illustrate this point, I will briefly show you how some of the every-day
articles of food can be each day differently prepared, and thus be
rendered more palatable, and, as a consequence, more digestible; for it is
a demonstrated fact that savory foods are far more easily digested than
the same foods unsavored.

The art of serving and arranging dishes for the table is an accomplishment
in itself. It is very reasonable that all things that go to make up beauty
and harmony at the dinner table should add their full quota to the
appetite, and, I was about to say, "to the digestion;" but will qualify
the statement by saying, to the digestion if the appetite be not porcine.

Our commonest article of food is the _potato_. Let us see how
potatoes--which contain only twenty per cent. of starch, as against
eighty-eight per cent. in rice, and sixty-six per cent. in wheat
flour--can be prepared as just mentioned. We will look for a moment at the
manner in which they are usually served by the average cook:

1, boiled with their jackets on; 2, roasted in the embers; 3, roasted with
meat; 4, fried; 5, mashed; 6, salad.

1. Potatoes boiled in their jackets are excellent if properly prepared.
But there's the rub. The trouble is, they are too often allowed to boil
slowly and too long, and thus become water-soaked, soggy, and solid, and
proportionately indigestible. They should be put over a brisk fire, and
kept at a brisk boil till done; then drain off the water, sprinkle a
little salt over them, and return to the fire a moment to dry thoroughly,
when you will find them bursting with their white, mealy contents.

2. Roasted potatoes are general favorites, and very digestible. A more