f normal blood serum is to be
produced. The use of pepsin for this purpose cannot serve nature's
purpose, as it contains neither sodium carbonate nor sodium sulphate.
Our blood must be given a fresh and sufficient supply of sodium
carbonate and sodium sulphate via our food, if it is to produce normal
bile and supply the requisites of normal nutrition.
It is erroneously held that sodium sulphate is simply a laxative, even
Borner's "Royal Medical Calendar" so classifies it. Often it discharges
this function, it is true, in concentrated solution (one to five). But
it is an important ingredient of healthy blood albumen (one to one
thousand), and in this proportion assists in the formation of normal
bile.
The blood of the Caucasian race is found to contain about ten parts of
salt to the thousand, and this proportion of salt denotes firm tissue
material. If the quantity of salt in the blood is diminished, the
bi-concave red blood cells swell to a spherical form from access of
water and lose their ability to unite for the production of connective
tissue. Moreover, to the extent salt in the blood cells is decreased the
connective tissue and muscle and tendon substance absorb water and the
tissues become spongy, especially in the kidneys, so that the thinned
blood albumen seeps through (urea albumen).
Phosphate of potassium is the mineral basis of muscle tissue, phosphate
of lime with a small amount of magnesium phosphate the basis of bones,
and phosphate of ammonium the bases of nervous tissue. There is a
sufficient quantity of phosphate in all healthy foods. When the milk fed
to nurslings, however, is greatly thinned with water instead of firm
muscle fibers and solid lymph glands we find loose and spongy tissues.
This is a scrofulous condition.
In the formation of healthy bones and teeth, calcium fluoride is
essential. It is insoluble in plain water, but is made soluble by the
aid of the glycocoll in blood gelatine and changed into ammonium
fluoride. It appears in this form in the cartilaginous matter of the eye
lenses, and lack of calcium fluoride in the food results in the clouding
of these lenses.
Silicic acid is not only indispensible to the growth of hair, but it
forms a direct connection between blood and nerve tissues. It is found
in birds eggs, both in the white and the yolk. It is a conservator of
heat and electricity as it is a good insulator. It also possesses
eminent antiseptic qualities. Its mere presen
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