Los Angeles herald., 1910-09-18

pepper are all members of the n1ght
shade family. The family, as whole,
has rather a bad reputation, and with
some degree of justice. Indeed, the
seeds of the tomato, egg plant and
the pepper are by no means free from
poisonous alkaloids, but as the seeds
are seldom masticated, and as they
pass through the alimentary canal
without being dissolved, the poison In
them does little or no harm.
The potato is neither a root nor a
fruit, but is an underground stem
which becomes enlarged and en-
gorged with starch. The real seed OF
the potato is, of course, developed
from the blossoms. and may be founo
on the branches above ground.
Corn, as before stated, belongs to
the grass family, and it may be in
teersting to know that the wild pro-
genitor of corn is entirely unknown.
Either the plant has been so pro-
foundly modified by cultivation that
we no longer recognize the ancestral
form, or else the ancestral form ap-
pears to have completely perished
from the earth.
Peas and beans belong to the pulse
family This is a widely distributed
and highly respectable family OF
plants. The various kinds of clover,
alfalfa and the locust tree and the
acacia are all members of this fam ly.
Peas and beans are prominent among
the few garden plants from which we
derive proteid food.
Before passing from this botanical
mention of some common garden
plants 1 wish to say that the term
Tweed" is not altogether easy to de-
fine. Some one has jocularly SAID
that "a weed is simply a plant out OF
&c
would rather say that a weed is a
plant which has been educated to
combat more or less successfully with
man. Weeds, with few If any excep-
tions, are old world plants. They are
plants which under the influence OF
natural selection have learned to live
in cultivated fields or under the most
unfavorable conditions. This ira ming
has required an immense period OF
time, but America is too new to have
developed any strikingly persistent
weeds. Indeed, an American weed
would be as great an anomoly as
would be an Anglo-SaXon beggar.
All of these articles of food con-
sist very largely of water. 1t is per-
haps no exaggeration to say that be-
tween 80 and 95 per cent of theiI
weight is water, and that with the
exception of potatoes. corn, peas ano
beans Jney POSSESS lltlle ISetl lOou
value, though they are extremely use
full as articles of diet.
We have learned of late that tins
human body demands much less 1000
than was formerly believed. We have
also learned that food must not be
taken in a too concentrated form; tha1
volume of food is quite as necessary
as nutriment matter. The volume Is
necessary in order that the alimentarJ
canal may be properly stimulated II
peristaltic action, and it is probably
quite safe to say that no stimulant Il
as good as are the green vegetables
Aside from their value as filling
and as natural stimulant to perls'
taltic action, green vegetables con
tain varying quantities of valuable
organic acids and salts, which moi
only act beneficially as far as the dl'
gestive function is concerned, bu'
which furnish real nutriment to the
body and tend to keep the blood in
proper state of alkalinity.
A double blessing awaits those WnC
are fortunate enough to possess g
vegetable garden. Perhaps the frs
blessing is the sunlight, fresh air anC
healthful exercise which is forced
upon them, and the second is tht
value of the vegetable products which
are raised. G. A. WHITING
The Pacific College of Osteopathy
Los Angeles. Cal.