Aërated bread : the new system of bread manufacture.

Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Aërated bread : the new system of bread manufacture. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    most rapidly effect the process. Now, yeast in batch-bread made of inferior flours converts the gluten into cerealin, which is a low proteine state, rapidly convertible into ammonia, and unfit for nutritive purposes. Is it not a fair inference, therefore, to suppose that the saliva, acting upon fermented breads, easily converts it into this abnormal state in the weak stomach ? Dr. Front has beautifully observed, in his valuable work, that the stomach supervises the process of digestion, and by its vital agency corrects any inclination to abnormal changes ; but in a stomach in which the vital powers are weakened, it is unable to prevent these changes, which it deplores, but cannot counteract. The instinct of the stomach—and this instinct is more marked in the debilitated organ than in the healthy one—-is a beautiful provision of Nature. Without any aid from the mental faculties, this remarkable instinct will discover the food which is producing inconvenience. In many cases, without the patient being aware of the fact, the stomach has rejected the objectionable article of diet, and, upon questioning him, he says, “ he eats little bread, the reason why he does not know.” I have noticed this in numerous instances. Infants fed upon fermented bread and milk generally waste away, and, if the diet is not changed, refuse food altogether, and die of atrophy. The little sufferers instinctively know that the food is bad for them, and at last, sooner than undergo the torments produced by the elimination of gas from it, go without; this is instinct. The aid of reason is not here called upon, but it is a knowledge derived from the sympathetic nervous system, from the blood, from the secretions, the tissues ; all cry aloud against the poison which is being introduced to them as aliment, and upon which they cannot exist. A remarkable instance of this instinct of the stomach in domestic animals has been communicated to me by Dr. Dauglish. He says :— 11 Some dogs that would not touch fermented bread, will eat the aerated with avidity. My little girl told me with great glee, the other day, that her pet cat was very fond of the aerated bread, but that she would not touch the fermented. This may prove of interest, as showing an instinctive repugnance to fermentation in the brute.” THE AERATED BREAD AS A DIET. Myself and my whole household having used the aerated bread solely, for upwards of a year, I am in a position to speak of its dietetic value. 1st. The aerated bread Sustains the economy longer than an equal quantity of fermented bread. 2nd. A larger quantity of the aerated bread is eaten than of the fermented. The desire for food returns at longer intervals, fewer meals being required.