A Manual of Diet in Health And Disease

inferior utility. Economy, when necessary, should be practised in quantity, not quality, in the sort of food chosen, and not in its degree of perfection. As to the arrangement of the subject, the naturalist's classification has been that usually adopted by authors. But it seems to me less scientifically appropriate to the matter in hand, and more likely to involve repetition, than one which brings together articles associated in the market, and which, indeed, often combine elements derived from several realms of nature. These articles are here to be considered solely as food for man, and not as independent members in creation. § 1. Butcher's Meat. The lean of butcher's meat should show a deep purplish red tint, with a sort of bloom over it, on the outside of the muscle, and a lighter vermilion red with a bare shade of purple in the cut surface. The lean of beef may be a.little marbled with fat, but that of mutton should be quite even in hue. When cut in a very fine slice, or stretched in a thin layer over C the fat, as naturally, in the ribs, it is semi-transparent and orange-vermilion in uniform streaks.1 The surface is quite dry, and even the cut should scarce wet the finger. In substance it is moderately soft, but extremely elastic, so that no mark is left after pressure. A day or two in the larder should make no difference in this respect. There is very little odour in a single joint of good meat, and what there is, to most people, is not u...