rgeon finds him an unpromising subject; the criminal court finds him
conspicuous in its proceedings. The united testimony from all these
sources is that beer is demoralizing, mentally, morally, and physically.

127. Cooking. The process through which nearly all food used by
civilized man has to pass before it is eaten is known as cooking.
Very few articles indeed are consumed in their natural state, the
exceptions being eggs, milk, oysters, fruit and a few vegetables. Man is
the only animal that cooks his food. Although there are savage races that
have no knowledge of cooking, civilized man invariably cooks most of his
food. It seems to be true that as nations advance in civilization they
make a proportionate advance in the art of cooking.

Cooking answers most important purposes in connection with our food,
especially from its influence upon health. It enables food to be more
readily chewed, and more easily digested. Thus, a piece of meat when raw
is tough and tenacious, but if cooked the fibers lose much of their
toughness, while the connective tissues are changed into a soft and
jelly-like mass. Besides, the meat is much more readily masticated and
acted upon by the digestive fluids. So cooking makes vegetables and grains
softer, loosens their structure, and enables the digestive juices readily
to penetrate their substance.

Cooking also improves or develops flavors in food, especially in animal
foods, and thus makes them attractive and pleasant to the palate. The
appearance of uncooked meat, for example, is repulsive to our taste, but
by the process of cooking, agreeable flavors are developed which stimulate
the appetite and the flow of digestive fluids.

Another important use of cooking is that it kills any minute parasites or
germs in the raw food. The safeguard of cooking thus effectually removes
some important causes of disease. The warmth that cooking imparts to food
is a matter of no slight importance; for warm food is more readily
digested, and therefore nourishes the body more quickly.

The art of cooking plays a very important part in the matter of health,
and thus of comfort and happiness. Badly cooked and ill-assorted foods are
often the cause of serious disorders. Mere cooking is not enough, but good
cooking is essential.

Experiments.

Experiments with the Proteids.

Experiment 31. As a type of the group of proteids we take the white
of egg, egg-white or egg-albumen. Break an egg carefully