In What Way Do They Differ From Meat?

"Well, eggs have about fifteen per cent tissue-forming substance, and twelve per cent fat. This is only a trifle below that of ordinary steak, with which they favorably compare.

Which Contains The Least Waste Matter, Meat Or Eggs?

"Meat is less constipating than eggs, although if there be a tendency to headaches and what is known as uric acid condition of the blood, eggs are much less objectionable than meat."

Then Eggs Properly Go With A Vegetable Diet?

"Yes, meat and eggs make the diet too strong on the side of tissue-forming food."

Have Eggs Any Other Special Value?

"They are good for a quick lunch, or rather a drink. One or two raw eggs with the juice of half a lemon makes an admirable drink, and if one is greatly crowded for time there is nothing more suitable than egg lemonade."'

Why Is This?

"Because it does not require any mastication, and the acid helps digest it. They are easily digested, and no injury results, because they are swallowed in a hurry, which would not be the case with any other food."

Since You Say That Eggs Must Not Be Fried, I Suppose You Advocate That They Be Boiled Or Poached?

"Eggs may be boiled, poached, roasted or baked (called shirred), and you can lay down a general rule that the less an egg is cooked, especially the white, the better, although the yolk will stand cooking until it becomes mealy."

"With the exception of milk, eggs are the best for feeding the sick, and are sometimes better than milk. Albumen water is made by stirring the whites of eggs in water. A pinch of salt and a little flavoring may be added. Equal parts milk and egg is much more nourishing than milk alone. The yolk of eggs is richer than the white, and should be used largely where a very rich diet is necessary, as in consumption, anaemia, and other diseases."

"Doctor, a great many people do not distinguish between fat and flesh."

"That is true, but there is a great difference."

Will You Kindly Explain It?

"Fat is both fuel and covering for the body, and before a person dies of starvation about eighty or ninety per cent of it will be used up. The principal use for fats when taken into the system is for these purposes."

There Is Not Much Waste Matter Then In Them?

"No, there is practically none at all. Fats that are taken into the system as food, if absorbed, are either stored, or burned up in the production of heat and force."

How Much Of The System Is Composed Of Fat?

"An average person is supposed to be about one-fifth fat, although many people have a much higher per cent."

You Say That Fat Is Used As A Covering For The Body?

"Yes, fat prevents the radiation of heat, and this is the reason why a fat person usually eats less and requires less clothing to keep warm."

What Kind Of Foods Produce Fat?

"All The Fats And Oils, Both Animal And Vegetable, Together With Starch And Sugar."

Has Fat Any Other Use?

"It is of use in giving persons a comely appearance, and also for storing energy, so that in the event of illness or deprivation of food, life can be sustained for a considerable length of time without any food at all. I suppose that most persons are familiar with the fasting experiment of Tanner, who lived forty days without taking any food except water."

Is There Any Material Difference Between The Fats And The Oils?

"Only a slight difference. They have essentially the same composition whether they be animal or vegetable oils."

Why Is It That Fats Disagree With So Many People?

"That is quite difficult to answer, but it is believed that when a considerable quantity of fat is taken with the food, that it coats the food and prevents the action of the digestive juices in the stomach, very much as it does with fried meats, although most persons can eat a fair amount of fat taken as butter or cream. Such fats as butter, lard, and oil, are called free fats. The fat globules are not held together by any tissue. Free fats are much more likely to cause indigestion than emulsified fats, or when in the form of fat meat or powdered nuts."

What Is The Objection To Fried Fats?

"Heat bursts the fat globules, and the fat being to a certain extent burned, a chemical change takes place which makes an irritating fatty acid."

Then That Would Affect Lard, Would It Not?

"Well, lard can be made at a very low temperature if it is done properly, and frying it out or rendering, so called, does not necessarily make it more indigestible than other free fats."

Is Not Lard Used Much Too Extensively In Cooking?

"Well, it is very much better for ordinary use than butter, but at the same time frying almost any kind of food is not in harmony with good living, but is very much worse for some kinds of food than others. Dyspeptics should use free fats very sparingly, if at all."

What Kind Of Fats Are Tallow And Suet?

"Tallow is ordinary beef fat, and suet is the kidney fat of beef."

Are There Not Many Mixtures Of These Used Under Various Names?

"Yes, they are mixed with cotton-seed oil - possibly other kinds of oil, - and sold extensively for the same use as lard."

How Is Oleomargarine Made?

"Oleomargarine is beef fat treated with a few chemicals mixed with a small amount of butter and sold for butter."

"I did not know that it contained any butter."

"The ordinary formula for making oleomargarine does not include butter, but it is sometimes put through a process that they call churning with milk to give it a flavor of butter. The different compounds of oleomargarine and butterine are made in different ways, but are substantially the same product."

Are They Healthful?

"They are better than poor butter, but being somewhat more solid, are a little more difficult to digest."

Doctor, You Said A Moment Ago That Cotton-Seed Oil Is Used ?

"Yes, the manufacture of cotton-seed oil from cotton seed has grown to be an important business. It is refined and as already mentioned, is then mixed with other fats for cooking purposes."

How Is Olive Oil Made?

"Olive oil is made from very ripe olives. It is used principally as a table oil for salad dressing. It is claimed that many other kinds of oil are sold under the name of olive oil."

What Other Kinds Of Oil Are Used For Food?

"Cocoanut oil, peanut oil, and cocoa butter, the latter being made from cacao seeds used in the manufacture of cocoa. These various oils vary in flavor, and slightly in composition, but are used for the same purposes."

Doctor, You Forgot Cod-Liver Oil, Did You Not?

"While cod-liver oil is a food, it is usually prescribed as a medicine."

Why Is That?

"The cod-liver oil contains some chemical elements not found in other oils, but it is probable that it is often prescribed because heretofore no other oil suitable for administration was readily obtainable."

For What Purpose Is Cod-Liver Oil Prescribed?

"To get an oil that is easily absorbed in the system. Persons afflicted with consumption or wasting diseases have a continual tendency to grow thinner. This is because the system does not take up and absorb enough heat-producing material to prevent the destruction of the tissues of the body for heat production; or to make it plainer, the system must have heat, and when not furnished by the food, it burns up its own tissues until the system wastes away, and it is to prevent this wasting that consumptives take cod-liver oil and other fats, - cod-liver oil being preferable, because more readily absorbed."

What Kind Of A Product Is Glycerine?

"Glycerine is sometimes described as the sugar of fat. A very poor description, but gives a faint idea of its character. It is the part of fat which does not readily saponify in the manufacture of soap. It is not used to any considerable extent as a food."

Are Not Fats And Oils Frequently Given As Cathartics?

"Some oils are used for that purpose. The tendency of all fats and oils is to be slightly laxative."