Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1915-02-12
MALT AND MILK.


must rest on the food intake. Conse-
quently, wherever a mother sunering
from deficient milk supply SEEKS
from those qualified to advise. lnfor-
nation as to how she may correct the
unfortunate condition, she is invaria-
ably recommended to use more hu-
tritious diet. In other words, she Is
informed indirectly that the FOOD she
has habitually used is deficient III
some important particular
Almost without exception, the diet
recommended to a mother includes
some form of malt.
The word malt is believed to be de-
rived from a Sanscrit word meaning
soft, and having a reference to the
| fact that malt is raw grain made SOIL
or tender by a process in which germ
| ination has been caused to proceed 10
a certain stage and is then controlled
and checked by the gradual removai
of the water and finally completely ar
rested by drying through the applica'
ton of heat in kilns.
During this limited termination en-
zymes are developed and the constlt-
uents of the grain are so modified that
the finished malt differs from the orig
| inal raw grain in that the greater
portion is split into simpler COM
pounds that more easily dissolve. An
engine is a complex organic SUD-
stance. or an unorganized or chemicai
ferment, capable of effecting by ca
talytic action the transformation. split
ting up or digestion Of other COM
pounds.
J The changes effected by the partial
termination and subsequent treatment
of the grain are chiefly the conversion
of the heterogeneous substances into d.
astase, the conversion of the starch
into grape sugar by the action OF the
diastase, and the imparting of color
and flavor to the malt in the kiln.
Diastase is an engine of great physi'
illogical Importance in that 1t is capa-
BILE of converting starch and glycogen
into sugar principally maltose) and
dextrins. 1t occurs in terminating
seeds, in the leaves and in other
parts of plants and also in various AMI
NAL secretions, such as the saliva and
the pancreatic juice.
A very common medical preparation
in the form of a strip OF about the
consistency of heavy molasses Is
made by digesting sprouting malt IN
water. expressing the solution, pre-
cipitating it with alcohol and drying
the precipitate. This precipitate Is
simply an impure diastase, but under
various proprietary names and COM
binations it is very generally used as
a tonic in case of malnutrition, and 1t
is particularly effective in those cases
marked with defective starch diges-
ton. generally known as intestinal In
digestion"
Two new words have recently been
added to our vocabulary-"hormones."
by Startling in 1906. and "vitamines," by
Funk in 1912. Investigations conducted
since 1889 have fully demonstrated
that some of our ductless glands play
a role of vast importance in general
nutrition, and this knowledge has
proved very useful in widening our
conception of the nutritional relations
in the body. The conception that GER
tain glandular organs may give rise
to chemical products which on enter
ing the circulation influence the activ-
ity of one or more other organs Is
finding application in the study OF
the digestive secretions.
: The gastric and pancreatic "secre-
tions" are regarded as examples OF In
ternal secretions. Chemical products
of this kind which stimulate the ac-
tivity of special organs are what Star
ling designates hormones. These IN
ternal secretions from ten or twelve
kinds of ductless glands are known
to exert a profound influence on our
body in general. Startling advanced
the theory that this was the primi-
tive method by which the complex
body was originally co-ordinated and
regulated, the nervous system being
of later development. However this
may be, at the present time 1t Is es'
tablished beyond any question that
both methods are in force In all man.
NAL bodies-the ductless glands are
the bosses of our bodies.
Following a long series of investiga-
lions into the causes Of beri-ber' and
similar diseases, Funk in 1912 iso-
lated some highly complex nitrogen
Gus bodies from the grindings from
rice, from seeds, whole grains. raw
milk, fresh meat, yeast, fresh fruit
juices, the yolk of egg and the like.
Because these compounds were nitro
genous and proved to be absolutely
essential to organic life-the absence
of them is demonstrated to be the
cause of death from polyneuritis-
Funk named them "vitamines."
The vitamines are soluble In water
and are destroyed by exposure for ten
to twenty minutes to temperature OF
PAS tn 26O degrees Fahrenheit and by
extreme dryness. So far as Is known.
animals are incapable Of making vita
mines: normally they are found IN
plants. and especially in their seeds
and in animals that eat fresh vegeta-
ble matter containing vitamines. Funk
regards vitamines as the mother sub
stance of ferments and the hormones.
and of vital Importance to the thyroid
and other ductless glands; conse'
ouentIy. they are fundamentally the
regulators of the general co-ordina'
ton of our bodies.