removed, lose most. In every case the ash contained a good deal of
phosphate and lime. Potatoes are rich in important potash salts; by
boiling a large quantity is lost, by steaming less and by baking in the
skins, scarcely any. The flavour is also much better after baking.

The usual addition of common salt (sodium-chloride) to boiled potatoes is
no proper substitute for the loss of their natural saline constituents.
Natural and properly cooked foods are so rich in sodium chloride and other
salts that the addition of common salt is unnecessary. An excess of the
latter excites thirst and spoils the natural flavour of the food. It is
the custom, especially in restaurants, to add a large quantity of salt to
pulse, savoury food, potatoes and soups. Bakers' brown bread is usually
very salt, and sometimes white is also. In some persons much salt causes
irritation of the skin, and the writer has knowledge of the salt food of
vegetarian restaurants causing or increasing dandruff. As a rule, fondness
for salt is an acquired taste, and after its discontinuance for a time,
food thus flavoured becomes unpalatable.

Organic Compounds are formed by living organisms (a few can also be
produced by chemical means). They are entirely decomposed by combustion.

The Non-Nitrogenous Organic Compounds are commonly called carbon
compounds or heat-producers, but these terms are also descriptive of the
nitrogenous compounds. These contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen only, and
furnish by their oxidation or combustion in the body the necessary heat,
muscular and nervous energy. The final product of their combustion is
water and carbon dioxide (carbonic acid gas).

The Carbohydrates comprise starch, sugar, gum, mucilage, pectose,
glycogen, &c.; cellulose and woody fibre are carbohydrates, but are little