PROPER DIET FOR HOT WEATHER. 369 



the fall it weighed about one hundred and sixty pounds ; when 

 dug out it weighed only forty. 



Now, with regard to the proper diet for hot weather. In the 

 first place, we must take into consideration the occupation of the 

 individual. A man doing sedentary work or intellectual work 

 would not require the same diet as a person doing laborious mus- 

 cular work ; but this article, in nine cases out of ten, would appeal 

 to the ordinary individual earning his living by the sweat of his 

 brow, or, if I may so say, by the sweat of his brain. If a man 

 earns his living by the sweat of his brain he must, if he wishes to 

 live long, maintain his health by the sweat of his brow, that is, he 

 must, in some form or other, take muscular exercise. He may do 

 it by brisk walking, tennis, bicycling, shooting, hunting, or the 

 thousand and one pursuits that the average Englishman indulges 

 in ; so that, as I said before, the diet that I should lay down as 

 suitable for summer will, under these conditions, almost univer- 

 sally apply. 



Nature apparently knows what is good for us, and Nature 

 furnishes for the different seasons suitable substances in the way 

 of food. But, of course, Nature assumes that man, being a rea- 

 sonable being, should study and apply them as he ought to do ; 

 but Nature in this case credits man with attributes that in this 

 matter he seldom possesses, or, at all events, does not care to use 

 if he does possess them. Men do not study Nature as much as 

 they should, at least the majority do not. If they did, they would 

 see that in the warm weather fruit should form a considerable 

 portion of the daily food. The most suitable articles for hot 

 weather, experience tells me, are fish, such kinds of meat as fowls 

 and game, green vegetables, salads, and fruit. Farinaceous food, 

 that is, starches, should be taken in the very smallest quantity 

 only. Sufficient sugar would be found in the different fruits that 

 the season of the year produces, and, therefore, should not be 

 supplemented. 



In a former article on The Proper Diet for Cold "Weather, I 

 illustrated what I meant by giving one or two samples of a day's 

 dietary for an ordinary individual, and I will here do the same. 

 Of course, in an article of this kind it would be perfectly impos- 

 sible to distinctly draw a dietary suitable to each individual. 

 This can only be done by taking into consideration the mode of 

 life, the idiosyncrasies, the intellectual work, the peculiarities of 

 constitution of a particular person ; but in the case of the ordi- 

 nary healthy person, of course, these distinctions are not neces- 

 sary. If a man is too fat, he would require certain modifications ; 

 if he is gouty or biliously inclined, slight change would be neces- 

 sary ; but, as I said before, to go into this would be unnecessary and 

 out of place, and every intelligent person must alter and adapt the 



