Letheby gives, as the functions of condiments,
such as pepper, mustard, spices, pot-herbs, etc., that besides their
stimulating properties they give flavor to food; and by them indifferent
food is made palatable, and its digestion accelerated. He enumerates as
aids to digestion--proper selection of food, according to the taste of
the individual, proper treatment of it as regards cooking, and proper
variation of it, both as to its nature and treatment.
While it is difficult to give an entirely satisfactory definition as to
what constitutes food, the following extracts from standard works
will serve as guides. Hermann[1] says: "The compound must be fit
for absorption into the blood or chyle, either directly, or after
preparation by the processes of digestion, i.e., it must be digestible.
It must replace directly some inorganic or organic constituent of the
body; or it must undergo conversion into such a constituent, while in
the body; or it must serve as an ingredient in the construction of such
a constituent.
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