Food serves substantially the same purpose in the body as fuel in the
engine. It provides the energy for work. The carbohydrates, that is the
sugars, starches and celluloses, can all be used as fuels and can
all--even, as we have seen, the cellulose--be used as foods. The final
products, water and carbon dioxide, are in both cases the same and
necessarily therefore the amount of energy produced is the same in the
body as in the engine. Corn is a good example of the equivalence of the
two sources of energy. There are few better foods and no better fuels. I
can remember the good old days in Kansas when we had corn to burn. It
was both an economy and a luxury, for--at ten cents a bushel--it was
cheaper than coal or wood and preferable to either at any price. The
long yellow ears, each wrapped in its own kindling, could be handled
without crocking the fingers. Each kernel as it crackled sent out a
blazing jet of oil and the cobs left a fine bed of coals for the corn
popper to be shaken over. Driftwood and the pyrotechnic fuel they make
now by soaking sticks in strontium and copper salts cannot compare with
the old-fashioned corn-fed fire in beauty and the power of evoking
visions. Doubtless such luxury would be condemned as wicked nowadays,
but those who have known the calorific value of corn would find it hard
to abandon it altogether, and I fancy that the Western farmer's wife,
when she has an extra batch of baking to do, will still steal a few ears
from the crib.




XI

SOLIDIFIED SUNSHINE