New bread is much less digestible than that which has been kept a short time, because, when new, it forms a sticky mass in the mouth, with which the saliva is not readily mixed, and so the action of the saliva upon the starch takes place only to a comparatively small extent, and the starch does not get properly digested.

Toast and rusks are very easily digested; as they are brittle and easily broken up in the mouth, they readily mix up with the saliva and get aerated, forming a mass easily digested.

Muffins, crumpets, pastry, and bread insufficiently baked, are very indigestible, from- their doughy nature, so much so that some of them go by the name of "sudden deaths."

Bread is aerated by one of three methods, either by yeast added to the dough to set up fermentation, or by carbonate of soda and some acid, such as tartaric or citric acid. It is advisable not to use hydrochloric add, because it generally contains arsenic, and in some instances bread prepared in this way has actually caused symptoms of poisoning. The third method is that of forcing carbonic acid gas into it, and this forms a very light kind of bread, known as aerated bread, which, however, compared with that lightened by fermentation, is generally considered to be somewhat tasteless.

We use other vegetables for various reasons - some for starch, especially potatoes, yams, artichokes, but most for salts of certain vegetable acids, such as the malic, citric, tartaric, etc.

It has been shown that persons who live on foods that do not contain green vegetables suffer from scurvy, and one of the most important causes of scurvy is the absence of these salts of vegetable acids, and they are often supplied, when vegetables cannot be obtained, by lime-juice.

Just a few words about some substances that we take as drinks.

In the first place, alcoholic drinks. In the last lecture I spoke about the influence of alcohol upon the system. I told you that it was oxidised in the system, and that very little was excreted, but it did not follow from that that it was useful as a food or contributed to animal heat, because I think the balance of evidence shows that alcohol, so far from raising the animal heat, actually diminishes it, by retarding the oxidisation of other substances.

Strong spirits contain large percentages of alcohol - nearly 50 per cent, and sometimes more than that.

Alcohol acts as a powerful narcotic, and strong alcoholic drinks act in the same way, but in a more deleterious manner, by reason of certain powerful essential oils that they contain.

It has been clearly shown by Dr. Parkes and others that the drinking of strong alcoholic liquors does not enable men to do more bodily work than they would do if they did not take them; but, on the contrary, that persons who use them cannot do anything like the same amount of work, in the same time, without getting extremely fatigued.

The use of spirits does not enable persons to withstand cold; this is the experience of all travellers in cold countries; neither does it enable them to withstand heat, but, on the contrary, they cannot resist a hot climate as effectually as those who eschew spirituous liquors. We can readily understand this when we consider that the use of strong liquors produces diseases which are common in hot climates - viz., derangements of the liver.

Indigestion is often caused. Spirits act upon the lining membrane of the stomach, and cause sub-acute inflammation, which sometimes goes on to such an extent that occasionally, after a strong dose of perhaps not very good spirits, all the symptoms of acute poisoning, followed by death, are produced.

On more than one occasion I have had the stomachs of persons who have died from drinking a strong dose of spirits, sent to me for examination for arsenic or antimony.

After indigestion, liver disease is produced. The alcohol is absorbed by the capillaries of the stomach and intestines, and conveyed by the portal system through the liver, causing profound alterations there, and an increase of the fibrous structure, which presses upon the proper liver structure, and prevents the liver from performing its functions in a healthy way, impedes the passage of the portal blood, causes dropsy, and ultimately death in one way or another.

These results are brought about all the more surely, because spirits are almost always drunk without food; and whatever one has to say about drinking other alcoholic liquors, it would be an excellent thing if the sale of spirits for drinking were prohibited. Alcohol is very diffusible, gets readily into the blood, circulates through the system, and produces degeneration of the tissues of almost all the organs of the body, including the nervous system, and produces also effects well known to you all in the shape of intoxication, with the crimes which result from it. To sum up about spirits, Dr. Parkes says: - "If spirits neither give strength to the body, nor sustain it against disease - are not protective against cold and wet, and aggravate rather than mitigate the effects of heat - if their use even in moderation increase crime, injure discipline, and impair hope and cheerfulness - if the severest trials of war have been not merely borne, but most easily borne, without them - if there is no evidence that they are protective against malaria, or other diseases - then I conceive the medical officer will not be justified in sanctioning their issue under any circumstances."

With regard to other alcoholic liquors containing smaller percentages of alcohol, some of them contain as much as 15 or 16 per cent. They all contain considerable percentages of other substances. Some of them, indeed, contain so small a percentage of alcohol, that we must not be in too great a hurry to condemn the use of all alcoholic liquors without inquiring into their action.