Lectures on nursing / by William Robert Smith.

  • William Edward Smith
Date:
1875
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lectures on nursing / by William Robert Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    214/248 page 198
    kingdoms, and consist of nitrogenous and non- nitrogenous principles. The nitrogenous is divided into the albuminous and gelatinous. The albuminous group comprises all those sub- stances, whether derived from the animal or the vegetable kingdoms, which are closely allied to albu- men, the purest specimen of which is white of egg, and through it to the animal tissues generally in their chemical composition. These substances con- sist of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen in a like proportion, which are all capable of reduction by digestion to a like condition. The gelatinous group consists of substances closely allied to gelatine, which are all derived from the animal kingdom. These also contain carbon, hydro- gen, oxygen, and nitrogen; but the proportion of the components differs from that of the preceding. The substances forming the albuminous group are applicable to the support of the human body, both by affording the materials for the nutrition and refor- mation of its tissues, and also by serving, if required, for the maintenance of its heat; through the decom- position of which they are converted into hydrocar- bonaceous matters, adapted for combustion in the lungs; and highly nitrogenized compounds which pass off by the kidneys. Do not let me, however, mislead you into the supposition that the tissue- 'making power of any kind of food depends upon the amount of nitrogen it contains, and that its
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