CRUET ON TRIAL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LVII, Issue LVII, 11 April 1910, Page 3

CRUET ON TRIAL.

CONDIMENTS AS THE FRIENDS OF HUMANITY.

A humble but constant breakfasttable dinner-table, and supper-table companion is defended from a multitude of accusations in the current Lancet. Having attacked or upheld almost everything else that figures on the table, that journal has now turned to the cruet. These, the article states, are the charges which have been brought against its various compartments: — Salt. — Banned on tho ground that it delays digestion or has an unfavorable action akin to a mild .poison and can further act as an emetic. Pepper. — Convicted of an irritant effect on the gastric organs, as well as upon the organs of secretion, and, besides, contains an alkaloid. Vinegar. — May precipitate an attack of gout, while its use to produce a colorless complexion is quoted as evidence of its injurious effects. Mustard. — Like pepper, is an irritant also, and its effects as a blister are not forgotten, in addition to which it is a well-known emetic.

Olive Oil. — Is indigestible, coating food with oil and so preventing the gastric juices from doing their beneficent ivoi-ls:.

"On the face of it," says the article, "we have here a series of serious indictments which might tempt some to regard the very old institution of the cruet as, after all, a great human error. "Tho acceptance of such a view betrays little knowledge. Each item of the cruet is of \ decided service in dietetics. Mustard, pepper, and salt, used, of course, in sensible amounts, assist thia appetite, give a zest for food, and, partly by reflex action as woll as local action, stimulate the flow of digestive juices and ensure healthy assimilation.

"Even vinegar is known to have a softening effect on tough fibres, and hence its use is justified in so many instances.

"Lastly, the use of oil in a salad, is a sound physiological procedure, for it supplies an aliment which is deficient in the salad vegetable, while as a vehicle for the uniform distribution of food materials in the human organism it docs excellent service.