DIET IN RELATION TO AGE AND ACTIVITY. 513 



gence of such a man is as slender as his audacity and presumption 

 are large. It would not he more preposterous if, having with infinite 

 pains obtained a last representing precisely the size and the peculiari- 

 ties in form of his own foot, he forthwith solemnly adjured all other 

 persons to adopt boots made upon that model, and on none other ! 

 Only it may be assumed that there is probably more difference be- 

 tween stomachs and their needs among different individuals than 

 among the inferior extremities referred to for the purpose of illustra- 

 tion. Thus, in regard of expenditure of food, how great is the dif- 

 ference between that of a man who spends ten or twelve hours of 

 the day at the work of a navvy, as an agricultural laborer in harvest- 

 time, or in draining or trenching land, as a sawyer, a railway porter, 

 or a bricklayer's laborer, or let me add that of an ardent sportsman, 

 as compared with the expenditure of a clerk who is seated at the 

 desk, of individuals engaged in literary and artistic pursuits, demand- 

 ing a life mostly sedentary and spent in-doors, with no exercise but 

 that which such persons voluntarily take as a homage to hygienic 

 duty, and for a short period borrowed at some cost from engagements 

 which claim most of their time and nearly all their energies ! While 

 the manual laborers rarely consume more food than they expend, 

 and are, if not injured by drink, or by undue exposure to the 

 weather, mostly hale and hearty in consequence, the latter are often 

 martyrs to continued minor ailments, which gradually increase, and 

 make work difficult, and life dreary. Few people will believe how 

 easy it is in most instances to meet the difficulty by adopting appro- 

 priate food, and that such brain-workers can really enjoy a fair degree 

 of health and comfort by living on light food, which does not require 

 much force to digest, and much muscular activity to assimilate a 

 diet, moreover, which is important to some of these from another 

 point of view the financial one inasmuch as it is at least less costly 

 by one half than the conventional meals which habit or custom pre- 

 scribes alike to large classes of men in varied conditions of life. 

 But there is another and more important economic gain yet to be 

 named, as realizable through the use of a light and simple dietary. It 

 is manifested by the fact that a greater expenditure of nerve-power 

 is demanded for the digestion of heavy meat meals than for the 

 lighter repasts which are suitable to the sedentary ; from which fact 

 it results of course that this precious power is reserved for more useful 

 and more delightful pursuits than that of mere digestion, especially 

 when this is not too well performed. 



But those who have little time for exercise, and are compelled to 

 live chiefly within-doors, must endeavor to secure, or should have se- 

 cured for them as far as possible by employers, by way of compensa- 

 tion, a regular supply of fresh air without draughts, an atmosphere as 

 free from dust and other impurities as can be obtained, with a good 

 supply of light, and some artificial warmth when needed. These ne- 

 void xxtii. 33 



