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want to terminate my lecture without pointing out a common error 
committed in our alimentation in general, an error just as prejudicial as 
possible to the health of those who render themselves guilty of it, and 
they are the greatest number. 
You undoubtedly know Count Tolstoi, that remarkable Russian 
writer, who within the last few years, has astonished the literary world 
by the originality of his characters and the boldness of his theories in 
social economy. He seems to have imposed upon himself the task of 
regenerating society, morally as well as physically, and lately he wrote 
peculiar articles which everywhere provoked a certain emotion. In 
fact this celebrated philosopher, falling upon the idols that man worships 
the most, emitted with his usual daring spirit the three following propo- 
sitions : 
i. Luxury is bad. 2 Our alimentation is too abundant. 3 We 
must replace our animal alimentation by a vegetable one. 
Naturally we have nothing to do with the first part of his thesis, but 
with regard to the second proposition, I subscribe to it with both hands. 
Yes, we eat too much. Almost everybody eats more than his hunger 
commands, and how many in presence of a good dinner leave the table 
only when it is impossible for them to eat any more? The old maxim 
should never be forgotten that " we must eat to live but not live to eat." 
And dw you know how little one need eat not merely to live but even to 
live comfortably, and to secure for the body the necessary materials for 
daily work? If we compared the quantity of food which suffices a poor 
peasant and the food necessary to the wealthy citizen, we would feel 
tempted to say that they were beings of different species. The fisherman 
is satisfied with a piece of bread and cheese and the tourist who 
accompanies him takes with him a whole kitchen paraphernalia. 
The Arabian win; guides the excursionist through the desert 
requires for food but a little bread and a few dates and it is not without 
a 1 ertain expression of contempt, that he considers the baskets of pro- 
visions, the cans of preserved meats and other innumerable ingredients 
that the sportsman thinks necessary to take along with him under fear 
of starvation. 
Sheriff Sweetland, one night at a meeting of the Medico-chirurgical 
Society, caused no little amazement, in stating that the cost required for 
feeding a prisoner did not exceed S cents a day, that is 3 cents per meal. 
