15. MEATS.--The meats, so called, are derived from the muscular parts of various animals. They are most {69} important articles of food for adults, inasmuch as they are richly stored with albuminoid substances, and contain more or less fat. Such food is very nourishing and easily digested if eaten when fresh,--veal and pork being exceptions. The flesh of young animals is more tender and, in general, more digestible than that of older ones. All meat is more tough immediately after the killing of the animal, but improves by being kept a certain length of time. [Sidenote: 16. Preference of persons? Venison? Mutton? Cheese? Uncooked flesh?] 16. Some persons prefer flesh that has begun to show signs of decomposition, or is unmistakably putrid. By some, venison is not considered to have its proper flavor until it is tainted. In England, people prefer mutton that is in a similar condition, just as on the continent of Europe many delight in cheese that is in a state of decomposition. In certain less civilized countries flesh is not only eaten uncooked, but in a mouldy, rotten condition. The use of such food is not always immediately injurious, but it predisposes to certain diseases, as indigestion and fevers. [Sidenote: 17. Cold as a preserver? Meat in Russia? Beef and pork, how preserved? Salted meat as food? Scurvy?] 17. Cold is one means of preserving meat from decay. In the markets of northern Russia, the frozen carcases of animals stand exposed for sale in the winter air for a considerable time, and are sawn in pieces, like sticks of wood, as the purchases are made; such meat, when thawed, being entirely fit for food. Beef and pork are preserved by salting down in brine, and in this condition may be carried on long voyages or kept for future use. Salted meat is not as nutritious as fresh, since the brine absorbs its rich juices and hardens its fibres. Long continued use of salt meats, without fresh vegetables, gives rise to the disease called scurvy, formerly very prevalent on shipboard and in prisons; but now scarcely known. [Sidenote: 18. The antiquity of the custom of cooking food? Object of cooking? The oyster? Raw meat as an occasional food?] 18. COOKING.--The preparation of food by the agency {70} of fire is of almost universal practice, even among the rudest nations. The object of cooking is to render food more easy of digestion by softening it, to develop its flavor, and to raise its temperature more nearly to that of the body. A few articles of flesh-food are eaten uncooked in civilized lands, the oyster being an instance. Raw meat is occasionally eaten by invalids with weak digestive powers, and by men training for athletic contests. [Sidenote: 19. Effect of boiling meat? How may the cooking be done? The proper method? Effect? Making of soup?]