tainly quite different
with older people, particularly where their digestive powers are
impaired. In the latter we often find that severe intestinal disturbances
follow even after moderate indulgence in vegetable foods--particularly
where they are served with vinegar, or some other fruit acid. Another
peculiarity of foods of this kind that makes decidedly against their
digestibility lies in the fact that, being soft and containing a large
proportion of water, they are scarcely ever properly chewed, and as a
consequence they are swallowed in comparatively large masses without
having been adequately insalivated.

Vegetables may be roughly classified as legumes, roots and tubers, and
green vegetables, and will now be considered briefly in the order named.

_Legumes,--Beans, Peas, Lentils, and Peanuts._--With the exception of the
cereals, the legumes are the most valuable of all vegetable foods. Their
nutritious properties are mainly due to their relatively high percentage
of nitrogenous material, though they also contain starch and fat. Hence
these vegetables contain the ingredients necessary to supply all the
needs of the human economy; unfortunately, however, when eaten alone in
sufficient bulk to furnish the nourishment required, they often--even in
healthy individuals--give rise after a little time to dyspeptic
disturbances.

Of beans, a large number of different varieties are in common use
including string-beans (or snap-beans), lima-beans, kidney-beans, red
beans, the frijole, and the Soya bean. String-beans are exceedingly
palatable, and are very much prized as an article of diet by the peoples
of all countries. When gathered young and thoroughly cooked while still
fresh they are exceedingly wholesome, and are very well assimilated, when
properly chewed, by even those whose digestions are considerably
impaired. The other beans named are generally eaten dry after having been
removed from the pod in which they grow. When they are soaked in water
until they become soft and then thoroughly cooked they make an excellent
food, and, when not taken in too great quantities, are fairly digestible.
When cooked with onions, parsley, and red pepper in proper proportions
they make a very delicious dish. In Japan the Soya bean forms the basis
for a kind of vegetable cheese which is eaten with rice, and furnishes
the nitrogenous materials in which the latter is deficient. Peas are
wholesome when young and fresh and when properly