By Harvey W. Wiley, M. D.

SOUPS of all kinds except those thickened with vegetables or meats are to be regarded rather as condiments than as foods. They are usually served in this country merely as an introduction to the meal, and for this purpose they have a value much higher than that due to the nutriment they contain. For this reason, personally, I prefer what is known as the clear soups, whether of vegetable or animal origin. When soups contain the whole of the vegetable as the pea or bean soups, or when they are simply used as a vehicle for carrying animal or vegetable fats, they lose their special character as soups and acquire the distinctive character of foods. A good plate of pea or bean or vegetable soup or mulligatawny, etc., when eaten with bread or with the addition of rice or macaroni, as is done abroad, becomes a square meal, while a cup of clear soup like that extracted from the bones of meat animals, from which the oil is carefully removed, becomes purely condimental. As a rule, I think I can safely say that the American people do not recognize the true value of soups. In many families, soup is seldom served except perhaps when company is present. This, I think is a dietetic mistake. There is scarcely any dinner that may not be made better by being introduced by a palatable soup.