Part 40

Mineral salts—

Build bone. Help to make blood alkaline. Aid in digestion. Aid in excretion. Build red blood-cells. Build nerve tissue. Build cells.

Cellulose exercises muscular lining of digestive tract.

Note.—Good authority makes the statement that the housekeeper is wise who pays as much for milk, vegetables, and fruit as for meat, eggs, and fish.

=Use of Eggs.=—Eggs serve as a meat substitute.

Eggs require the addition of carbohydrates and some fruit or vegetables to form a well-planned meal.

=Digestibility of Eggs.=—Raw eggs are more easily digested when beaten. They are often prescribed when a nutritious, highly concentrated diet is desired, and in cases of tuberculosis, some forms of anemia, and various wasting diseases.

Effect of Heat.—Egg albumen begins to coagulate at 134° F. and becomes jelly-like at 160° F.

=Preservation of Eggs.=—1. Water-glass (Sodium Silicate).—Nine quarts of boiled water (cooled) to 1 quart of water-glass. Eggs will keep in this solution three and a half months.

Note.—A good grade of water-glass should be of the consistency of molasses. If heavier than this the water-glass should be diluted to the right consistency, as the eggs should sink.

Eggs may be added to the solution from day to day as gathered. Do not wash. If the nests are clean the eggs will not need washing. Keep in a stone jar in a cool place just above the freezing-point. Do not use the solution the second year. The water-glass may be obtained in the dry or liquid form, and dissolved in either hard or soft water.

2. Lime Solution.—Piece of lime size of lemon. Pour 1 gallon of boiling water over it. Let stand until cold. Add 1½ cups of salt.

3. Paper Wrapping.—Wrap perfectly fresh eggs in paper and keep in cool place. This is not as effective as Methods 1 and 2, but keeps eggs for a short time.

THE PREPARATION OF FOODS FOR THE SICK.

TO PEPTONIZE MILK.

1. Pepsin, grs. xx; Cold water, ℥iv; Milk, Oj.

2. Pancreatin, grs. v; Soda bicarbonate, grs. xv.

3. Peptonizing powder, grs. xx; Warm water, ℥j; Milk, Oj.

=Directions.=—Place the contents of one of the vials into a well-cleaned quart bottle. Pour upon it a gill of cool water and shake the mixture thoroughly. Then add to the mixture a pint of fresh milk and place the bottle in a vessel containing water as hot as can be borne by the hand without discomfort. Let it stand, with occasional shaking, for ten to twenty minutes, or until it has acquired a slightly bitter taste, when it should be removed from the hot water and placed upon the ice or in a cool place, to check digestion and keep from spoiling. If it is not quickly cooled the digestion will continue and the milk become too bitter to be palatable.

Milk thus peptonized may be sweetened if the patient desires it. It may also be flavored with wine or rum as desirable.

=Cold Process.=—This consists in adding to the milk the peptonizing powder as above, using cool water and milk, and then placing the mixture upon ice without warming it at all.

N. B.—If it be found that the milk ferments after following the above directions, boil the milk first, let cool, and then peptonize. “The bacteria in uncooked milk cause fermentation when pepsin is added.”

PEPTONIZED BEEF.

To a quarter-pound of finely minced, raw lean beef add a half-pint of cold water; cook over a slow fire to boiling and boil for a few minutes, stirring constantly from the beginning. Pour off the liquor and set it aside; rub the meat to a paste and put it into a clean glass jar or bottle with the liquor and a half-pint of cold water; add

Extractum pancreatis, 20 grs.; Soda bicarbonate, 15 grs. Mixed thoroughly into one powder.

Shake all well together and stand in a warm place, about 110° to 115° F., for three hours, stirring or shaking occasionally, then boil quickly, strain, or clarify with white of egg in the usual manner; season to taste.

This final boiling is essential; if omitted, digestion will progress until the food is spoiled.

For the great majority of cases it is not necessary to strain the peptonized beef, for the portions remaining undissolved are so softened under the action of the extractum pancreatis that they are diffused in an almost impalpable condition—in a form readily susceptible to digestion in the body.