Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

i68CAMPING AND WOODCRAFTlized lemon juice) to go with It. And there is goodreason for this. Sugars have about the same fooduses as starches, because all starch must be convertedinto sugar or dextrin before it can be assimilated.Mark, then, that sugar needs no conversion; thereforeit acts quickly as a pick-me-up to relieve fatigue,while bread or any other starchy food would have togo first through the process of changing into sugarbefore it could supply force and heat to the body.A great advantage of sweets is that every normalperson likes them. Another is that they are antisepticand preservative, which adapts them perfectlyto use in rations that may have to be stored or carrieda long time before using.These are not merely my own individual opinions,)although all my experience backs them. Since theworth of sweets in a sportsman's or soldier's foodsupply is commonly underrated, or even ridiculed,through sheer crass ignorance, let me quote fromThompson, one of the most eminent of our dieticians:"The value of sweets in the adult dietary has otlate years found recognition in armies. The BritishWar Office shipped 1,500,000 pounds of jam to SouthAfrica as a four months' supply for 116,000 troops,and one New York firm, during the Spanish-AmericanWar, shipped over fifty tons of confectionery tothe troops in Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines.The confectionery consisted of chocolate creams,cocoanut macaroons, lemon and other acid fruitdrops. . ."An old-time custom among soldiers in the fieldis to fill a canteen with two parts vinegai* and onepart molasses as an emergency sustaining drink. . . ."Sugar furnishes, in addition to heat, considerablemuscle energy, and it has been lately proved byMosso, Vaughn Harley and others to have distinctpower in relieving muscular fatigue."Vaughn Harley found that with an exclusive dietof 17V2 ounces of sugar dissolved in water he couldperform almost as much muscular work as upon afull mixed diet. The effect in lessening musclefatigue was noticeable in half an hour and reachedA maximum in two hours. Three or four ounces of