The philosophy of eating. By Albert J. Bellows, M.D.

262

HOW TO MAKE BEEF TEA.

Another excellent substitute for fresh food is found
in desiccated vegetables, which saved many a life from
diarrhoea and other scorbutic diseases in the late Southern rebellion, and which are still more useful at sea,
where fresh food cannot be obtained. Of these, potatoes are best, but carrots, turnips, pumpkins, and
squash are all good, and many families dry them for
use in that season of the year in which green vegetables
are not easily kept fresh.
Beef Tea.
The best and quickest mode of preparing nourishing
beef tea is to chop up lean beef into fine pieces, first
broiling it lightly to develop the osmazome, add to it an
equal weight of cold water, slowly heat to boiling, and
after boiling three minutes strain and season to taste.
In this manner the elements are retained and the natural flavor, and a soup is obtained of as much strength
and better flavor than by boiling the same piece of meat
for hours.
Acidulous Drinks.
The juices of all fruits, and some vegetables, contain
acids which are useful in eliminating from the system
various alkaline impurities, by combining them and
making them soluble, and they may have some other
uses in the system which are not perfectly understood;
but they never enter the system as an element of nutrition, but seem to act on chemical, or perhaps chemico