and flavor
enticing to the abnormal appetite, so
many OdOrs driven off from foods by
heat entice an unnatural appetite, lead
ing to over-eating and unnatural eat
ing.
Vegetable cells have life, which fire
destroys, changing the vital quality of
the food. Life is sustained only by
life.
The injurious effect of soft-boiled
foods on mastication has already been
spoken Of.
The cooking of food is, If it be un.
necessary, serious economic error
1t entails vast waste of energy and
time on the part of the housewife and
makes the maintenance of household
far greater burden on the part of the
provider.
AS I have said in advising an i'm
provement in the dietary, changes
should be made slowly and only after
due deliberation, but change should
always be made if one is satisfied that
change would be beneficial.
''Fireless cooking is beneficial to
the degree that it reduces the amount
of heat used in preparing a meal and
a 'fireless cooker" ought to. be as in.
dispensable in every kitchen as is the
sewing machine. 1t also saves time
and mental expenditure in watching to