One of the most important articles of diet for the sick is Beef, which should be of good quality. The bone should not exceed 20 per cent; the fat should be firm, not yellow, and free from blood, and should not be in too great proportion relatively; the muscle should be firm without being tough, not too pale, nor dark-colored, and should not present any marbling or lividity on cross-section. The most esteemed parts of the beef are the thigh and hip (round, sirloin, fillet), the loin, and certain parts of the shoulder (rib-roast, porter-house steak, etc.).

Beef varies much in composition, according to the age of the animal, the state of its nutrition, the kind of food-stuffs employed to fatten the beast, and the hygienic character of the animal's environments. The age should be four to five years, and the amount of fat appropriate to a well-kept and well-fed animal. The best proportions, taking the mean of various analyses, Continental and English, are about as follows :

Water....................................................  72·5

Nitrogenous matters, or albuminates............................  21·3

Fat........................................................    5·2

Extractives and salts.........................................    2·5

5

The composition of cooked meat, according to Moleschott (Parkes), is as follows:

Water....................................................   54·0

Albuminates...............................................   27·6

Fats......................................................   15·45

Salts...................................................... 2·95

It will be perceived from the foregoing analyses that beef contains alimentary principles the most important for the nutrition of the body. When of good quality, neither too old nor too young, the fat and muscle suitably proportioned, and not altered by disease, and properly cooked, it is the best of the animal foods. The loss of lean beef in the process of cooking is about one third of the total weight; of fat beef, about one half. The time required for the complete digestion of beef, as ascertained by Dr. Beaumont, is two and three fourths to three hours.

Veal is less digestible and less nutritious than beef, and has a laxative action, which may, however, be utilized in states of disease. It has the following composition :

Parts.

Water....................................................630

Nitrogenous............................................... 16·5

Fat....................................................... 15·8

Salts...................................................... 4·7

As compared with beef, it is rather slow of digestion, requiring five hours or more. It is more albuminous than fibrinous, and abounds in gelatin (Fonssagrives). The thymus gland of the veal (sweetbread) is, when "plainly cooked (by boiling) and moderately seasoned, a very agreeable and suitable dish for the convalescent."—(Pereira.)

Mutton, although possessing a lower degree of nutritive value than beef, is one of the most useful of the animal foods, as it is easily digested. Many patients, however, experience a marked degree of repugnance to mutton and can not be induced to make use of any article of diet containing it. An evident idiosyncrasy exists in some constitutions against it, so that taken disguised in any way it disagrees with the stomach. It does not continue long in favor as the exclusive article of the meat portion of the diet, even with those who relish it for occasional use. According to Church, the following is the composition of mutton :

In 100 parts.

Water....................................................  441

Albumen..................................................    1·7

Fibrin (true muscle).........................................    5·9

Ossein-like substances.......................................    1·2

Fat......................................................  420

Organic extractives.........................................     1-8

Mineral matters............................................    l·0

Other substances...........................................     2·8

Pork contains more fatty matter and more often disagrees than the meats above described. Many dyspeptics can not make use of it in any form: on the other hand, breakfast bacon may be much relished and be easily borne. Pork is rarely prescribed as a diet for the sick, but, for convalescents, roasted sucking-pig, which is easily digested, may be ordered to vary the food and to stimulate a languid appetite. Pork differs from beef and mutton in the relatively greater quantity of fat. The loss on cooking pork is 50 per cent. Pork, also, yields up to water less solid matter, for, while the solids contained in broth of beef and mutton were 27 and 33 per cent respectively, that from pork contained only 19 per cent. Beaumont found that roasted pork required five and one fourth hours for its solution and digestion in the stomach.

Bacon has the following composition, according to Church :

In 100 parts.         In 1 lb. oz. ;gr.

Venison has the following composition (Von Bibra): Water, 74·63; albuminates, 19·24; fat, 1·3. When young and tender, it is palatable and easily digested, and, although inferior to beef in nutritive value, may be a useful addition to the diet of the sick and convalescent.

The domestic Chicken is a most important article of food for sick and convalescents. The taste is agreeable, the tissues soft and easy of mastication and digestion. "Spring chickens" are more tender and delicate than the fully-developed fowl of four or six months. Next to the chicken in point of digestibility is the domestic turkey, and after this the domestic goose and duck. Certain "game-birds," e. g., the prairie-chicken, wild-ducks, woodcock, snipe, are frequently prescribed for convalescents, and possess a high degree of nutritive value, but are not, of course, adapted for habitual use.

The viscera of certain animals are sometimes employed as food. Allusion has already been made to "sweetbreads," the thymus of the calf. The pancreas is very often substituted for the true sweetbread, and may, when in proper condition, be used instead of the thymus, but it is apt to be stringy and fibrous. The brain, tongue, heart, liver, kidneys, and alimentary canal, are occasionally eaten, but are not frequently prescribed for the sick. Brain is easily digested, and, as it contains fats in combination with phosphorus, may be usefully prescribed in conditions of disease in which these constituents are presumed to be deficient in amount. Liver, as ordinarily prepared by frying, is very trying to weak stomachs, but this food contains mat ters which may be utilized in certain diseased states. According to Braconnot (Pereira), the composition of liver is as follows :

Brown oil, containing phosphorus.............................. 3*89

Nitrogenous matter.. „....................................... 6Ό7

Albumen................................................... 20*19

Salts....................................................... 1-21

Water..................................................... 6864

Kidneys, especially as ordinarily prepared, are very difficult of digestion, and are unsuited for the sick. As they contain a notable quantity of urea and other excrementitious matters, they are for this reason objectionable articles of diet. Tripe, the stomach of ruminants, is very easily digested and very nutritious, when prepared in the simple way, only, which is advisable for invalids. It consists largely of albumen.