The new hydropathic cook-book; with recipes for cooking on hygienic principles: by Trall R. T. (Russell Thacher) 1812-1877

Author:Trall, R. T. (Russell Thacher), 1812-1877
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Food, Cookery, Vegetarianism, cbk
Publisher: New York, Boston [etc.] Fowlers and Wells
Published: 1857-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

Hydropathic Cook-Book.

The Digestive Function—View of the Abdominal Viscera.

Fig. 82.

ABDOMINAL VISCEBA-

Digestion. —Fig. 82 is a general view of the viscera of the abdomen. 1. The stomach raised. 2. Under surface of the liver. 3. The gall bladder. 4, The spleen or melt. 5. The pancreas or sweet-bread. 6. The kidneys. 7. The ureters. 8. the urmary bladder. 9. A portion of the intestine called duodenum. 10. A portion of the lower intestine called rectum. 11. The aorta.

Theory of Nutjbition. .121

Time of Diiieslion—Beaumont's Experiments—Digestive Processes.

It is a common error that such articles of food as are soonest' dissolved in the stomach, are most easily digested. It is well known that tainted meat, or that which has become putrescent by decomposition will "pass along" through the stomach and be resolved into a chymous mass sooner than will fresh meat, or even the best of bread. But it would hardly comport with common sense to call such half-rotted flesh most wholesome or most digestible on that account.

Digestion is a complex function, beginning with mastication and ending with assimilation; and those aliments which best secure the due exercise of all the functions subservient to nutrition, and in the end supply the organism with the best material, are, physiologically, the easiest to be digested.

Much stress has been laid by all late writers on digestion and cookery on the experiments of Dr. Beaumont, who introduced into the stomach of Alexis St. Martan—the stomach having been perforated by a gun-shot wound—nearly a hundred different alimentary substances with a view of ascertaining their "mean time of chymification." I do not regard those experiments as of any scientific importance, beyond that of affording another illustration of principles which can be as well demonstrated without the experiments, viz., that alcoholic stimulants, spices, etc., retard digestion by inflaming the coats of the stomach. As already intimated, it matters not whether a given aliment digests or dissolves in one hour or six, so far as its nutritive value is concerned. This must be determined in some other way.

Summary of the Digestive Processes. —The phenomena of nutrition comprehend the following processes, and in the order named : The food, when solid, is first reduced to fine particles by the teeth and other masticatory organs, at the same time mixed with the solvent fluid secreted by the salivary glands. It then passes into the stomach, where it receives another solvent—the gastric juice, and is subjected to a kind

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